The Mist Posted June 17, 2015 Report Share Posted June 17, 2015 Can anyone comment on whether FM electives are necessary to get interviews in the bigger FM programs across Canada? I have a range of IM subspecialty electives, some oncology, and a rural internal medicine rotation arranged and would like to be sure this would still put me in the running for family. Ive been drawn towards it as of late, but I am worried my selection smells more IM than FM. Am I being needlessly paranoid? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bloh Posted June 18, 2015 Report Share Posted June 18, 2015 Some programs are certainly more picky nowadays. When I was going through CARMS (class of 2014), UofA wasn't giving interviews to anyone that didn't have ~4 weeks of electives. Not sure how strictly they adhered to that but anecdotally it seemed to be true. I don't know what your situation is but if you are interested in family and are even more limited by location, you probably should have at least 1 family elective. You could probably convince some schools if you had a mix of electives (Obs, something surgical, internal this and that, etc) but you're all internal so it'll be hard to make that case. You'll probably be okay if you apply country wide and are happy to go anywhere for family but that's rarely the case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thatonekid Posted June 18, 2015 Report Share Posted June 18, 2015 if you are interested in family and are even more limited by location, you probably should have at least 1 family elective. Agreed. People got FM interviews this year without FM electives, but to maximize your chances, you might want to do 1 elective. If you're aiming mainly for IM, you don't have to do all your electives in IM. They also like to see some diversity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MD2015:) Posted July 20, 2015 Report Share Posted July 20, 2015 I know some people who got rejected for family medicine interviews if they did no family electives (even if they did another elective at that particular school). I would do at least 2 weeks if you want a shot and 4 weeks if you want to be taken seriously by competitive FM programs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleDaisy Posted July 20, 2015 Report Share Posted July 20, 2015 I know some people who got into family medicine at McGill and at UdM this year, they didn't complete any electives in family medicine (were aiming for dermatology and surgery). Probably they got lucky. But if you are slightly interested in family and would like to stay in urban centers that are competitive, I would do one elective in family. However, if internal medicine is your first choice and you would see yourself nowhere else beside IM, I would do all my electives in IM and its sub-specialties (it depends on how many weeks of electives you have before CaRMS as well). I know some people who got rejected for family medicine interviews if they did no family electives (even if they did another elective at that particular school). I would do at least 2 weeks if you want a shot and 4 weeks if you want to be taken seriously by competitive FM programs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thatonekid Posted July 20, 2015 Report Share Posted July 20, 2015 I know some people who got rejected for family medicine interviews if they did no family electives (even if they did another elective at that particular school). I would do at least 2 weeks if you want a shot and 4 weeks if you want to be taken seriously by competitive FM programs. I don't think you need 4 weeks of FM. If you do a 2 week elective in family and then electives in things applicable to family (like most internal subspecs) then you'll be ok. It's just an opinion though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MD2015:) Posted July 21, 2015 Report Share Posted July 21, 2015 Depends if you are set on a particular school. You can get into family somewhere with only one family elective, but if you want a specific school you might not get it with only one elective. If family is a probably just a backup then don't worry about it, but if you think it is possible that you might rank a family program first and the location is important to you, I would do more family. And you dont have to do regular family medicine, you can work with a family doc who does a special interest area that you like, such as hospitalist or palliative and that would look good for family or internal medicine. I did 4 weeks of family electives and got interviews at all of the schools I applied to (including some that I did not do electives at and were out of province). I ended up ranking a family program that was out of province as my top choice that I had not done an elective at and matched to it. No one questioned whether I was serious about family and I had 4+ weeks in other specialties as well and they didnt question me either. I had some friends who did 0-2 weeks family and they got some rejections for family interviews at programs they would have ranked very highly. So be wary about minimal family electives if you could see yourself possibly ranking a family program first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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