Guest purplefairy13 Posted March 7, 2005 Report Share Posted March 7, 2005 Hi I'm applying for med admission for next year, and, should I be fortunate enough to be accepted, I am interested in pursuing a surgical subspecialty that is only offered at one Ontario University. If I did not attend this university for undergrad meds, would I still have a shot at getting the residency positon? (Hopefully I will be admitted there, though....). PuRpLEFaiRy13 p.s. knocking wood all through writing this post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UWOMED2005 Posted March 7, 2005 Report Share Posted March 7, 2005 It's hard to answer your post because I don't there's a single surgical subspecialty only offered at one school: Plastics - UWO, Toronto, Mac ENT - all but Queen's Ophtho - all 5 schools Cardiac - UWO, U of T and U of O Neurosurg - UWO , U of O, and U of T Ortho - all 5 schools Gen Surg - all 5 schools Urology - all 5 schools Even derm, a medical rather than surgical subspecialty, has programs both at U of O and U of T. Check here for more info: http://www.carms.ca But to answer your question anyways, it very much is POSSIBLE to match to a super competitive specialty at a different school. I remember we had someone match to derm at U of A a few years back - there's only 5 derm spots in the country. But I think going to the same school as a residency program does give you an advantage at a program in terms of having more time to get to know the people in the program. Some programs as well give "bonus points" in assessments for having gone to that school for the MD. Most of the UWO grads I have known of matching to ubercompetitive specialties (plastics, ophtho, ENT, etc) the four years I've been here have matched to UWO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Steve U of T Posted March 7, 2005 Report Share Posted March 7, 2005 I know a U of T cardiac surgery resident who finished his MD at UWO (I think he was class of '99, so before your time, UWOMED2005). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UWOMED2005 Posted March 7, 2005 Report Share Posted March 7, 2005 Yeah, I the PGY-1 at U of O for cardiac is also a UWO grad. I wasn't including cardiac surgery in that uber-competitive group. . . there are years where cardiac surgery is super-competitive (ie 2003) and other years where the number of applicants ranking cardiac #1 is roughly the same as the number of spots (ie 2002.) As a better example, w did match someone in 2002 to Dermatology at U of A. In terms of people finally ranking a specialty #1, Derm is consistently in the top 3 specialties, usually only plastics is more competitive. This year we matched people to urology in Ottawa, ENT in Ottawa, and Radiology at UBC. These are very competitive specialties. It is POSSIBLE to match ANYWHERE from ANYWHERE. But in general, the people who match to the most supercompetitive specialties do so in their own centers. I remember interviewing and having first and second year med students suggest that where you go for med school has ZERO impact on where you match. This is only partially correct. Where you go isn't going to affect what specialties you can match to, and you can theoretically match anywhere from anywhere, but where you go can affect your chances for ubercompetitive specialties. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Sarah371 Posted March 8, 2005 Report Share Posted March 8, 2005 I don't think where you go matters that much as to where you match....even to the very competitive specialties. My class at Queen's Optho - Queen's and Ottawa ENT - Western Plastics - Mac and Western Radiology - Calgary Urology - Western I think that if you are lucky enough to know what you want to do early then you can cultivate relationships at programs outside of your school. This may be a little harder than at your own school but it can and is regularly done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest physiology Posted March 17, 2005 Report Share Posted March 17, 2005 It is POSSIBLE to match ANYWHERE from ANYWHERE. But in general, the people who match to the most supercompetitive specialties do so in their own centers. I second that. At UBC for instance, there are 2 ophtho spots, and they will give one to a UBC student, and the other to an OOP student. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest endingsoon Posted March 17, 2005 Report Share Posted March 17, 2005 I agree with UWO, it matters somewhat if you want a competative spot. Case in point, at Toronto this year the following happened: 1/1 plastics spots 1/2 derm spots 2/3 ophtho spots 5/7 radiology spots 2/3 urology spots 3/4 ENT spots All went to students from Toronto. I am sure the trends are similar at other schools. It definetely seems easier to get spots in the more competitie fields at your own school, but you can get in anywhere (its just a bit harder). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kirsteen Posted March 20, 2005 Report Share Posted March 20, 2005 Hi there endingsoon, Actually, just a wee correction (and to add a wee bit o' hope for those who might be gunning for Plastics exterior to UofT): this year at least one UofT Plastics spot went to a U. of Calgary grad. (I believe that UofT's general quota for Plastics is two per year as opposed to one.) Speaking with one of the current Toronto plastics residents, they loved our graduate and she was an easy in. Cheers, Kirsteen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UWOMED2005 Posted March 20, 2005 Report Share Posted March 20, 2005 Yeah, UWO has two plastics spots. I'd be shocked if there was only one plastics spot at U of T. . . even though there's only about 10 nationally (at least last I checked - might be 11 or 12 with the recent residency spot additions.) But I agree with endingsoon's point. You see something at UWO for the super-competitive spots. Just a sample. . . UWO grads occupying this year's residency spots: 1/2 plastics spots 1/2 ophtho spots 1/2 ENT spots 1/2 Urology spots 1/2 Emerg spots The number of spots might be incorrect due to year to year fluctuations. . . if they're incorrect for any one specialty, their probably overestimating the number of spots available here. I'd even argue this is unusually low occupancy rates for UWO grads. This was a year where many of our people gunning for super-competitive residency spots chose to *try* to go elsewhere. . . sometimes successfully, sometimes less so.[1] Several years of current residents in Plastics, Ophtho and Emerg, for example, are 100% occupied by UWO grads. [1] I'm not going to get into details of who from my class wanted to go where and do what. That would be inappropriate in this kind of forum. I will say two things in this regard, though - in relation to super competitive specialties. In general, most people who really wanted UWO got UWO. Those who were gunning for super competitive specialties and didn't match at UWO didn't necessarily get their #1 choice for location. . . often they were happy to get wherever they matched. In very general terms, they often didn't have a huge amount of control where that was. But this supports the idea if you are very, very sure you want an extremely competitive specialty (ie plastics, ophtho, derm, ENT, emerg) and you'd only be happy spending those 5 years in a specific location (ie Edmonton), doing med school there MAY make a difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest CaesarCornelius Posted March 20, 2005 Report Share Posted March 20, 2005 Hey, I just checked the carms website and there are 14 plastics spots. Must have gone up with the residency spot increases. Dalhousie University 1 McGill University 1 University of Toronto 2 McMaster University 2 The University of Western Ontario 2 University of Manitoba 1 University of Alberta 2 University of Calgary 1 University of British Columbia 2 Total 14 CC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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