CARMS Interviews - 2021
uOttawa Social Night
Date & Time: Monday, Mar 22nd, 2021 at 7PM EST
Location: Zoom - please check your emails or email ddoan(at)toh.ca for details.
Our General Surgery Program is very glad to welcome all our interviewees 2021 for a Social evening on March 22nd at 7pm EST. This will be an occasion to mingle with residents and faculty, learn about our program and hopefully relax before interview day. Looking forward to seeing you there!
This is an optional event. It is entirely meant for you to learn more about our program so that you’ll pick us! Any information shared about the program and about the interview day during this event will also be made available to anyone who is unable to attend.
uOttawa CARMS INTERVIEW DAY
Interview Details
Date: Tuesday March 23, 2021
Time: 7:30AM - 5:00PM EST
Details: Please check your emails for instructions and your interview circuit time.
FAQS
How long is my interview?
It should take about 1 hour to complete your interview circuit. You don't have to worry about time during the process, the interviewer will be responsible for that.
Who will interview me?
You will meet 5 teams of 2 interviewers: one staff surgeon and one senior residents in each team.
What should I do if I am having technical difficulties?
If you experience any technical difficulties during the interview please contact Danielle Doan at 613-798-5555 ext 16248
Can I take notes during the interview?
Yes, you can take notes to help you in specific scenarios. Please do not share the questions with other applicants as it is very important to us that the process remains fair.
If I am applying to the bilingual stream will parts of the interview be in French?
If you applied to the bilingual stream, you will be asked questions in French in one of the station.
We are very happy to welcome the 59 applicants who will be participating in the interviews. We are excited to be hosting our first virtual interview day.
Ottawa has been doing multiple mini interview (MMI) for many years. We had to adapt the format this year but we tried to respect the guiding principles of MMI providing applicants with multiple short structured interviews. This year, the applicants will be submitted 9 scenarios based on traits that we think are important to success in General Surgery and in our program. These are not trick questions - we just want to get to know you to figure out if we are the right program for you to be become the best surgeon you can be.
There are a few reasons why we think MMI are a better format. They are a strategy to decrease the influence of unconscious bias because of how structured and explicit they are for the assessors. This is very important for us in Ottawa as providing a selection process that is fair and inclusive is our top priority. The MMI format also increases the reliability of the process. Finally, for the applicants, it gives you multiple shots at presenting yourself, so you don’t have to worry if one station did not go so well.
We are excited about the virtual format for a few reasons. Research has documented potential benefits to this format when executed well such as decrease in monetary cost, in opportunity cost, and our carbon footprint. We also know that we can get some key information on our applicants from this format of interview. Being aware that getting to know the culture of a program will be difficult this year, we tried to compensate by offering multiple sessions for applicants to meet various members of our program. Hopefully we were successful in providing you with enough information to make your decisions.
Despite all the changes this year, we are confident that the 2021 R1 cohort will be amazing and we can’t wait to meet you all on March 23!