Any advice on choosing a medical school?

[RichardHammond]

But in response to OP, I agree with the factors discussed by many members above:

1. Location of where you have good supports from friends/family
2. Weighing 3-year vs 4 year
3. Finding a program that has core rotations before electives (unless you 100% know what you want to do and are confident that you can perform well on an elective in it fresh out of preclerkship)

Factors I would add:

1. Amount of scholarships/financial support available. Some schools literally have scholarships/bursaries that cover tuition for all of your years.
2. Number of electives/selective time available.

If you feel keen, some heavy reading material available through the AFMC Medical Education Report here:

https://afmc.ca/sites/default/files/CMES2017-Complete.pdf

Section A probably more useful (class sizes, tuition and other fees, number of electives, etc)

[ellorie]

16 minutes ago, RichardHammond said:

tl;dr: minorities in medicine will probably face discrimination everywhere they go. Don't be deterred from London.

I agree that people's experiences in London are mixed, but it's very different from somewhere like Toronto.  When I lived in London, almost any time I mentioned my sexual orientation, even among residents, the conversation would grind to a halt with a long awkward silence.  I don't think I met a single allied health provider who was queer, or at least nobody talked about it.  When I asked my patients questions about sexual orientation, they not infrequently acted horrified that I might think they could be anything other than straight.  I went on almost no dates and felt totally disconnected from my community.

Then I moved to Toronto and it was totally different - people mention their same-sex partners and there is literally no discernible reaction most of the time.  I get to work with queer nurses and social workers and doctors, there are people to date, and there's a community and events and places to go.

It's genuinely night and day compared to London.

Of course, many people hate big cities and wouldn't ever want to live in Toronto, which comes with its own issues, and those people should do some electives in places like London and see if they can imagine living there.  

[NLengr]

On 4/1/2019 at 12:08 PM, ellorie said:

I agree that people's experiences in London are mixed, but it's very different from somewhere like Toronto.  When I lived in London, almost any time I mentioned my sexual orientation, even among residents, the conversation would grind to a halt with a long awkward silence.  I don't think I met a single allied health provider who was queer, or at least nobody talked about it.  When I asked my patients questions about sexual orientation, they not infrequently acted horrified that I might think they could be anything other than straight.  I went on almost no dates and felt totally disconnected from my community.

Then I moved to Toronto and it was totally different - people mention their same-sex partners and there is literally no discernible reaction most of the time.  I get to work with queer nurses and social workers and doctors, there are people to date, and there's a community and events and places to go.

It's genuinely night and day compared to London.

Of course, many people hate big cities and wouldn't ever want to live in Toronto, which comes with its own issues, and those people should do some electives in places like London and see if they can imagine living there.  

Honestly, London is probably a dream compared to where I am now. Hahaha

I agree that the best plan is go where your support system is best. If that doesn't make it obvious, choose based on curriculum. If that still doesn't make it obvious, choose based on overall cost (but buy the Ferrari, not a Lambo....)

[blah1234]

A minor consideration but an important one. 

Don't discount the savings associated with a 3-year school. The opportunity cost + year of rent + year of tuition can be a substantial chunk of change if you project that amount of money forward 40-50 years with modest rates of return. 

[Tullius]

Some people claim Canadian medical schools are all the same, and I don't think it's true. Yes social supports can be a big factor, especially if you are still relatively dependent on your parents/relatives.  Location can be a consideration too but I think it's very important to consider the curriculum structure and educational doctrine of the school itself. 

 

1. I think it's important to look at how many weeks of electives you would get at each of your options, because there is huge variation between schools.  Also look at how many of those elective weeks are pre-Carms.  This can directly affect your ability to match to your preferred specialty, and your ability to be competitive in more than one specialty under the new elective cap rules.

2. If you are considering a career in surgery or radiology, or you (like many doctors) consider anatomy to be the cornerstone of medicine, get the details of how the anatomy curriculum is taught and structured at each of your options.  Find out which of your options teaches anatomy on actual cadavers.  Some medical schools just teach anatomy once to a pretty basic level at the beginning of first year and then never touch/test it again, while others place a strong emphasis on anatomy in every unit of preclerkship.  In other words, some medical schools seem to value and emphasize anatomy education far more than others. Find a school that values anatomy education as much (or as little) as you value anatomy education.

3. Find out how many students are failed and have to repeat a year at each of your options.   You may be surprised at the differences between schools.  This is not something you want to have hanging over your head while you are trying to learn medicine. 

4. Find out which of your options grade their students against an absolute standard, and which of your options grade students against each other.  Do you really want to be competing with your classmates for a pass?

5. Find out how much of the curriculum is mandatory case-based or small-group learning sessions and mandatory clinical skills sessions at each of your options, and whether these are graded on participation or ungraded.  Some people really enjoy learning this way, and some people really don't.  Some people really enjoy spending lots of time in small-medium groups with their classmates, and some people really don't.  Which one are you?  Make sure you find out the total hours divided by term length, not just "a typical week" because the "typical week" may be misleading about the actual amount of this mandatory small group and clinical skills stuff when taking into account the very heavy weeks.

Canadian medical schools are not all the same.

[NLengr]

2 hours ago, Tullius said:

 

2. If you are considering a career in surgery or radiology, or you (like many doctors) consider anatomy to be the cornerstone of medicine, get the details of how the anatomy curriculum is taught and structured at each of your options.  Find out which of your options teaches anatomy on actual cadavers.  Some medical schools just teach anatomy once to a pretty basic level at the beginning of first year and then never touch/test it again, while others place a strong emphasis on anatomy in every unit of preclerkship.  In other words, some medical schools seem to value and emphasize anatomy education far more than others. Find a school that values anatomy education as much (or as little) as you value anatomy education.

I'm a practicing FRCSC surgeon in Canada. I completed residency in Canada and a fellowship. I don't agree with you at all. The relevancy of the anatomy you learn in medical school is limited at best. I spent a ton of time learning anatomy I never ever use anymore. Most surgeons would agree. The urologist doesn't care about the cranial nerves, just like the neurosurgeon doesn't care about the layers of tissue in the penis. For me, the anatomy that matters, I learned during residency by and large. Cadaver dissection in first year med school, while interesting, adds very little in my opinion. 

On top of that, more than half the people in my class who started put wanting to be in surgical specialties ended up applying to non surgical specialties in the end. 

I wouldn't factor in the anatomy curriculum at all when picking a med school.

[blah1234]

11 minutes ago, NLengr said:

On top of that, more than half the people in my class who started put wanting to be in surgical specialties ended up applying to non surgical specialties in the end. 

2

Lots of people think they know what kind of doctor they want to be. People change and their priorities change and I think most of my peers ended up applying to things they liked during the course of their training rather than their original prescribed dream.