UBC med school questions - please help

[AK86]

So I just got off the waitlist and am currently deciding between U of T and UBC. I was hoping some current students can answer the following questions for me:

 

I just got off the OPP waitlist and need to decide between U of T and UBC in the next two days.

 

1. Does honours/pass/fail have a strong affect on competition for residency? I know most other schools are now pass/fail and I imagine a student with all honours would have an advantage. Also, does this lead to competition in the classroom? On that note, how much is pass?

 

2. How do you find having all your exams in one week and a half? I know many other schools break it down throughout the semester. Finally, is the PBL material on exams.... or is it just lecture material?

 

3. What's the cost of living in Vancouver. Ie. a bachelor apartment or getting a place with some roomates?

 

Any advice you have would be great,

 

Thanks

 

Aneta

[Adversary]

I was a dental student taking the same courses so I can answer some questions if you would like.

 

2. It's horrible. Try memorizing 4 2-inch binders full of notes and retaining it all together at once. PBL and lectures are both on exams, but they seem to contain less PBL stuff. I really envied those who had block exams... Although you constantly have an upcoming exam, but at least you don't have to jam all that info in your brain at once.

 

3. I can't tell you since I lived at home, but I recall my friend telling me it's more expensive than Toronto.

 

 

So I just got off the waitlist and am currently deciding between U of T and UBC. I was hoping some current students can answer the following questions for me:

 

I just got off the OPP waitlist and need to decide between U of T and UBC in the next two days.

 

1. Does honours/pass/fail have a strong affect on competition for residency? I know most other schools are now pass/fail and I imagine a student with all honours would have an advantage. Also, does this lead to competition in the classroom? On that note, how much is pass?

 

2. How do you find having all your exams in one week and a half? I know many other schools break it down throughout the semester. Finally, is the PBL material on exams.... or is it just lecture material?

 

3. What's the cost of living in Vancouver. Ie. a bachelor apartment or getting a place with some roomates?

 

Any advice you have would be great,

 

Thanks

 

Aneta

[GLO]

Who cares about the money? You'll be making enough money in your life an as MD that you shouldn't care about the small change here or there.

 

Vancouver is way cooler than Toronto. Where else can you live in such a beautiful scenery?

[GLO]

Also,

 

http://www.mercer.com/qualityoflivingpr#City_Ranking_Tables

 

Vancouver is 4th in the world in terms of quality of life...Toronto is 16th...you do the math.

[babydoctor]

Congrats on your acceptances!

 

To weigh in on your questions (I'm from the UBC Class of 2013):

 

1) H's are pretty meaningless, mostly because U of T doesn't use them - whoever's interviewing you for residency will see a lack of H's and say to him/herself "Okay, so which university did they go to? Do they use H's? etc." and they'll mostly just be confused and will not really pay too much attention, so ultimately, it doesn't matter. I haven't noticed the Hs inscreasing competition in the class at all - most of us are really supportive of one another and we're just worried about passing! (which, by the way, is 60% for pretty much everything) Rumor has it that UBC is talking about getting rid of Hs anyway.

 

2) Having exams all at once is crappy, but it's not much different than undergrad at least. As mentioned, both lecture and PBL material is on the exam, but usually PBL material is either IN the lectures or closely related to it (usually PBL just helps you solidify clinical presentations of diseases, treatment, that sort of thing, and be able to connect it to an actual circumstance) so it's not really "extra" stuff to study.

 

3) Vancouver is definitely expensive, but I would say it's worth it (where else can you go sailing or golfing in the morning and skiing in the afternoon?). If you want to live in town near VGH, for example, you're looking at at least the $1200/month range for a one bedroom. If you pay a little more, you could get a 2-bedroom and split it with a roommate. If you're willing to live a little farther out, say, in Burnaby, you can find places for cheaper. Basement suites are also obviously cheaper than places in apartment buildings, so it all comes down to what you're willing to put up with to save money!

 

I hope that helps!

[hiebs13]

"Having exams all at once is crappy, but it's not much different than undergrad at least"

 

This is not true. Once you get to 2nd year there is WAY more info and the exam periods are ridiculous. 5 undergrad courses of material probably equates to 1 block exam.

[Adversary]

Hence, 4 2-inch binders.... I still don't know how I got through second year, second block!

 

"Having exams all at once is crappy, but it's not much different than undergrad at least"

 

This is not true. Once you get to 2nd year there is WAY more info and the exam periods are ridiculous. 5 undergrad courses of material probably equates to 1 block exam.

[Flow Cytometry]

PRIN block in the first year is the easiest to get thru.

 

2nd year 2nd term is the most difficult in terms of content. Surprisingly, people in my year did worse in the Growth and Development block than Brain and Behaviour.

 

3rd year is tough in that you get a clinical role for the first time.

 

4th year is stressful for CARMS match. Post CARMS match is the best time, other than the upcoming MCQEE I exam.

[jp1284]

man you guys are really freaking me out, maybe i shouldn't have gone with ubc.... unless all medschools are like this. seems like it would be much easier to have exams as you go, like after each block, rather than all together

[Dongzhuo]

Congrats on getting into two of the best schools in the country. As a ubc student, I'll give my two cents.

 

1) No one in class really talks about honours, and there's no obvious competition as far as anyone is concerned. Everyone studies really hard though, and it probably would still be the same if there were no honours. Having many honours will set you apart from peers at UBC, but not having them won't put you at any disadvantage as well. So having HPF has benefits and basically no downside.

 

2) Having all exams at once suck. However, it sucks much much less if you spread out the work. And I find that some blocks will "come together" to help you learn the material. For example, you might not have understood all the infections of the lung in infections block, but then in pulmonary block you finally have a better understanding. So after two years of medicine, I find that having end of year exams is actually better. Maybe its just me. If you're smart enough to get into UBC and UT, you'll probably not have much problems.

 

3) Don't know

 

Random: I have gone several times to the beach to study. With the cool sea breeze, shining sun, and beautiful mountain ranges to look at, it truly is the best place on earth. Does toronto have that?? lol

[Dongzhuo]

Oh, and I've never once looked backed at PBL cases, and never found any problems during exams.

[babydoctor]

"Having exams all at once is crappy, but it's not much different than undergrad at least"

 

This is not true. Once you get to 2nd year there is WAY more info and the exam periods are ridiculous. 5 undergrad courses of material probably equates to 1 block exam.

 

You're right, yes, there is WAAAAAAY more stuff to study in medical school (obviously), but the concept of having to pace yourself to study for multiple exams during one period of time is at least familiar, which is what I meant.

[Destiny Gundam]

Agree with most posts above. Re: residency, Hs dont matter, at all. Work ethic and social skills, YES.

[monkey799]

re: honours

 

Well it really depends what you want to do after med school.

 

If you are like the above poster going after un-competitive residencies like IM or family med or psych, then Hs don't matter much.

 

On the other hand, if you are going after things like derm, ophtho, rad, ENT and so on, having lots of Hs will certainly set you apart and help you gain interviews that you otherwise won't get.

 

Med school goes like this - and similarly in dental school which has internal rankings.

 

Year 1, most people are really chill having just received acceptance and almost a guarantee to get an MD and be a doctor. In people's mind, the equation "P = MD" holds completely true.

 

Year 2, people start to realize there are awards and scholarships and recognitions given out in med school to the top 20% of students with achievements in various areas of endeavor - and THEY DID NOT RECEIVE IT during the summer. So the competition mindset from ugrad makes its way back.

 

Year 3 - people have made some choices regarding what they want to apply to and if they are going after highly competitive programs like plastics, then they'll do whatever it takes to stand out. This usually means honoring clerkship courses (or getting that elusive "exceeds expectation" on evaluation), sucking up on clinical service to get good ref and eval, and sometimes even secretly undermining certain competitors who are going after that same specialty.

 

Year 4 - with electives and carms competition, all the above is intensified.

 

With the vast expansion of medical school spots across the country, and relatively minimal expansion of residencies spots especially those highly competitive ones, the spots seem that much harder to come by nowadays than when I was a med student.

 

Posts by JCTulip in radiology forum is right on the spot. She has probably been thru the admission committee.

 

So my message is that having Hs in the program is an asset. Your goal is to rise above your peers to be rewarded. The competition is and will always be there, like it or not, be it in premed, med school, applying to CaRMS, during residency and eventually getting a decent job - with each stage getting harder than the previous one.

[AK86]

Thanks for your input everyone! I will be staying in Toronto. I've decided I like the curriculum at U of T better.