Does Your Medical School Matter

[Eudaimonia]

11 minutes ago, Aetherus said:

Queen's is a very small class so I know where all my classmates matched therefore I made the graphs myself. This data will not be available for another few months through CaRMS.

At Queen's we have a total of 16 weeks of elective pre CaRMS. 6 weeks in 3rd year and 10 weeks in 4th year. You can do your electives anywhere in Canada (you can also do some in the USA although harder to organize). The only stipulation is that you have to do 3 different specialities with those 16 weeks of electives. 

Aw man they should have you analyze the data (though I'm sure you have better things to do!). Is there any similar data from other years on CaRMS that you can direct me to?

 

[Eudaimonia]

1 hour ago, Lactic Folly said:

Sure, but 2 weeks is enough for someone who truly excels to make a strong impression as a visiting elective student. Too much familiarity at one's home school can also be a double-edged sword in some instances...

Very true, and I suppose a rotations at your home school could be an isolated experience too. Although you suggest it is not always the case 

[JohnGrisham]

I would think self-selection plays a very big role too. Most people at a given school, are from there, or want to stay there...so naturally they rank it high etc.  

[Birdy]

1 hour ago, JohnGrisham said:

I would think self-selection plays a very big role too. Most people at a given school, are from there, or want to stay there...so naturally they rank it high etc.  

I think that’s a big part. 

Im not from here. Not really big on Ontario generally; I’d prefer to be back East. 

But I also have several years experience with this school now; I know the (wonderful) staff, and I like the learning culture. I have worked extensively with residents and staff from here, and so I have a much better idea of what to expect from a Mac residency than I do for a residency from another school. For other schools, I have usually just the insight from interviews or at best a short elective to go on. 

[Aetherus]

3 hours ago, JohnGrisham said:

I would think self-selection plays a very big role too. Most people at a given school, are from there, or want to stay there...so naturally they rank it high etc.  

I agree that this play's a role. Queen's is an interesting situation because only 4 people are actually from Kingston in my class, and none of them stayed at Queen's. 

2 hours ago, Birdy said:

I think that’s a big part. 

Im not from here. Not really big on Ontario generally; I’d prefer to be back East. 

But I also have several years experience with this school now; I know the (wonderful) staff, and I like the learning culture. I have worked extensively with residents and staff from here, and so I have a much better idea of what to expect from a Mac residency than I do for a residency from another school. For other schools, I have usually just the insight from interviews or at best a short elective to go on. 

I agree that having more exposure to the residency program is a huge factor in determining where an applicant will rank the program.

[snapmoster82]

While "reputation" plays very little if no role at all, your home school can make a difference especially if you want a small program such as derm for instance. It makes it easier to get electives and to do research . 

[Eudaimonia]

48 minutes ago, snapmoster82 said:

While "reputation" plays very little if no role at all, your home school can make a difference especially if you want a small program such as derm for instance. It makes it easier to get electives and to do research . 

I accept that it is entirely possible to match to a different school if it's something I wanted to pursue, and I understand that a home school can be helpful for those more competitive programs. I'm just a bit lost in my decision making as I have no idea what specialty will spark my interest and so trying to consider schools depending on their residency programs is a bit useless for me right now. 

Not only can I not take into account prospective specialties, but I'm also unsure of where I'd eventually like to practice. The prospect of staying in one place forever down the line without having experienced other places in depth makes me feel uneasy  

On 3/13/2018 at 0:39 PM, Birdy said:

I think that’s a big part. 

Im not from here. Not really big on Ontario generally; I’d prefer to be back East. 

But I also have several years experience with this school now; I know the (wonderful) staff, and I like the learning culture. I have worked extensively with residents and staff from here, and so I have a much better idea of what to expect from a Mac residency than I do for a residency from another school. For other schools, I have usually just the insight from interviews or at best a short elective to go on. 

May I ask how advantageous it is to know the residency program well? Is it more of a comfort level thing, knowing you already fit well/are accustomed in the environment, or are there other implications for the future?

[snapmoster82]

Please bear in mind there are no rules. There are no absolute certainties in any of this. It's a challenging decision and you'll have to accept this unfortunate fact.

 

36 minutes ago, Eudaimonia said:

I accept that it is entirely possible to match to a different school if it's something I wanted to pursue, and I understand that a home school can be helpful for those more competitive programs. I'm just a bit lost in my decision making as I have no idea what specialty will spark my interest and so trying to consider schools depending on their residency programs is a bit useless for me right now. 

Not only can I not take into account prospective specialties, but I'm also unsure of where I'd eventually like to practice. The prospect of staying in one place forever down the line without having experienced other places in depth makes me feel uneasy  

May I ask how advantageous it is to know the residency program well? Is it more of a comfort level thing, knowing you already fit well/are accustomed in the environment, or are there other implications for the future?

It is quite advantageous to know the program. If you want to get into program x, then having known them is a benefit.  However, it's not impossible to go to a program you like at a specific location. 

 

40 minutes ago, Eudaimonia said:

Not only can I not take into account prospective specialties, but I'm also unsure of where I'd eventually like to practice. The prospect of staying in one place forever down the line without having experienced other places in depth makes me feel uneasy

This is the MOST challenging decision of medical school. You need to know what you want and decide early.  Where you end up practicing is also an unknown with a lot of uncertainties. 

[Birdy]

47 minutes ago, Eudaimonia said:

 

May I ask how advantageous it is to know the residency program well? Is it more of a comfort level thing, knowing you already fit well/are accustomed in the environment, or are there other implications for the future?

It’s not so much that its advantageous, I think, but just that I knew before applying that I’d be pretty happy here as a resident. 

If I were applying to something more competitive - and i did consider OB/gyn for a while as well as briefly considered royal college emerg - I think it may have been an advantage to have worked closely with many of the staff involved in the program just because they’d have had more exposure to me. I had a few emerg staff encourage me to consider the specialty when they worked with me during clerkship and electives, so I think that may have been a bit of home field advantage had I applied. 

[Edict]

I think exposure to different specialties does play a small role in what you end up pursuing. If you are determined, you can match to something from almost anywhere. However, in smaller specialties, things like connections become everything, and being at a campus with access to that specialty can make a big difference. 

[DermJuly2018PGY1]

@Aetherus What uni did your derm matches match to?