CaRMS Cycle - Go Time

So, the new CaRMS cycle started this week. My CaRMS cycle.

It's a very weird feeling, having residency start to become a reality rather than an abstract concept in the future. Before this week, anything I did - aside from passing all my courses and rotations - only had a tangential effect on my residency chances. Now it's all quite direct, and that is... well, a little stress-inducing.

Don't get me wrong, I've got months to get things ready and have put myself in a reasonable situation. Most of my documents are already prepared. I've only got a few personal letters and letters of reference to arrange, but not too much else beyond that. Still, I've had months disappear on me in the blink of an eye, so I don't want to get complacent.

On the positive side, it feels like I'm coming to the end. I'm done my pre-clerkship courses, the ones I merely tried to get through while doing as much as I could outside the standard curriculum. I'm finished clerkship, where I largely enjoyed the work, but detested the working conditions and treatment of patients for many rotations. Someone reminded me that, because I'm going into Family Medicine, the required part of my training to become a fully qualified, independent physician is now over half complete.

I can't wait to start working. I know I have a lot to learn before I'm able to do that, but I'm so excited to get to that point, to be finally done with my formal education and onto learning for life instead.

So, as stressful as this is, starting my CaRMS application is a great step to be allowed to take. It signifies that it's time for the next stage of my training. I'm quite thankful for that opportunity.