UCLIC FAQs

UCLIC preparUCLIC prepares students to be physician leaders who can accelerate change in health care. The program recruits and develops students with the intellectual perspective, resiliency, empathy, creativity and passion to change patient care, the health of communities and the medical profession. Students with a strong foundation in these principles will become more engaged, compassionate physicians who will connect deeply with their patients and their patients’ families; feel more comfortable with and be more effective as team leaders and team members; and have the relationship building skills and systems perspectives to lead change more effectively in health care organizations.

LICs are recognized across North America as producing medical graduates functioning well above the level of their colleagues completing traditional urban clerkships.   As a result, UCLIC has a match rate over 94% for the first round in CaRMS, with prior students entering the full gambit of residencies including ophthalmology, emergency medicine, obstetrics & gynecology, neurology, medical genetics, internal medicine, pediatrics, general surgery and psychiatry. 

The overwhelming majority of residency programs accept students into their programs because there is documented support of their teachability, professionalism and communication skills.  Students do not get into a residency simply because they had enough “face time” with physicians or residents of that specialty.  Putting it simpler, there is no “tick box” in the residency selection process asking if a student had enough “face time” with physicians and residents in the program. 

It has been shown over the years that UCLIC students are NOT disadvantaged in the CaRMS match in any discipline they seek. Rather, UCLIC achieves a higher match rate in CaRMS across disciplines than the traditional clerkship stream during the first round of CaRMS match. UCLIC students have a greater than 94%* match rate in the first round of CaRMS since the program started which includes a variety of specialties.  

UCLIC students have matched to the following specialties: pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, emergency medicine, urology, diagnostic radiology, ophthalmology, internal medicine, psychiatry, orthopedics, general surgery, anesthesiology, family medicine and public health. While there are many UCLIC students who are successful in the CaRMS first round match to urban or rural family medicine as their career choice, UCLIC sets all student up to achieve their career goals regardless of discipline.

*Average Match rate since 2018

You are encouraged to bring your family with you as this is part of the experience. Most UCLIC-funded housing is provided with families in mind. All sites have housing with at least two bedrooms, some with three and many are pet friendly. Over the years, several of our students have brought their families, some with 3 children, to their sites. Several ‘UCLIC babies’ have been born at the sites while their parents study. 

Yes! Housing is provided at every site for each student. You will not be sharing accommodations. Housing is not only provided but paid for by the UCLIC program. Accommodations are fully furnished (including appliances, utensils, etc.). Television and high-speed internet are provided. The student will be responsible for any cable, streaming or telephone services. Students will need to ensure they have housing insurance while on the property. For accommodation specifics contact UCLIC Education Coordinator at uclic4me@ucalgary.ca as accommodations are subject to change from year to year.

Students MUST identify their pets when they apply to the program. Although many sites do allow pets, please be aware you may not be able to bring them to your assigned site and will need to make other arrangements if that happens. Please be aware that if a pet has been allowed, there will be a non-refundable pet/cleaning fee of $250 per pet to be paid in advance to help cover deep cleaning costs at the end of your stay. The landlord also reserves the right to charge a pet deposit in case of damages and/or cover additional costs such as cleaning furnaces and replacing filters if necessary. Please keep in mind that the next learner to stay in the home may be allergic and could become ill or be unable to live within that home without very thorough cleaning. 

Clerkship in general, whether in an urban or rural setting, is isolating due to various rotational assignments, call and study, all of which interfere with relationships with peers. The degree of isolation experienced is not significantly different from students in the traditional urban program. Any perceived isolation is only temporary and is counteracted by local interactions and online connections with friends, family and other students. All sites have had students previously and understand the potential for isolation and individuals there attempt to help to reduce the isolation. All UCLIC students are provided with tools that allow for easy communication with peers and loved ones. 

The satisfaction of UCLIC clerks is consistently higher than that of clerks in the traditional urban RBC program as noted by year-end surveys. 

The overwhelming majority of residency programs accept students into their programs because there is documented support of their teachability, professionalism and communication skills.  Students do not get into a residency simply because they had enough “face time” with physicians or residents of that specialty. 

Because students have been in one site for several months rather than a few days or weeks, the quality of the reference letters increases based on observation over time (assuming the student does well). Program Directors report that they specifically look for the length of time a referee has been on contact with students. The impact of a letter that states not only how long a referee has worked with a student, but also various examples of the student performance, is much greater than a letter written after a few days or a couple weeks of student contact.

UCLIC students who have been interested in specialties in the past have been in contact with someone of that specialty early in their UCLIC time and have received letters describing that longitudinal relationship (even if it was, for example, only 1 day every 2 weeks over the 9-month period.) A preceptor, seeing a student over time, is much better able to see progress, even if the actual time spent is equivalent to a block. The letters therefore are of higher quality and hold a higher weight during the CaRMS selection process.

In certain ways, UCLIC students have significantly more opportunities in some disciplines.  For example, most urban emergency medicine clerks only allow a student about 7-8 shifts that range in duration from 6-8 hours. In UCLIC, students have the ability to have one shift a week which in many locations is 24 hours, effectively increasing the student’s emergency department time by about 1200%!

UCLIC students consistently speak very highly of their experience. Although anxiety is high in the first 3 months, as they speak to their peers in specialty rotations, students realize that by about the 6-month point (2/3 of the UCLIC experience) logbooks show that most of the clinical presentations and procedures are nearing completion. 

Steps are taken early on to identify potential concerns (which have been rare so far) between student and preceptor. Every action will be taken to allow the student to remain in the site, if agreeable to both the student and the preceptor, but if reconciliation is impossible, or improbable, students have the option to join the traditional urban rotation-based clerkship.

Once at the site, barring preceptor/student concerns, all students are expected to stay for at least 3 months to be certain of their decision. Several studies done in longitudinal clerkships around the world demonstrate that the first 3 months of this experience are the most stressful and that most students are feeling much more at ease after that point. This has been the case with UCLIC as well. Should a student still feel uncomfortable with continuing with UCLIC they are able to ‘eject’ at that time and join their peers in the RBC. 

UCLIC students have the same number of weeks of electives as their rotation-based peers. At least 12 weeks upfront and the remaining 6 weeks during UCLIC. Learners may choose any elective dates following first 12 weeks at site and will not be held to a specific block.

You will have significantly more hands-on and procedural experience compared to colleagues in the traditional urban clerkship.  This has consistently and universally been described as a huge strength of the program. 

This has also been described as a strength of our program. All sites are keenly aware of the importance of work-life balance and model this to the students. 

Students who are accepted into UCLIC are randomly allocated to a site based on factors identified through their application and interview.  Students will have 7 days to accept or decline the formal offer.  Students will be allowed to swap sites if they choose, upon approval from the UCLIC Director. 

Yes, this is a possibility. Please indicate in the application form who you would like to be matched with. There are no guarantees, but it will be taken into consideration if you both are accepted into UCLIC. 

No, it is not provided. You will be reimbursed for your mileage both ways to and from your site, but you are expected to pay for or find accommodations for the designated time frame.   

If your site has a partnership to provide further exposure in a particular specialty, students will be sent to another rural site for a period of time to gain this exposure. E.g., Obstetrics & Gynecology could be a 4-week block in Medicine Hat even though your site is in Cardston. If this occurs your mileage to and from your site at beginning and end of the block will be reimbursed, and accommodations will be booked and paid for by the UCLIC program.

Applications open April 1st and close May 1st at which time each student will be interviewed. You will need to provide a current CV upon application submission. An email will be sent to the class once application period is open along with instructions.

Sites selected must meet the following criteria:

• Minimum of 500 encounters in the practice per week (all ages).
• 24-hour and 7-day week cover by family physicians/rural generalists, emergency physicians, hospitalists, obstetrics and gynecology.
• Ability to provide minimum of one operating list per student per week in either general surgery, obstetrics or gynecology at their site or an associated site.
• Ability to provide up to 10 obstetric deliveries per student at their site or an associated site.
• Inpatient management of common hospitalist, internal medicine, general surgery, obstetrics, pediatric and psychiatric problems.
• Access to video conferencing, teleconferencing, and high-speed internet.
• All sites selected have hosted medical students for the rural family medicine rotation and/or rural elective. Many are residency training sites.

Preceptors are selected based on teaching experience, positive feedback from students and peers, and their willingness to devote a significant amount of time for ‘the care and feeding’ of medical students. Students will have the opportunity to work with many other physicians at their site as well.

• Devote sufficient time to the UCLIC program.
• Coordinate and oversee the UCLIC clerk’s quarterly learning plan.
• Provide regular feedback and evaluations (ITERs).
• Participate in faculty development.
• Participate in development of Primary Preceptor feedback and evaluation processes.
• Promote and support the UCLIC program within their community.
• Maintain faculty appointment with their appropriate department within the Cumming School of Medicine.