radexcel Posted December 21, 2014 Report Share Posted December 21, 2014 Hi everyone, I applied all over Ontario for family med but have only gotten 3 invites and 2 rejections. My app is great all over, only thing missing was family med electives (I had just one elective in FM); I was aiming for another specialty throughout med school before changing my mind. I did address this is my personal letter but who knows if they even read it before throwing away my app for not having enough FM electives. I have heard of people matching to family med who didn't even want it and were backing up with FM; I sincerely do want it though, and have only applied to family med, so I'm really disappointed, because this is it for me, if I don't match to one of the 3, I have nothing else I've applied to. Feel really disappointed and screwed over. This isn't a world for sincere people. Should have applied to the other specialty anyway. My question is: will the lack of family med electives continue to haunt me even after I'm done interviews, and is there anyone who had just 2-3 interviews who managed to match? Terrified I'm going to go unmatched which is ridiculous cause I'm one of the top students in my class. I just had faith I'd get FM interviews once they read my letters. Help please Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnGrisham Posted December 21, 2014 Report Share Posted December 21, 2014 Not a med student, but you didn't apply to any out of province places? There's always second round in case it goes south. Hope for the best and kill your interviews! Sincerity will show, exude your intentions in all aspects and it can help convey your needs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newfie Posted December 21, 2014 Report Share Posted December 21, 2014 I don't think you're screwed. I know people who got 5 interviews for a specialty and didn't match anywhere, even in the second round. And I know other people who only applied to one school and matched successfully. Try not to stress too much about it and instead focus on having great interviews I only have three family med interviews (applied to 4 but didn't get an invite to one) too, so if you're screwes then so am I haha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newfie Posted December 21, 2014 Report Share Posted December 21, 2014 Also, I did a bunch of different electives, most of them outside Canada and only one in family med. I don't think that's a big deal. Lots of people match to family without any FM electives at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FutureGP333 Posted December 21, 2014 Report Share Posted December 21, 2014 Stressful I know, but with three Family Medicine interviews, you still have a really good shot at matching to your top choice. My advice though is to make sure you rank ALL available sites for the three schools you got interviews. For instance, if you are interviewing at Queen's, make sure you actually rank all four programs separately (Kingston, Belleville, Oshawa, Peterbourough) - you can still do this post-interview with all programs so you have time. What schools did you receive interviews at? For me, I received 6 interviews but actually ended up ranking 35 programs in the end (UBC had like 15 sites, and Dal 7). Still ended up with my first choice which I'm sure will happen for you too if you are sincere about Family Medicine. Family Medicine is certainly becoming more competitive, but the good news is that you made the cut for 3 programs (and almost certainly more had to applied a bit more broadly). Generally, I've heard that many FM programs seem to be cutting their applicant pools in half pre-interview. I've also heard that most interview candidates will then get ranked in some way or another, barring no major red flags during the interview process (again, hearsay, but certainly seemed to be my experience from last year). So essentially, don't let this ruin your XMas or the next few months. Do some solid research on the programs available at the 3 schools and go into your interviews with confidence. Chances are still very strong you are going to get your first choice in the end (much less going unmatched!). caRMS is not fun but again, you got 3 interviews - you will do fine and have some extra time off during the caRMS interview period to chill-out ! P.S. As far as not having FM electives, I don't think this should hinder you too much as long as you did well in your FM core rotation and can explain how your other rotations prepare you well for an FM residency/career (to me, this would be more in keeping with why you didn't get the other two interviews, but for the remaining 3, I don't think it will detract too much now). Interview questions often focus on why family medicine and what you can bring to the program. Make sure you read up on the new triple-c/competency-based curriculum from the CCFP and know the canMEDS-FM roles cold (with specific examples from each one) - otherwise, try to enjoy the interviews, remain confident, and don't let your ego take too hard a bruising - you'll be a great FM resident! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carms2015 Posted December 21, 2014 Report Share Posted December 21, 2014 Hi everyone, I applied all over Ontario for family med but have only gotten 3 invites and 2 rejections. My app is great all over, only thing missing was family med electives (I had just one elective in FM); I was aiming for another specialty throughout med school before changing my mind. I did address this is my personal letter but who knows if they even read it before throwing away my app for not having enough FM electives. I have heard of people matching to family med who didn't even want it and were backing up with FM; I sincerely do want it though, and have only applied to family med, so I'm really disappointed, because this is it for me, if I don't match to one of the 3, I have nothing else I've applied to. Feel really disappointed and screwed over. This isn't a world for sincere people. Should have applied to the other specialty anyway. My question is: will the lack of family med electives continue to haunt me even after I'm done interviews, and is there anyone who had just 2-3 interviews who managed to match? Terrified I'm going to go unmatched which is ridiculous cause I'm one of the top students in my class. I just had faith I'd get FM interviews once they read my letters. Help please The only thing you can worry about right now is the 3 interviews you have....you will definitely have to prepare well and shine thorough in your interviews. Why did you only apply to Ontario?? Carms is an unpredictable beast there is no way for you to know if you did well in interviews since it is completely subjective..i.e. you can come out feeling you nailed the interview but in reality your interviewers may have thought you were unsuited for FM.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nwhyte3 Posted December 21, 2014 Report Share Posted December 21, 2014 Dude, relax. As mentioned above 3 interviews is more than enough to match, also if you rank all programs you could have 10+ programs on your rank list. Just make sure you can build a case for why you want to do FM at the interviews. You need to think more positive, this type of negative thought process can corrupt you during your interviews. Its important that you have faith and keep yourself moving forward or you will self sabotage and won't match. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radexcel Posted December 23, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 23, 2014 Thanks for the words of encouragement everyone, they mean a lot! For sure I will be ranking all the sites for the places I got interviews which ends up being 20+ sites. Will hope for the best with my interviews - thanks again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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