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Is McMaster Your Top Choice?


Is Mac your top choice?  

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  1. 1. Is Mac your top choice?

    • Yes
      45
    • No
      60
    • Unsure (depends on acceptances)
      30


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Now that all interviews across Canada are done (woooo!), I'm wondering where McMaster ranks in terms of where you'd like to attend medical school in the future (assuming you have a choice).

 

Personally speaking, it's my only interview so yes it is my top choice haha. But even then, McMaster would still be among my top choices because of non-traditional learning style, room for electives, and strong concentration of experts in the field of medicine I want to go into eventually. And Hamilton isn't a horrible city either :P

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Definately not, as was said Hamilton is a dead town, and still declining in most respects. Plus while McMaster does advertise itself as a leader in PBL, SDL, etc., it is really a sub-par medical school compared to the others in ontario in my view. I also hear mostly bad things about their grads, as the students are so easily underprepared when left to "do it all themselves". I think it's my last choice.

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Honestly, Hamilton is not a bad place (spent several years there and I'm at Toronto now) and Mac is not a bad medical school - having seen some of the stuff they learn, I almost wish we could have some of their e-resources at UofT for first year... if you're a driven student, you will be very successful at ANY medical school. And yes, there are bad parts of Hamilton but you'll find bad parts in any city.

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Definately not, as was said Hamilton is a dead town, and still declining in most respects. Plus while McMaster does advertise itself as a leader in PBL, SDL, etc., it is really a sub-par medical school compared to the others in ontario in my view. I also hear mostly bad things about their grads, as the students are so easily underprepared when left to "do it all themselves". I think it's my last choice.

 

I'm interested in what you hear about the grads...I haven't applied yet and I am grateful if I ever get accepted into any medical school, but this is something that has really comes up a lot when I ask some physicians and researchers that I talk to.

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I'm interested in what you hear about the grads...I haven't applied yet and I am grateful if I ever get accepted into any medical school, but this is something that has really comes up a lot when I ask some physicians and researchers that I talk to.

 

They do fine. On average, someone who is in their PGY-1 year is still more functional than someone who is in their fourth year of medical school after 4 yrs.

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Definately not, as was said Hamilton is a dead town, and still declining in most respects. Plus while McMaster does advertise itself as a leader in PBL, SDL, etc., it is really a sub-par medical school compared to the others in ontario in my view. I also hear mostly bad things about their grads, as the students are so easily underprepared when left to "do it all themselves". I think it's my last choice.

 

Sounds like someone who only interviewed at Mac.

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Definately not, as was said Hamilton is a dead town, and still declining in most respects. Plus while McMaster does advertise itself as a leader in PBL, SDL, etc., it is really a sub-par medical school compared to the others in ontario in my view. I also hear mostly bad things about their grads, as the students are so easily underprepared when left to "do it all themselves". I think it's my last choice.

 

To be perfectly honest, before knowing where I had my interviews I was very anti-Mac med because I thought it did not prepare their students. Upon reflection, it's the onus of the student to do the learning though and this is true in any medical school; it's just less structured at McMaster. If you're not self-driven, and you need that push in terms of lots of class time, lectures, etc... then maybe McMaster isn't for you. And if you do go to Mac and decide not to put in your best effort in learning, then you're not going to learn. It just really depends on the student I guess. Anecdotally speaking, I do see a lot of Mac med 1st years with a lot of free time to socialize and go out. Whether you can still be an effective learner and party all the time is something only you know about yourself.

 

And Mac is becoming an excellent research hub in many areas of medicine and that's definitely an advantage when trying to figure out what you want to specialize in.

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Definately not, as was said Hamilton is a dead town, and still declining in most respects. Plus while McMaster does advertise itself as a leader in PBL, SDL, etc., it is really a sub-par medical school compared to the others in ontario in my view. I also hear mostly bad things about their grads, as the students are so easily underprepared when left to "do it all themselves". I think it's my last choice.

 

Sounds like someone who only interviewed at Mac.

 

Yes Sir!

 

Although, I appreciate it. lol.

 

HBP would you go to Mac when you find out you have multiple acceptances?

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Right now it's probably my last choice in Ontario. It's a good school, but I'd prefer UofT/Queens. Also, I don't think the learning style suits me.

 

If I only got into Mac, but got OOP schools... I'd probably choose Mac for location. I hope this doesn't happen, but I would be happy to be a doctor anywhere.

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To be perfectly honest, before knowing where I had my interviews I was very anti-Mac med because I thought it did not prepare their students. Upon reflection, it's the onus of the student to do the learning though and this is true in any medical school; it's just less structured at McMaster. If you're not self-driven, and you need that push in terms of lots of class time, lectures, etc... then maybe McMaster isn't for you.

 

I felt the exact same way about Mac when I applied initially (I was on the fence about applying- no joke). However, two things have changed my mind:

 

1) Getting rejected by all the other schools I applied to in Ontario

2) Going to Mac for the interview, meeting their students, and learning about their curriculum

 

After some reflection, I think that a less structured, PBL-based environment is probably better for me. I hardly go to lectures as it is, not due to laziness, just because I realised that I learned nothing in them and learned everything during my own personal study time. Mac seems like it would be suitable for a person such as myself. I was a bit concerned about having no summer, at the interview we found out that instead of a summer they have seven weeks of elective time; the only reason why I was upset about not having a summer was because there was some travelling that I wanted to do, however now I know that I can still do this. I also really like the opportunities for horizontal electives.

 

I'm just hoping that come May 5th, Mac doesn't scorn me the same way I almost scorned them!

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Quote:

Originally Posted by HBP

Sounds like someone who only interviewed at Mac.

 

_____

 

Haha actually no, I'm at UWO right now and interviewed at UWO, Queen's, MAC, and UT.

 

I just re-read my post and in hindsight it was a bit harsh. To be clear, every ontario medical school is a good medical school if we're considering all of canada, north america, or the world. Within Ontario, I don't beleive there is a HUGE disparity between them. That said, I have heard more mixed things about mac (more bad than good), and better things about the other schools I interviewed at. On the contrary, just like with any school, most of its grads are happy and some people feel it is the best in ontario/canada.

 

I am not a huge big city guy myself, but I did find Hamilton to be very old (in a breaking apart at the seams way, not an antique way) for my tastes. Especially when kingston and london are also as "close to nature" as hamilton. As for the program and learning style, I am not strictly a lecture person and I often do better learning on my own. However, learning on your own is possible at any medical school, but there is more structure to that learning which I like (again, personal opinion).

 

Didn't mean to come off like I was trying to cut down their program, just my opinion and the feel I got at the interview days, from friends, and from docs/current students.

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I think that a less structured, PBL-based environment is probably better for me. I hardly go to lectures as it is, not due to laziness, just because I realised that I learned nothing in them and learned everything during my own personal study time. Mac seems like it would be suitable for a person such as myself.

 

+1, 10 char.

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Quote:

Originally Posted by HBP

Sounds like someone who only interviewed at Mac.

 

_____

 

Haha actually no, I'm at UWO right now and interviewed at UWO, Queen's, MAC, and UT.

 

While I hope this is true, it just doesn't seem very believable that you would make a premed101 account, after already getting into medical school without having an account, just to blast a school you chose not to go to.

 

Many of your points may be true, but I encourage everyone to make the decision between schools based on their individual reasoning.

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Here's my take on the matter:

 

Pros:

- Don't have to attend lectures, everything is streamed online.

- Diverse class background

- More free time if you want it

- Lots of elective time!

- Lots of interaction w/ doctors through horizontal electives, tutorial groups, etc.

 

Cons:

- Not having to attend class might mean falling behind for some people. Also, 4ish hours of lecture a week might not be enough for some

- Not as many formal assessments as other medical schools

- Not as much direction in terms of learning objectives

- Less time to decide on a specialty

- 9 weeks off for the entire program

- Not as much anatomy as other schools (can be good or bad, depending on the person), and no cadaver dissection.

- Having to live in Hamilton for the first few months then moving to the regional campuses (if you do get into a regional campus).

- Hamilton is a mediocre city at best (compared to the other med schools)

 

I was talking to a cardiologist a few months back, and he said that although all the Ontario schools produce good and bad residents, he noticed a higher number of bad residents/clerks from Mac. It wasn't so much to do with their personal skills, but gaps in their knowledge. Of course, by the end of residency, it pretty much evens out, but he was talking about new residents.

 

I wouldn't mind going to Mac, but I'll definitely take Ottawa over Mac if I'm lucky enough to have the choice.

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Here's my take on the matter:

 

- Not as much anatomy as other schools (can be good or bad, depending on the person), and no cadaver dissection.

 

I was talking to a cardiologist a few months back, and he said that although all the Ontario schools produce good and bad residents, he noticed a higher number of bad residents/clerks from Mac. It wasn't so much to do with their personal skills, but gaps in their knowledge. Of course, by the end of residency, it pretty much evens out, but he was talking about new residents.

 

 

i was wondering about these issues too... is it a huge problem? or does it even out, like IC said? jw about general takes on it...

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I got into Ottawa, UWO, and Mac (but not U of T). I chose Mac, and after matching to carms I dont regret it.

 

Some of the points brought up are valid. I lived in Toronto for my masters though, and I have to say--unless you are really into clubbing, its not that much better than anywhere else in Ontario. I found the people in Hamilton infinitely nicer to deal with. I guess there are more broadway-style plays (as if anyone goes to these every week) and jersey shore type spots in t.o., but there are nice neighbourhoods there and in Hamilton. So to me, the differences between the cities are really overstated.

 

My problem with Mac in pre-clerkship was that we didnt do enough work and didnt learn enough anatomy. Now that Im done, I realize that all the anatomy would have made no difference in the real clinical world (the amount we learned was just fine). Once I got to the workload of clerkship, I was glad I didnt spend my last real chance to enjoy myself and be with friends cramming for stuff that would never have helped me anyway.

 

I went to Mac so I guess Im biased, but thats my opinion.

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While I hope this is true, it just doesn't seem very believable that you would make a premed101 account, after already getting into medical school without having an account, just to blast a school you chose not to go to.

 

Many of your points may be true, but I encourage everyone to make the decision between schools based on their individual reasoning.

 

Sorry to be clear I'm at UWO FOR UNDERGRAD. I interviewed this year for those schools with the rest of you and am now enjoying the grueling wait!

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From what I've heard cadaver dissections aren't that great of a learning tool. I can't remember where I saw this, but I recently saw a medical student write something to the effect of "you don't learn much by cutting through layers of fat". Furthermore, I'm fairly certain that the majority of medical students are very self motivated, and if we feel that our anatomical knowledge is lacking we can make that up on our own time.

 

About Mac students not measuring up to other Canadian students; Mac had the second highest number of students match into their first place residency during this round of CaRMS (I think first place was NOSM). Furthermore, I read a study (it's in the interview folder) about PBL, where the author found that PBL-trained students faired no differently than students who trained in a typical didactic environment (mind you, this study was done by Mac, may be a little biased).

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Persona knowledge gap, would love some info: Doesn't the CaRMS match rate have more to do with the specialties selected by students? Or does the percieved quality of the school play in at all? I thought it was more about individual student profiles, which include their "passing" grade from the school, plus some info about them (but not so much directly about whether or not they're prepared medical knowledge-wise, since the "passing" grade indicates that much).

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From what I've heard cadaver dissections aren't that great of a learning tool. I can't remember where I saw this, but I recently saw a medical student write something to the effect of "you don't learn much by cutting through layers of fat". Furthermore, I'm fairly certain that the majority of medical students are very self motivated, and if we feel that our anatomical knowledge is lacking we can make that up on our own time.

 

About Mac students not measuring up to other Canadian students; Mac had the second highest number of students match into their first place residency during this round of CaRMS (I think first place was NOSM). Furthermore, I read a study (it's in the interview folder) about PBL, where the author found that PBL-trained students faired no differently than students who trained in a typical didactic environment (mind you, this study was done by Mac, may be a little biased).

 

 

Looking at match numbers is always a bit two-sided... yes, in 2010 they had a high first-choice match rate (75% vs 65% avg), but they also had a high % of first choice being family (42.5% vs. 33% avg).

 

edit: Ironically, in 2009... Mac had one of the lower first choice match rates (56.5% vs 63% avg), so it really depends on the individual class make-up and their choices.

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Persona knowledge gap, would love some info: Doesn't the CaRMS match rate have more to do with the specialties selected by students? Or does the percieved quality of the school play in at all? I thought it was more about individual student profiles, which include their "passing" grade from the school, plus some info about them (but not so much directly about whether or not they're prepared medical knowledge-wise, since the "passing" grade indicates that much).

 

Just because you choose a specialty doesn't mean you get it, even if you passed all your courses. It's the same game as getting into medicine (competition), albeit with a much better safety net.

 

Much of the decision will be made based on your references.

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Furthermore, I'm fairly certain that the majority of medical students are very self motivated, and if we feel that our anatomical knowledge is lacking we can make that up on our own time..

 

I could not agree with you more!

 

I think that choosing which med school to go to is a very personal decision. It requires good self awareness, if you know you probably won't do well in a self-directed environment, then yeah, mac probably isn't the best choice for you.

 

I think that mac's learning style is fantastic ( I'm a current mac student, so i may be a bit biased) but I still have some hesitation about some aspects of their med program.

 

But every school will have their pro's and con's - it's just what works best for you, and ultimately what you put in, is what your going to get out of it!

 

It will be interesting to see if any one's opinions change come may 5th! only a month to go!!:)

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