CaRMS statistics

[Guest desiguy8179]

looking at statistics of FM residency programs from carms match,it seems to be a consistent trend that UofT and Queens univ. have almost 100%match rate but UWO has always many spots unfilled at end of 1st iteration.Do these statistics reflect the quality of programs that may be UofT FM residency is more competetive than UWO?Is this a correct interpretation of carms statistics.

thanks

[Guest UWOMED2005]

Well, those stats probably somewhat reflect the PERCEIVED quality of those programs. . .

 

It's also interesting to note that two of the family medicine programs which fill the most consistently are in VANCOUVER and TORONTO.

 

The fact those two programs are consistently among the "most competitive"* programs might have somthing to do with WHERE they are rather than the program itself.

 

I looked quite extensively into family medicine programs and my impression is that the HIGHEST QUALITY programs were the more rural ones where you got out into the community and worked in rural hospitals where the GPs mixed family practice with emergency and internal medicine, sometimes even with a bit of Obs/gyn, Anaesthesia, and surgical assisting to boot!

 

As well, on these rotations your off-service internal medicine and general surgery rotations would be one on one with a surgeon or internist in a smaller community. No danger being "just the family resident" on a large academic hospital surgery team where your job was to track down X-rays and write Tylenol orders.

 

Based on that criteria, the best family medicine programs would be THE EXACT PROGRAMS YOU SOMETIMES HEAR FIRST YEAR (southern ontario) MEDICAL STUDENTS MAKE FUN OF: Family Medicine in Newfoundland, Family Medicine in either of the two rural Northern Ontario programs, family medicine in rural saskatchewan or Alberta.

 

To that list I'd add the program at Queen's (which is the other program which fills almost every year) and some of the rural family medicine programs in British Columbia, though I noticed some disorganizational issues in the latter.

 

And no, I didn't rank UWO family. . . or even apply.

 

* I think I need to address the issue of "competitive programs" in Family Medicine here.

 

Queen's, UBC, and U of T often fill. But I wouldn't call them "competitive"

 

For each of those programs you're looking at 30+ spots. . . 76 in the case of Toronto.

 

And some/many of the people you're "competing against" are using family medicine as a backup. And when this is obvious, applicants often fall lower on the rank lists (family medicine programs want residents who are going to rank them highly, AND be happy in the program!!)

 

That means to get into Toronto Family Medicine, you probably don't need to be higher than number 100 on their rank list.

 

You might get TO Family being ranked a lot lower than that!

 

This isn't the same game as needing to be the #1 or #2 ranked kid for Plastics at UWO.

 

So I wouldn't overly sweat it if you really, really want TO Family #1. You know what? Your 4th year is going to be pretty pleasureable if that is the case - you don't need to be stressing for CaRMS.

 

BUT - THAT DOESN'T MEAN YOU CAN BE AN IDIOT AND YOU SHOULDN'T WORK HARD.

 

It doesn't matter what family program you're applying to, YOU STILL NEED TO BE ON THEIR RANK LIST. And if you're a total slacker, your reference letters reflect the fact you don't care, and you are a complete boob in the interview ANY PROGRAM might decide to not rank you. Even one that NEVER fills.

 

So. . . if you know you WANT family, that's awesome. You don't need to stress. But work hard and put together a good application - You're almost certainly to get your #1 choice, and if not that probably #2.

[Guest moo]

On UBC's website they say:

 

Interviews are optional. All applicants will be ranked with or without an interview. An interview score can either move an applicant up or down the rank list.

 

Is this true? If it is, then this means that basically all one needs is a pulse to get in, as the program did not fill the past two years.

[Guest UWOMED2005]

Depends on where you want to be. . .

 

UBC lumps all their family programs into their stats. Victoria and St. Paul's are as competitive as programs get. Chilliwack is pretty popular too. UBC rural mainland is variable. The Prince George programs aren't as consistent in filling.

 

So I guess your argument should be "You could match to Prince George with just a pulse."

 

BUT Prince George still might not rank you if you don't interview.

 

Just because the program 'doesn't fill' doesn't mean they'll take anyone!

 

On another note - I declined my MUN interview this year as I was pretty sure it wouldn't rank high enough for me to match to it, despite it being a great program.

 

They were actually worried enough about not filling they emailed my Jan 29th offering a phone interview since they didn't rank applicants without at least a phone interview.

[Guest marbledust]

Is this true? If it is, then this means that basically all one needs is a pulse to get in, as the program did not fill the past two years

 

An unfair statement...they do look at your carms application which gives a pretty good idea of what kind of applicant you are going to be. If there are holes, or percieved holes, in your application you aren't going to get ranked highly (or maybe not at all).

 

The Prince George program might start to fill as the med school up their gets more established, making people more comfortable about going there. The rural Alberta programs took some time, but they are coming into their own and slowly attracting more interest.

[Guest tubbbs]

i totally agree that rural residency training is much better than big city training. Most people choose these big city places mostly because of location, ie they like the city.

 

i've heard differently about U of T family meds ranking. i heard that most people would have to rank the program high, if not first choice for them to get matched there, as it is quite competive. lifestyle friendly residency programs seem to be attracting a lot of attention this year. included is family medicine. i guess with the extra advertising that we're getting from med school, more and more people are realizing that family docs can make good money, without having to sacrifice family, and actually enjoy life. seems to me, there's going to be a lot more applicants to family this year. With toronto already having a history of being a hot spot, it would make it even more important to rank it higher.

[Guest JSS02]

From the CaRMS website:

"Your order of preference for programs should reflect the true desirability of each program to you, regardless of how you think the programs will rank you. Applicants need not make prior commitments to programs or submit to inappropriate pressures in constructing their Rank Order Lists (e.g. "I'll rank you high only if you rank me high"). Because of the way the matching process works, your best strategy is to rank your choices in order of preference, without consideration for how you expect to be ranked by any program.

 

You may rank as many programs as you wish. By submitting a longer list of programs you may reduce the likelihood of being left unmatched. Regardless of the number of programs you rank, you will be matched to the most preferred program on your list of choices that ranks you and does not fill all its positions with applicants it prefers."

 

The bottom line is that you rank programs based only on the order in which you prefer them. If Toronto family is your first choice, you rank it #1. If family med in some other location is your #1 choice, you should rank that #1 regardless of whether or not it is typically "easier" to match to than Toronto's program.