I guess everyone is anxious about Carms, and I’ve been receiving weird questions like … Will I get matched? and is it hard to get matched in Canada?
I wished I had a crystal ball to tell you the right answer to all that.
Instead, I looked up stats in the Carms website from last year’s match, and posted the slides most relevant to IMGs.
Basically, it says. 1758 IMGs applied, and 398 got a residency spot. That’s like 22.6% of them matched. HOWEVER, remember that this is a COMBINED data. Doesn’t really tell you what the applicants were going for, or which province it was. So, it doesn’t mean you will have a 22.6% chance of matching… The chances will be higher if you applied to a small province (i.e., NOT ontario), and chances can be lower if you are applying to orthopedic surgery …
Noted that lots of Canadians who studied in Ireland got a residency. I also met lots of them in my interviews, they are nice ppl.
On average, IMGs send out like 20 applications for residency. (remember, initial fee for carms is 310$ which includes 9 applications, and each additional application is like 35$ ) . I remembered I sent out much more than 20 lol.
Results also indicate to WORK HARD on your first application cycle.
237/1008 = 23.5% of first timers matched
115/765 = 15% of ppl who tried 2-3 times
46/499 = 9% of ppl who tried >3 times
Lesson is : PLEASE invest time and energy on your first application year. Most places will not re-invite you in the second year you apply.
Lastly, numbers of IMGs matched last year went down a little when compared to previous 2 years: 398 < 411 < 408. Probably because Ontario restricted the second round spots to IMGs.
I wish everyone good luck in the upcoming application year! And remember to always try and beat the odds! Keep fighting, take small risks, go network, and go help out others on their journey.