1. MCCEE, CaRMS, & Interviews Jocelin Desjardins McLeod
Getting back to Canada
MCCEE, CaRMS, & Interviews
Jocelin Desjardins McLeod

2. Should I plan to go back?
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.

3. Essential Steps PCRC (do this while at home for electives if you can)
Medical Council of Canada EE (sign up as soon as you can)
Do the EE around 4th year Barrier! (for us, the week before)
Get familiar with the CaRMS site
Contact HealthForce Ontario
Forget about the QE1 and QE2 for now

4. Studying for the EE Start in 4th year (end of 3rd)
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 (?). Don’t use too many!
Self administered exam on MCC site
Question banks for last 4-6 weeks
Don’t study all the time!

5. Tips for the Exam
GP focus (read that section of Toronto Notes), Question banks ++
Bring ear plugs
Testing Centre is in Sydney CBD
175 questions, 25 don’t count
You can take breaks if you want (but make sure to plan this).

6. Scores of USYD Grads 2010:
291
309
313
340
342
346
347
357
415
418
437
475
Family Interview

7. The only websites you need
PCRC
Medical Council of Canada
CaRMS
Ontario Family Medicine
USMLE World
Illegal Kaplan Step 2 videos
Canada Q bank

8. CaRMS applications 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.

9. CaRMS Interviews
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).

15. Return of Service IMG spots in most provinces have ROS
Manitoba – no ROS except in Remote
2nd 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

16. USYD GRADS who MATCHed 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 2nd iteration and post match

17. Family Medicine - Toronto
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 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

18. Family Medicine - Toronto
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 didn’t go to Western peds)

19. Family Medicine - Hamilton
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

20. Family Medicine – Manitoba Remote
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.

21. Internal Medicine- Halifax
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

22. No round One
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

23. US MATCH- Radiology MCCEE 475 USMLE 1 and 2- 99th percentile
Radiology electives in US (not Canada)
Had ~18 interviews across the US

24. Tips Match always favours the applicant
EE score isn’t everything, but it helps
Experience in Canada is ++ important
Canadian references
Keep resume up to date (long and short)
Planning- Family Medicine vs. Specialty

25. Contacts Jocelin Desjardins McLeod Malcolm McLeod jossyd@hotmail.com
Ps. Fly Air Canada