Happy Holidays! A few additional tips for residency applicants...

Happy Holidays!

I have not posted anything in a while, but I have been limiting the fillers in my blog; maintaining it purely as a guide for Canadian IMG's during medical school and for those applying for post-graduate medical residency positions in Canada (and in the US).

I have been involved in the CaRMS residency candidate review process for a few years now, and have noted a few consistent issues that work against the applicant during the screening process.  These are avoidable "blunders" that can make or break your chances of obtaining an interview.

1. Every year, I've noted reference letters that, although they may be "strong" recommendations by the referee, refer to a different field of medicine than that to which the candidate is applying.

What I Recommend: Please ensure that the person writing you the letter ensures that it pertains to the field to which you are applying.  I understand that candidates may apply to different specialties and may use the same referee to write your letters for various programs.  Try to ensure that they are aware of this, so that they do not indicate their strong support for your position in Internal Medicine when you are applying to Otolaryngology, for example.

2. Some candidates use referees from research only, i.e. Referees who are scientists (PhD), but not clinicians (MD).

What I Recommend: It is important that programs see how you perform in a clinical setting, hopefully in the field to which you are applying.

3. Reference letters are from attending in fields other than that to which candidates are applying.

What I Recommend:  Once again, it is important that programs see that you are committed to training in that specialty, therefore, I strongly recommend at least 1 out of 3 letters of recommendation be from a clinician who specializes in the field to which you are applying.  I.e. You should have at least one neurologist write you a letter if you are applying to neurology.  And, as mentioned above, if the other letters are from Internists or other, please ensure that they are aware you are applying to Neurology, so that they do not state "you would make a great internist".

4. Candidates apply to a specialty in which they have not done any electives.

What I Recommend: If you have not done any electives in that particular fields and cannot clearly emphasize its significance in your personal statement, do not bother applying to that field.  Programs will see that you are more committed to simply matching to any specialty.  They will "weed out" these applications from the screening process quickly, as they do not want to risk having a candidate be unhappy in that field or potentially switching out once they match.  Trust me, it works in favor of the candidate to apply to a field where they would thrive, not just for the sake of matching.

5. Long-winded personal statements about why you wanted to be "doctor" or trying to relate personal ailments to your decision to become a physician, with only a short paragraph of why you are applying to a particular specialty.

What I Recommend:  The reason why you wanted to be a physician was included in your medical school application.  Please keep your personal statement for residency focused on why you wish to be a [Insert specialty here] and what you have done along the way in medical school or graduate work that makes you a great candidate for that particular specialty.  Research the program, and highlight why you wish to be part of that particular program.  If you are applying to more than one different specialty, do not write a standard template paragraph and simply replace one specialty for another within the text.  This is something programs do clearly notice during the screening process.

Should you follow these recommendations along with those from my initial blog posts, you will significantly increase your chances at obtaining an interview.  Once you make it to the interview, the rest is based on how your interact with the interviewers and whether your personality fits well with the program.  The odds are in your favour and so is the match process, as I have previously discussed in an earlier post.

Please follow me on Twitter for more regular updates: @medstudentopps.

Wishing all of you a Happy Holiday season and best of luck to those applying for residency in 2014.

- Phil