About the CFMS
The CFMS is an organization representing over 8,000 medical students from 15 Canadian medical student societies from coast to coast. We represent medical students to the public, to the federal government, and to national and international medical organizations.The results of the first iteration of the R-1 Match will officially be made available at 12:00 pm (noon) EDT on March 19th, 2024. * * Second iteration positions are also made available to unmatched students from the first iteration at this time and will be available on the CaRMS website.
Students who have opted in to learning about their match status early will be notified on March 18th, 2024 by their student affairs office.
At the CFMS, our priority as an organization is to advocate for the best possible medical school experience for all medical learners by addressing gaps in our current system, including the match process and availability of residency spots in Canada. It is many students’ worst fear to find out that they are unmatched, and we know that it is incredibly difficult to predict who will receive this news. We want to emphasize two things as we get closer to Match Day:
- If you go unmatched in the first iteration, please know that you are not alone. We encourage all students reading this who do match to help us change the culture around going unmatched by destigmatizing it.
- We are here and we want to help you. In this post we want to let you know what support we are able to provide in advance. We will be sharing these resources again on our website and on social media on Pre-Match Day so that they are readily available for you to revisit if you find yourself in this position.
Please read on for more information on what happens next and what support is available to you.
A more comprehensive list of Residency Match Resources can be found here
What happens after Match Day?
The second iteration of the R-1 match takes place over the month following the end of the first iteration. The details can be found on the CaRMS website here. Applications will be due on April 4th, 2024 at 12:00 pm (noon) EDT. Match Day for the second iteration will happen on April 25th, 2024 at 12:00 pm (noon) EDT. We understand that the tight timeline is stressful when you are already feeling overwhelmed, and we continue to advocate at every avenue for changes to this process.
For those who do not acquire a position in the residency match, or match to a second, third, or later choice discipline or location, you are not alone. We want to emphasize that your match status and results are not a reflection of your ability or potential—all applicants to this system are incredible, hard-working individuals and will make great physicians. There are many constraints and systemic issues within the match process itself, and every year there are students who go unmatched at no fault of their own. Unmatched applicants are the fault of a failing system, not of the applicant.
MATCH DAY SUPPORTS:
If you are not matched after the first iteration, please get in touch with us by emailing Astha Burande (Director of Education) at [email protected] and Ayma Aqib (Education Associate) at educationassociate@cfms.org who will be monitoring emails and connecting you with support. All information shared with us at either of these emails will remain strictly confidential between the two of us. If you email in French, Jasmine, our Quebec Regional Director, will be helping Astha and Ayma with translations. No one else will be able to access your information, including other members of the CFMS board. If you are more comfortable emailing another member of our team whom you know personally, please feel free to initially reach out to them as well and we will get you connected with support.
Match Day often brings complicated emotions and this is normal, regardless of match status. If you are in need of support, please reach out to your friends, family, student affairs office, and/or the wellness support available to you as a medical student (information below). Some of the resources below are only available to unmatched students, but many are available to students with any match status in need of further support.
1) CFMS Unmatched Peer Support Network:
The CFMS’s peer mentorship network takes two forms. First, you can reach out to the Director of Education or Education Associate at [email protected] or associateeducation@cfms.org to be paired with a buddy/mentor who has been unmatched in a previous year. We will do our best to pair students with mentors who have similar interests or schools. Our Quebec Regional Director will aid in translation if needed. Once again, we will all maintain confidentiality and protect your personal information.
The network is also accessible through the peer support forum website. This forum is strictly moderated and can be accessed at peersupportnetwork.net. The page is restricted to CFMS moderators, uCMG mentors and current uCMG students to strictly maintain privacy and comfort. Please sign up at peersupportnetwork.net. This is a forum to ask any and all questions you may have, including about your options, resources and available support. Note: you can join anonymously or using your name, whichever you prefer.
2) Second Iteration Application Reimbursement: The CFMS is excited to offer all unmatched members $150 to support applying to the second iteration of the R-1 match. The reimbursement form is available here. The reimbursement form must be completed and submitted to [email protected] by May 31, 2024.
3) Wellness Supports: We encourage all learners to be in close contact with their Student Affairs offices for comprehensive support during this process. The Canadian Medical Association provides a landing page with links to National HelpLines, as well as Provincial and Territorial Physician Support Services that are freely available to medical students 24/7.
4) SafeSpaces Peer Support Session for Unmatched Students (TBD): In the past, we have partnered with the CMA to host a psychiatrist-moderated peer support session for our unmatched students to help with connecting students with this experience. This is open only to unmatched Canadian Medical Graduates from the 2024 match cycle, and can be participated in anonymously if that is preferred. The SafeSpaces team is in the process of working with the CMA to plan for this years’ session, and we will let you know as soon as we know more.
5) CFMS Matchbook: The 2021 - 2022 Matchbook is accessible to CFMS members via our website and is accessible here. The matchbook is accessible with your CFMS login - if you do not already have an account, this account can be created easily but does require the code which you can get by reaching out to the CFMS Rep at your school or by emailing our office ([email protected]). Section 5 of the matchbook, “The Unmatched Scenario,” is a detailed toolkit, which includes advice from previously unmatched students, put together annually by the CFMS unmatched CMG (uCMG) team. The 2021-2022 version has information on each school’s extension policies for unmatched students. As such, most of the information found in the guide will be useful to you, but specific dates and anything that has changed in the last year will not be. Please note, the CFMS Matchbook 2023-2024 is currently in the works and will be available in April.
We have also gathered a list of provincial resources, found here:
Please note that your school’s student affairs office will have a more comprehensive list of available regional resources. This list has been compiled and updated to the best of our ability.
- Ontario - supports provided by OMSA include:
- An additional grant for the second iteration
- PARO offers their own helpline, accessible from any part of Ontario at 1-866-HELP-DOC (1-866-435-7362), more information here.
- PARO Success Stories
- Quebec
- We have partnered with the FMEQ for our students who are fluent in French. Please reach out to them at [email protected] to be paired with one of their French speaking mentors, whose brief (anonymous) biographies can be found on their website.
- Western Region
- Students attending schools in this region including UBC, the University of Calgary, University of Alberta, the University of Manitoba and the University of Saskatchewan can access support through their individual school’s student affairs office. To the best of our knowledge there is no additional regional support.
- Atlantic Region
- MUN students can find their school’s resources here.
- Dalhousie - your student council offers a fund for students submitting applications for the second iteration of the R-1 match, contact your student affairs office for more information
- Moncton - please reach out to your student affairs office for more information, and visit FMEQ’s website for more information on resources they provide Sherbrooke students