Making career choices easier
CMAJ 1997;157:646
I empathize with the difficulties Dr. Chris Feindel faces in choosing future residents ("Know your residency applicants well" [letter], CMAJ 1997;156:977-8). However, if students who have not spent elective time in a program are excluded from consideration (or "placed at a disadvantage," as Feindel phrased it), qualified candidates will be overlooked.
Students face financial constraints and limited amounts of elective time. Because career choices must be made at an early stage, students must explore as many avenues as possible. It is shortsighted and unreasonable to believe all interested students will spend elective time with a given program. The wise director realizes that the student with exposure to several areas will make a better informed choice. Students will apply to many programs in several specialty areas -- to believe otherwise is naïve. The competing programs to which a student applies are none of the program director's business.
Where does the solution lie? Students must not be expected to disclose dealings with rival programs. The interviewer's sensitivity and common sense will prevent students from being placed in awkward positions that evoke either deceit or damning silence. To ease pressure on students, the flexibility to change programs midstream and a common postgraduate year 1 must be built into our present system. This will reduce uncertainty and the pressure to choose a specialty prematurely.
David Omahen, BSc
Class of '99
University of Ottawa
Ottawa, Ont.
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