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Post-Interview Feelings - First Weekend


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First time interviewing at Queen's.

Overall impressions: 

MMI: It was like others have said in the past, it felt different than practice prompts at home. Walking out of it I was like "maybe I didn't do such a bad job", felt iffy on 2 stations but tried to work through them as best as I could, and one of them there's a point that now I'm like "I can't believe I didn't bring that point up what the heck is wrong with you". 

Panel: Quite conversational, was probably my favourite of the two. Very warm and friendly. 

I understand post-interview feelings mean nothing, but I've been ruminating on it since I left the interview. Hoping it diminishes over time.

EDIT: Forgot to mention the 1st year QMed students. They made the experience so so so so so much better, helped alleviate stresses, and I really love the amount of effort they put forward to make the experience more enjoyable. The interview weekend video was hilarious, can't wait until they post the link so I can watch it again :lol:.

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On 3/4/2019 at 11:52 PM, struggling2getin said:

Anyone have problems with the stem and follow up timings? Im not sure if this is the first year they're doing this but afraid about getting cut off too much

Like helicase mentioned, timing hasn't changed from previous years!

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13 hours ago, xiphoid said:

Like helicase mentioned, timing hasn't changed from previous years!

 

On 3/4/2019 at 10:14 AM, Monocyte said:

First time interviewing at Queen's.

Overall impressions: 

MMI: It was like others have said in the past, it felt different than practice prompts at home. Walking out of it I was like "maybe I didn't do such a bad job", felt iffy on 2 stations but tried to work through them as best as I could, and one of them there's a point that now I'm like "I can't believe I didn't bring that point up what the heck is wrong with you". 

Panel: Quite conversational, was probably my favourite of the two. Very warm and friendly. 

I understand post-interview feelings mean nothing, but I've been ruminating on it since I left the interview. Hoping it diminishes over time.

EDIT: Forgot to mention the 1st year QMed students. They made the experience so so so so so much better, helped alleviate stresses, and I really love the amount of effort they put forward to make the experience more enjoyable. The interview weekend video was hilarious, can't wait until they post the link so I can watch it again :lol:.

Great interview weekend. Good luck to those still preparing and may the best applicants get selected. 

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Felt good about the interview but honestly, I was pretty disappointed with Kingston. :\  

Heard some first year's exclaim how they really just move between the Med Building, their apartment, and the hospital and couldn't help but think...that's it? I realize Medicine is a rigorous program and often, you don't have time for much else but community, especially in my home city, is so integral to me and my journey in Medicine, that I couldn't help but feel a little...idk unsatisfied? 

 

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13 hours ago, nervoussystem said:

Felt good about the interview but honestly, I was pretty disappointed with Kingston. :\  

Heard some first year's exclaim how they really just move between the Med Building, their apartment, and the hospital and couldn't help but think...that's it? I realize Medicine is a rigorous program and often, you don't have time for much else but community, especially in my home city, is so integral to me and my journey in Medicine, that I couldn't help but feel a little...idk unsatisfied? 

 

I mean that's probably a bit of an exaggeration. You will still have time do to whatever leisure/hobby/extracurricular activities you wish- especially in first year!

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13 hours ago, nervoussystem said:

Felt good about the interview but honestly, I was pretty disappointed with Kingston. :\  

Heard some first year's exclaim how they really just move between the Med Building, their apartment, and the hospital and couldn't help but think...that's it? I realize Medicine is a rigorous program and often, you don't have time for much else but community, especially in my home city, is so integral to me and my journey in Medicine, that I couldn't help but feel a little...idk unsatisfied? 

It also depends on the individual. Some people prefer to really focus on school (and in med, you can do that if you really wanted to because there is an endless amount of material to learn whereas I found in undergrad, after a certain point, there just wasn't anything left to learn for a course that you hadn't already learned), but there are lots of us at Queen's who spend plenty of time in and around Kingston! IMO it's not as fun now because it's cold and I despise the cold and snow, but spring, summer and fall are fantastic in the city.

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7 hours ago, helicase said:

I mean that's probably a bit of an exaggeration. You will still have time do to whatever leisure/hobby/extracurricular activities you wish- especially in first year!

I know and you're probably right. It's just that there seems to be so little to do in Kingston - leisure and extracurricular wise? Obviously, location isn't everything and some students must love the small town vibes, it's just something I personally found a bit limiting, especially since I'm used to a bigger city.

Truthfully, Queen's was never my first choice school (I decided, why not? last minute to submit my application) and now I'm in a position where I'm afraid come May, I might have to settle and uproot my life in BC. 

6 hours ago, xiphoid said:

It also depends on the individual. Some people prefer to really focus on school (and in med, you can do that if you really wanted to because there is an endless amount of material to learn whereas I found in undergrad, after a certain point, there just wasn't anything left to learn for a course that you hadn't already learned), but there are lots of us at Queen's who spend plenty of time in and around Kingston! IMO it's not as fun now because it's cold and I despise the cold and snow, but spring, summer and fall are fantastic in the city.

Why did you both choose Queen's, if that's okay to ask? 

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1 hour ago, nervoussystem said:

I'm in a position where I'm afraid come May, I might have to settle and uproot my life in BC. 

You should understand that this probably comes off as offensive both to those who chose to attend Qmed and to those who truly do want to attend the school but aren't accepted.

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15 minutes ago, unarmed walrus said:

You should understand that this probably comes off as offensive both to those who chose to attend Qmed and to those who truly do want to attend the school but aren't accepted.

Why would that be offensive? I would love to go to Queens and I'm not offended at all. OP obviously has family and friends / a life in BC and not being excited to move to a completely different environment / province is a very valid emotion. 

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12 minutes ago, TITBOOB said:

Why would that be offensive? I would love to go to Queens and I'm not offended at all. OP obviously has family and friends / a life in BC and not being excited to move to a completely different environment / province is a very valid emotion. 

ha - perhaps the term settle rings a bit of an off tone to some I guess - I understand OPs point. In medicine there is a at least 3 separate times when you may be completely up rooted with limited control that can be very disruptive. You don't really have control of where you will go to med school in many cases - and residency, fellowships and even the end job are the same. That is some of the downsides for sure. 

Ha there are also many point in medical training where it doesn't matter where you are training - you will be so busy/tired it won't matter. There is another thread on here where people (residents) are describing why they don't have time/energy to even cook food in advance. As you can imagine that also has roll out effects on other aspects of your life :)

 

 

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3 hours ago, nervoussystem said:

I know and you're probably right. It's just that there seems to be so little to do in Kingston - leisure and extracurricular wise? Obviously, location isn't everything and some students must love the small town vibes, it's just something I personally found a bit limiting, especially since I'm used to a bigger city.

Truthfully, Queen's was never my first choice school (I decided, why not? last minute to submit my application) and now I'm in a position where I'm afraid come May, I might have to settle and uproot my life in BC. 

Why did you both choose Queen's, if that's okay to ask? 

 

I have good news for you. No one has a gun to your head. Don't like Queen's/Kingston? Don't go. 

The idea that going to Queen's is "settling" is a joke. If it's the only school you get in, what are you settling from? It's not like you had a choice of programs. 

Settling would be if you got into UBC and still chose to go to the Caribbean because that's where your significant other got in. 

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I don't think it's offensive at all to state Queen's is not one's first choice of medical school. Everyone has their own preferences as to where they want to attend, nothing wrong in being honest about it so long as their tone isn't derogatory. People need to stop being so easily "offended" by trivial stuff. 

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18 minutes ago, lurker25 said:

I don't think it's offensive at all for OP to state Queen's is not his/her first choice of medical school. Everyone has their own preferences as to where they want to attend, nothing wrong in being honest about it so long as their tone isn't derogatory. People need to stop being so easily "offended" by trivial stuff. 

It’s the notion of having to “settle”. Perhaps better terminology could have been conveyed to express the uneasiness of moving to a new city that doesn’t have all the amenities of Vancouver. 

 

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2 hours ago, lurker25 said:

I don't think it's offensive at all to state Queen's is not one's first choice of medical school. Everyone has their own preferences as to where they want to attend, nothing wrong in being honest about it so long as their tone isn't derogatory. People need to stop being so easily "offended" by trivial stuff. 

Like people have mentioned above, it's not about a school not being the first choice but more the statement that the poster would be "settling" by going to Queen's, implying it's an inferior option compared to other options that the poster has. With that being said, I don't think they meant it in the way it came off (at least I hope not...), it just wasn't a good word choice given the negative connotations associated with "settling".

6 hours ago, nervoussystem said:

I know and you're probably right. It's just that there seems to be so little to do in Kingston - leisure and extracurricular wise? Obviously, location isn't everything and some students must love the small town vibes, it's just something I personally found a bit limiting, especially since I'm used to a bigger city.

Truthfully, Queen's was never my first choice school (I decided, why not? last minute to submit my application) and now I'm in a position where I'm afraid come May, I might have to settle and uproot my life in BC. 

Why did you both choose Queen's, if that's okay to ask? 

I grew up in Toronto my entire life before moving to Queen's. I don't see myself living in Kingston in the long term, but it is a great place to be a student and an especially great place to be a medical trainee. There is enough night life because of all the students that you can have a great time going out, socializing, dancing, etc, yet not feel FOMO or overwhelmed by how many things there are going on and trying to decide on a daily basis if you should go to another event in the city or stay home to study for the exam that you really need to study for (um... not speaking from personal experience...) There are also lots of biking and hiking trails, Wolfe Island is just a short, free ferry ride away, and so is Watertown, NY, and Queen's has the second most student clubs of any university in North America (second only to Harvard). Specifically to QMed, we have a lot of interest groups and there are constantly events and talks going on (many of which have free food ;)). I don't think one to two days is really enough to judge that a place does not have many leisure or extracurricular activities (especially when it's still cold outside and all of us 1st years were right in the middle of our final exams during this past interview weekend). On the medical trainee side, Queen's has historically had the best CaRMS match rates of any school (only 2 unmatched after the first iteration this year). We also have a smaller class size compared to many other schools (at 100 - NOSM's 60 and Memorial's 80 are the only two smaller as far as I know) and only one campus (I personally would really dislike if half my classes were videoconferenced to me and you don't even get to meet half or more of the people who are technically attending the same medical school as you). We're a really tight-knit student body - we get to know everyone in our class quite well. There are also fewer residents and fellows at Queen's compared to hospitals in larger cities, meaning you get more opportunities and exposure as a medical student. Medical students are at the absolute bottom of the totem pole and you get experiences when people more senior to you (residents and fellows) allow you - in larger cities, there are many more people more residents and fellows so you don't get as many clinical opportunities. 

Come May, if you are fortunate enough to have more than one choice, I'd take those things into consideration. I'd also be happy to talk more about why I chose Queen's then. There are many people at Queen's from Vancouver so you can rest assured that you wouldn't be one of only a few moving halfway across the country.

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6 hours ago, unarmed walrus said:

You should understand that this probably comes off as offensive both to those who chose to attend Qmed and to those who truly do want to attend the school but aren't accepted.

I'm sorry to anyone who found offence, this definitely was not my intention! Queen's is an amazing school with a top-notch match-rate. Perhaps settling wasn't the most appropriate word to use, and I realize that.

As someone a bit older than the traditional applicant, with no personal connections in Ontario and a long-time partner currently going to grad school at UBC, you can understand why any school in the far East, for that matter, might not be my top choice? It's not the amenities  I'm mostly concerned about, it's the lack of support/community I'll have being so far away from home. Obviously, I'm sure Queen's students are amazing and I saw firsthand the closeness they had with each other on Sunday, but friends are very different forms of support versus family and spouses and that's why it's not my first-choice school. Home isn't a 1-hour plane ride or a 2-hour drive away from Kingston, it'd be 7-10 hours on a plane/in airports and another major expense for me to plan around. I stand by preference, but I truly appreciate your guys' feedback. 

5 hours ago, arghh said:

 

I have good news for you. No one has a gun to your head. Don't like Queen's/Kingston? Don't go. 

The idea that going to Queen's is "settling" is a joke. If it's the only school you get in, what are you settling from? It's not like you had a choice of programs. 

Settling would be if you got into UBC and still chose to go to the Caribbean because that's where your significant other got in. 

Aggressive, but okay lol. Moving that far east is settling on my dream to pursue Medicine in my home province? Going to Queen's, if I'm fortunate enough to be accepted, would include me making sacrifices in my values of family and my relationship? I don't understand why this is being taken so personally. Everyone is different and place importance on different things lol? 

1 hour ago, xiphoid said:

Like people have mentioned above, it's not about a school not being the first choice but more the statement that the poster would be "settling" by going to Queen's, implying it's an inferior option compared to other options that the poster has. With that being said, I don't think they meant it in the way it came off (at least I hope not...), it just wasn't a good word choice given the negative connotations associated with "settling".

I grew up in Toronto my entire life before moving to Queen's. I don't see myself living in Kingston in the long term, but it is a great place to be a student and an especially great place to be a medical trainee. There is enough night life because of all the students that you can have a great time going out, socializing, dancing, etc, yet not feel FOMO or overwhelmed by how many things there are going on and trying to decide on a daily basis if you should go to another event in the city or stay home to study for the exam that you really need to study for (um... not speaking from personal experience...) There are also lots of biking and hiking trails, Wolfe Island is just a short, free ferry ride away, and so is Watertown, NY, and Queen's has the second most student clubs of any university in North America (second only to Harvard). Specifically to QMed, we have a lot of interest groups and there are constantly events and talks going on (many of which have free food ;)). I don't think one to two days is really enough to judge that a place does not have many leisure or extracurricular activities (especially when it's still cold outside and all of us 1st years were right in the middle of our final exams during this past interview weekend). On the medical trainee side, Queen's has historically had the best CaRMS match rates of any school (only 2 unmatched after the first iteration this year). We also have a smaller class size compared to many other schools (at 100 - NOSM's 60 and Memorial's 80 are the only two smaller as far as I know) and only one campus (I personally would really dislike if half my classes were videoconferenced to me and you don't even get to meet half or more of the people who are technically attending the same medical school as you). We're a really tight-knit student body - we get to know everyone in our class quite well. There are also fewer residents and fellows at Queen's compared to hospitals in larger cities, meaning you get more opportunities and exposure as a medical student. Medical students are at the absolute bottom of the totem pole and you get experiences when people more senior to you (residents and fellows) allow you - in larger cities, there are many more people more residents and fellows so you don't get as many clinical opportunities. 

Come May, if you are fortunate enough to have more than one choice, I'd take those things into consideration. I'd also be happy to talk more about why I chose Queen's then. There are many people at Queen's from Vancouver so you can rest assured that you wouldn't be one of only a few moving halfway across the country.

2

I truly appreciate you taking the time to reply to this! A lot of my apprehensions are based on my personal life and relationships, and so it's so valuable to be reminded of the many unique learning opportunities Queen's medical graduates have. I wish I'd gotten the chance to speak with you or another first-year about this on Sunday!

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8 hours ago, nervoussystem said:

I know and you're probably right. It's just that there seems to be so little to do in Kingston - leisure and extracurricular wise? Obviously, location isn't everything and some students must love the small town vibes, it's just something I personally found a bit limiting, especially since I'm used to a bigger city.

Truthfully, Queen's was never my first choice school (I decided, why not? last minute to submit my application) and now I'm in a position where I'm afraid come May, I might have to settle and uproot my life in BC. 

Why did you both choose Queen's, if that's okay to ask? 

lmao honestly hope you dont get in. 

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@nervoussystem We have quite a few in our class in long-distance relationships, including doing the Kingston-Vancouver distance, Kingston-US distance, as well as Kingston-Asia distance (not to mention a few others whose significant others relocated their grad studies, jobs, even kids to Kingston to be with their partner). I know it isn't ideal, but again, you wouldn't be the first person to be in that position at Queen's and certainly not in medicine.

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As another B.C. applicant and Queen's interviewee, I totally empathize with OP. Would I like to go to Queen's? Sure. Would I also be a little upset + terrified leaving my family, friends, home, and basically everything comfortable for it? Oh man, definitely. As students pursuing medicine, you of all people should recognize how critical social support networks can be when dealing with stress/difficult situations. Let's step back, be adults LOL, and not take everything so personally. So what if OP thinks Queen's is inferior to their other options? So what if they feel it's settling? It's their options, their life? Their choices/opinions (no matter how contrasting from yours) are their own. I hope y'all are practicing self-care during this cycle, b/c based off this thread...some of you really need to relaxXx. 

Idk, my 2 pennies. 

A refocus to the main topic, maybe?: the MMI stations moved so quickly!!! The waiting beforehand was pretty painful, but once everything started, it was just gogogo! Walked out of a few feeling like I did a pretty decent job. Very proud of how I handled one of them, specifically. There was this one question though...oh man, I barely understood what was being asked. I couldn't wait to get out of there. :') Great learning experience, overall, especially for my first ever med interview. 

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On 3/6/2019 at 6:49 PM, nervoussystem said:

Felt good about the interview but honestly, I was pretty disappointed with Kingston. :\  

Heard some first year's exclaim how they really just move between the Med Building, their apartment, and the hospital and couldn't help but think...that's it? I realize Medicine is a rigorous program and often, you don't have time for much else but community, especially in my home city, is so integral to me and my journey in Medicine, that I couldn't help but feel a little...idk unsatisfied? 

 

I was accepted to Med school in a city other than my home town. The above describes my situation perfectly! I too had a strong long term relationship in my home town. Being busy studying was full time for me. This was where lightning struck! I was motivated to be a physician, this was my most important priority. It was fine. It is now behind me. I did what ai had to do, it was my choice, no problem. You do what you have to do if you want to become a doctor. Sacrifice is always part of the deal, but it is not a deal breaker.

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I think it's very reasonable and realistic to be thinking about how moving such a long distance away to a new environment is going to affect you and your efforts in med school. For quite a few people, moving to Kingston can be their first big move and can be a huge change in terms of friends, family, and culture. It can be a big shock and need adjustment. I think it's very mature for them to think ahead to how they'll adapt to it instead of blindly going forward with it just because it might be their only chance. Good for them.

MMI: I enjoyed the acting ones, felt pretty realistic and a good test of people skills. One or two that were just.. so much to parse in terms of the question being asked. First one was rough but warmed up after that.

Panel: Had very nice panel interviewers this time who asked me some very insightful questions about my experiences and background. Enjoyed this conversation a lot.

Volunteers: just the sweetest like last year. A wholesome bunch.

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I moved from BC to Kingston for undergrad and it honestly was a big adjustment. The initial few months were extremely overwhelming.

However, given the competitive nature of getting into medical school,  location within Canada mattered ZERO for me when applying.

I wanted medicine so bad I was willing to study anywhere in Canada. I was just aiming for one acceptance. 

In reality, not many applicants get to choose where they go anyway. OP should worry about it later, if he gets accepted. 

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