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All the programs in the grand scheme of things are the same material wise. It depends more on where you want to live, class size and maaaaybe how you would like your curriculum organised. Western is a lot of school for the first year, then second year is more placements. Mac is problem based learning and i am not sure how their placements work. UofT has one early placement in first year and cram MSK and neuro in the first year. Queen's boot camps anatomy and MSK in the first like 3 months and then gets an early short placement. 

 

I am not sure what else to say. if you got more specific questions, that would help.

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I agree with Conham, 

At Western we are in class/lab from September to June 2nd and our first placements start June 5th to July 14th. This gives us a good foundation before going on placement.  A con to this is that a lot of us are burnt out at the moment and all we want to do is get out of class. We have mini-shadowing  sessions at various places that help boost moral. I have few friends at Mac and Queens, so they have placements earlier in the year. 

One MAJOR pro at Western is the anatomy course. In groups of 4-5 we get assigned a cadaver that we dissect ourselves throughout the course from September to February (we dissect and have to find nerves, vessels, muscles, we even dissect out the lungs and heart). Complex structures like brain and vertebral column get dissected for us. Other friends in PT and even Med school were surprised that we actually get to dissect ourselves. I heard that the Queens anatomy course is super compressed and rushed from my friend. 

Compared to Mac, at Western we have way more lecture time. This can be a pro or a con depending on how you learn. My friend at Mac tells me how teachers just give him topics and he has to research it on his own or in groups, whereas, at western we get tons of lectures (can get very tiring). 

In terms of living, rent is reasonable in London. The London area has great placements opportunities like University and Victoria Hospital which are both teaching hospitals. Parkwood and Fowler Kennedy Sports Medicine are other awesome placements.

At the end of the day we all get the same degree and learn the same material, you just have to figure out what will suit you best. 

If you have any specific questions about Western you can let me know  :)

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Thanks everyone for the responses! For me, I'm particularly interested in the neurological side of PT (rather than ortho/MSK), and as a result I will probably be deciding between U of T and Queen's. Out of U of T or Queen's, which school has a larger neuro-focused component?

Also, has anyone completed a joint MPT/PhD program? After I complete my MPT, am I able to concurrently practice PT while also completing my PhD?

If anyone has experience with the doctoral stream, I am very interested to hear what your experience is/was like or what you've heard about it.

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Thanks everyone for the responses! For me, I'm particularly interested in the neurological side of PT (rather than ortho/MSK), and as a result I will probably be deciding between U of T and Queen's. Out of U of T or Queen's, which school has a larger neuro-focused component?

 

Also, has anyone completed a joint MPT/PhD program? After I complete my MPT, am I able to concurrently practice PT while also completing my PhD?

If anyone has experience with the doctoral stream, I am very interested to hear what your experience is/was like or what you've heard about it.

 

From what I've heard from current students and PT's, UofT has the greatest focus on Neurology, Western is highly ortho-based, and Queen's is a mixture of everything.

I'm in the same boat. I've been accepted to Western, UofT, and Queen's. Right now I'm leaning towards Queen's, but the prestigiousness of UofT and Western is hard to turn down.

As silly as it may sound, I'm leaning towards Queen's because I have friends up there, love the town, and would be able to find housing relatively instantly. Can someone tell me if this is a good thing to base my decision off of? At the end of the day we all graduate with the same designation, so some thought should be put in to the social aspect as well, no?

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Current first year from UofT.

I agree with previous comments that in the end no matter where you go, we all get the same education for the national exam.

There are little things to consider for all schools however. Western & Queens are obviously smaller cities and probably cost less to live in. Western is well known for its MSK program! If PBL is for you then Mac is also a great option.

Toronto has a busy first year. CardioResp is taught by a PT who was awarded a Global PT award recently and our president wrote our text book. We have a great anatomy program from September to January for Cardioresp/MSK (then from May to August for Neuroanatomy) similar to the one mentioned above at Western. We are separated into groups of 4 with a cadaver to each group which we get to dissect head to toe all of the muscles, nerves, blood vessels, etc. Anatomy is taught by the person who also wrote our textbook. We do basic MSK and basic Neuro in first year as well and then return to them again in 2nd year for advanced portions. We have 2 placements in the first year (February & April) and then 4 more in second year. Our placements is one of our MAJOR pros because we have the hospital corridor neighboring our Rehab building. Definitely take time to consider that when making your decision. I have spoke to PTs who have gone to Queens/Western/Mac while on my placements and they all say the distance they had to travel for some is their main complaint. All universities in Toronto are teaching hospitals as well and have to take so many students throughout the year. One other thing to consider is that our program is in units instead of courses. This means we only have one cumulative test at the end of each unit instead of several tests within a week or two. This makes it a lot less stressful and they give us minimum 2 full days of no class to study before hand for our unit tests.

 

In the end, every school has a standard to uphold for the College, so no matter where you choose you will get a great education and it will be an honor to call you a colleague when you're finished.

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Thanks everyone for the responses! For me, I'm particularly interested in the neurological side of PT (rather than ortho/MSK), and as a result I will probably be deciding between U of T and Queen's. Out of U of T or Queen's, which school has a larger neuro-focused component?

 

Also, has anyone completed a joint MPT/PhD program? After I complete my MPT, am I able to concurrently practice PT while also completing my PhD?

If anyone has experience with the doctoral stream, I am very interested to hear what your experience is/was like or what you've heard about it.

Don't peg yourself as a certain physio before even getting into physio. choose the program that best suites your living circumstances and learning style. Try to keep an open mind when going into physio, it's way more to it than you think, even after you're done school.

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Thanks everyone for your input! I provisionally accepted queens for the time being, I really like Kingston and the program's structure. I left my offers for u of t and western still active in case something changes but I really like the queens program and campus

Okay so I don't fully understand the provisional versus firm acceptance? I couldn't find an explanation on ORPAS. Would a knowledgeable person mind informing me? Hahha thanks in advance!!!!

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Don't peg yourself as a certain physio before even getting into physio. choose the program that best suites your living circumstances and learning style. Try to keep an open mind when going into physio, it's way more to it than you think, even after you're done school.

 

I completely agree with this.  You can't be a good neuro physio w/o solid ortho background and you can't be a good MSK physio w/o the understanding of our nervous system. Choose a school and city based on your life/learning style. 

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Lol I'm not pegging myself as anything. I've done a research masters in neuro and just want to ensure the program structure is balanced in all three of the core pt areas. Ive heard western has a large focus on MSK and I don't want to necessarily only learn about MSK, I want to be able to apply my knowledge of neuro within the program. Was just lookin for advice on different program's structures

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I would say U of T over the others because you like the neuro emphasis and the prestigiousness of the school... but the biggest thing is that you will be living in Toronto and all your placements will be accessible by transit and you can continue to live in the city. From what I've heard about the other Ontario schools, is that some placements can be quite far that they require a car to drive, or some people saying they've even moved again temporarily, closer to the placement. Driving an hour each way or having to move (again) temporarily would be a nuisance in my opinion.

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I would say U of T over the others because you like the neuro emphasis and the prestigiousness of the school... but the biggest thing is that you will be living in Toronto and all your placements will be accessible by transit and you can continue to live in the city. From what I've heard about the other Ontario schools, is that some placements can be quite far that they require a car to drive, or some people saying they've even moved again temporarily, closer to the placement. Driving an hour each way or having to move (again) temporarily would be a nuisance in my opinion.

Thank you! Yeah I've provisionally accepted Queen's but still left my U of T offer active because I've heard amazing things, big decision in the next few days lol

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Thank you! Yeah I've provisionally accepted Queen's but still left my U of T offer active because I've heard amazing things, big decision in the next few days lol

 

congrats on your acceptances! I'm wondering if you leave uoft and western's offers active, does that mean you can still accept either of them after June 2? 

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Lol I'm not pegging myself as anything. I've done a research masters in neuro and just want to ensure the program structure is balanced in all three of the core pt areas. Ive heard western has a large focus on MSK and I don't want to necessarily only learn about MSK, I want to be able to apply my knowledge of neuro within the program. Was just lookin for advice on different program's structures

??? It's not like Western has a large focus on MSK to the point it gets in the way of the other areas lol. I wouldn't even call it a focus on MSK. They just have profs that are more dedicated to MSK so you will learn from some talented MSK clinicians and because of that there are more MSK post-grad courses held at Western. Vise versa where you're not going to learn more neuro at UofT, you're going to learn from some very talented profs in the neuro field. You're going to learn the same amount of neuro at UofT or Western. You will just have more rehab placements to choose from and you will be taught by clinicians who have more experience in the field but they won't/can't teach you MORE than Western would teach. 

 

All physio schools in Canada have the same goal, have their students pass the national PNE and OSCE. That means we are all required to learn the same things with equal emphasis on all subjects. Also, you want a program balanced in all 3 fields but want to go to UofT because you think they have more neuro in their program???

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