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Elective During Carms Interview Period


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Well, I didn't get lucky with my 4th year rotations schedule: I'll have 4 weeks of electives in January. I'm planning on doing the 1st two weeks in Rads (I'll be applying to Rads), but I have absolutely no idea what to do in the next 2 weeks because I hope I'll be going to the interviews...

 

So, any thoughts on what kind of elective should I get for those 2 weeks when I'll be pretty much absent for quite a few days?

 

I'm pretty sure I'll be doing those 2 weeks at my home school as not to hurt my chances at other schools, and also because it would be easier to accommodate my absences during that period...

 

Thanks in advance!

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I don't have any particular answer for the question you are asking, but be careful with the 2 week elective thing because most schools have rules about not being allowed to miss more than 25% of a given rotation (and 25% of 2 weeks is nothing!) so make sure in advance that you'd be allowed to take the days off for CARMs! I met someone from UdeM who was pretty smart and did a 6 week rotation during that time so he could miss more days.

 

(I didn't have this problem because my home school gave us 4 weeks off for CARMs but I know that's not the case everywhere!)

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Thanks. Unfortunately, I can only do a 4 weeks or 2 x 2 weeks elective in January.

At U. Laval they used to give us those two weeks off, but they changed it precisely for my year, and they're waiting to see how it goes... :/

 

Yeah, there's also the 25% max at U Laval, but since it wasn't my choice (either to cancel the 2 weeks off neither to get a rotation that gives me only 4 weeks of electives before CaRMS), I'm hoping they'll be more flexible or have options to compensate the days off.

 

I'm gonna meet one of the advisors at my school in the upcoming days to clarify my doubts about those 2 weeks and what my options are.

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Wow, they really go above and beyond to disadvantage you guys in Quebec. We have all 3 weeks of CaRMS off plus are guaranteed 10 weeks pre-CaRMS electives. For a region that is known for sticking together and fighting for student's rights, how have you guy's not lost your mind over that? They are messing with your careers and it's not like it's a 3 year program, at least those guys have a good reason for screwing over their own people. I would arrange a shift based elective like emerge or rads at your home school so you can work evening/weekends to make up the shifts missed I guess. Best of luck.

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Can you do either a reading elective or a research elective during those two weeks? Basically, any non-clinical elective that doesn't require you to show up every day? At Mac, it's common for people to book reading/research/anatomy/etc electives if they don't have enough vacation time for the CaRMS tour because you can do the work anywhere. 

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Wow, they really go above and beyond to disadvantage you guys in Quebec. We have all 3 weeks of CaRMS off plus are guaranteed 10 weeks pre-CaRMS electives. For a region that is known for sticking together and fighting for student's rights, how have you guy's not lost your mind over that? They are messing with your careers and it's not like it's a 3 year program, at least those guys have a good reason for screwing over their own people. I would arrange a shift based elective like emerge or rads at your home school so you can work evening/weekends to make up the shifts missed I guess. Best of luck.

 

Yeah, they're not very helpful... and I have no idea how it got to be like this. :confused:

I know they'll be flexible towards the days students will be interviewing, and they do try to accommodate, but it's definitely not that much helpful in the end.

 

At U Laval 50% of the 4th year med students only have 4 weeks electives before CaRMS, then another 4 weeks in January and 4 weeks in March. I happened to be one of those 50%... It is what it is, and I'll try to do my best to get into the program I want the most.

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Can you do either a reading elective or a research elective during those two weeks? Basically, any non-clinical elective that doesn't require you to show up every day? At Mac, it's common for people to book reading/research/anatomy/etc electives if they don't have enough vacation time for the CaRMS tour because you can do the work anywhere. 

 

I know we have no reading elective.

Research is a possibility, I hadn't thought about that! Thanks a lot.

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  • 1 month later...

Wow, they really go above and beyond to disadvantage you guys in Quebec. We have all 3 weeks of CaRMS off plus are guaranteed 10 weeks pre-CaRMS electives. For a region that is known for sticking together and fighting for student's rights, how have you guy's not lost your mind over that? They are messing with your careers and it's not like it's a 3 year program, at least those guys have a good reason for screwing over their own people. I would arrange a shift based elective like emerge or rads at your home school so you can work evening/weekends to make up the shifts missed I guess. Best of luck.

'

 

 

I don't think they necessarily go out of their way to disadvantage us.. It's more that the dynamic in francophone Quebec is different.. The majority of francophone students don't even consider going out of province, esp ULaval and USherbrooke students. Only a smaller group of gunners will apply out of province to try to match to more competitive specialities. Mcgill has protected time and from what I've heard, UMontreal gets a little more than 25% of the given elective.

 

Plus in Quebec, there is only one francophone family med interview for the three French faculties.. So theoretically, the amount of interviews and the time needed to get to those interviews is less vs ROC.

 

However, this sucks for all the students that get interviews out of province because 25% of a 4 week rotation is definitely not enough to do interviews accross the country..

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