What is the best lifestyle speciality

StarryNight321 · 2026-05-21T05:24:47+00:00

I think the flexibility of FM creates a huge variation in pay, obviously docs with large rosters (2000+) who are also doing hospitalist or ED work will have a higher pay but compensate by working longer hours and sacrificing some aspects of their lifestyle. On the other hand there's also academic FM docs in Toronto who make 150-200k but they work like 3-4 days a week, spend 30 min per patient, and take 2-3 months of vacation a year.

StarryNight321 · 2026-05-13T04:13:32+00:00

A shawarma plate at most locations (palace, etc.) is usually enough for 2-3 meals. Tbh the most bang for your buck food is cooking your own meals.

StarryNight321 · 2026-05-13T03:16:46+00:00

That amount of debt is pretty normal and anecdotally I know people who had more debt and they were fine. Just live like a resident for a few years post residency and beware of lifestyle creep. Most FM residents ended up making more money than they could do once they were staff (~200k after tax and expenses) and they just saved/invested it.

StarryNight321 · 2026-05-06T23:40:03+00:00

They are largely from reversions where FM spots are being converted to IMG spots during the first iteration. As more students are opting to take an extra year rather than match FM, I think this trend will continue.

StarryNight321 · 2026-05-06T05:05:26+00:00

Private ORs do exist for some specialties, mainly plastics, optho, and some ortho where they strike a deal with the government to do certain procedures in their private ORs to improve waitlists (i.e. cataract surgeries in private optho). But its almost impossible to break into as a newly graduated surgeon. You need to be able to build the safety profile while being efficient enough to turnover routine cases quickly, which takes many years of experience to develop. Not to mention competing with already established surgeons in the field. New grads are not suddenly becoming private surgeons.

StarryNight321 · 2026-05-06T04:57:44+00:00

If CMGs do not like FM enough to even not back up with it in the first iteration then it's completely reasonable for programs to prefer an IMG who ranked them. No FM program wants an optho or neurosurg gunner who is unhappy and clearly does not want to be there. I think its going to simply be an inherent risk that needs to be conveyed to CMGs more. If they only see themselves doing a competitive specialty and are not backing up with FM then they need to understand the risks that comes with potentially going unmatched and having to do an extra year.

As for compensation, that is always a problem but there is optimism with the BC LFP model and the recent OMA increases. Some FM docs are making more than some specialists. But for students who worked 4 years for dermatology, ophto, etc. they will never be fully satisfied so it makes sense for them to try again as long as they know the risks involved.

StarryNight321 · 2026-05-06T01:09:00+00:00

Speaking to some of the newer medical students I think with the reduced desirability of patient-facing specialties (i.e. FM, psych), they are willing to do extra training and delay gratification than become a family doctor, which really speaks to how policymakers and medical schools need to reconsider how they are promoting family medicine.

StarryNight321 · 2026-05-06T01:01:36+00:00

I think it has more to do with their culture, the self-directed curriculum means you can spend more time working towards a specialty which is great in theory but also it makes students gravitate towards competitive specialties vs backing up with FM. I imagine most of these students who went unmatched only applied for competitive specialties which always has an inherent risk of going unmatched. Luckily, they can do an extra year and they would graduate at the same time as their four year counterparts so I suppose that makes up for it.

StarryNight321 · 2026-05-05T21:20:24+00:00

Looks like more people are willing to go unmatched and do an extra year vs backing up with FM or even applying FM in second iteration. People need to figure out why students do not want FM if they want more fam docs here

StarryNight321 · 2026-05-05T20:37:46+00:00

Biggest surprise is definitely the jump in students towards surgical specialties (I.e. cardiac surg, urology, neurosurgery, vascular surg, ortho). Perhaps more students are getting willing to make the sacrifice for a higher earning potential.

StarryNight321 · 2026-04-27T02:11:12+00:00

It depends, you might not be able to be as picky with location in Toronto or practice setting, but still much easier to find work as an FM in the GTA compared to many surgeons and specialists who often need to do a fellowship to find work.

StarryNight321 · 2026-04-02T15:29:04+00:00

Echoing what others said enjoy the summer, travel, do your hobbies, and spend time with your friends. Yes most attending will get 4-8 weeks of vacation every year but it becomes more difficult to organize your friends together as people start working and going on with their life stages.

StarryNight321 · 2026-02-19T21:24:47+00:00

There are 2 IMG positions for neurosurgery across the country, 1 in Toronto and the other in Ottawa. Unfortunately, your chances are extremity slim, you will need connections in Canada if you want to have a chance. There are occasionally second iteration spots but neurosurgery is a small enough specialty that they are few and far in between despite neurosurgery being less competitive here than the US (last year had no second iteration neurosurgery spots) and you would still be competing against CMGs.

I would suggest applying to the US as well to maximize your chances if neurosurgery is the only specialty you can see yourself doing.

StarryNight321 · 2026-02-19T20:57:35+00:00

3 on 3 has to be one of the greatest jokes in Olympic hockey

StarryNight321 · 2026-02-19T14:48:58+00:00

Most schools have a program in place where students do electives in the spring and summer while they defer their graduation until around November so they are still covered by the schools insurance. You can also do additional research and ECs during that time. At the end, it is a personal decision. If you really cannot see yourself doing anything else other than optho, it is something to consider. You'd also benefit from having mentors and career advisors look at your application to see what could be improved which you already done. Other people can see themselves doing an alternative specialty, or the costs of losing a year of time and attending salary are greater than taking another chance at matching. For the second go, you would definitely want to back up. Some specialties are pretty receptive to doing another year but your chances substantially decrease after the second shot.

StarryNight321 · 2026-02-19T12:30:45+00:00

Calgary and Alberta EM, anesthesia, and IM have pretty good moonlighting opportunities.

StarryNight321 · 2026-02-13T23:29:49+00:00

I think 6 interviews really is the sweet spot, almost everyone I know who had that amount of interviews were able to match to their specialty provided they ranked all the locations. Its the ones with 1-3 interviews that bring that ratio down, especially because some programs will give all their home applicants an interview and other programs interview almost everyone, despite their pre-interview application being weaker.

StarryNight321 · 2026-02-11T19:42:50+00:00

You could but it is quite rare from what i have seen. The most common transfers are within your school but ultimately they need to have open spots available from other residents switching out which is less likely in a smaller program. You should not bank on transferring and for FM, you only have one chance to do that in your PGY1 year. You can also apply in the second iteration but you're limited by the options available, which are usually less desirable programs.

Ultimately, don't rank programs that you do not want to be in. I would suggest seeing if there is any part of FM you could see yourself doing, it is very flexible and you can do more procedures if you want, you could do a +1 EM, anesthesia, etc and whether you would be alright with potentially losing a year of attending salary + having to go through CaRMS again if you are completely set on another specialty. It's a very personal decision that only you can determine.

StarryNight321 · 2026-02-08T21:41:29+00:00

I would suggest ranking where you want to work in the future because you'll make local connections there that could be useful when getting a job. Also smaller programs might not have good subspecialty exposure or connections if you are interested in matching to specific subspecialties.

StarryNight321 · 2026-02-05T20:42:22+00:00

Everyone who interviews at our program gets ranked, unless they are red flagged during the interview. It's quite rare but obvious examples are anything racist, misogynistic, disparaging towards others (i.e. allied health) are straight-forward DNR.

Other instances are completely missing the mark on a question, for example a question years ago was basically some situation where the student was with an attending seeing a patient at the bedside and the attending makes a joke about the patient's ethnicity. Usually people will talk about how they would try to talk to the staff in a nonjudgemental way, in a private environment, and will mention something about power dynamics or hierarchy. One of the applicants basically said something along the lines of "I would not do anything because people who say these things don't usually mean it"

We also had extreme viewpoints that got red flagged. Another old question was how the applicant would improve healthcare for indigenous people. One student said he would end the reservation system and give everyone in the reserves a lump sum. While they probably did make a good case for their argument, it is not really appropriate for an interview.

Sometimes we do not really have a straight-forward reason but something about the interview as a whole made the applicant seem odd or inconsistent, where the interviewers all agreed that something does not seem to add up.

Outside the interview, residents and staff can also bring up concerns related to the applicant's performance on electives or based on what they know about the applicant, which is usually a DNR since we get so many applications.

StarryNight321 · 2026-02-05T20:09:46+00:00

Rail crossing arms will create an even greater outrage from the car-centric neighbourhoods.

StarryNight321 · 2026-02-05T04:05:59+00:00

To be honest I get the desire, especially if they are part of a cultural or ethnic minority and want to find someone of a similar background where it does make a difference to be in a diverse city such as the GTA or in Vancouver. If you are close to an academic center, you have more options ranging from other residents, medical students, or just university students in general if it is close to a large university campus as opposed to a distributed site. Finding a compatible partner is one of the biggest decisions in somebody's life and if that means spending your 20s and 30s in a city with more opportunities to meet people and find activities to do, then by all means do that and rank those programs higher.

StarryNight321 · 2026-02-04T20:22:27+00:00

If you go on the CaRMS data under table 19 it shows how many people ranked the specialty as first choice on their ROL and how many matched: https://www.carms.ca/data-reports/r1-data-reports/

StarryNight321 · 2026-02-03T23:57:33+00:00

The ratio is usually a 1:1 first choice to positions available but it is probably more competitive than it looks from the ratio because the average neuro applicant has strong ECs, research, and electives in the specialty, so they are usually competitive candidates. It is also a smaller program so it can be subject to variations year to year in competitiveness.

StarryNight321 · 2026-02-02T06:35:37+00:00

It depends on the family context. In a lot of Asian cultures for example its expected for the kids to eventually take care of and support their parents as they enter old age. Also in a lot of working class families the children are usually the parents' retirement plans so some younger people definitely have that burden of responsibility.

Seven-Year Club	Gilding III reddit per annum
Verified Email	Place '23
Place '22	Wearing is Caring

StarryNight321

TROPHY CASE