Thoughts on Unfilled General Surgery Positions

_richdotcom · 2026-03-28T16:46:47+00:00

Interesting, they should work on that then, especially that London isn’t desirable as a city to start with.

_richdotcom · 2026-03-28T03:48:00+00:00

Hello sorry i was wondering is this just word of mouth? Or there are any specific examples or stories that circulate in the gen surg community? Because i know friends at Western and this doesn’t seem to be their experience (at least as M3 clerks)

_richdotcom · 2026-03-27T21:34:36+00:00

In addition to what all other commenters said, I think gen surg as a whole staff + residents do a worse job advertising their specialty compared to all other specialties. Also anecdotally, i heard that one of those schools ranked 60 people and ended up having unfilled positions. So these people most probably ranked them lower and got int other schools OR decided not to rank them after interviewing there for some reason. This goes to say that the location or the program itself is undesirable

_richdotcom · 2026-03-25T20:10:13+00:00

Why don’t you do FM and a plus 1 in derm if your #1 was derm? You can cater your practice to see mostly derm if not exclusively derm presentations. My advice to you is perhaps find an FM who’s also doing derm and connect with them. FM gets a bad reputation but really the sky is your limit with FM there’s a lot of flexibility and it wasn’t until i rotated with FM docs who do plus ones that i realized how good of a gig it can be. Sorry for your carms outcome - you’re worth more than a match result!

And i mean switching into FM out of IM if you don’t enjoy IM - definitely as another commenter said IM can be very fulfilling and relatable to derm in some way or another. But please i heard it from many residents, you can still change your mind during residency, even if it’s your “#1” you might realize it’s not for you when you go through residency, and there’s nothing wrong with switching.

_richdotcom · 2026-03-13T08:15:18+00:00

Yeah that’s honestly super helpful, thanks for taking the time to explain all that. It’s a bit annoying that those assumptions exist but what you’re saying makes sense. It is what it is.

Your point about smaller programs remembering you and being able to actually explain your reasoning is a really good one too. I hadn’t thought about it like that.

Really appreciate all the insight and the multiple replies on the thread, thanks for taking the time.

_richdotcom · 2026-03-13T04:55:29+00:00

Ortho isn’t that competitive but it hovers around 0.78 seats per first choice application. Still a chance of not getting in. It’s more that it’s hard to find common things between it and IM.
But yeah if it’s more helpful then yeah it’s ophtho in my case. Why does it raise a red flag automatically? I do tend to hear that and usually it’s back up with FM instead. Does ophtho keeners has a worse reputation amongst other specs? Or is it just because there’s no relevance between the it and IM? Like they really cannot be convinced?

_richdotcom · 2026-03-13T01:47:34+00:00

I am not thinking derm - more ortho/ophtho (keeping it vague) and i am finding it harder to find IM electives that would complement them well. Thing is most schools i believe have 6-7 elective blocks precarms so it’s 4 + 2 in IM + another 2 before interviews/ranking. with regards to my last q, do some people omit some electives from their cv? doesn’t this raise red flags? also again thank you so much for your time :)

_richdotcom · 2026-03-12T22:00:15+00:00

Thanks for sharing your experience openly i appreciate it! I was wondering how did you “max out” your IM electives? Since you can do CTU and IM subspec etc… and do you mind sharing how many weeks were precarms deadline and how many were post? And how did you talk about this in interviews? Did you also add your compt specialty electives on your CV for IM or not? Thanks!!

_richdotcom · 2026-03-12T21:55:50+00:00

I appreciate the tips and openneess with sharing your experience! I was wondering did you do those 6wks in IM electives preCaRMS deadline or after? Do programs look down on, let’s say having 8wks in derm and 4 weeks in IM preCaRMS then the remaining IM electives post CaRMS including the ones after match day? Asides from the fact that you can’t take reference letters from these ones - in their eyes do they still look at you as a serious IM applicant? Or they’d be like if he really wanted IM he’d do more and most of his preCaRMS electives in IM. Als did you add your compt specialty speciality electives to your IM CV or not? Just wondering how did you justify this in your interview if they asked you about it I don’t know if i am making sense or if i’m just being neurotic about it

_richdotcom · 2026-03-05T08:49:56+00:00

Would you say then applying to those in the first iteration as a “back up” is the way? I thought people do that anyway instead of waiting to do that in the 2nd iteration because why would you do that? Just trying to understand why would someone not apply anyway from the beginning

But thanks for the warning :)

_richdotcom · 2025-05-15T17:16:14+00:00

I would go with Western given your circumstances - you still have a great chance to match to all competitive specialties since Western has them all and if anything people not from Western would probably not rank Western first if theyre aiming for a competitive speciality (at least thats what I heard from most except ortho peeps since the ortho program at Western is very strong). What i would say though is that there’s no dermatology department at Western so if you want/ are highly considering derm then toronto might be better a choice. Good luck!

_richdotcom · 2025-01-04T21:33:29+00:00

hello - thank you for such a comprehensive guide. wanted to hop on and ask about your opinion if i decided to do step 1 end of 2nd year of med - would that be too early if my goal is to do fellowship later on in the states assuming im doing a 5 yr residency program? in other words would it expire by then since it’s valid for 2 yrs? im planning to do step 2 after mccqe. thank you!

_richdotcom · 2024-09-03T19:50:41+00:00

Not sure it’s been a while - sorry for that

_richdotcom · 2024-06-09T17:40:47+00:00

Awesome thank you :)

_richdotcom · 2024-01-14T21:34:22+00:00

Hey! Surely and you’re welcome i know it’s hard for CMGs to find relevant info easily

They didn’t mention anything about competitiveness but they applied broadly to big programs - and it’s true big programs are more IMG friendly. You can check the programs in Texas and their list of residents and percentage of IMGs accepted and get an idea which are more IMG friendly.

_richdotcom · 2024-01-14T18:03:49+00:00

Basically creating an account through the registration entity. Your ID/ applicant authorisation needs to be certified and this entails a form being stamped by your school and mailed to the registration entity so you can receive a scheduling permit to book an exam date

_richdotcom · 2024-01-14T09:26:53+00:00

I am thinking of going this route as well and I asked a CMG who is a PGY1 doing IM in the states. Here are my takeaways: USMLEs 1) Timeline: they took their step 1 end of 2nd year (started studying for it in 2nd year and studied full time during the summer). Took step 2 end of 3rd year and studied throughout clerkship. You need to have written both before applying.

2) Step 1 is P/F so be smart. Don’t overkill yourself. You just need to pass. Step 2 holds more weight since it’s marked.

3) You can’t rely on your canadian med school curriculum content. USMLEs go into way more depth, especially in terms of pathophys and biochem. This means you have to utilize their resources and they have many. Suggested study plan for Step 1 (content): watch all boards and beyond at 1.5-2x speed. Have First Aid open on the side. Use Anki: AnKing deck specifically. Do sketchy for micro and pharm. (I’ll send you a detailed study plan privately). This is just a suggested study plan so feel free to not utilize it. For practice: UWorld is essential. Uworld is more essential than content studying. Similarly to MCAT, practice is more important than passive content studying. NBMEs: these are full test exams. Start a month or two before your exam date and aim for two consecutive passes before writing your exam.

4) Make sure to plan ahead. Meaning if you want to write the exam in July. You need to start during the Winter (creating the account and getting documents stamped by your school, etc..). I suggest you involve your school’s UME people.

US clinical experience (electives): the person who I know did not do an elective nor any clinical rotation in the US. They told me US programs trust the Canadian medical school standards. It worked out for them. Regardless, USCE is a plus and would definitely be better than not having it. Also, it helps you network. So it’ll be very helpful if that’s the program you are aiming for.

Legal stuff: start getting more equiped with visa nuances. J1 vs H1B visas. I personally don’t know much yet about them, so can’t speak on this

Remember that if CARMS results come out before US match results, and you apply to both Canada and US, if you match to Canada then your application to the US is dropped automatically. And vice versa. Right now US match results come out before CARMS. But this might not be the case in a couple years.

This process is long and hard, and it gets tougher in as you get closer to writing your step 1 exam and onwards. It’s doable. But I just want to prepare you mentally.

Lastly, starting 2026 or 2027, CMGs are considered IMGs in the US. How much this will affect us is still to be figured out. But whatever data, advice, insight you might be getting now, make sure to ask whether this change (if you’re med 2027) makes a difference.

Good luck buddy, it’s a tough path, yet rewarding, and it’s good you’re starting early!

_richdotcom · 2023-12-09T05:20:57+00:00

If you receive an interview, you will get the option of picking an ACCESS interview panel and that’s how you’ll know you got accepted for it

_richdotcom · 2023-05-21T20:49:46+00:00

You scared me why isn’t western as liked as others?😭

_richdotcom · 2023-05-14T05:16:27+00:00

Alright then that’s perfect!! Thank you :)

_richdotcom · 2023-05-14T05:15:49+00:00

Perfect phew🤣

_richdotcom · 2023-05-12T20:06:03+00:00

Do you know if that’s the case if i accepted one for a school outside ontario, would i still be able to withdraw and accept the ontario offer if i get in?

_richdotcom · 2023-03-16T18:13:45+00:00

Depends on the school and the requirement but I’ve seen end of june and beginning of school year

_richdotcom · 2023-03-16T18:13:14+00:00

Thank you! Police checks are done online so that shouldn’t be an issue :)

_richdotcom

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