(Canada) Matching into competitive residency in USA

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Jack Marcos

Full Member
2+ Year Member
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Hello all,

1) I’m wondering for Canadian residency programs such as derm, ophthalmology, and neurosurg, what are the main things to focus on during medical school in order to match since there is no step 1 usmle etc. Is it mostly CV, elective rotations, and research? For example, derm has under 50% match rate so how do they decide on this?

2) For example I am really interested in doing neurosurgery and have been doing research and will continue to do research with neurosurgery profs at my medical school, however, match rate I believe was around 70% or lower last few years, if I do not match, is there any chance I could take a research year or do a PhD Or something to apply again and match? Or is basically if you don’t match first time around it’s over.
Thank you!
 
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