Edict

It really depends on school, but the more research focused schools have more students doing research. I wouldn't say everyone is doing full time research, a lot of people do part-time clinical research. Help out with a few projects here and there kind of work. 1st year summer should just be for specialty exploration and relaxing unless you know what you want to do. 2nd year summer should probably be spent being more productive if you are trying to match into a moderate or highly competitive specialty especially if you are going for a highly competitive location.

I'd imagine with some connections or electives you could find a job there but I wouldn't say jobs are up for grabs in that area, still too close to Toronto to not be saturated.

Yeah, I'd just stick with law. The way I see it, no profession is perfect and all have different flaws, but you are better off choosing one and sticking with it unless you are absolutely sure you hate it, because by choosing one and sticking with it, you get maximum optionality. Its very easy to think the grass is greener on the other side, but unless you absolutely despise what you are doing, the grass is probably not greener.

If you prefer to remain in Canada, then that is fair, medicine would mostly mean you'd stay in Canada and I generally agree that being a doctor in Canada isn't too bad, but its a very different world and life compared to corporate law, as a warning. Its mostly memorization. You don't need any chemistry knowledge in medical school, but a knack for memorization will take you very far. Mac Med being a 3 year school though will be a whirlwind and there is very little guidance. So you will really need to be self driven and seek out the mentorship that would allow you to succeed. With Mac, you

Not sure why you would ever want to become a doctor if you have the chance to become a wall street lawyer, make way more and retire early.

Some of it is inevitable, certainly with increasing amounts of electronic documentation and a lot of protocolized medicine, a lot of the skill based practice of medicine has decreased. Unless you can prove that physicians order less unnecessary testing (which we all know is true) and that the unnecessary testing is more value than their salary, you'll find it hard to justify not bringing in NPs.

In the US you can but in Canada surgeons tend to be based at a single site and have the patient referred to them. You can probably find some 50-100k towns that have a vascular surgeon. Certainly 100k+ is more likely to have them but not impossible.

What is this that you are doing? Some people do a masters degree and that really isn't a huge deal imo. Honestly, my opinion is that a lot of CaRMS is still relationship driven, if you are well liked and you have a good reason for going away to do something meaningful to your career, your mentors approve, PDs know etc. they'll take you in for CaRMS. Surgery is a small enough field that it is still relationship driven.

How rural are you talking about? 10k cities, 50k cities, 100k cities? General surgery, OB/GYN and orthopedics are the obvious choice with coverage available in most if not all hospitals, but you'll find specialties like ophtho, ent, urology in slightly larger cities around 50k and you'll probably find plastics, vascular in some of these cities 50-100k but not all. The most urban oriented surgical specialties are probably neuro, cardiac, vascular, thoracic and subspecialty general (hpb, surg onc, trauma) where you won't see them unless you are in a 150k+ cities with some catchment area.

I would actually add everything to your online app and then have two CVs each tailored towards the specialty you are interested in, by emphasizing and detailing your experiences in that specialty over the other for each specialty.

I don't think its terribly hard but as others have mentioned a lot of people who go to the states, especially those who end up being interested in subspecialties, chose to stay in the US or only apply to a few top choice Canadian schools. I would not be worried about attending a US MD school at all, you'll become a doctor and likely match well. I know the US match can be somewhat more tricky as a Canadian attending a US MD school because of citizenship etc but its not a significant detractor for your app and everyone I know who's gone to the US for MD school has matched somewhere.

The OD will help a lot, I think it gives you an edge and you should really use that. I think the biggest thing would be to do research with Canadian ophthalmologists who work at the residency programs you want to train at. Spend some time, maybe summers, doing research if you can with them. If you don't care for Canadian ophtho and just want ophtho in general, you could probably spend time in the US.

Just an FYI, the Caribbean is not part of the US. Do Ireland and US graduates fall into the same category of IMG or is there a difference between the 2 nations? US MDs are considered CMGs for the canadian match, US MDs and DOs are considered AMGs for the US match. Caribbean MDs and Irish MDs are always considered IMGs everywhere. Is it easier to be matched with a residency from an MD from a school in the Contiguous United States vs the Carribean vs Ireland? Easier from the US by far. How would the process for completing my residency in the US and transitioning over

Not sure I would say ophtho there is an expectation to have a gap year, the majority still match directly after med school but some will take a gap year.

whats the 3rd author paper about? Don't think you can go wrong with either to be honest, they are pretty much equivalent in my opinion, with 1st author being slightly better unless that 3rd author paper ends up in a big journal like IF 5+