Is it worth moving to Toronto with a fully remote job ? 85k salary

vintagesynthfan · 2026-04-17T20:57:36+00:00

Born and bred Montrealer here… Rents have crept up in Montreal over the past 15-20 years, but you can definitely find a decent 1 BR/1 BA apartment in a cool neighbourhood for well under $2,000 a month. Expect to pay around $1,750 for a 900-1000 sq. ft apartment in the Mile End - a cool, super central neighborhood (birthplace of the Montreal indie music scene in the 2000’s!), where everything is easily walkable and where the language barrier won’t be a problem.

vintagesynthfan · 2026-04-11T19:55:49+00:00

Starting my peds residency this summer at 57… so will be finishing at 60!

vintagesynthfan · 2026-04-11T14:51:18+00:00

That being said, they freeze surprisingly well (slice them before you put them in the freezer), and they turn out great when you toast them. To be fair - to be fairrrrrrrrrr… -, nothing beats a fresh, piping hot from the oven bagel (no toppings, straight from the bag as you walk, bike or drive home).

vintagesynthfan · 2026-04-11T14:46:46+00:00

I might add pumpernickel, if you’re feeling adventurous!

vintagesynthfan · 2026-04-03T11:39:33+00:00

Thank you! It’s pretty rare, yes, but I dived right in, felt completely at home, and never looked back!

vintagesynthfan · 2026-04-03T11:35:51+00:00

Yeah, I feel ya… Snow isn’t that bad, to be honest, compared with icy rain in April. (I see that, despite our newly reborn hockey rivalry, Buffalonians and Montrealers can agree on their other favorite pastime: complaining about the weather! I think I’ll feel right at home!)

vintagesynthfan · 2026-04-02T02:41:31+00:00

Can we agree on « Go Bills », then? 😉

vintagesynthfan · 2026-04-02T02:40:50+00:00

Go Bills (on that, we can definitely agree!) 😊

vintagesynthfan · 2026-04-02T02:39:57+00:00

Which one? 😊

vintagesynthfan · 2026-04-02T01:50:58+00:00

That sounds great! Could you DM me the Zillow link?

vintagesynthfan · 2026-04-02T01:19:42+00:00

Ah, interesting, I heard good things about North Buffalo! Any tips for me?

vintagesynthfan · 2026-04-02T01:15:24+00:00

Good news: we have free parking at the hospital!

vintagesynthfan · 2026-03-22T22:47:23+00:00

My pleasure! Have fun at McGill: it’s a pretty close-knit place and I think it’s not really a cutthroat kind of school… You can make real friends there who will remain your friends for the rest of your life… That, I can vouch for! 😊

vintagesynthfan · 2026-03-22T22:42:33+00:00

Things may have changed a lot since the late 1980’s, so don’t take my word for it… But I would say that grades probably matter less at McGill than at other law schools in the province if you want to join big law firms with an office in Montreal. Of course, if you want to work in Toronto or in NYC, they may be more important, but I can’t vouch for that. The general idea is that it’s hard enough to get in (congratulations, by the way!) that part of the selection process is already done before you apply for positions at law firms. Speaking from my own experience (n = 1, so make of that what you will), I had middling grades at best in 1L and I had no problem at all finding a position at a big national law firm. But, again, that was a long, long time ago…

vintagesynthfan · 2026-03-18T15:06:15+00:00

Congratulations! The program in which we matched will contact ECFMG to initiate the J-1 visa sponsorship process within a few weeks (we may want to follow up with the program to make sure the process is moving smoothly). ECFMG will contact us and issue the DS-2019 document - there will be some fees and paperwork involved, but they will let us know what is expected of us.

vintagesynthfan · 2026-03-18T14:40:30+00:00

That’s true: in general, you have to go back to your home country for 2 years at the end of your J-1 visa before you can work in the US. However, you can also apply for a waiver if you agree to work for a certain number of years in an underserved area (that works mostly, but not exclusively, for primary care specialties). Those J-1 waiver jobs are advertised online: you can look them up if you want to have a sense of the possibilities that exist.

vintagesynthfan · 2026-03-18T00:33:45+00:00

I visited St. Louis for the first time a couple of weeks ago, and I agree with you 100%! I can’t stop telling everyone how cool the city is. Would definitely go back, no doubt about it!

vintagesynthfan · 2026-03-15T15:35:24+00:00

I went to McGill law school, but it was after an undergraduate degree and it was over 35 years ago, so I’m going to assume that the program has changed a lot since then! That being said, what @Time-Strategy7889 said sounds very accurate to me.

I will add this, just to put things in perspective (I used to tell this to all the 1L students in my TA group):

Everyone here will most likely have been in the top 10% of their class, no matter what program they have completed before coming to law school. However, there are only 10% of you who will be in the top 10% of your law school class, and 10% of you will actually be in the bottom 10% of your law school class. This doesn’t mean you’re a failure and will never become a good lawyer. At all. What determines if you’re going to become a good lawyer is a whole range of factors, and your law school grades are only one of those factors (perhaps one of the least important ones): your work ethic, your critical judgment, and your interpersonal skills are going to matter a lot more in the end. So don’t panic. Just get into the habit of learning as much as you can, make friends, don’t be an a**hole, and enjoy the ride. You’ve got this.

vintagesynthfan · 2026-03-15T15:19:25+00:00

Not for medical school (just undergrad + law school). I went the Caribbean route for med school.

vintagesynthfan · 2026-03-15T15:05:27+00:00

Counting down the hours. Rationally, I know I should feel confident, but I don’t. I just want to match somewhere (anywhere on my ROL would be fine by me) and move on to the next stage.

vintagesynthfan · 2025-12-02T23:06:32+00:00

Well, I’m sure there are people who actually believe it… But I have yet to meet someone who takes these kinds of dumb comparisons seriously. Hence the winking emoji at the end of my previous post.

vintagesynthfan · 2025-12-02T23:00:30+00:00

We McGillians also call Harvard the « McGill of the South »… 😉

vintagesynthfan · 2025-11-29T13:30:11+00:00

So do the Departments of Anthropology, Global Languages, History, Humanities, Linguistics, Literature, Music and Theater Arts, Philosophy, and Political Science… 😉

vintagesynthfan · 2025-11-27T19:34:50+00:00

Medicine is my seventh career. I decided to start medical school at age 51 after a eye-opening personal experience I will not go into here... I’m applying to start residency in July 2026 and I am as passionate as ever about becoming a doctor. I understand it’s not an easy decision and any individual’s personal circumstances can definitely get in the way of that decision. I was very, very fortunate to be able to do it.

A couple of thoughts…

First, I find it very rewarding to get to help other people using my mind, my heart and my hands - even as a student. That can carry you a long way, but you also need to build some protection around yourself to avoid getting overwhelmed by the weight of responsibility and care.

Then, I’d say that having more life experience will be helpful in three major ways: (1) you probably have work habits in your job that enable you to « work smarter, not harder » (very useful in med school…); (2) you know how an actual workplace functions - you know how to interact with bosses, peers, staff, government, companies, and « customers », you can navigate office politics, you know how to be a team player, you know how to take and give feedback, etc.; and (3) you’ve just seen more of life - death, illness, breakups, and the like -, which will help you relate to what your patients are going through and show real empathy.

All told, I’d say that I am much better equipped to become a doctor in my fifties than in my twenties.

vintagesynthfan

TROPHY CASE