Abstract Manager

Dedicated Poster

LP3 - 04

Accept

I declare I have no actual or potential conflict of interest in relation to this program.

no

General Call (Workshop, Oral Presentation, Poster Presentation)

Poster

Education Research

Student

A cross-sectional analysis of application requirements for residency programs in Canada under pass/fail grading

Canadian medical school graduates are matched with residency programs through the Canadian Residency Matching System (CaRMS). Students apply to programs of interest through an online system at carms.ca, and upload required materials. These materials typically include a Medical School Performance Record (MSPR), Curriculum Vitae, letters of recommendation, and medical school transcripts. In recent years, some Canadian medical students have reported that Canadian residency programs have begun requiring undergraduate transcripts from residency applicants. To the best of our knowledge, the prevalence of this practice among all residency programs in Canada has not been investigated. This requirement may be in response to a shift in Canadian medical education toward pass/fail grading systems and away from letter grades, making differentiation between applicants on the basis of academic performance more difficult. Most applicants do not take the Medical Council of Canada Qualifying Examination Part I until after matching.

We built a database of residency program application requirements using data retrieved from the CaRMS website (Data was retrieved between May 1st and July 15, 2017). Requirements for residency programs with multiple sites were recorded separately. Residency programs were organized by specialty. We recorded the specific requirements of each residency program using Microsoft Excel. We then analyzed the proportion of residency programs that request transcripts in each specialty. We also considered the differences in program size by using total quota of positions available to compare institutions and specialties with differently-sized residency programs by weighting transcript requirements by the number of positions available in each residency program and institution. From this we calculated both the proportion of residency programs and the proportion of residency positions that require submission of an undergraduate transcript in order to apply.

There was wide variability in requirements across Canadian residency programs. 13 of 15 ophthalmology programs required results of a comprehensive eye exam conducted by an ophthalmologist. Among otolaryngology programs, 2 required or strongly recommended inclusion of an ophthalmological report with the application. After weighting by the number of available positions in each residency program, we found that 31% of Canadian residency positions required submission of an undergraduate transcript in order to apply. Of the 514 CaRMS-rankable residency programs we identified in Canada in 2017, 28% of programs required undergraduate transcripts from applicants. This requirement varied widely by specialty and institution. A majority of positions in public health, radiology, nuclear medicine and dermatology required the undergraduate transcript, while it was not required anywhere for applications in neurosurgery, pathology, and medical microbiology. 9% of programs did not require a medical school transcript. 1 residency program required applicants' MCAT score.

Requirements to include an undergraduate transcript may be an unintended consequence of the widespread shift in Canadian medical education away from numerical and letter grades, in favour of a pass/fail system. This may also be related to 9% of residency programs not requiring medical school transcripts. The requirement for submission of a comprehensive eye exam in order to apply to residency programs in ophthalmology and otolaryngology may not be known to many medical students considering career options in the earlier years of their undergraduate medical education.

Residency applicant selection

Canadian Residency Matching System

CaRMS

Post Graduate

Postgraduate

Admissions

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes