Candiens12 Posted August 3, 2014 Report Share Posted August 3, 2014 I noticed that this year has been competitive for male family medicine applicants, with many students going unmatched. Is family medicine becoming much more competitive or is it just applicants not ranking or applying to many programs? What are the most important aspects for a family medicine application (references, extra curricular, research)? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MansionMD Posted August 3, 2014 Report Share Posted August 3, 2014 It's a combination of both, but most people do apply broadly already, so it's largely because Family medicine is becoming more competitive. You can become a stronger candidate by doing multiple electives in cities that you want to go to. Research is not necessary. Having the right personality is more important. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dany Posted August 4, 2014 Report Share Posted August 4, 2014 how can FM become more competitive, provided that the total ratio of quota offered (FM or specialties combined) / total CaRMS applicant pool doesn't change? example (those numbers are just made up), in 2014, 2000 CaRMS applicants across Canada : 2200 quota (all specialties combined) in 2000, 1000 CaRMS applicants across Canada : 1100 quota combined so, if FM is harder to get in, it means that, mathematically, there MUST be some specialties that are MUCH easier to get in compared to 10 yrs ago, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schmitty Posted August 4, 2014 Report Share Posted August 4, 2014 how can FM become more competitive, provided that the total ratio of quota offered (FM or specialties combined) / total CaRMS applicant pool doesn't change? example (those numbers are just made up), in 2014, 2000 CaRMS applicants across Canada : 2200 quota (all specialties combined) in 2000, 1000 CaRMS applicants across Canada : 1100 quota combined so, if FM is harder to get in, it means that, mathematically, there MUST be some specialties that are MUCH easier to get in compared to 10 yrs ago, right? I would it is site-specific. I.e. FM is now getting more competitive because most people want to go to a minority of the sites...many programs don't get enough applicants whereas some (e.g. U of T) get many more than they have to offer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MansionMD Posted August 5, 2014 Report Share Posted August 5, 2014 how can FM become more competitive, provided that the total ratio of quota offered (FM or specialties combined) / total CaRMS applicant pool doesn't change? example (those numbers are just made up), in 2014, 2000 CaRMS applicants across Canada : 2200 quota (all specialties combined) in 2000, 1000 CaRMS applicants across Canada : 1100 quota combined so, if FM is harder to get in, it means that, mathematically, there MUST be some specialties that are MUCH easier to get in compared to 10 yrs ago, right? Reduction fallacy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoyInTheBubble Posted August 5, 2014 Report Share Posted August 5, 2014 Family medicine got more competitive when family docs started making money comparable to other specialties. Compared to most 5 year programs, you can make as much, or pretty close to, despite a shorter residency and a less stressful job. In general, I think all doctors make too much money, but 300-500k as a family doc is awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schmitty Posted August 5, 2014 Report Share Posted August 5, 2014 Family medicine got more competitive when family docs started making money comparable to other specialties. Compared to most 5 year programs, you can make as much, or pretty close to, despite a shorter residency and a less stressful job. In general, I think all doctors make too much money, but 300-500k as a family doc is awesome. That is not average, and overhead is high. But yes, I agree with you, FM docs pay has become much more competitive in the last decade. With the move to new methods of payment (away from fee for service) this has and will improve slightly more as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ralk Posted August 5, 2014 Report Share Posted August 5, 2014 how can FM become more competitive, provided that the total ratio of quota offered (FM or specialties combined) / total CaRMS applicant pool doesn't change? example (those numbers are just made up), in 2014, 2000 CaRMS applicants across Canada : 2200 quota (all specialties combined) in 2000, 1000 CaRMS applicants across Canada : 1100 quota combined so, if FM is harder to get in, it means that, mathematically, there MUST be some specialties that are MUCH easier to get in compared to 10 yrs ago, right? The quota-to-applicant ratio does have some variability, and this year's ratio was the lowest since 2000. So no, it's not the case that something has to get less competitive for family to get more competitive; on the whole, the match was more competitive this year than in previous years, though the quota-to-applicant ratio won't necessarily stay this low going forward. Still, there were some specialties that got less competitive. Radiology definitely had a low-competitiveness year in this last match, and some surgical specialties were not quite as competitive as they had been in the past. All that said - at least from a numbers perspective, since I'm too far away from matching myself to say how things are on the ground - family is still one of the least competitive fields. The overwhelming majority of people going for Fam Med matched to it this cycle. Very few specialties had higher match rates, and these were generally ones with small numbers (i.e. Peds Neuro), a reputation for a poor job market (i.e. Rad Onc), or unique and generally uncompetitive fields (i.e. Pathology). It's still, by far, the best field to back-up into; almost 150 new Fam Med docs backed-up into it, while Internal and Gen Surg are the only other specialties where more than a handful of new residents did not choose that field as their primary selection. There were a larger-than-normal number of people who chose Family Med first and did not match, which I'm guessing reflects the overall low quota-to-applicant ratio this year along with what others have mentioned: an increasing competitiveness at specific sites, even as overall competitiveness remains fairly low. If Fam Med applicants don't apply broadly enough, it'll lead to many unmatched applicants as a result of their choices, not because the field itself is more difficult to enter into. For example, Peds - a much more competitive field - had the same proportion of people choosing it as their desired specialty go completely unmatched as Family, only because far more Peds applicants backed up successfully into another field, likely Family or Internal. Basically, Family's no longer an automatic residency, and just like any other program, some flexibility on location and program is necessary, but for reasonably capable applicants, there doesn't seem to be a need to go above-and-beyond to get into Family Medicine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candiens12 Posted August 5, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2014 So overall, would great clerkship evals and reference letters be good enough even if EC's are on the low side? Assuming the interview goes well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie Posted August 5, 2014 Report Share Posted August 5, 2014 It's the interview that matters the most for family medicine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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