MS1 happy to answer questions

[casajayo]

Congratulations to everyone who got in (and good luck to those waitlisted)! I'm an exiting MS1 (grades pending...) and am happy to answer any burning questions you have about classes, equipment, orientation, camp make friends, social life (at VFMP) etc! If others are around please join in too

FYI - you probably won't get any emails about anything for some time after you accept your offer, but when you do start getting emails, they won't stop (you have been warned)

p.s. Join the facebook group for your class! (https://web.facebook.com/groups/1651596008320458/) People from all years will be in this group so feel free to ask questions there as well

[Coldery]

7 hours ago, casajayo said:

Congratulations to everyone who got in (and good luck to those waitlisted)! I'm an exiting MS1 (grades pending...) and am happy to answer any burning questions you have about classes, equipment, orientation, camp make friends, social life (at VFMP) etc! If others are around please join in too

FYI - you probably won't get any emails about anything for some time after you accept your offer, but when you do start getting emails, they won't stop (you have been warned)

p.s. Join the facebook group for your class! (https://web.facebook.com/groups/1651596008320458/) People from all years will be in this group so feel free to ask questions there as well

Hi! Thanks for doing this for us! 

Does medical school feel more stressful (more stuff to learn) or less stressful (grades don't matter as much) than undergrad? 

How many hours per week would you say you studied throughout the year?

What was your weekly class schedule like?

Thanks!

[skittles124]

On 5/11/2019 at 12:32 AM, casajayo said:

Congratulations to everyone who got in (and good luck to those waitlisted)! I'm an exiting MS1 (grades pending...) and am happy to answer any burning questions you have about classes, equipment, orientation, camp make friends, social life (at VFMP) etc! If others are around please join in too

FYI - you probably won't get any emails about anything for some time after you accept your offer, but when you do start getting emails, they won't stop (you have been warned)

p.s. Join the facebook group for your class! (https://web.facebook.com/groups/1651596008320458/) People from all years will be in this group so feel free to ask questions there as well

 

[OwnerOfTheTARDIS]

17 hours ago, bluewhale said:

Thanks for doing this

I'm just wanting to get a sense of the first year schedule/curriculum. Could you pls just let me know what your weekly schedule looked like and how often you were tested (midterms? finals?) and what you liked vs found challenging about the way UBC's curriculum is set up. Thank you again

I hope it's ok if I hop on @casajayo's post.

Each week is CBL Monday Wednesday Friday from 8-10. Lectures M, W, F morning. FoS on M afternoon (until it becomes FLEX in spring). Either lecture or lab W/F afternoons. Either clinical skills or family practice T/Th afternoons (half the class will have FP on Tuesday with clin skills on Th and half the class will be the opposite). T/Th mornings are generally free for personal/study time, but sometimes there are interprofessional or indigenous cultural sensitivity sessions during that time. After a long weekend, they almost always make you come in on Tuesday morning.

The topic of the week is fairly random - you can go from pregnancy to immunology to GI, but sometimes you'll get 2 or 3 weeks in a row on a related topic. CBL scenarios are specific to the week theme. I honestly think the most challenging part of med school is self-motivating. It is generally easy to pass - you only need a cumulative 60% on exams (only ~5 people fail each semester and have to do a make up exam) - but now that I'm heading into clerkship, I'm brushing up on a lot of stuff I breezed over in year 1. 

My studying approach has also changed a lot - I used to go to every lecture and now I hardly ever go. A lot of lectures are recorded, but even if they are not, the slides are posted and I could study way more efficiently from just slides or watching recordings on 1.6x speed. It helped me stay focused (I get so bored/distracted at regular lecture speed) and I was more efficient so I didn't need to study at all outside normal school hours and only ~ 3-4 hours on the weekend, depending on how close to exams we were. I personally recommend setting aside either Saturday or Sunday to be a school-free day. It's easy to get very wrapped up in med school and I found that I got a better mental break from having a full day off, rather than splitting my weekend work onto both days. 

Exams include:

Fall Year 1: midterm around October that covers the first 6-8 weeks. Roughly 100 questions, MCQ.

Finals:

• an MCQ that covers the second half of the semester
• a lab exam (radiology, histology, anatomy)
• a FoS (foundations of scholarship) MCQ
• a formative (not for marks) OSCE

Spring Year 1: a midterm  

Finals: 

• an MCQ that covers the second half of the semester
• a lab exam (radiology, histology, anatomy)
• a summative (for marks) OSCE
• FoS exam (thanks to @casjayo for correcting me on the updated schedule!)

Year 2 is pretty similar with midterms and final MCQ and lab exams and a summative OSCE in spring, but there is no FoS or formative OSCE. 

 

My apologies for this massive wall of text, hope some of it is helpful, and I'm sure @casajayo may have more recent insight, given that they change the curriculum year to year. 

Edited May 12, 2019 by OwnerOfTheTARDIS
Correcting timing of FoS exam

[Luna Lovegood]

Thanks for doing this!

Is tuition actually $20,000/yr (there have been some posts about how *most* med students get bursaries to help with the cost - are they substantial)? Are there scholarships to help with the financial burden of med school?

Did you find that there was still a competitive environment among classmates? 

Does matching to a residency in BC look bleak (I'm considering family medicine, but have heard so many horror stories of unmatched med students over the past few years - what do you know about it so far)?

If you could go back and change anything about your first year experience, what would it be?

 

Thanks!!! Feeling a bit nervous, but also excited about med school!!

 

[vellichor]

2 hours ago, Luna Lovegood said:

Thanks for doing this!

Is tuition actually $20,000/yr (there have been some posts about how *most* med students get bursaries to help with the cost - are they substantial)? Are there scholarships to help with the financial burden of med school?

Did you find that there was still a competitive environment among classmates? 

Does matching to a residency in BC look bleak (I'm considering family medicine, but have heard so many horror stories of unmatched med students over the past few years - what do you know about it so far)?

If you could go back and change anything about your first year experience, what would it be?

 

Thanks!!! Feeling a bit nervous, but also excited about med school!!

 

hope it’s okay if i jump in on this- 

tuition increases around 2% every year if i remember correctly, for the most part. for instance, first year tuition was just under 19,000. you can apply for some scholarships but there aren’t too many (that i know of) but you can also get a few thousand dollars in automatic grants from the government if you apply for student loans and are eligible. if you do that, you can also apply for the general UBC bursary, and a portion of the overall pot is divided on a needs basis across all med students. amount really varies by year from what i’ve heard. 

competitiveness- not really, a lot of students are still very keen (read: will make you feel like you haven’t studied enough, constantly) and you’ll get along with some better than others, but with such a big class size (at least for VFMP) it’s not too hard to find the people you feel comfortable with. 

matching in bc- from what i know, one of the tighter provinces numbers wise, but should still be doable especially with fam med. this year matching rates were a 4-year high across canada actually and ubc also generally does fairly well! try not to worry too much yet. there’s been quite a bit of awareness raising and pressure on the government to fix things recently, with some people from ubc med going to victoria day for lobby day and talking about the issue re: the unmatched.

to change one thing- honestly, nothing too significant comes to mind. maybe to try and convince my family practice preceptor to let me do more in terms of physical exams. also, it’d be helpful to brush up on medical terminology in any second languages you know that might come in handy in FP sessions. 

hope that helps a little  and everyone else feel free to add/correct me if i’m wrong on anything 

(most importantly don’t forget to enjoy your summer, it’s one of your last truly free ones!)

 

[casajayo]

16 hours ago, Coldery said:

Hi! Thanks for doing this for us! 

Does medical school feel more stressful (more stuff to learn) or less stressful (grades don't matter as much) than undergrad? 

How many hours per week would you say you studied throughout the year?

What was your weekly class schedule like?

Thanks!

I really think this depends on your personality! For me, I found school much less stressful than undergrad/masters, but I tend to have a more relaxed person when it comes to knowing all the things, versus understanding what will be important for future practice. That being said, there are others in the class who seemed to be in a constant state of stress, because the amount of material thrown at you each day is ridiculous sometimes, so realistically, I think the stress will likely be whatever you allow it to be. Sorry if that's a non-committal answer but it's hard to speak for 300 people's mental state lol 

The best advice around studying I can give you is to come up with a system for reviewing material throughout the week and understanding big concepts and physiology. If you get bogged down with the details it's going to drive you crazy (and always keep in mind that there's only ~2 questions on the midterm/final per lecture so if there's one lecture that is just completely over your head it's ok!). Try not to get behind on weeks, because it does add stress to the finals period, and if you can keep up with lab/histo you're going to thank yourself during the finals week (I did not do this and fully regret it). I was inconsistent with studying, some weeks a lot, some not at all, but I felt the best about my work/life balance when I spent ~1-2 hours each night reviewing the lectures from that day (M/W/F), and then did cbl and clin skills things in addition to that. 

[casajayo]

2 hours ago, vellichor said:

hope it’s okay if i jump in on this- 

tuition increases around 2% every year if i remember correctly, for the most part. for instance, first year tuition was just under 19,000. you can apply for some scholarships but there aren’t too many (that i know of) but you can also get a few thousand dollars in automatic grants from the government if you apply for student loans and are eligible. if you do that, you can also apply for the general UBC bursary, and a portion of the overall pot is divided on a needs basis across all med students. amount really varies by year from what i’ve heard. 

competitiveness- not really, a lot of students are still very keen (read: will make you feel like you haven’t studied enough, constantly) and you’ll get along with some better than others, but with such a big class size (at least for VFMP) it’s not too hard to find the people you feel comfortable with. 

matching in bc- from what i know, one of the tighter provinces numbers wise, but should still be doable especially with fam med. this year matching rates were a 4-year high across canada actually and ubc also generally does fairly well! try not to worry too much yet. there’s been quite a bit of awareness raising and pressure on the government to fix things recently, with some people from ubc med going to victoria day for lobby day and talking about the issue re: the unmatched.

to change one thing- honestly, nothing too significant comes to mind. maybe to try and convince my family practice preceptor to let me do more in terms of physical exams. also, it’d be helpful to brush up on medical terminology in any second languages you know that might come in handy in FP sessions. 

hope that helps a little  and everyone else feel free to add/correct me if i’m wrong on anything 

(most importantly don’t forget to enjoy your summer, it’s one of your last truly free ones!)

 

Thanks!

To add onto this - some student's definitely are keen (and will ask multiple questions in every lecture... you know who you are  ), and you will always feel like you should be studying, but I also found that this wasn't necessarily a competition thing, just type-A personalities. From what I experienced people were really willing to help each other out, and freely shared study resources throughout the semester with the entire class. When grades don't matter it doesn't really make sense to compete with each other you know?

If I could change one thing? I would probably come up with a better study method and try to stick to it. It's easy to fall behind and it's harder to learn past weeks when you haven't reviewed them before the finals week. I also agree that I'd try to get my preceptor to do more physicals, but realistically this depends on your preceptor and their style more than anything else. 

I also wouldn't be too worried about switching around friend groups! People get into "cliques" pretty quickly and it might feel like you're stuck with one friend group, but it's not weird to just go sit with new people, move around, and find a group that you really click with! 

 

With regards to matching: a) don't worry about this atm as you're so far away from matching who knows what will happen in the next few years; b) vellichor explained some of the things we're doing to raise awareness about it pretty well; c) from what I've heard (from friends in residency/4th year) unmatched people generally are applying to specialties and not very broadly across programs. If you want to do family medicine and are willing to apply broadly then I think you should be fine

[casajayo]

4 hours ago, OwnerOfTheTARDIS said:

I hope it's ok if I hop on @casajayo's post.

Each week is CBL Monday Wednesday Friday from 8-10. Lectures M, W, F morning. FoS on M afternoon (until it becomes FLEX in spring). Either lecture or lab W/F afternoons. Either clinical skills or family practice T/Th afternoons (half the class will have FP on Tuesday with clin skills on Th and half the class will be the opposite). T/Th mornings are generally free for personal/study time, but sometimes there are interprofessional or indigenous cultural sensitivity sessions during that time. After a long weekend, they almost always make you come in on Tuesday morning.

The topic of the week is fairly random - you can go from pregnancy to immunology to GI, but sometimes you'll get 2 or 3 weeks in a row on a related topic. CBL scenarios are specific to the week theme. I honestly think the most challenging part of med school is self-motivating. It is generally easy to pass - you only need a cumulative 60% on exams (only ~5 people fail each semester and have to do a make up exam) - but now that I'm heading into clerkship, I'm brushing up on a lot of stuff I breezed over in year 1. 

My studying approach has also changed a lot - I used to go to every lecture and now I hardly ever go. A lot of lectures are recorded, but even if they are not, the slides are posted and I could study way more efficiently from just slides or watching recordings on 1.6x speed. It helped me stay focused (I get so bored/distracted at regular lecture speed) and I was more efficient so I didn't need to study at all outside normal school hours and only ~ 3-4 hours on the weekend, depending on how close to exams we were. I personally recommend setting aside either Saturday or Sunday to be a school-free day. It's easy to get very wrapped up in med school and I found that I got a better mental break from having a full day off, rather than splitting my weekend work onto both days. 

Exams include:

Fall Year 1: midterm around October that covers the first 6-8 weeks. Roughly 100 questions, MCQ.

Finals:

• an MCQ that covers the second half of the semester
• a lab exam (radiology, histology, anatomy)
• a FoS (foundations of scholarship) MCQ
• a formative (not for marks) OSCE

Spring Year 1: a FoS exam in February, a midterm  

Finals: 

• an MCQ that covers the second half of the semester
• a lab exam (radiology, histology, anatomy)
• a summative (for marks) OSCE

Year 2 is pretty similar with midterms and final MCQ and lab exams and a summative OSCE in spring, but there is no FoS or formative OSCE. 

 

My apologies for this massive wall of text, hope some of it is helpful, and I'm sure @casajayo may have more recent insight, given that they change the curriculum year to year. 

Sounds about right! Only change is that the spring FoS exam is during the finals season now (the last exam of year 1!) 

I'm opposite to you in that I tried not going to lecture but just found myself getting further and further behind, also disengaged with the system! I like going to class partly as a social activity (don't discount that), and also to force myself into learning, but I would add that you need to come up with an active lecture plan so that you stay engaged (i.e. do not just passively listen/copy notes!) I found that trying to summarize information and come up with questions as the lecture goes on kept me engaged and helped with remembering things later on, but try some systems to see what works for you. 

Also +1 on setting aside a weekend day/days to not do school. A weekend, weekend day, or weekday evening isn't going to make or break your career, so let yourself live in addition to being a student.

Another thing I just thought of - it's easy to get by in cbl without doing anything, or by doing the bare minimum of prep (I know many who do this and have definitely done it myself some weeks). That being said, if you spend cbl prep time really understanding the physiology, background, and big concepts of the week, you'll not only be prepared for cbl, but it will really make things better to understand. I found that the weeks I was most engaged with cbl were the weeks I did best on in exams. This is especially true if the week is disorganized or not in your realm of interest.  

[frenchpress]

7 hours ago, casajayo said:

Another thing I just thought of - it's easy to get by in cbl without doing anything, or by doing the bare minimum of prep (I know many who do this and have definitely done it myself some weeks). That being said, if you spend cbl prep time really understanding the physiology, background, and big concepts of the week, you'll not only be prepared for cbl, but it will really make things better to understand. I found that the weeks I was most engaged with cbl were the weeks I did best on in exams. This is especially true if the week is disorganized or not in your realm of interest.  

I second this as a useful study strategy, particularly as you get further along. First semester everything is super new and it’s a new topic every week, so CBL can be overwhelming some times. But over the course of the first two years I spent less and less time on lectures, and more time focused on reading around the CBL cases, and I found it really helped my grades and my own ability to remember stuff long term.

[Jernau Morat Gurgeh]

Thank you for offering advice!

I have a few questions about study equipment/study style. Firstly, what type of laptops do most people at UBC use, and do they bring them to class? Secondly, is it a viable strategy to take all lecture notes by hand? Throughout my UG I found the best approach for me was simply to frantically write out notes, and I'm curious if people still do that in med school.

[frenchpress]

21 minutes ago, Llamastan said:

Thank you for offering advice!

I have a few questions about study equipment/study style. Firstly, what type of laptops do most people at UBC use, and do they bring them to class? Secondly, is it a viable strategy to take all lecture notes by hand? Throughout my UG I found the best approach for me was simply to frantically write out notes, and I'm curious if people still do that in med school.

There are a couple people in my class who take notes by hand, and it works really for them. It’s  not common though - most people use laptops or tablets of some kind. 

I have an iPad Pro that only has school stuff on it (no game apps or social media) that I bring when I do go to lecture - I take notes on the lecture slides using a stylus, which I find helps me stay focused.

 

[chiynadoll]

18 minutes ago, frenchpress said:

There are a couple people in my class who take notes by hand, and it works really for them. It’s  not common though - most people use laptops or tablets of some kind. 

I have an iPad Pro that only has school stuff on it (no game apps or social media) that I bring when I do go to lecture - I take notes on the lecture slides using a stylus, which I find helps me stay focused.

 

It seems like an iPad is the choice for a lot of people on this forum. I’m considering getting a pro as well, since everything else I use is apple. 

How much storage did you get? If I’m spending over a grand, the extra hundred or two for more storage isn’t much but I also don’t realistically think I need 256 gb on a tablet. My MacBook Air only has 128 on it.... 

[Pepperonee]

.

[frenchpress]

45 minutes ago, chiynadoll said:

It seems like an iPad is the choice for a lot of people on this forum. I’m considering getting a pro as well, since everything else I use is apple. 

How much storage did you get? If I’m spending over a grand, the extra hundred or two for more storage isn’t much but I also don’t realistically think I need 256 gb on a tablet. My MacBook Air only has 128 on it.... 

My one note folders average about 5GB or less per term, so if you’re only using it for school 64GB is probably enough

[casajayo]

57 minutes ago, chiynadoll said:

It seems like an iPad is the choice for a lot of people on this forum. I’m considering getting a pro as well, since everything else I use is apple. 

How much storage did you get? If I’m spending over a grand, the extra hundred or two for more storage isn’t much but I also don’t realistically think I need 256 gb on a tablet. My MacBook Air only has 128 on it.... 

I would say it's 50-50 between apple (either just a macbook or a macbook/ipad combo) and microsoft surface's. I have a surface and love having the ability to switch from laptop to tablet easily, plus just like microsoft over apple generally. In the purple book (a welcome book made by first years for incoming first years - you'll get it sometime this summer) one of our classmates did a poll to see what people use so that might be a helpful thing to check out when you can. My suggestion: wait a few weeks into school to decide what will work for you! See what everyone else is doing, the pros/cons of each system and then make an informed decision. And remember you can always change your mind (within the return period)

[frenchpress]

2 hours ago, Pepperonee said:

Thanks for doing this! I have a few questions:

1) Where do most students live? How much is the average rent price for a 1 bedroom (or studio) near campus or VGH?

2) Would you recommend getting a car?

3) Do you find that you have enough time to spend outdoors (eg. hiking, camping, skiing) during the school year? I'm asking this because one of the biggest of living in vancouver would be the oceans and mountains but am worried that med students won't have enough time to actually use these resources.

4) What's the weather like? Are the winters actually as gloomy and rainy as people say it is?

1) Most classes in first year are at UBC, but most in second year are at VGH. If you don’t want to move between first and second year, I recommend living near VGH or along Broadway close to a bline stop somewhere. It’s a pretty short bus ride to UBC (~30 min) from broadway and laurel, which is near the hospital.

Rents for a one bedroom vary a lot between condos and dedicated rental apartments. I know people renting for between $1200-1800 for a one bedroom in neighbourhood. Lots of people get roommates in the class and split two or more bedroom places. 

2) I wouldn’t really recommend a car in the first two years if it’s just for school. But it’s nice to have if you like to get out of the city and go hiking or skiing or go on road trips.

You’ll sometimes have clinical placements, and these can be anywhere in the lower mainland (it’s random, so they might be easy to get to or could be in Langley). But they are infrequent enough that you could use a car share - take a look at modo (and Evo and car to go).

3) yes, definitely. Lots of people do.

4) They are pretty gloomy, but I got used to it after several years. The fact that it’s warm enough to be outside a lot most of the year helps a lot. 

[casajayo]

59 minutes ago, Pepperonee said:

Thanks for doing this! I have a few questions:

1) Where do most students live? How much is the average rent price for a 1 bedroom (or studio) near campus or VGH?

2) Would you recommend getting a car?

3) Do you find that you have enough time to spend outdoors (eg. hiking, camping, skiing) during the school year? I'm asking this because one of the biggest of living in vancouver would be the oceans and mountains but am worried that med students won't have enough time to actually use these resources.

4) What's the weather like? Are the winters actually as gloomy and rainy as people say it is?

1) Most students moving to Vancouver for school live around campus or somewhere relatively close to campus, and then tend to move after first year. I think part of this is because it's quite difficult to get a rental if you're not actually in the city (our vacancy rate is <1%) but places near campus tend to be more used to students and so more willing to rend to someone not physically present. Not sure where you're coming from but rent is expensive - I know people living in makeshift rooms with 2+ roommates on campus for ~$900, but you can find basement suites (without mold) and studios for average ~$1200 off campus. I would recommend living off campus, near enough to an express bus on 4th or Broadway, because campus can be a bit isolating on weekends if you want to get into town. 

2) I can't speak for clerkship, but if you plan to stick around the city most weekends there's no need to have a car. Get a car2go or evo membership (we still don't have uber...) or even Modo or Zipcar, but buses and the skytrain can get you basically everywhere you need to go. If you have family practice in the far reaches of Vancouver then usually people manage to find carpools with others who have cars. 

3) In a word, yes! Many many students spend most weekends outdoors, skiing on local mountains or in whistler and generally not doing school. Please do all of the outdoor things, it will make your life better and improve your mental health!

4) This winter was pretty sunny compared to others but it does get pretty gloomy around March when you're just waiting for the sun to poke out. I'm from BC so am pretty used to it, so maybe some non-BC folks can chime in here

[BoardManGetsPaid]

hey ya'll, MS1 here from Ontario

 If you have any questions about moving to Vancouver, shoot me a message!

[Pepperonee]

.

[BoardManGetsPaid]

13 minutes ago, Pepperonee said:

hey! I was just wondering how you found the weather transition from Ontario to Vancouver?

Also - I would like to know more about the social aspects of UBC Med. What do students do on weekends (ie partying, drinking, going to bar, movies...etc). Would you say it's an inclusive and fun group or are people more reserved and cliquey?

Thanks for all your help!!

I personally loved the transition. Vancouver has rainy days but I'd take rain over snow any day. Now there's the odd day where you'll get snow in Vancouver, but that's not often

 

In my year I felt people were pretty open with each other. Cliques do form as you find your own group of friends but generally you'll be able to strike up a conversation with anyone

 

As a class there are social gatherings every now and then, mostly after midterms and exams. With my group of friends we normally do dinners, karaoke, hiking, running

[OwnerOfTheTARDIS]

5 hours ago, Pepperonee said:

2) Would you recommend getting a car?

The semester I spent in Vancouver I didn't get a car (really needed one once I got to the IMP, but that's a different story).

I strongly recommend not buying a car. Sign up for either Evo/Car2Go AND either Modo/Zipcar. I'll explain why: Evo/Car2Go are one way car shares. You can pick it up and then leave it anywhere within the "home zone" (most of Vancouver, part of North Van, and part of New West - check the online map) and it's ~$15 an hour. Modo/Zipcar are return car shares - you have to put the car back exactly where you picked it up, but it's only $8 per hour. So if you want to drive from UBC to downtown and then stay all day, it's way cheaper to take Evo/Car2Go. If you are just going to pick up something from the store or go to an appointment and then return home,  it's cheaper to take Modo/Zipcar. 

I personally used Evo and Modo and highly vouch for both of them. I almost never took the bus and always took an Evo to clin skills/family practice, went downtown ~once a week, and twice took a modo to get to medical appointments all the way in Maple Ridge - it basically felt like having my own car. I spent less than $300 over the semester, which as I recall was about the price of a parking pass at UBC. Keep in mind that you don't have to pay for insurance or gas or the upfront cost of a car. 

I also highly recommend getting groceries online. Save-On has online shopping - I usually just place my order and pick it up next day after class (free) or during exam season pay for delivery ($4-10, depending on the time of day I want it delivered). It saves so much time and has changed my life. 

[OwnerOfTheTARDIS]

2 hours ago, Pepperonee said:

hey! I was just wondering how you found the weather transition from Ontario to Vancouver?

Also - I would like to know more about the social aspects of UBC Med. What do students do on weekends (ie partying, drinking, going to bar, movies...etc). Would you say it's an inclusive and fun group or are people more reserved and cliquey?

Thanks for all your help!!

I was honestly shocked by how much people drank in med school and how many social activities revolved around drinking/partying. I enjoy a good beer or cider, but generally dislike getting drunk and at times felt a bit awkward - not really ostracized because people were nice and there wasn't too much pressure for me to join in drinking, but it was a bit awkward at our first midterm after party when the majority of people were pretty drunk by 9pm and I was still sober. No judgement, just not my scene. 

There can also be some pressure to spend money, since a lot of social activity can revolve around eating out. 

HOWEVER!!! Once you get to know people, people are really nice and I had lots of fun in other ways. Even if you want to ski/hike and haven't made friends yet who want to go with you, just send a message to the facebook group and you'll find lots of offers to join other people who are into the same stuff. I think if you don't reach out to people, the class can seem clique because people do naturally form friend groups, but whenever I have asked to join something even with people I didn't know well, I've been welcomed really openly (and I consider myself moderately introverted). 

[casajayo]

7 hours ago, OwnerOfTheTARDIS said:

I was honestly shocked by how much people drank in med school and how many social activities revolved around drinking/partying. I enjoy a good beer or cider, but generally dislike getting drunk and at times felt a bit awkward - not really ostracized because people were nice and there wasn't too much pressure for me to join in drinking, but it was a bit awkward at our first midterm after party when the majority of people were pretty drunk by 9pm and I was still sober. No judgement, just not my scene. 

There can also be some pressure to spend money, since a lot of social activity can revolve around eating out. 

HOWEVER!!! Once you get to know people, people are really nice and I had lots of fun in other ways. Even if you want to ski/hike and haven't made friends yet who want to go with you, just send a message to the facebook group and you'll find lots of offers to join other people who are into the same stuff. I think if you don't reach out to people, the class can seem clique because people do naturally form friend groups, but whenever I have asked to join something even with people I didn't know well, I've been welcomed really openly (and I consider myself moderately introverted). 

I would agree that at the beginning of the year especially people go a bit overboard with partying, but it tapers down quite a bit after the first month (or maybe I just stopped going out, who knows). At the same time, there are lots of people who don't drink in our class and still attend events and have fun, and I haven't seen any judgement from others around drinking or not (both ways). 

I think it can be difficult to come up with group activities once the weather turns, so it's easy to fall back on eating out, but yes that can get pricey after a while. Many groups who weren't outdoors-oriented did seasonal activities (UBC Farm apple festival, Halloween train in Stanley Park, Holiday festivals around christmas), or organized potlucks, games nights, sports watching events, etc. If you hear of anything going on, just ask to join! 

I would also heavily encourage people to get involved with activity-related clubs - this year we started a culinary club to cook food, the Bhangra club is always amazing, and there's also games clubs, sports teams, choir, band, art, and other things so you should hopefully be able to find a group that you can meet some like-minded people in to do things that aren't related to med at all. 

[struggling2getin]

Hi,  thanks for doing this!

1. When is an optimal time to purchase a stethoscope? Is there a school arranged event or sale? 

2. I've heard about FLEX from friends and was curious if you knew whether or not FLEX can be done in other provinces since I was hoping to come back to Toronto after exams next summer.