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MCCEE, CaRMS, & Interviews Jocelin Desjardins McLeod Slide 2 Plan to go back if you are thinking about it at all. (Easy to change your mind.) If you have time, write your USMLEs. Decide on your specialty early. Take all opportunities to do electives/GP/PRINT in Canada and the States. Make sure your application is NOT one- dimensional. Slide 3 Slide 4 Start in 4 th year (end of 3 rd ) Come up with a study plan Helpful resources: Toronto Notes, USMLE First Aid CK Step 2, Kaplan USMLE Step 2 Videos, USMLE World, Canada Q bank (?). Dont use too many! Self administered exam on MCC site Question banks for last 4-6 weeks Dont study all the time! Slide 5 GP focus (read that section of Toronto Notes), Question banks ++ Bring ear plugs Testing Centre is in Sydney CBD 175 questions, 25 dont count You can take breaks if you want (but make sure to plan this). Slide 6 Family Interview Scores of USYD Grads 2010: 291 309 313 340 342 346 347 357 415 418 437 475 Slide 7 PCRC Medical Council of Canada CaRMS Ontario Family Medicine USMLE World Illegal Kaplan Step 2 videos Canada Q bank Slide 8 Start early (pre-register in August) Organize references early (aim for 4-5 references) Keep resume (long and short) up to date Look at past personal statement questions and think about what you might talk about Follow their timeline. Call them if you have questions. Slide 9 Programs start contacting applicants in December (over a month) Practice interview questions (especially for Family medicine)- similar questions every year! Have examples ready for each scenario Go to the Interview day in Toronto in December Go to as many interviews as you can (any programs you plan to rank). Slide 10 Slide 11 Slide 12 Slide 13 Slide 14 Slide 15 IMG spots in most provinces have ROS Manitoba no ROS except in Remote 2 nd round- chance to have no ROS ROS contracts changing each year- now most specialties only require you to be working outside of major cities (ex. Toronto or Ottawa) PRP for most programs are mandatory Subspecialties and Fellowships Slide 16 2010 class: ~30-35 Canadians ~15 people wrote the EE last year ~10 applied to CaRMS, 1 to US & Canada 7 people interviewed in Canada 3 matched to Family in first iteration 1 matched to radiology in US match 3 going into the 2 nd iteration and post match Slide 17 MCCEE Score- 418, No USMLE exams Experience in Canada (24 weeks in total: 8 GP in BC, 4 GP in Toronto, 4 GP in Collingwood, 4 peds in Windsor, 4 Cardio in Sudbury), Ambulance ride- outs Rural Oz experience in Lismore and with the Royal Flying Doctors 2 Canadian GP references, 1 consultant @ Nepean, 3 peds consultants for my peds programs- 2 Canadian, 1 Oz Honours Research, awarded a Medical Deans Grant, no papers published Final year Usyd Prizes: Obs and Gyne awards, Critical Care award, Anesthesia Prize Slide 18 NAMSA Exec, UniMed, Surf Livesaving Various memberships to clubs, Med Review My years prior to med school: McGill academic all Canadian, Varsity swimming, Varsity Team Captain, Olympic Trials, swim coaching, lifeguarding and supervising Matched to Greater Toronto Family (1st choice of 17), applied to a few peds programs, but mostly family. Interviewed at most, but didn't get MAC peds and didnt go to Western peds) Slide 19 MCCEE score-346, no USMLE exams Electives/PRINT/GP in Canada- 24 weeks total. References: All Canadian; one psych, one GP and one Emerg. Honours Project clinical research, no papers published, Nepean Research Day Masters research pre-med (included research grants, conference awards, poster presentations etc.) NAMSA member, exec, GPSN member, Medsoc member Matched to: Hamilton Family Medicine, McMaster (3rd choice out of 7 applied to) Interviewed for Ontario family, but did not go to Memorial Family Slide 20 MCCEE score 415, no USMLE exams Electives: 4 weeks FM in BC victoria youth clinic, 4 week FM BC rural GP clinic and 4 weeks internal at Toronto general - 12 weeks total, did PRINT and GP in Oz References: consultant of internal med at Toronto general, 2x GP in BC and renal consultant at concord hospital Concord mentoring program, bit of research prior to med school but no published papers Applied for only FM, all positions in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland (18 programs) Interviewed in Ontario and Manitoba. Did not get Saskatchewan (ACLS?) and did not travel to Memorial. Slide 21 St George University, Grenada MCCEE score 413, USMLE step 1 and 2 CS and CK completed & did well Electives = 4 weeks neuro at NOSM, 4 weeks FM in Sask, 6 weeks psych in BC, others in the US Had 7 interviews in US for neurology (applied to alot of neuro programs there) Applied for a variety of programs in Canada (psych, derm, IM, FM, urology, opth, neuro, neurosurg)- Got interviews for all except neurosur: IM for toronto, dalhousie, FM for ontario, manitoba, newfoundland, sach, neuro for northern ont, derm toronto, psych toronto Different personal letters for each program: did them through a company on internet that edits and makes recommendations - very expensive but may have been good ++ Canadian references Volunteer work in grenada, no research or publications, some lab work prior to med Friends from SGU got derm ottawa, psych toronto, 2x ER toronto, radiation onc mcmaster, 2xFM toronto, radiology toronto, fm alberta Slide 22 Person 1: EE score 357, Unimed,Teaching English overseas, 16 weeks of Canadian electives (PRINT and GP but not electives), Canadian references Person 2: EE score 340, NAMSA exec, Unimed, some research prior to med, 16 weeks of Canadian electives (no PRINT), Canadian references Slide 23 MCCEE 475 USMLE 1 and 2- 99 th percentile Radiology electives in US (not Canada) Had ~18 interviews across the US Slide 24 Match always favours the applicant EE score isnt everything, but it helps Experience in Canada is ++ important Canadian references Keep resume up to date (long and short) Planning- Family Medicine vs. Specialty Slide 25 Jocelin Desjardins McLeod jossyd@hotmail.com Malcolm McLeod dr.m.mcleod@hotmail.com Ps. Fly Air Canada