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Se préparer au cégep


Soudou

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Bonjour! Je suis en secondaire 4 et je m'intéresse beaucoup à la médecine et à la médecine dentaire (et même l'optométrie) et j'aurais quelques questions à poser à des gens qui sont passés par le cégep (ou qui le sont) et qui étudient dans l'un de ces programmes. 

1- Avez-vous des conseils, pour quelqu'un qui n'est qu'au secondaire, afin de maximiser ses chances d'avoir une bonne côte R/être accepté dans un programme uni très contingenté?

2- Dans un même ordre d'idée, y a-t-il quelque chose que vous me conseillez de faire pendant l'été entre sec 4 et 5 et celui avant le cégep, qui serait enrichissant (par exemple qui m'aiderait pour les MEM ou le CASPer)?

3- La médecine et la médecine dentaire surtout, coûtent cher et je ne viens pas d'une famille très aisée. Serait-ce trop compliqué pour moi de payer mes études universitaires et que pouvez-vous me recommander pour cela?

Merci d'avance :)

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Firstly, welcome In joining this marathon, where working hard and smart for you, attaining competitive grades, becoming an active citizen within your school community or community at large, being a kind and humble person, and luck all play important roles in achieving your ultimate goal. 

let’s start with you in high school. How you do in h.s.has absolutely no bearing on how you will do in Cegep or undergrad. However, “now” is the time for you to begin to develop good study habits, learning how to study so as to be able to retain and recall important information/knowledge, how to write exams answering their questions comprehensively without giving unnecessary information. This will put you ahead of the game for Cegep.

When I went to Cegep, I did not work hard, passed but did not do well, I did not have the requisite maturity to enter med school directly,  or did I have the competitive grades to even be able to apply. Others I know who also went to Cegep, who had stellar grades together with stellar C.V.s, were interviewed for the MEMFI and MMI  at McGill, and bombed the interview, were not accepted (not the end of the world, even if they thought it was at the time), did their undergrad, matured and subsequently got into med school, just like I did. 

Go to the Cegep closest to your home. This will save you time traveling, time that can be put to better use to attain competitive grades. Work hard and smart. Develop good time and stress management skills. Do not measure yourself against others or listen to what they say. Simple do the best you can, become the best person of whom you are capable in all facets. Don’t be a party person. If you find a significant other, ensure this person is not needy, does not demand your time, does not fill your life with dram! Does not constantly need to communicate with you or be with you - all this will derail your life and your future!  In other words, make responsible choices. To attain good grades, you need to work smart, consistently, prioritize your studies, ask questions, review and be highly motivated. 

Once you adjust to Cegep life, become involved in activities, extra curricular, help out an elderly Neighbour, become involved in your community. MCGill looks at the noire person, not so the French speaking med schools. 

This summer and next summer, find yourself a job which demands communication skills, e.g., cashier, retail sales, waiting on tables, anything really that puts you in contact with strangers. The more difficult the circumstances, e.g., complaint dept., returns, the better, as you will develop tact, diplomacy, learn how to deal with unhappy customers. The best preparation for the MMI is “life experience”. You want to have all kinds of experiences that will develop you as a critical thinking, problem solving person who can think quickly on your feet. For CaSPER, you need to think quickly, organize your thoughts and write quickly. For the MMI, you need to understand the issues, see them from all sides, and have life experiences!

I come from poverty. I brought my lunches with me, talked instead of public transport, lived on student loans, at present as a resident, my loans are in excess of $200,000 now, however, I will have no problems paying it off when I am in practice.

Welcome to the Forum. I will be happy to guide you. Send me Private Messages from time to time. :P
 

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3 hours ago, Bambi said:

Firstly, welcome In joining this marathon, where working hard and smart for you, attaining competitive grades, becoming an active citizen within your school community or community at large, being a kind and humble person, and luck all play important roles in achieving your ultimate goal. 

let’s start with you in high school. How you do in h.s.has absolutely no bearing on how you will do in Cegep or undergrad. However, “now” is the time for you to begin to develop good study habits, learning how to study so as to be able to retain and recall important information/knowledge, how to write exams answering their questions comprehensively without giving unnecessary information. This will put you ahead of the game for Cegep.

When I went to Cegep, I did not work hard, passed but did not do well, I did not have the requisite maturity to enter med school directly,  or did I have the competitive grades to even be able to apply. Others zi know who also went to Cegep, who had stellar grades together with stellar C.V.s, were interviewed for the MEMFI and MMI  at McGill, and bombed the interview, were not accepted (not the end of the world, even if they thought it was at the time), did their undergrad, matured and subsequently got into med school, just like I did. 

Go to the Cegep closest to your home. This will save you time traveling, time that can be put to better use to attain competitive grades. Work hard and smart. Develop good time and stress management skills. Do not measure yourself against others or listen to what they say. Simple do the best you can, become the best person of whom you are capable in all facets. Don’t be a party person. If you find a significant other, ensure this person is not needy, does not demand your time, does not fill your life with dram! Does not constantly need to communicate with you or be with you - all this will derail your life and your future!  In other words, make responsible choices. To attain good grades, you need to work smart, consistently, prioritize your studies, ask questions, review and be highly motivated. 

Once you adjust to Cegep life, become involved in activities, extra curricular, help out an elderly Neighbour, become involved in your community. MCGill looks at the noire person, not so the French speaking med schools. 

This summer and next summer, find yourself a job which demands communication skills, e.g., cashier, retail sales, waiting on tables, anything really that puts you in contact with strangers. The more difficult the circumstances, e.g., complaint dept., returns, the better, as you will develop tact, diplomacy, learn how to deal with unhappy customers. The best preparation for the MMI is “life experience”. You want to have all kinds of experiences that will develop you as a critical thinking, problem solving person who can think quickly on your feet. For CaSPER, you need to think quickly, organize your thoughts and write quickly. For the MMI, you need to understand the issues, see them from all sides, and have life experiences!

I come from poverty. I brought my lunches with me, talked instead of public transport, lived on student loans, at present as a resident, my loans are in excess of $200,000 now, however, I will have no problems paying it off when I am in practice.

Welcome to the Forum. I will be happy to guide you. Send me Private Messages from time to time. :P
 

Thank you for your complete answer!! I know that it is very difficult, but not impossible. If it's not indiscreet, what residency are you doing? Also, what was or is the most difficult thing for you and for others students on this journey? Sorry for my English and thank you, I really appreciate :D


 
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I am doing a surgical residency in a small specialty. There were 80 applicants, only 40 were interviewed for just 3 residency spots. The entire process, at every stage, is very competitive. You will have a chance at Cegep, if it does not work out, another shot after undergrad. Then, you need to be persistent as it usually takes 3 cycles for acceptance on average, for some it takes less time, for others, they apply for 7 years or more! That is why persistence is so very important.

It is difficult to attain consistently high grades! I was far from the brightest lightbulb in the class. Learning took me longer than most However, I balanced my courses with what I considered easy electives. My electives had multiple choice questions based upon the texts, so I didn’t have to bother attending lectures and used that time more efficiently studying the text. I only attended 2 lectures for one course and re dived the top grade of the class. I was self-taught! I. Related a strategy that worked for me. I applied the same strategy in med school as I was accepted to a French speaking school and my French was awful. I attended 2 lec5ures in 1st year, could not understand anything and stopped attending lectures. Again, I taught myself. In small groups, the preceptors always complained about my awful French, never bothered to discuss with me susubstan e matters. It took me much much longer to learn and I was always studying, otherwise, I had no life. I was highly motivated and was selected for a fantastic residency in my view. So, it all paid off.

As hard as undergrad was, as hard as med school was, this was nothing compared to residency. You learn to become super efficient and to accomplish in a day which would have been impossible before. And the work load and responsibility only increases. So when you ask what was the most difficult, aside from actually being selected at each stage, it is everything, the learning, retaining, the heavy work load, the increased work load,  ding treated like dirt sometimes by those above you and knowing how to deal with it. It is impossible to maintain a long term relationship unless the other is super understanding, supportive of your am irions, understands that this is the priority and comes first always, the person can to be a distraction as this would only have negative effects on your journey. 
 

And you must have confidence in yourself, always have humility and be nice, the latter two are very important. You can have all the attributes and be an idiot in dealing with others and this will derail your career! So, start with the first step. Now, help a student who has difficulty, befriend someone who is bullied, go out of your way to do a kind act every day. Do your nest in school, ask questions of the teacher so you understand fully what is being taught, take good notes, use your time well, don’t just goof off in front of the TV or play games, make yourself more knowledgeable, be aware of current events, communicated with lots of different kinds of people and you will learn much and be better prepared in life generally and for the interview whenever it happens.

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You seemed to have a journey full of pitfalls, but you're still succeeding and this gives me hope! When I read this forum or I heard other medical students, I am sometimes discouraged, but I should have a little bit more of selfconfidence. Thank you for clarifying many things to me :lol: I wish you succes in your career and your life in general!

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We all learn far more from our mistakes than our successes! There will always be unexpected detours or problems in life. I failed an exam during med school. While it did not make me happy and temporarily affected my self-confidence, I regrouped, did what I had to do, rewrote and passed, and moved in. It did not affect my career in the slightest. You need to understand nobody is perfect, especially yourself. All you can do is be the best person of whom you are capable to achieve your goals, and if not, shame on you - as you are in control of your deeds. If you don’t succeed despite trying your best, you can live with yourself and fight another fight. But should you fail for lack of trying properly, only you are to blame. Pitfalls make you stronger! In school, I faced discrimination. This only made be stronger! I then fought for the underdog. The discrimination I encountered was good as it strengthened and helped form my character. Due to poverty, I am frugal and won’t waste money. I understand the importance of a dollar, always will. 
 

I was shy with people which was a weakness. To overcome this, I went out of my comfort zone, putting myself in difficult situations where I had to deal with strangers. This dramatically improved my communication skills.

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On 1/28/2020 at 8:47 PM, Bambi said:

We all learn far more from our mistakes than our successes! There will always be unexpected detours or problems in life. I failed an exam during med school. While it did not make me happy and temporarily affected my self-confidence, I regrouped, did what I had to do, rewrote and passed, and moved in. It did not affect my career in the slightest. You need to understand nobody is perfect, especially yourself. All up you can do is be the best person of whom you are capable to achieve your goals, and if not, shame on you - as you are in control of your deeds. If you don’t succeed despite trying your best, you can live with yourself and fight another fight. But should you fail for lack of trying properly, only you are to blame. Pitfalls make you stronger! In school, I faced discrimination. This only made be stronger! I then fought for the underdog. The discrimination I encountered was good as it strengthened and helped form my character. Due to poverty, I am frugal and won’t waste money. I understand the importance of a dollar, always will. 
 

I was shy with people which was a weakness. To overcome this, I went out of my comfort zone, putting myself in difficult situations where I had to deal with strangers. This dramatically improved my communication skills.

 

It reassures me to know that the obstacles you faced made you stronger, even if you had to be discouraged at first. I think you're right, I should try the best I can to not regret not having tried. Your few messages motivate me and give me hope, thank you very much for taking the time to answer me as you do and I hope you had a good week! 

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  • 1 month later...

Pas encore en médecine, mais je te partage mon expérience quand même, car je juge que j'ai appris de mes erreurs et que je peux probablement t'en faire bénéficier :)

On 1/28/2020 at 2:01 PM, Soudou said:

1- Avez-vous des conseils, pour quelqu'un qui n'est qu'au secondaire, afin de maximiser ses chances d'avoir une bonne côte R/être accepté dans un programme uni très contingenté?

Commence à étudier la première semaine, ne procrastine pas, développe des méthodes de travail efficace. Commence à développer cela dès maintenant. Travailler fort, ça ne se calcule pas nécessairement en nombre d'heure, mais plutôt en productivité. Conserve une saine hygiène de vie le plus possible... tu devrais y arriver en t'entraînant, en voyant tes amis et en ayant d'autres passe-temps, voire un travail à temps partiel conciliant. J'aime beaucoup la chaîne Youtube ''Med Schools Insiders'' pour les conseils qu'ils donnent à ce niveau (même si je n'ai jamais payé pour leurs services en bout de ligne).

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2- Dans un même ordre d'idée, y a-t-il quelque chose que vous me conseillez de faire pendant l'été entre sec 4 et 5 et celui avant le cégep, qui serait enrichissant (par exemple qui m'aiderait pour les MEM ou le CASPer)?

Ne fais surtout pas l'erreur de passer ta vie à étudier. Essaie d'acquérir de l'expérience de vie, développe tes habiletés à communiquer. Trouve toi un travail impliquant du service à la clientèle par exemple. Déjà, ça peut t'éclairer sur ta future carrière... si tu n'aimes pas les gens (comme la majorité des employés au service à la clientèle), tu vas t'en rendre compte assez vite. Fais du sport, du bénévolat, implique toi no matter how, have fun!

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3- La médecine et la médecine dentaire surtout, coûtent cher et je ne viens pas d'une famille très aisée. Serait-ce trop compliqué pour moi de payer mes études universitaires et que pouvez-vous me recommander pour cela?

Ne t'inquiète pas pour ça. Le gouvernement va t'aider au moyen de prêts et bourse, et les banques vont te prêter de l'argent sans problème. Les taux d'intérêts avec le gouvernement sont plus avantageux par contre. Je te conseille de prendre rendez-vous avec un conseiller financier de ta banque/caisse qui saura t'expliquer tout ça. Tu peux tout de même mettre de l'argent de côté pour limiter ton endettement au maximum, c'est certain que ça aide. Et comme je l'ai dit précédemment, expérience de travail = expérience de vie = ça aide pour les MEMs!

Si je pouvais changer quelque chose, j'aurais lu des livres sur les MEMs et les compétences demandées en médecine beaucoup plus tôt. Les méthodes présentées pour résoudre des problèmes sont applicables absolument partout dans ta vie, et c'est extrêmement utile à connaître. Tu peux commencer à te ''pratiquer'' dès maintenant, simplement dans ta façon d'aborder des situations difficiles au quotidien.

Bravo à toi de commencer à regarder ça dès maintenant! J'aurais aimé avoir été aussi proactive à ton âge.

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