Humans of CaRMS – Internal Medicine 4

Internal Medicine, Vancouver

Third year internal medicine rotation. I was on Track 4 so had already decided I didn’t like OB/GYN, Peds was a maybe (essentially internal but for wee ones), and emerg was too crazy. I was at The Vic (I know, no longer a CTU site) and had an incredible experience where I realized I was good at looking after sick old patients. I had medicine electives at St B which also were good (consults, endo)

Yes. It’s crazy how much your electives really do decide where you end up. I was very fortunate to have received two OOP electives (Ottawa and Vancouver) for medicine. I worked with one of the program directors in Vancouver and literally on the last day of my rotation while completing my FITER they asked me what I wanted and I told them straight up I wanted to be a Vancouver R1 and they agreed to write me a strong letter. I do not know if I would have been so successful in matching to UBC otherwise because I would not have had any LOR from Vancouver since that was my only BC elective. It’s not fair of course that the electives you get are literally luck of the draw, even if you apply and spend hundreds of dollars on elective applications. I only received two OOP electives when I had applied for way more. Then there’s the other aspect of who you are assigned to work under; program directors are a big win, attendings who are not well known are a big loss in terms of playing the CaRMS game.

Med 1- went up north with the NMU early exposure. Best thing I could have done. Seriously. It really impacted the way I delivered care to patients afterwards and made me a stronger medical student and made my CaRMS application stick out. Med 2- summer research (no longer an option for future Med 2s), would not recommend anyways, my preceptor essentially made me do a BSc Med project in half the time.

You have to believe in yourself and the training you received as a Manitoba medical student. When you are applying to CaRMS, the application makes you seem like you’ve accomplished next to nothing, and the U of T interview applicants all appear to be bright shining stars. However, you were the one put through the Manitoba clerkship ringer and have enough battle scars to win over any interview with your vast experiences.

Doing that stupid Med 2 research project.

My electives, clerkship (believe me, we are so fortunate to have such a grueling clerkship that makes us such competent medical students both during electives and during the interview process)

Just be confident, speak clearly, wear a nice suit to your interview and you’re golden.