HighAltitudeMedicine

Although this topic has been covered extensively and 99% would say don't pre-study, this thread offers an interesting counter argument. TDLR the person was non-trad and had to take leave between M1 and M2 to catch up on basic science. I personally believe there is a language to science ( not always an intuitive one) and chose to do another undergrad in science before applying as I can't imagine starting med school with no science background. Not sure if you are a non-trad but if I were without science background I would likely do as this person suggests and pre study to try and get some foundation. That said, as scientists/future scientists most would look at a survey where 99% of respondents say one thing and likely have much more confidence in that feedback vs. an outlier.

100% agreed. I was also accepted in my 30s (and also have a small family) and although I did also do all of the typical premed stuff (research, publications, science degree, volunteering) I truly believe a big part of the reason I got accepted was that I had unique, meaningful and long-term life and work experience unrelated to medicine. These are experiences that I am so grateful for and never would have had if I had applied in my 20s. The reason the average age is so low is because people who are in established careers and older feel they have slim chances of getting in and therefore do not apply ( a self-fulfilling prophecy). I know I also foolishly believed I was "too old" for far too long and that's what held me back from applying. The beauty of entering med school later in life is presumably you will be less likely to have that yearning of doing other things or "missing out" because you've already experienced all the things and can focus on medicine for the foreseeable future. I've already travelled the world, lived abroad and had a diversity of life/work experience so I will not be wishing I was doing something else. Medicine is a whole new adventure and the idea of being a lifelong learner is for me personally super exciting. As an older applicant you also have the advantage of having experienced different careers and now know yourself well enough to determine whether you can handle the demands and lifestyle of medicine. There is also a certain amount of grit and resilience that has to exist to push someone to start a whole new career with a long road of training, traits that will be necessary in medicine. Not to mention your diverse life experience will also help you connect with your diversity of patients, another huge advantage IMO.

Sandy Hill can be really nice too! The shuttle campus shuttle is convenient too. The only reason I didn't put Sandy Hill on there is that it is a bit of a student ghetto ( read: loud). You also have to be more careful of "slum landlords" that take advantage of the student population. Neighbourhoods like the Glebe and Old Ottawa South have students too since it's right near Carleton but it is more of a mix of families, young professionals, professors as well so it is not as loud. But Sandy Hill can also be really nice and it's close to the market and right downtown which is pretty great. One pro-tip if you're really into researching areas is to contact the Community Association for the neighbourhood. They'll be quick to tell you the good and the bad of the area and what to avoid.

For the out-of towners coming to Ottawa I would recommend the Glebe, Old Ottawa South, Old Ottawa East, Hintonburg or Westboro. These are all walkable neighbourhoods close to cafés, patios, and grocery stores ( I can't overstate how much of a huge plus it is to not depend on a car/bus for groceries!) In the glebe/OOS you're close to the canal and Dow's lake for winter skating, festivals and summer running/cycling paths/kayaking. You're close to Lansdowne park which in non-COVID times has football games/soccer games/music festivals/beer markets/yoga in the park and markets almost every weekend of the summer. Yes, these are way more expensive than living beside the hospital but if you rent a room in a home or go in on a place with other med students it can be affordable. The question you have to ask yourself is: are you the type of person who will spend 99.9% of your time inside the school (in which case rolling out of bed to go to class is pretty sweet!) or will you also be studying from home/ a café? Do you intend to do other activities outside of school? If so, I wouldn't recommend living in the neighbourhood by the hospital. There's nothing there and Smyth is practically a highway when it comes to traffic. There is a lot to be said about your living environment and how that plays into your quality of life/mental health. As someone who has lived in Ottawa for many years, I find those who arrive here and live in uninteresting/unwalkable areas have a much harder time adjusting and those who choose a more vibrant area end up loving it. If you can come here before making a decision I would at the very least take a walk around the different neighbourhoods. There are pros and cons to each.

Current students will probably be better able to comment on this but I found this video which has a heavy week and a lighter week schedule:

As far as I know none have specified that med will be online but schools like u Ottawa and Carleton have announced that the fall will likely be online. Not sure what this means for faculties of medicine. Perhaps they will make an exception just for them as Queen's seems to be contemplating, but who knows. https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/carleton-uottawa-unveil-plans-for-online-learning-for-fall-semester/ https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/covid-universities-online-1.5565810

Super helpful, thank you!

Just wondering if anyone has any intel on whether first year or even the first term will be online for incoming medical students? A few Ontario Universities have already declared that the fall term ( and some have even stated the full year) will be entirely online due to COVID-19. I have a feeling other Ontario schools will follow. If that's the case, this will impact the decision of out-of-towners to move and look for housing in Kingston. If it will be entirely online there will be no reason to rush the move in time for the fall. Any thoughts? It wouldn't be ideal but at least it would be much more doable and much less disruptive in first year than during clerkships. I heard some medical schools have already been talking about this but I haven't heard anything about Queen's.

Yes, that's exactly what I did!

Thanks! How long did it take for your deposit to show up on SOLUS? I've paid but I don't see anything yet. But I would guess it takes a couple of days to process.

Thanks for this. I was wondering how do we know the deposit was processed successfully? I submitted the deposit but have no indication on SOLUS (or anywhere else) that it was accepted. Nor do I have any indication of outstanding tuition fees. There is also nothing on my SOLUS to do list. Just wondering if anyone is seeing anything informative there.

Lol this thread now has over 70k views. It has surpassed a pinned thread from 2 years ago.

So now there are 5 people who responded to the poll as not interviewing at Mac but having the button. What is the likelihood of there being 5 trolls? Is it possible to vote more than once?

Oh for sure. It's definitely advertisement but I think they'd get more people wearing them if the colours were ones that people really liked. If I get accepted to UOttawa I'd love to wear that black and white MD backpack students get. They're beauties. Of course I'd wear Trump orange if it meant an acceptance

lol I'm starting to think the bag is like some sort of hazing ritual, the previous year had some ridiculous colours so the next have to suffer with the colour they'd not want to be caught dead in. Haha Please be gentle. No pink or orange. I'm hoping for grey!

Yep, this is quite the curve ball. The issue is that if the in person groups really did have an open file interview now the two interview groups are being evaluated differently. It could be a disadvantage or an advantage depending on how strong you perceive your ECs to be.

This really throws out the theory that the panel is merely to check for red flags on the application...It's hard to imagine what types of questions we might get in this case.

Yes, and it turns out the panel is closed file?! I'm really surprised since it seems the in person interviews were open file. Now I really don't know how they will compare the two groups...

Has anyone already emailed them regarding the "insert time" omission? I don't want to flood their inbox if people have already alerted them to this.

I think we shouldn't get our hopes up that this will impact waitlists especially since this is just speculation and no med school has even mentioned that this is a possibility. I really would be shocked if med schools would suddenly grant deferrals based on something that is impacting everyone. My understanding is that deferrals are very hard to get and only with a justifiable medical conditions. If someone were hospitalized due to COVID-19 then that would be a different story. If deferrals were granted on the basis of COVID they would run the risk of needing to accept more people than are on their waitlist (so students that they were never intending on accepting in the first place). With regards to grad students, if they were intending to graduate this spring/summer most would likely already have a good chunk of their data collection done and if anything I would expect the accomodation to happen on the end of the graduate school itself (ie. allowing a student to complete their thesis and defend with less data than initially expected and citing COVID-19 as a limitation to their research.)

Also wish to confirm that we had normal MMI timing (2 min prompt, 5 min answer, 2 min follow up). As for being able to google something, I find that hard to believe that someone would get away with that easily. We were being recorded during our prep time as well (just like during a CASPER test). Googling would be a risky move considering that the only thing they told us that we were permitted to do was to write notes and shred our notes after. So if someone were to google during their 2min prep time they would probably be able to tell that they were looking at their screen and typing instead of writing notes or thinking about the question.

Hey, just putting it out there for those of you who experienced technical issues and still went through the process calmly shows your ability to keep cool under pressure (a really important quality for a physician IMO!) I would expect evaluators to take this sort of thing into account and interpret this as a strength in your candidacy.

This feels like going back to square 1 and waiting for an interview invite all over again. I don't see how this can be an equitable evaluation given that all other interview dates had the opportunity to do both the MMI and the panel. Some people may perform better in a panel than an MMI which gives the previous dates an advantage.

Agreed, I heard countless people say there's little correlation between how you felt in an interview and your acceptance. I am also wondering about the panel. Has anyone heard from the school yet on potential dates? I've heard nothing since that initial email related to the MMI.

Thanks and congrats to you as well! I was a little worried about my internet connection but I didn't really have any issues with the platform and it worked well thankfully. It was definitely way better than my CASPER test where some of my videos cut off midway and I didn't know the full scenario.