Personal Statements

CaRMS Application

It is crucial that your personal statement is well written and demonstrates your commitment to training in that particular specialty and in that particular program. Every year, the stem for personal statements are different and there are specific requirements are different for every program and location. The CaRMS website is a great resource to research the specific requirements from year to year. Be sure to budget yourself enough time to write up all the personal statements as some programs have specific questions (for example: professionalism) that must be answered in your personal statement). You should take your time in putting your personal statements together and do a good job.

IMG

International Medical Graduates

After the application review is complete, programs will put together a short list of candidates that they want to interview. The CaRMS process is set up in a way that Canadian Medical Graduates (CMG) will have separate allotted spotted to complete for in the match. As an IMG you will only be competing against other IMG for a given number of spots in each program and specialty. The number of applicants vary every year and by program. The number of spots available to IMG are published and can be found on the specific program descriptions on the CaRMS or program websites.

Interview

CaRMS Process

CARMS as an International Graduate

You can search the CaRMS website for Reports and Statistics by year and they will list the number of IMG applicants for each specialty and the percentage of those that matched at all. The number of candidates invited for an interview is very small, but if you receive an interview your chances of matching become significantly higher.

Some IMG spots do not fill at all, but most do. When it comes time to rank the programs, be sure to rank the programs as you want them, not how you may perceive they want you. The match is designed to work in the applicant’s favour by taking the top rank of the applicant’s match list and cross-matching it to the highest possible choice of the program’s rank lists. The interview format is very different from each program and in each location.

Some formats are more standard panel interview format where questions are asked about your experiences, goals, and suitability to their program. Other formats are more MMI (multiple mini interviews) that evaluate your performance in specific scenarios. Be sure to look up the specific of the interview format of each program on the program description on the CaRMS website.

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