DrOtter

honestly hyper-competitive specialties matching is highly highly due to subjectivity and chance. Ask any residents and staff and they'll say that reference letter + elective performance are THE MOST important factors. Applicants to these specialties all look the same on paper i.e. ECs, references, research, electives etc., that's how they got ranked for interviews in the first place and that point it all comes down to "fit". A common thing in these applicants too is the willingness to match to a backup specialty or to take a gap year to do research full-time with the hopes to match (quite comm

Oh I'm sure it would be good regardless. The PD I heard from said that they look at the value of the research e.g. A primary paper vs a lit review or case report as well. It's just that ophtho is so competitive it's hard to gauge what is "enough" - many people even end up doing a research fellowship after med school in order to match the next year.

School: Ottawa Year (1 or 2): 1 Lecture delivery method (online/ in person/ other [please explain]): Online. We have supplementary cadaveric Anatomy sessions in-person. Shadowing/clinic visits delivery method (online/ in person/ other [please explain]): not permitted atm Clinician skills delivery method (online/ in person/ other [please explain]): interviewing lessons have been online. P/E sessions are in-person. Research delivery method (online/ in person/ other [please explain]): I guess not applicable in the standard stream. MD/P

I've heard from upper years and staff that clubs and initiatives in general are of minimal benefits. Research and mentorship may be of more importance as pre-clerks, especially if you stay with your mentor long term and get a strong LOR from them. Surgical research is obviously preferred but I'm sure a first-authored paper in other specialties would still trump a third/fourth authorship on a surgical paper. Program directors love to say "we look for good doctors first, surgeons second". So the skills you gain would largely be transferrable and looked upon favorably. Suturing practice would hel

Hi everyone! Finally making the move from Toronto to Ottawa for school (yes, I know it's late... But online school has been great until now where we start having in-person sessions). I'm moving soon and was wondering if anyone has any good experience with a moving company in Ontario between the 2 cities (or similar distances) ? Thank you so much in advance!

OP is asking about their interview performance specifically, not the probability of being selected for an interview. So in my reasoning, provided that you're selected for the interview, which depends on GPA and CARS as well as CASPer, the CASPer performance will not be so predictive of MMI performance. Because if it was strongly predictive, McMaster would have re-adjusted the CASPer weight in their post-invite formula, since MMI would have accounted for 70% of the post-interview score anyway. The fact that they didn't and chose to go with the lottery showed that CASPer is not that predict

idk about other provinces but the only Ontario FM docs who make that much either bill for their entire FHT or have a pain clinic doing nerve block injections every day...

If you asked McMaster before the lottery fiasco this year, they'd probs say that CASPer is a GREAT predictor for the MMI/interview, hence its invention and implementation. But then they actually did statistical analysis last cycle due to the lack of MMI and they ended up just lotterizing most of their incoming class. Goes to show how CASPer is nowhere near as determinant as MMI or interview is.

You can Google Canada and UK specialty certification agreements between all the Royal Colleges. I believe these exist for many if not most of the specialties.

You can... They're more than happy to take on junior doctors. I have friends who go to the UK after doing an MD in Australia. But I feel like it'll still be better if you become a certified FM doc here and then go to the UK to practice. We have reciprocal licensing agreement with them so that shouldn't be a problem.

Hi there, I was in your shoes about the same time last year, although I hadn't worked at my application for as long as you have now. But after I submitted my application, the self-doubt was definitely overwhelming. And it probably will not get better once interview invitations start coming around either, since you might *knock on wood* not get invited at some of the schools you applied to while you see others do. And it will definitely be really bad after you've had your interviews and have to wait forever for the result. All I can say is that the stakes and uncertainty are not going

As an aside, you'll only get Queen's if you're invited for an interview.

Thanks so much for the very informative post OP! Next up, post-training earning potential for specialties! jk that's wayy too variable to enumerate.

I believe Western and Queen's do give applicants accounts.

Some subspecialists such as pain docs can work in clinic as well. But most are peri-operative, I think. Edit: also some anesthesiologists also sub-specialize in critical care!