understanding CaRMS report
I'm looking at these two pages from the 2026 R-1 match data and was wondering if someone could confirm that I'm interpreting them correctly.
With the first photo, CMG application funnel by discipline, my question is, how are there so many applications? I still have some time until I need to apply so I'm not familiar with the process yet, but is there a limit on how many residency applications we can submit? Do people submit multiple and that's why there's an absurd amount of applications for each discipline - way above the number of Canadian medical students (assuming ~300 students/school x 18 schools across Canada = 5400 M4 + a few unmatched from previous year)?
In the second image, it's titled "first choice discipline." If we take dermatology for example, the ratio is 0.41 for first choice discipline. Does that technically mean the competition for derm is worse than 0.41 since people could have ranked in second, third, and so on?
For those who matched into a competitive speciality (one of bottom 6 - derm to otolaryn), what would you say was the most impactful part of your application?
Thanks in advance!
- signed, neurotic MS