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McMaster vs U of A??


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Hi everyone! This forum has helped me a lot through my med school journey, and I was hoping to gain some insight into a difficult decision. I am currently needing to choose between McMaster and U of A (I live in Calgary)- I understand the pros/cons to each but I was wondering if current students or those who have made decisions such as this can help me out! Thank you so much in advance!

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UofA gives you summers to do research, vacation or employment, time with friends/family...

McMaster is 3 years straight no summer time off, lots of pressure without vacation time/family. I heard of McMaster students that told me they would not do it again in 3 years. Just too much pressure and not enough time to do extra research to boost applications for future residency in specialty fields. Also 2 of the 3 campuses are in small towns that use video conferencing to the main hub or you need to take long bus rides to the main hub where the large hospital resides.

 

I'd take UofA. Nothing else to think about.

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Hey, I am a second year medical student at McMaster and I would honestly say for many of the reasons stated above GO TO U of A! Mac is good for some stuff, but medical school is stressful and it is important to have supports nearby. Also three years goes by so quickly that you basically need to know your specialty when you start the program. By the feb of first year you have already had to pick your stream for clerkship which automatically rules out 2-3 specialties because you will do those rotations after carms. Also if you want anything competitive there is very little time to do research or electives in that area, therefore hard to match. 

Do what is best for you but if i was in your position as a current mac student i would choose U of A. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
25 minutes ago, dehindu said:

I am in a similar situation making this decision, except McMaster is IP for me (my parents actually live basically next to the campus). Apart from the 3 vs. 4 argument, what are some other factors that set these schools apart? 

At McMaster you don't have summers so not only do you have to go throughout all of medical school without a break (bruh), you are also competiting against your peers who have had multiple summers for research to build their resume. You have to work 2ice as hard to even be considered equal for them. There are also a lot of problems with McMaster admin at the Hamilton campus.

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I chose McMaster over offers at three 4-year programs including U of A.  I talked to students at each school that were pretty equivalent in pre-med academic caliber and the quality of life of Mac students was consistently so much better.  Keep in mind that Mac does NOT condense a normal 4-year program into 3 but has a completely different curriculum (what I kept being told by students in traditional programs is that 90% of their time is spend learning things that won't serve them clinically, and that even the faculty tells them that everything they need to know they'll learn in clerkship). 

Mac is still med school and it's still stressful. But people from Mac saying they wish they had a 4-year program since the 3-year is too stressful may not realize that a 4-year traditional program is not just Mac's program with more breaks. I'm literally choosing Mac to help me avoid burnout haha.

Anyway I haven't started yet so can't say for sure but I talked to a lot of students who I know personally and respect and this was a consistent finding. Just a different perspective :)

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1 hour ago, Edict said:

I find that Mac students are usually pretty happy in their first year but come second year and the s* hits the fan, things get real quiet. 

When you go on your first elective and get nailed by staff who expects you to be at a 4th year level coming off 52 weeks of clerkship but you're just beginning clerkship coming off of MF5 LMAO just rope fam

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