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Hello - I have a question for any current Queen's med students or alumni (or anyone who knows someone in this position). Have you, or anyone you know, been accepted to both Queen's and Toronto, and chosen to attend Queen's rather than Toronto? If so, I would appreciate some insight into what prompted this decision. Thank you! 

Note: This question isn't intended to try and start a whole "Queen's VS Toronto" debate, pros and cons list, or dwell on hypotheticals, but rather to gain insight into an actual decision that someone has made.

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Hey! There are a number of us in the Class of 2023 at Queen's who were accepted to both schools and chose to come to Queen's. I am sure the same is the case at Toronto. Both schools have great programs and regardless where you go you will get an amazing education. Below I will leave pros and cons for each schools and then summarize why many of us chose to go to Queen's over UofT (and many other schools across the country). 

Toronto:

+ Big city, cultural hub

+ Widely respected school that carries a name with it

+ Larger centre with bigger hospitals, unique patient cases

+ World class research

- Very large class size, reduced opportunities for networking with classmates, professors, attending physicians

- Division of class over several campuses and academies, rather than at one site 

- Commuter feel with many students coming from Toronto

- Distinctly competitive between students*

- Administration resistant to feedback and aloof to student concerns of wellness*

- Current students explicitly told during the interview process to not say anything negative about the school, raises red flags*

- Expensive rent

- Cost of tuition

* = Anecdotes from friends attending UofT Med

 

Queens: 

+ Smaller class size, allowing for early and deep connections with classmates, professors, and attending physicians

+ Ability to be hands on early in medical school and in a meaningful way (ie. you will often be the only learner in a room, whereas this will rarely, if ever, be the case in Toronto). 

+ Networking opportunities with staff and administration because of these hands-on experiences, as well as things like every first-year student having dinner at the Dean's house, bimonthly town halls with the Associate Dean

+ Highest match rate in the country consistently (to first choice and competitive specialties)

+ The "Queen's Experience". Supportive and collaborative environment. We all look out for one another and lend a hand where others are struggling. This cannot be stressed enough and is one of the biggest pro's of Queen's. 

+ Kingston has a great food scene, close to Montreal and Toronto, great for outdoor activities

+ Cheaper rent than Toronto

- Kingston is a smaller city, not as much to offer as Toronto

- Less of a name than Toronto (if that is important to you) 

- Cost of tuition

 

With all this information, and how I felt on interview day, I chose to come to Queen's. I felt that this is where I would best flourish and was what worked best with my personality. This may not be the same for everyone. For some people Toronto may be a much better fit and I completely and wholeheartedly welcome that sentiment. This is where you will be spending almost every day for the next four years of your life and it should be somewhere that you are going to do your best. I personally chose to come to Queen's because I knew that the community was going to fit with my personality and something that I found personally so incredibly important. These are going to be the people who are going to get you through four of the hardest years of your life and are going to be your lifelines, confidantes, best friends, and future colleagues. You cannot and will not get though medical school and a future career as a physician in an individual mindset. Queen's offered this experience unlike anywhere else in the country, and is something that I think Toronto is lacking in (highly biased, personal opinion). The only reason why I was drawn to UofT over Queen's was because of the city (which we go to every few weeks anyways) and the name attached to it (which became less and less important over time to myself, and is a nearly irrelevant factor when it comes to matching and your medical education). 

Hope this helps. Best of luck everyone in the coming week! We are all super excited to welcome you to Queen's if you choose to come here. Make the best decision for yourself. Regardless, you will be happy and are about to start on a journey towards an incredibly challenging and satisfying career. Cheers!

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Hi @QMed12345 - thank you for taking the time to write out such a thoughtful and organized response! Of all the schools I interviewed at, I was most excited for Queen's and even intended to bring my parents (neither of whom got to attend university) to the interview day events. Unfortunately the pandemic measures kicked in before that and my interview moved online so I didn't get a chance to "feel out" Queen's for myself. I appreciate all the details about each school and your advice about what factors to consider prioritizing, bias disclosure and all. This was very helpful :) .

Congrats on finishing your first year of med!

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@coconutbread all of us definitely feel for you that had to interview online rather than in person. We had such a great time welcoming the first group of applicants and were really bummed to not get to meet the rest of you. Hopefully some of them can speak to their experiences and what they were able to gather from the school and their time here during interview weekend. Queen's is definitely a special place and we are sad that you were not able to see it in person. There are tons of pictures and videos of what Kingston and Queen's are like out there so definitely check those out and you will be able to get a vibe. As well, for those who are accepted there is a long list of resources about Queen's, Kingston, QMed, and helping you make the decision between QMed and other programs should you be in the lucky position to get to choose. So keep your eyes out for those. There will also be a large list of contacts in the QMed Class of 2023 (basically the entire class) to reach out to if you have any more clarifying questions at all. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 5/5/2020 at 7:12 PM, coconutbread said:

Hi @QMed12345 - thank you for taking the time to write out such a thoughtful and organized response! Of all the schools I interviewed at, I was most excited for Queen's and even intended to bring my parents (neither of whom got to attend university) to the interview day events. Unfortunately the pandemic measures kicked in before that and my interview moved online so I didn't get a chance to "feel out" Queen's for myself. I appreciate all the details about each school and your advice about what factors to consider prioritizing, bias disclosure and all. This was very helpful :) .

Congrats on finishing your first year of med!

I had to make this decision 6 years ago and chose to attend Queen’s. I do not regret my decision one bit. In fact, Medical School at Queens was the best 4 years of my life. 

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