Full CaRMS stats now online

[rogerroger]

It is true that CMGs understand the medical system more than IMGs. This is the very reason why CMGs should be chosen in preference to IMGs.

 

Yes, but this is an inherent advantage to all CMGs. If you are an IMG who has spent enough time in Canada then maybe you do know the system as well as a CMG. These guys should have a level playing field. If you are ignorant of the system it stands out like a giant flashing red light come carms, trust me... You don't need the system to "protect" the programs from this. The applicants do a good job differentiating themselves on this one particular issue.

 

The education committee of the AFMC is the best place to address your concerns regarding Canadian programs not innovating enough. The metric most schools use to judge their training programs is student success on the MCCQE I not match rates. The result of this test isn't even available when students are applying to CaRMS.

 

Pah to the AFMC... I would bet many with the AFMC privately know the MCCQE I is a joke. What sort of measure is it when every school comes out statistically more or less the same, year after year? The test costs over $1000/student and what does the MCCQE I differentiate? Nada, zippo, nothing. Match rates are much more public and match rates are what students care about. I know for a fact that the schools care a lot about match stats, and rightfully so.

 

If an IMG passes the MCCQE I then I think that is even further proof that they should be considered on par with CMGs come CaRMS. After all, if the MCCQE I "black hole" of money is good for anything it is good at differentiating medical knowledge between CMGs and IMGs...

[hctran]

There was a question in the earlier posts regarding 3700 CSA's but only a fraction of that applied to the match this year. Could it be that the 3700 is distributed across 4 years (or 5 years in certain programs)? Not sure if that was pointed out. That would mean about 900 would be applying to the match in a given year, and possibly less if they decide to do training in their country of study.

[leviathan]

The 3700 is distributed across all years and given that you'd expect 900 applicants but only about 300 applied.

[docji]

Full 2013 match stats was just posted

 

https://www.carms.ca/eng/operations_R1reports_13_e.shtml

 

Some random observations:

 

- prior year CMG grads had poor match results this year (35%), sharp deviation from the 50% range in other years - more important to be matched first time around in the future?

 

- 1 derm vacancy after 1st round, no plastics or ophtho vacancies after 1st round

 

- Toronto filled entirely after 1st round, still the most competitive location.

 

- large amount of internal med (15) spots unfilled at Saskatchewan

 

- laboratory and pathology specialities continue to be very unpopular, with 3 haematological pathology spots + 2 medical microbiology spots at Alberta unfilled even after 2nd round!

 

- 1 radiology spot at Manitoba unfilled after 2nd round. 2 ortho, 1 cardiac sx unfilled after 2nd round

 

- large number of surgery 1st choice applicants from Ontario (Mac, UT, UWO)

 

- IMG stats poor as usual, 146 current year IMG grad matched vs 192 current year IMG grad unmatched

 

- USMD stats: 23 matched current year USMD vs 10 unmatched current year USMD

 

 

AS you mentioned in your posts that there were some unfilled spots, some even after the second iterations, were these spots unfilled because nobody applied to those fields in those residency spots??

OR

because they did not find competitive applicants from all those who applied??

[rmorelan]

AS you mentioned in your posts that there were some unfilled spots, some even after the second iterations, were these spots unfilled because nobody applied to those fields in those residency spots??

OR

because they did not find competitive applicants from all those who applied??

 

It would be the latter much more I would think - except to say they may find some candidates competitive as did other schools - thus with multiple offers a school might not get someone they would have accepted. There never is a big push to fill every spot at the expense of getting the "right" candidates.

[nekusis]

Bit of a different take on the numbers:

 

The following is a list of specialties by the percentage of applicants who were admitted into the specialty in the first round after ranking it as their first choice. That is, I ignore how many spots there were, or individuals who were admitted to their second (or lower) choice. Basically, if a CMG student wanted this field, how likely were they to get it?

 

1 Plastic Surgery 0.520833333

2 Otolaryngology 0.658536585

3 Dermatology 0.659574468

4 Vascular Surgery 0.666666667

5 General Surgery 0.6796875

 

6 Emergency Medicine 0.683673469

7 Public Health 0.6875

8 Urology 0.695652174

9 Neurology Pediatric 0.714285714

10 Cardiac Surgery 0.714285714

 

11 Ophthalmology 0.75

12 Medical Microbiology 0.75

13 OB/GYN 0.758333333

14 Anesthesiology 0.768115942

15 Neurosurgery 0.772727273

 

16 Pediatrics 0.780487805

17 Orthopedic Surgery 0.824324324

18 Diagnostic Radiology 0.831578947

19 Radiation Oncology 0.875

20 Psychiatry 0.936507937

 

21 Neurology 0.9375

22 Physical Med & Rehab 0.944444444

23 Internal Medicine 0.945205479

24 Family Medicine 0.968335036

25 Neuropathology 1

 

26 Anatomical Pathology 1

27 General Pathology 1

28 Hematological Pathology 1

29 Laboratory Medicine 1

30 Medical Genetics 1

31 Nuclear Medicine 1

 

 

Results aren't that different from the other ones posted. Pathology and Nuc Med are pretty much automatic entry; family medicine, internal, psych, and PM&R are pretty close to automatic; anesthesiology, diagnostic radiology, peds, and OB/GYN are of moderate difficulty to enter; emergency medicine and almost all forms of surgery are tough to get into, particularly plastics.

 

The surprises for me were medical microbiology and public health & preventative medicine. Plenty of vacancies in both, but also quite a few individuals who were rejected from the field. Likely a few programs in those specialties that no one wants, yet a few that are quite competitive.

 

How did Ophthalmology get to be so low on the list? Wasn't that such a keener specialty that usually comes at the top spot? (or second or third).

Also, how did Cardiac surgery (!!!), Neurosurgery, and Orthopedic surgery come in at (relatively) so high?

[ralk]

How did Ophthalmology get to be so low on the list? Wasn't that such a keener specialty that usually comes at the top spot? (or second or third).

Also, how did Cardiac surgery (!!!), Neurosurgery, and Orthopedic surgery come in at (relatively) so high?

 

Ophthalmology is pretty small and specialized, so I suspect it's subject to a fair bit of variation year-to-year. It's a fun field, but you've still got to like eyes! Keep in mind that a quarter of people going for Ophtho didn't get it - that's not a great ratio for applicants in the grand scheme of things.

 

Ortho and Neuro Sx are definitely starting to feel the effects of their poor job market, but they're still surgical fields, so they're still competitive. Cardiac is so small that it's hard to draw conclusions on these numbers. A single extra person applying/not applying could have swung its position from the top to near the bottom.

[rmorelan]

Ophthalmology is pretty small and specialized, so I suspect it's subject to a fair bit of variation year-to-year. It's a fun field, but you've still got to like eyes! Keep in mind that a quarter of people going for Ophtho didn't get it - that's not a great ratio for applicants in the grand scheme of things.

 

Ortho and Neuro Sx are definitely starting to feel the effects of their poor job market, but they're still surgical fields, so they're still competitive. Cardiac is so small that it's hard to draw conclusions on these numbers. A single extra person applying/not applying could have swung its position from the top to near the bottom.

 

and there is already of course a lot of pre screening - you have be pretty committed to apply to many of those fields after all knowing how competitive they are.

 

Also as a side note this year happened to be a comparatively easy year for rads - not sure why. We were all surprised - it is usually harder. by about 5-10 percentage points.