Persephone

Scotia just automatically gives you the Passport Infinite Visa and the Gold Amex. The Gold Amex is really good points per dollar. The Passport Infinite Visa is not as good for points but still good and useful for places that don't accept Amex.

Oh man, I would never wish for this. Those exams are terrible. I never hear anyone have anything good to say about them. The fewer standardized exams I have to take the better!

At Scotia, there is a 2 year grace period after you are not enrolled anymore, that I assume would apply if you don't match. But this would be a question to ask the advisor you are signing up with.

You run out of money to spend and I believe you will need to have some form of income to make interest payments, since there is no longer room for them to be withdrawn directly from the LoC. The terms of the LoC don't change afaik though, and this was my experience with a smaller LoC in the past. You enter repayment of the principle amount according to the terms of your contract, so for me that will be 24 months after I finish residency.

Yes having a Plan B is essential. There's no guarantee applications work out even after fine tuning for multiple cycles, and there is a degree of luck involved for sure. I agree with @zxcccxz, the acceptance rate is about 15% ish and your chances go up marginally the more schools you apply to. It's still a tough acceptance rate of course. A good thing about having a Plan B is it takes some of the pressure off needing medicine to work out, and can let you live with a lot more sanity. Knowing you have an alternate plan you could be just as, or at least almost, as satisfied with is essential

Ah that makes sense!

Where are you seeing a deadline listed as over a week ago? On the timeline for post-match the deadline to both apply and for programs to review applications is June 10th. It is fast approaching though and like @indefatigable said there are very few English speaking spots open (only 2 FM and 1 PHPM +FM), so chances of getting a spot are quite low and may have already been filled at this point, but might as well give it a shot.

I believe it is July 20th.

They are currently all held virtually since COVID. You have to watch synchronously though, there's an attendance password you have to enter online and are given at some point in the lecture.

I had a previous LoC of $40k before entering med school. I had no trouble getting a med student LoC, I just consolidated the debt so that I was starting out $40k into my new LoC. I also switched banks to do this (from CIBC to Scotia). You do not have to pay OSAP back while in school, if that's what you meant. You also do not have to pay principle back on the LoC while in med school, and if you go with Scotia you won't have to pay principle back until you are out of residency. It just deducts interest like any other LoC in the meantime.

FWIW the twice weekly pre-clerkship lectures are now mandatory (mine was the last class for which they were optional). I cannot speak to the quality or consistency of that quality though. I don't know what other school's are like, but the usefulness of lectures was very dependent on the lecturer at Mac.

Depends on where you are applying. I got multiple interviews in 2018 with a 513 (lower on the bio and chem/phys and higher on the CARS and psyc/soc), so I don't think it's impossible with a 511 and your cGPA is good. Part of snagging interviews may be about writing your ABS in a way that highlights the qualities that schools are looking for in a more effective way. Feel free to message, I can forward some advice I was given on this topic.

I think anyone would get a more accurate estimate of what free time is like from residents ahead of them in their specific program. Even between different FM programs there can be a lot of variation, depending on how service-based a residency program is or what combination of off service rotations you have, as well as call frequency of course. If you already have a contact from your residency program, I'd reach out to them to ask for their impression.

I think showing your motivation for a competitive specialty is a big factor in matching to it. So doing research in the field is one way people do that, electives etc. Motivation and then also just people skills. Are you going to be someone they want to work with? So being a good team player, taking initiative when appropriate for your training level, asking questions, etc can go a long way to demonstrating on rotations where you're looking for a letter that you'll be a good colleague to have on the team. In the end, it's a numbers game and plenty of just as worthy candidates don't match to th

The overall MCAT score is pretty decent (that's what I got as an overall score, I am weak in the nat science sections, but I did get interviewed at 4/5 schools I applied to), but it depends on what the schools you are applying to value. If they tend to place emphasis or only evaluate CARS like Mac, then you may want to rewrite it. I would look at other parts of your application as well. How well you write your entries for extra-curriculars/work exp etc is really key in getting the selections person reviewing your app to key into the things that they are looking for. An MCAT rewrite is not detr