besides the examinations, what else?

[mertt]

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Hello everyone,

I guess what i'm gonna ask was asked thousands of times before me. First of all, sorry for this.
I'm a medical student and i'm in my third year. I want to get matched in Canada for medical residency. (i'm from Turkey).
The question is, besides all the examinations (MCCEE, NAC etc.), what else should i do to be matched easier?
For example, if i learn french (as my third foreign language), would it be beneficial for matching or in interviews?
if i do an observership in the summer before i graduated, would that help too?
what about reference letters? Do they make big differences (especially letters written by canadian doctors?)

Thank you.

 

[leviathan]

First, do you have permanent residency or Canadian citizenship?
I think it's unlikely to match without clinical experience in the Canadian medical system. An observership is better than nothing but not by much; what you really need are rotations in Canada.

 

[Westcoastin200]

French is a huge positive on your application. If you check out the CARMs website, there
was over 30+ residency slots left unfilled in Quebec, even after the 2nd iteration. Usually because
there aren't enough applicants fluent in French.

Remember that a program will likely always want to fill a slot (with a suitable candidate) over just letting it stay unfilled,
If a slot remains unfilled too many years in a row their funding will get slashed.