MMSA – Manitoba Medical Students' Association

Manitoba Medical Students' Association

Humans of CaRMS – Internal Medicine 5

[acc-trig title=”Which specialty did you match into? And where?”]
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Internal in MB

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[acc-trig title=”At what point in medical school did you know what specialty you wanted to match into?”]
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I was strongly interested in Internal after I did an early exposure in GIM during my second summer break. At first, it was a way to “rule-out” adult medicine as I thought pediatrics was the place for me. During the rotation, however, I loved working with the adult population, the complex medical problems we had to work on, and doing procedures. After that, it came down to clerkship and electives to help narrow down which field I felt a bigger pull towards.

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[acc-trig title=”Do you feel that your choice of electives had any impact on your CaRMS match?”]
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I wanted to stay in province and my electives, I think, reflected that. If you’re strongly considering different provinces, I recommend doing electives out of province so you get a feel for how the healthcare system works, and the environment you’d be working in.

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[acc-trig title=”What did you do with your Med 1 and Med 2 summers?”]
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First summer I did a Pediatric GI early exposure and loved it! It’s what ignited my passion for GI that I still have today. My second summer I did a research project and two early exposures.

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[acc-trig title=”What was the most valuable lesson or experience you had while going through the match process?”]
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There’s no right way to write a personal letter. I had multiple people from multiple educational backgrounds read my letters and they all had good advice, but also conflicting advice – go with what you feel best reflects who you are as a candidate.

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[acc-trig title=”If you could go back and change anything during pre-clerkship or clerkship, what would you change?”]
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Nothing – if you go through medical school with the intent of learning as much as possible and pursuing your passions, there’s nothing that’s a “waste of time” or “worth going back to change”.

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[acc-trig title=”What did you do in your four years of medical school that you found to be the most helpful during the CaRMS process?”]
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You’ll hear everyone say this, and I, of course didn’t listen at the time and regret it, but WRITE DOWN MEMORABLE EXPERIENCES. Yes, you’ll have some “omg” moments that you probably won’t ever forget, but will you remember a time you exhibited leadership skills? brought a team together? supported a classmate? went the extra mile for a patient? felt like you failed? Over time, these small moments will add up to your overall medical school experience, but being able to give concrete examples in your personal letters and interviews will help you stand out.

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[acc-trig title=”Do you have any final words of wisdom or advice?”]
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Find your niche. Pursue something you’re genuinely passionate about and the doors that open to you will be endless. Not only that, but you also make yourself unique in the CaRMS process by having something you could talk about in your interviews. Mine was medical education, it’s something I knew I wanted to pursue in my future. I fell into my research project serendipitously but made the most of it after that. During CaRMS, it was a major talking point as the interviewers were genuinely interested in my perspectives.

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Kristen Braun

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