Canadian Medical Graduates
McMaster Family Medicine has a centralized admissions process. This means that your file will only be reviewed once and you will only be interviewed once. Therefore, only three reference letters and one personal letter are required regardless of the number of sites to which you apply (Brampton, Grand Erie Six Nations, Halton, Hamilton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Niagara or one of our rural sites). The same package should be uploaded for each site.
McMaster University is dedicated to selecting the best and brightest medical school graduates. As such, we will only be inviting those applicants who have a high score in the file review, personal letter and reference letter scoring process.
Important Notes
Please note that applications received after November 21 at 11:59pm will not be considered.
Supporting documents excluding letters of reference that arrive after November 21 at 11:59pm will not be considered.
Letters of reference that arrive after November 28 at 11:59pm will not be considered.
You will be able to add sites/streams to your application up until Sunday, January 21 at 11:59pm.
Our program is seeking applicants who:
- Are well rounded and show a variety of rotation electives,
- Are a self-directed learner, a committed to Family Medicine,
- Are skilled at self-assessment,
- Have strong interpersonal skills, give and receive constructive feedback,
- Have demonstrated resilience.
The review process (file review and interview) will focus on these traits. You do not have to prove that you are interested in Family Medicine by doing all of your electives in Family Medicine and we reward applicants who have completed a broad range of electives including our specialty. It is also not required for those who have chosen to do electives in Family Medicine to have done them at one of our sites.
Reference letters Three (only) reference letters are required from health care professionals who can speak to your clinical and professional capabilities. If applying to more than one site, the same letters should be uploaded to each site. Citizenship - Canadian birth certificate or act of birth
- Certificate of Canadian Citizenship
- Confirmation of permanent resident in Canada
- Passport page showing Canadian Citizenship
- Canadian Permanent Resident Card (both sides of card)
- Record of Landing, clearly showing the date of landing in Canada
Custom Resume or CV Please upload your complete CV Photo These are unmasked after the file review period and are used as a memory aid only. Medical Student Performance Record Order from your Dean’s office Medical School Transcript Medical school transcripts that are sent directly from the applicant’s University (Registrar) to CaRMS do not need to be notarized/certified. However, medical transcripts sent by the applicant will need to be notarized/certified. Personal Letter McMaster Family Medicine has a centralized admissions process requiring only one personal letter regardless of the number of applications you submit to the various streams/sites in our program. The personal letter (maximum of 1000 words and in paragraph format) must answer each of the following questions: - Tell us about the journey that led you to choose a career in Family Medicine?
- Why are you applying to the program at McMaster?
- Which personal qualities do you think are critical to a family physician and how do you measure up?
- What are your personal and professional goals for the future?
- Please speak to any significant gaps in training or program extensions.
- Please tell us anything else that you feel is important to your application to our program.
In the first iteration
If you are selected for an interview, you will be notified no later than Wednesday, December 20. You will only be notified if you have been selected. You will be provided with a link into a centralized scheduling software program which will open at noon on Thursday, December 21. You will be asked to pick the date and either the morning or afternoon session. You will only be able to select the date and time if spots are available. Once all spots are filled for that date/time, you will need to select a different date/time. You will be sent a confirmation email.
If you wish to change your date, you can do so at any time. If your preferred date is not available, we encourage you to keep checking back as others make changes, your preferred date may become available.
Once the scheduler closes at at 11:59pm on Monday, January 1, no other changes can be made and we do not offer waiting lists. As much as possible, we encourage you to attend in person in order to meet the program faculty, staff and residents. In the case of special circumstances such as weather or illness, we will be able to offer alternatives to in-person interviews; however, the date and time will not change.
In the second iteration
This site will be updated after Match Day on March 1, 2018.
In the First Iteration
All interviews will be held at The David Braley Health Sciences Centre, 100 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario on either Saturday, January 14; Friday, January 20 or Saturday, January 21.
In addition to the interview, we will be providing you with a brief information session about our program with representatives from all sites including faculty, staff and residents.
The information session takes place twice daily, early in the morning for those choosing to attend morning interviews and early in the afternoon for those choosing to attend afternoon interviews. It is important that you attend the information before your interview as we will be providing you with information regarding the interview structure. Breakfast or lunch will be provided at these sessions. Family members/partners are welcome to attend.
Interviews will be conducted as a modified personal interview (MPI). The MPI is conversational in nature and is designed to allow you more time to express yourself with a wider range of interviewers. You will have four, 10-minute, one-on-one interviews with a combination of residents and staff as opposed to our previous format of one 20-minute interview with a resident and a staff member. Each question will be scored separately and the total score will be used for the ranking process. This method has been shown to have increased reliability and validity standards during the scoring process.
In the Second Iteration
This site will be updated after Match Day, March 1, 2018
Parking:
Parking is available in the downtown core, very close to the David Braley Health Sciences Centre. A list of available parking and associated costs is below. Visit Parkopedia to view lots on a map, including opening hours, prices, and payment methods.
Dress Code:
The dress code for the day is business attire.
Inclement Weather:
In the event of a snow storm, CaRMS interviews may still take place for all of those applicants who are able to make their way to Hamilton. Additional information will be posted on our website as required (www.fammed.mcmaster.ca) regarding alternatives to in-person interviews. We ask that all applicants make note of the following number and call to let us know if inclement weather will prevent them from attending their interview. Our CaRMS Team Leader can be reached at (905) 869-7713.
Should the storm preclude even local travel such that we cannot staff the event, we will post this information on the website as well and defer to scoring documentation only without any penalty to the applicant.
Accommodations:
If you require accommodations while in Hamilton, please feel free to contact any of the below hotels and mention The Department of Family Medicine, McMaster University, for a reduced rate:
- Sheraton Hotel (116 King Street West, across the street from the David Braley Health Sciences Centre) | $129/night, traditional room; $139/night, deluxe room; $159/night, club level, includes breakfast | 905-529-5515
- Homewood Suites by Hilton (40 Bay Street South, across the street from the David Braley Health Sciences Centre | $139/night | 905-667-1200
- Staybridge Suites Hamilton (20 Caroline Street South, one block from the David Braley Health Sciences Centre) | $135/night | 905-527-1001
