CaRMS and You: A Love Story?

What Is CARMS???

Wait, what?

CaRMS is the Canadian Residency Matching Service

Central matching service for Canada, has limitations (Alberta has it’s own system)

Only need the MCCEE to apply To write the MCCEE you will need to do

a source verification request with the PCRC (Physicians Credientials Registry of Canada)

New System

Launches May 23rd

Combination of PCRC and MCC online services (and presumably others)

Called Physiciansapply.ca Don’t know much about it

2012 Match ResultsBring The Noise

2012 Match Results

Lots of charts out there Google “Carms Reports”. R-1 Match

results sorted by year will be the first hit

A ton of data here, but if you focus on just the IMG stuff you can get through it pretty quickly

Match Results: Numbers

2156 total IMG participants (2700 CMG) 407 Matched 19% Match rate overall

323 were 2012 grads 141 matched 43% Match rate

1833 Previous year grads 266 matched 14.5% Match rate

Official Looking Official Chart

Fun Facts Abound!

Note 1: 45% of IMGs only applied to one discipline in the match.

Note 2: 60% of the IMGs who chose Family Medicine as their 1st career choice only applied to Family Medicine

But What Does It All Mean?

Don’t get too focussed on the numbers

They can be interesting and informative if you’re looking at specific specialties and are forming an application plan (I want to do X, but last year only 5% of applicants matched etc.)

Usyd specific numbers might help a bit more

Our Match Results

2011: 7/10 matched. FM, Anesthesia, Ortho and Gen surgery

2012: 5/7 participants matched with 1 unmatched and 1 unknown result.

Also, one other person that may or may not have participated, but no one has been in touch

Our Match Results: Result Harder

2012 Matched specialties were: 2 pediatrics (UoT and UoM), 3 FM (UoA, UoO and UoT)

Not a big surgical push this year

How Did You Guys Do It?

Devin “The Brown Bandit” SinghUoT Pediatrics

Canada: Paediatrics

Devin Singh: devin.singh@mac.com Matched #1 choice: UofT / Sick Kids Paediatrics MCCEE 398 LORs 2 paeds, 1 non-med, 2 FM: 1 Usyd, 1 paeds UBC

(PICU elective), 2 Ontario FM letters written for Paeds (Electives), 1 YMCA Day Camps (non-medical)

No published research BUT 3 yrs working at Woolcock Applied to Paediatrics and Family Medicine where

possible across Canada Interviews:

FM Ontario + Dal Paeds UofT, Ottawa, U of Manitoba

Canada: Paediatrics

Do as many placements as possible in Canada!

Electives/Canadian Places: FM Core term: Kingston 6 weeks, Whitby 4

weeks Electives: ▪ Paeds PICU UBC (4wks)▪ Unofficial Research Elective, Anesthesiology – UofT –

no publication resulting from it PRINT: Tried so hard to arrange Paeds but couldn’t

▪ FM Sherbourne Health Clinic – UofT (4wks) ▪ FM Stonechurch Health Clinic – McMaster (4wks)

Rob “LoverBoy” Flook UoA Family Medicine

I matched into FM at the U of A (Matched 1st round /1st Ranked Position) (Via AIMG Program)

Interviews for IM & FM Across Canada McMaster-IM is bullshit !!! Two Solid letters of

Rec + 4 Week Elective there = No interview For IM But FM is solid there, and they do like Usyd

students Also – Mayo Clinic : Sent me a letter that said I

matched into IM just prior to the last day to make any changes to my Rank order list (ROL) in Canada

Rob Studies Hard

EE mark was in the top 1 percentile and QE was top 5 percentile, NAC OSCE Mark was 90%. 

Electives : McMaster IM, Calgary IM, Uof A FM. Mayo IM. 

Jane “Anonymous By Request” DoePediatrics

Experience

Electives Community term entirely in Ontario Internal med with UBC Pediatric heme/oncology with UoCalgary

Marks

MCCEE 3 months of prep Used Toronto Notes, USMLE World Step

2, Kaplan videos and Canada Qbank Got a 402

Interviews

Pedes, internal med and GP in both Ontario and Manitoba

6 total interviews (2 per specialty)

Cameron “Coco” O’ConnorOttawa Family Med

Experiences

Electives in Kelowna BC 4 weeks anesthesia followed by 4 weeks

orthopedics Arranged independently through the College

of Physicians and Surgeons, but in coordination with UBC and through direct communication with preceptors on the ground

PRINT 4 weeks of Anesthesia in Halifax through

Dalhousie

Marks

415 On the MCCEE Study more spread out and then concentrated

again in the last 1-1.5months Completed the entire USMLE World Step 2 Qbank

and reveiwed every question with highlights etc. 2 times

Completed the entire Canada MCCEE Qbank, did not review

Completed the Doctors in Training Step 2 course Studied mainly with Step Up to USMLE step 2

and some Toronto Notes

Marks At USyd

Slightly above average. Nothing to write home about

Other Stuff

Wrote for Med Revue Position as part of Global HOME Electives Officer for NAMSA Ran Logistics for GHC 2011 Assisted a fellow from Halifax on a

literature review (unpublished)

How I Applied

Applied to every single program in the following disciplines that I qualified for Gen surg Orthopedics Anesthesia Emergency

Also, all of the Ontario FM programs 30+ applications in total, each with

their own unique letter

My Results

4 Interviews granted Halifax and UoT anesthesia Thunder Bay (NOSM) Orthopedics Ontario FM (done as one big group for all

of the programs) Rank Order List: #1 UoT Anes #2

Halifax #3 NOSM #4 Various FM programs (Ottawa was #5 I think)

Matched to Ottawa FM!

Contact

cameronoco@gmail.com

Jennifer “Eclectic Application” McDonaldbourneHamilton Family Med

Experiences

Electives Mayo and Cleveland clinics Plastics for both I’m pretty sure

Not sure if she did PRINT or community back home

Marks

450 on the MCCEE! Did write the USMLE step 1 (and 2?)

Results

Interviews Ontario FM Radiology at both Ottawa and McMaster Derm and Vascular Surgery in Ottawa

Matched to Hamilton FM

Quick Notes On TestsTesty

Do Them

Get registered. Don’t get scared. The more of them you do, the better

your chances Scuttlebutt is that the NAC-OSCE is

being pushed as a requirement in the near future. Very beneficial if you have it

MCCEE

A couple of months of hard study will get you over

Canada Qbank is VERY similar to what shows up on the test proper. A really good ego booster

Need to get near 400 to be in the upper echelons

2012: Mean 271 with an SD of 50

NAC-OSCE

Should do it, have to if you apply for BC I believe

Good predictor of future ability apparently

Expansion to number of writing dates and positions happening right now (likely as setup to making it an absolute requirement across Canada)

Rob Says...

NAC OSCE A Comprehensive review This text book is all you need

10 or 11 stations + written section Physical exam or take a history and Then answer questions Physical exam- Cardio exam, Resp exam, MSK –

exam lower limb, GI- exam- these come up a lot History- peds (take a hx from mom) Look at this ECG- STEMI Scored 90 For the written section- made flash cards to

learn dosages

AIMG

The Alberta system Requires an Alberta NAC-OSCE and

MMI Rob wrote the NAC-OSCE in

September and did the MMI in October of his 4th year

MMI required NO prep. Just flight time.

Need to be from Alberta or have done a degree there (there may be some other ways in too)

Don’t Wait

It’s totally an illusion that writing later will get you a better mark unless you are studying for the test the whole time

You’re studying for a specific test. How much material you get through is almost all that matters

“I’ll know way more in 4th year than in 3rd year” Nope, not unless you studied intensively for

that test the whole time

Mechanics Of CarmsEngineering!

Site is closed, can’t show screencaps Program description list is up

though! Check it out early and see what’s up Look at stuff you might not have

thought of (it worked for Jenn!) Accessible via the CaRMS site

(sidebar

Error?

Giving me an error when I try to access specific programs (anesthesia etc)

When it works: shows you what you need to apply and usually gives a short blurb about the program along with the academic schedule etc.

Notes

As it says: dates are not hard deadlines unless otherwise specified

Still don’t recommend being late for stuff, it’s not good for the blood pressure

Tips

Whether or not a program is taking applications from IMGs can be surprisingly hard to figure out. Some of mine (like halifax) WERE NOT listed on the description site numbers

Avoid all that junk: when you get access to the CaRMS site proper and are selecting programs there are two drop boxes One says University and the other says discipline Just use one OR the other to have all programs that

you are eligible to apply for come up TAH DAH!

Tips 2

Submitting marks and some other documents: the university can do this directly to CaRMS for you, Just ask the OME

This avoids long waits from mailing stuff as the university is registered with CaRMS

This tip actually saved one of the applicants in 2012 from not getting stuff in and processed on time

Tips 3

Get your references uploaded early, don’t want to be waiting on people

Even someone that seems reliable might take way longer than you would expect

E-mails are sent directly to the referee via the CaRMS site, they then upload their letter

Tips 4

Letter writing is an art but... If you apply to many, many programs you

might want to make a generic letter for each specialty and then change a paragraph or two to make it specific

Always mention the specific school and program and why you want to go there. Research their sites to find stuff to hone in on

Build a narrative or an angle as to what brought you to them

Tips 5

Include examples of the CanMeds roles, but don’t necessarily be explicit about it

Ex: My time heading logistics for GHC required me to work extensively with many other people, lead a team etc. Which has helped to shape me into a candidate that excels in a variety of roles etc etc etc

Don’t say “I have demonstrated the CanMeds roles of X by doing Y”

CanMeds will also show up in your interviews, know them (not all details, just what they are)

InterviewsThe Big Show

Interview Season

Starts late Jan and goes into Feb Noone I’ve heard of ever had

conflicting interview times Fly little birdie, fly

Fun!

Interviews are fun and come in many shapes and sizes

MMI, panel, one on one, multi-part etc.

Social events: go to them.

Tips

Go look up CaRMS interview questions online, there are some great lists out there

Look over the list with a buddy, bounce answers off each other, challenge each other

Practice phrasing etc by yourself Definitely be ready for the biggies: why

here, why the specialty, what don’t you like/what’s the biggest challenge? What’s your biggest weakness? etc.

Tips 2

Many different philosophies and ideas, but being yourself and staying reasonably relaxed is going to help regardless

Professional and personable Pass the 4am test (Is this the person

that I want by my side at 4am when we’ve been working for 30+ hours and everything is going wrong?)

The Rank Order List

You rank the programs you interviewed at and the programs rank the people they interviewed

Nothing to it Just rank what you want. The way it works

you can’t game the system by ranking what you think you are more likely to get higher etc.

Still the biggest single decision you’ll make after deciding to apply in the first place

It’ll Be AlrightRamble section and Questions