The Get to Know Family Medicine for MD Students guide provides an overview of the ways that MD students can get involved with FM throughout their undergraduate education. It explores ways to connect with practicing Family Medicine physicians and experiences, as well as identifying the various opportunities that Family Medicine practice can offer.

• Get to know Family Medicine

Through Careers in Medicine® (CiM), the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) provides resources that help students channel their passion, learning, and investment into a fulfilling medical career. CiM is a comprehensive online repository of curated tools, guides, databases, and resources designed for medical students and residents. CiM is designed to complement the career planning and advising services offered at the College of Medicine.

Students will receive an access code in their first year of medical school to be redeemed on the CIM website.

• Redeem Your Access Code

In collaboration with the SMSS Interest Groups, Career Dialogues offer information to the students, over the lunch hour, about residency programs. One department per session is invited to provide a description of their program and host a question and answer period where they may cover topics such as matching, competitiveness, research opportunities, lifestyle, work hours, culture, etc.

Saskdocs.ca will be invited to provide employment outlook information and Specialist Fact Sheets on Saskatchewan specialties.

Participants include, but are not limited to:

• Upcoming Career Dialogues

AAMC (2016) defines a curriculum vitae (CV) as a summary of an MD student’s background and accomplishments related to their academic and work experience. It is one of many supporting documents MD students will need for the residency application process or to apply to research experiences, scholarships, honor societies, and other medical school opportunities.

Creating a CV takes time, but it’s a tool that physicians use throughout their professional life to present a complete but succinct summary and highlight of their qualifications. It’s a living document that represents an individual student. Properly constructed and with periodic updates, the CV you develop now will evolve throughout your career.

30 minute appointments are available in-person or documents can be reviewed via email.

When medical students begin the process of applying to the Canadian Resident Matching Service (CaRMS) to begin the application process, they will need to prepare a CV as part of their application. There are several documents that make up the residency application; the CV is included in the “Extra Documents” section. Always check the preferences for the residency program descriptions before assigning extra documents as some programs would like to see specific documentation and some do not want to review extra documents. The MD Student CV Guide provides a checklist, template, tips, and a word bank to assist you in the development of your professional medical CV.

Don’t forget that CV Review appointments are available to you at any time - just schedule an appointment in the 'Speak with a Career Advisor’' section above with one of our advisors!

• View CV Guide
• CV Template

CaRMS.ca (2017) states that personal letters are written by applicants to introduce themselves to programs and to express interest in a specific program and/or discipline. It outlines the reasons why a student has chosen a particular training program.

MD Student Personal Letter Guide

The MD Student Personal Letter Guide provides you with templates and tips for creating well-written personal letters to be used in the residency application process. Your personal letter discusses the reasons why you have chosen a particular training program. Each program has preferences regarding what it should contain such as word count and questions that need to be addressed. Check the individual program descriptions at carms.ca. Don’t forget that Personal Letter Review appointments are available to you at any time - just schedule an appointment in the 'Speak with a Career Advisor’ section above with one of our faculty career advisors!

For spelling, grammar, and/or sentence structure/phrasing, submit an Online Writing Help Request to the Writing Help Centre at the University of Saskatchewan Student Learning Services 

• View Personal Letter Guide

One hour in length appointments are available in-person, via video conference or via phone.

Preparing for your residency match interviews requires preparation and practice well before Year 4. Career Advisors will help students with learning the basics, going through questions to practice, and provide feedback for improvement.

The out-of-province Residency interviews are generally scheduled from mid-January to the beginning of February. The OCA&M offers one-on-one Mock Interviews to all cohorts at any time of the year. However, the number of Mock Interview appointments available to Year 4 students at both sites is increased from December to the end of January to help them prepare. The CMA/SMA also offer a mock interview weekend, in both Saskatoon and Regina, during the first week in January and we recommend taking advantage of both preparatory services.

MD Student Interview Guide

The three week period of national CaRMS interviews can be daunting! The MD Student Interview Guide provides tips for before, during, and after the interview.

• View Interview Guide

• 45-minute appointments are available in-person, virtually, or via phone.
• Mandatory Residency Application Review appointments with Year 4 MD students are scheduled with faculty members to review drafts of your CV, personal letter, and to discuss your match strategy.

The Office of Career Advising and Mentorship wish everyone all the best for Residency Match Day. Please know that we are here to support you with any concerns that you may have and please contact us if you are not successful in the first iteration of the residency match. The following resources and supports are available for you after the residency match.

• Resources for Unmatched Students

PIPT is a University of Saskatchewan-based group that organizes national panel talks with resident panelists from varying programs within the same specialty. These talks are tailored toward medical clerks who will be applying to the CaRMS match in the upcoming year, with the goal of allowing these prospective applicants an opportunity to compare the programs and determine where they may fit best.  Prior to the CaRMs deadline, PIPT plans to host multiple discipline-specific talks.

If you have any questions about the program or would like to signup for future talks please email one of the following

Use the Cost of CaRMS worksheet to help estimate and track what you have spent during your 4th year of medical education including exams, electives and the CaRMs process.

• Cost of CaRMS Worksheet

The Match Book, a joint initiative of the Canadian Federation of Medical Students and CaRMS intends to provide an introduction to the Canadian residency match process, present an overview of the major steps involved, and aid Canadian medical students at various stages of training in planning their strategy for matching in their preferred programs.

• CFMS Match Book

Canada’s Portal for Residency Program Promotion (CANPREPP),“an initiative by AFMC, is a virtual platform where any applicant to a Canadian residency program can discover, experience, and connect with any residency program across Canada.”

The site features a national calendar of upcoming residency program events, where “learners can search the calendar by event type, specialty or school. Programs will update the calendar as the events become available.”

Students can also search through Canadian residency programs by location, specialty, faculty, and language. Profiles can include contact info, a calendar, highlights, general info, and FAQs for that program.

• CANPREPP

New for the 2021 Match - all University of Saskatchewan residency applicants must complete a CASPer™ (Computer-Based Assessment for Sampling Personal Characteristics) test. CASPer is an online test which assesses for non-cognitive skills and interpersonal characteristics.

Tests dates and fees can be found on their website.  Please note these are the only testing dates available and no additional tests will be scheduled. CASPer test results are valid for one year. Direct any inquiries on the test to https://acuityinsights.app/contact-us/

• See a test example/schedule a test

The Couples Match App allows students to organize their rank-order list online! The program allows you to ensure that all possible combinations are considered. Proximity of school location is prioritized as well as each partner’s own personal rank order. If you have any questions about the functions of this app, please email vpstudentaffairs@cfms.org

• CFMS Couples Match App

The US residency match is done through the Electronic Residency Application Service or ERAS, which uses CaRMS as your designated Dean’s Office.

American organizations involved in this match include:

• ERAS - Electronic Residency Application Service
• FREIDA - Fellowship and Residency Electronic Interactive Database
• NRMP - National Residency Matching Program

If you are considering participating in the US Match, please start by going to the CaRMS: Application to the US (ERAS) page. It lays out the steps to the US match: applying to ERAS, applying to CaRMS and the NRMP, and applying for the J-1 visa.

You will also need to complete the United States Medical Licensing Examination or USMLE, which has 3 parts taking place before and during your residency

Additional Resources:

• McGill's Career Planning - US Residencies
• Queen's Canadian Medical Students and the US Match

“The Canadian Federation of Medical Students (CFMS), Health Human Resources Task Force (HHRTF)  has created one of the most comprehensive resources for medical student specialty planning in Canada, the Health Human Resources (HHR) Platform. Over 500,000 unique data points can be filtered by year (2015-current), specialty (62 in total), province or territory or specific health authority regions, and by data set. Additionally, the platform includes program director comments for many specialties and career planning resources.

• Tutorial Highlighting Platform

The specialty profiles contain summary information on Canadian physicians’ practices including workload, income, and satisfaction, as well as information on educational requirements, supply and demographics.

These data, along with further links within these documents, are useful to medical students as they plan their future careers as well as to healthcare researchers and others seeking information about specialists.

• Specialty Profiles

The Saskatchewan Medical Association (SMA) has a number of physician leadership opportunities. In partnership with the Canadian Medical Association's (CMA), the SMA offers Physician Leadership Institute (PLI) courses that will prepare you to be a more effective leader. With targeted funding, the SMA has the CMA PLI series in-house, delivering its courses at a reduced cost to its members. The SMA will sponsor three seats per course for medical students, and three seats per course for medical residents.

Physician Leadership Institute (PLI)

The Canadian Society of Physician Leaders (CSPL) is known as the go to organization for physician leaders. The organization has been providing support and development opportunities for Canadian physicians to help them succeed in their leadership and management roles in health care since 1998.

Canadian Society of Physician Leaders (CSPL)

Join a campus club

USSU Campus Groups Start a campus group

Join an SMSS Student group or committee

Saskdocs is a one stop shop for physicians and their families wanting to live and work in Saskatchewan. They work in partnership with students, medical trainees, physicians, international medical graduates, communities, health facilities and other partners to help find the right physician for the right community. Saskdocs is a part of the Saskatchewan Health Authority.

Resident and Physician Workforce Trends

Contact Saskdocs

Community Practice Profiles
Community Practice Profiles give students and medical residents a general overview of the primary care services in communities and the features of the practice. You can also express interest in a particular community through your saskdocs profile to receive notifications of practice opportunities.

Community Practice Profiles

Practice Opportunities