silver_08

Yeah, it's classical academic elitism at its finest. While doctors tend to have this perceived view from the top of their academic towers that all our education makes us entitled to a high salary, let's remember that all professions are valuable and should be treated with dignity. That extends beyond nurses, physios, receptionists and other healthcare workers in your immediate working environment, to people in trades, education, support roles, janitorial roles, etc. Remember all of these people could be your patients someday and you don't want to project your elitist attitude onto them when they are under your care. Back to the topic of salary, I remember a conversation with a friend who works on Bay Street as an investment banker, easily making 6 figures. He told me that he believes that there is no such thing as "easy money." Mind you that this is coming from someone who puts in around 70 hours of work a week. Anyone who is trying to tell you otherwise or convincing you to enter professions where there is a get rich quick scheme is either ignorant about the hard work required to earn that kind of money, or is a con artist.

Hey! Alberta schools use a 4.0 GPA system like Ontario's. The only difference being that A's and A+'s are assigned the same score here. I imagine that for you, a 3.4 would be adjusted by a similar factor by the Alberta schools. It's also worth noting that the cGPAs that are calculated are a weighted average of your best years (your worst year is removed), so this may also increase your GPA. FYI, it's important to note that you need a minimum cutoff GPA of 3.3. If you're OOP, you will need a much higher cGPA in order to get an interview. I hope this helps!

I second that. Something I wouldn't recommend is having all of your friends in medicine. Med school classes tend to be echo chambers where classmates amplify each other's values and beliefs. It's great to stay grounded and humble by having some friends outside medicine to give you a fresh alternative perspective to various aspects of life. I think having some extracurricular activities to pursue on the side of med school is a great way to stay in touch with the average person (and remember that these "average" people will be someday your patients). Remember that med school students, while being from all sorts of different walks of life, tend to be very exceptional and can stand out a lot from their peers. IMO it's kind of hard to relate to others if you're in a "class of your own."

Well, I hate to break it to you, but that's the nature of having a publicly funded profession, where cuts or freezes to healthcare budgets due to a lack of resources (i.e. governments trying to make up for misspending elsewhere) happen often, and can impact workers' wages. The largest fraction of provincial healthcare budgets is devoted to wages. If we want to complain that physicians are underpaid in Canada, imagine how many nurses feel underpaid (especially those in Quebec where 40-50% of your paycheck is eaten up by high taxes). Physicians at least seem to be more respected and aren't seen as expendable as nurses in our healthcare system, as our healthcare system would severely hurt if we lost physicians to the U.S. (and governments thus try to keep us happy). Given the astronomical debt that we are seeing in Canada right now, and rising inflation caused by money printing / stimulus spending, I have a feeling that the next 10-15 years are going to be marked by austerity and little change in the remuneration of physicians in Canada. It won't be easy for anyone, which is why I would say that now is an important time to brush up and improve your financial literacy, and see how you can make the most out of your salary to enjoy a relatively comfortable lifestyle. Will we see a brain drain to the U.S. as a result? I guess time will show whether that is the case or not, but as other posters have already stated, there are more barriers to working in the U.S. than 20-30 years ago. It sucks to say this, but we're probably going to have to all bite the bullet at some point. Besides, aren't the other reasons for being a physician in Canada more important than how much you're getting paid?

I am very interested in the medicine that is pursued in other countries, and I stumbled upon this great article from the BBC (from 2 years ago) that highlights the systemic struggles that Cuban-trained doctors face. Given how much Cuba has made the news recently for their historical protests, I thought this would be a great read to share for those of you who are interested in looking more into how medicine is pursued abroad, and to understand more of the background context as to why Cubans are protesting. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-48214513 Here is a video that exposes the reality that Cuban doctors face:

I am sure most of you have seen this news story blow up in the U.S. and Canada about Dr. Khilanani and her violent rhetoric. It demonstrates the importance of professionalism and not letting one's emotions and political beliefs cloud one's own judgement of other people. Personally, after seeing what has transpired in the past year, where it feels more and more difficult to avoid talking about any topic without it being politicized, it raises an important ethical question about how much we should let our own political beliefs and opinions interfere with one's own medical practice. In the case of Dr. Khilanani, her own prejudice/racism reared its ugly head. If I were a patient of hers, I would be deeply concerned by her rhetoric, whether I am BIPOC or white. Absolutely, Dr. Khilanani should face severe consequences for her dangerous rhetoric (i.e. losing her medical license for starters). I think it demonstrates an important lesson. We should always try our best to avoid letting our own political / social beliefs cloud our own judgement and abilities to conduct ourselves in a professional and positive manner for our patients as physicians, by acting as role models to them, rather than political actors seeking attention and validation from the media / political party in power. There is a nuanced difference between being aware of social / political issues and advocating for them vs. spewing hateful / violent rhetoric. What are your thoughts?

Hey! I'm down and interested in joining you guys. Excited to meet my fellow classmates!

Result: Accepted Timestamp: May 5, 2021 Geography: IP GPA: 3.9 MCAT: 519 Degree: BSc 2016, MSc 2020 ECs: filled out all 16, but very diverse. I have lived in 3 different parts of the country, I have been extensively involved with leadership roles in academia and Toastmasters, and spent considerable time pursuing varsity athletics, besides typical volunteering. Interview: Felt kind of average to be honest, and I thought I blew it on the panel when I spent too much time answering each question. I actually think it goes to show you that we are pretty poor assessors of our own performances, and ultimately all that it matters is that you are genuine and confident with your answers. I have interviewed before at UofA thinking I nailed it, and I ended up getting rejected. So don't give up on this phase if it is holding you back, it is the easiest phase to correct! Thoughts: absolutely ecstatic, but I admit it has not completely sunken in yet that I have been accepted. This is my 3rd application in 5 years (and it felt like I was getting to a make or break point), and I was about to launch an alternative career in engineering/project management. I opened the letter after a long work day expecting a rejection, and I then suddenly saw Congratulations on the first line and my heart skipped a beat. Family, friends and girlfriend are absolutely thrilled for me (and I think they're more excited than I am right now haha). You really don't know how much I put my heart and soul into making this happen over the past decade (I'm 27 now), and the never-ending, coffee-fuelled hours I spent juggling a crazy schedule of ECs, work, volunteering and school, or having to work my ass off to pull off that MCAT score. Hard work and persistence DO PAY OFF.

Overall, I thought it was decent. MMI stations weren't unexpected nor challenging (in fact I would say that they were predictable questions). That being said, I don't know if I did enough to personalize each one of my answers, especially for stations where I could not find any personal experience to link into the answer. I had one technical glitch for an MMI station where I started 2 min late because my interviewer had computer problems. They gave me extra time to answer at the end, and even promised me that they would compare this station to my other stations, and decide if it would be dropped due to these technical problems affecting my answer. For the panel, I had it at the very end, when I was already fatigued from being on Zoom for 2 hours... I felt like I dropped the ball on what should have been easy questions to nail and talk about my own values and experiences and linking them to medicine. Instead my answers felt weakly developed. I'm disappointed in having a lack of stamina for the end. I know that I shouldn't be too hard on myself, but this is my third interview cycle where I've interviewed, and I cannot accept subpar performances anymore. Does anyone know if they eliminate your worst station? I know other schools will drop your worst station, and average the rest.

I'm interested, but I'm based in Quebec right now. If any fellow applicants from Quebec/Ontario/Maritimes time zones (just easier to coordinate schedule-wise when we're closer to or in the same time zone) are interested in starting a separate group, please message me.

I'm interested, but I'm based in Quebec right now. If any fellow applicants from Quebec/Ontario/Maritimes time zones are interested in starting a separate group, please message me.

I still haven't received anything. Do they email this to your UAlberta email, or email you registered with them? EDIT: Nevermind, I checked my UAlberta email. I got an invite!

Feb. 17, so 2 weeks from now.

Yes very weird. I work (I have finished all my university studies) and will have to call in sick the morning of my interview as it's mid-week. The dates also appear to be very rigid and not very flexible to accommodate people's schedules (not to mention if their interview date conflicts with another school's date). On another note, do any of the Ottawa med students know why there is such variability in interview dates? Everyone I know who received an interview invite got their date sent to them today, and some of them are at the very beginning (like me), and at the end. Is there any logic behind this, or do they just randomly pick names out of a hat, to determine who unluckily gets their interview at the start? (or is this just a big secret)

I got an interview at Ottawa.