Hello,
I'm an MS1 interested in emergency medicine or the FM+1. I was wondering how competitive it is and what I should be doing outside of school to increase my chances?
Thanks!
Hi I’m an incoming medical student and I’ve heard that for some specialties research is important. I’m wondering whether I should start reaching out to people now and what type of areas of research would be best for someone who hasn’t made up their mind on what specialty they want to go into.
Thanks!
Hey everyone,
MS1 here, starting this September! I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed by the lack of a clear "roadmap". Outside of just passing classes, I’m trying to figure out how to structure my time, especially since I'm mostly undecided on a specialty (I have a slight interest in EM from prior first-responder work, but I really want to explore broadly).
I would love some advice from upper years and residents on a few specific things:
Research & ECs: How crucial are these during pre-clerkship? Are they strictly for CaRMS building, or do people use them primarily to test out specialties? What types of extracurriculars or research should I actually be looking into right now?
Shadowing & Networking: How do you actually initiate early shadowing, and how much does networking matter at this stage compared to clerkship?
Matching: Am I overthinking the match timeline by worrying about it this early? What actually moves the needle most for a successful match when you're still undecided? Do they look at grades at all?
Would love any insight on how you balanced curriculum survival with early residency portfolio building. Thanks so much!
I’m considering whether I want to be a physician assistant or a teacher and I’m stuck on what to do.
I know I would find joy in being a teacher. I like that you build a connection with students, have good time off, and get to help with fun ECs on the side but idk whether I’d regret not trying out healthcare. I also don’t know how hard it would be to find a job for I/S sciences.
For being a PA, I do really enjoy applying what you learn and being hands on. Theres also good work life balance and you get to jump specialties whenever you want. But there isn’t much vertical mobility in the career and there’s a salary cap. I feel like I could maybe teach in PA schools later on, and the program is more competitive than teaching so idk if I’d regret not taking this opportunity that I might not get again. Like with teaching, I’m also stuck on whether I’d be able to find a job in Toronto as a PA.
I’d like to hear others thoughts!