Naruto Posted March 27, 2018 Report Share Posted March 27, 2018 Hi, The ranking for the McMaster campuses is due April 8th. I am having trouble ranking the campuses and would like to see what others (current and prospective students) think. I think all 3 campuses are great and don't have a strong preference for either but some issues I thought of: Location: Hamilton is ofc the biggest city and closest to Toronto. Niagara is the farthest. I'm a city person so I'm leaning Hamilton, Waterloo, Niagara. Opportunities: I believe research opportunities are easier in Hamilton but how about Waterloo vs Niagara? Because of smaller class sizes ive heard that shadowing and other opportunities are actually better in Waterloo and Niagara. Would a Waterloo or Niagara hurt you for certain specialities? I'd like to hear others' thoughts and how you all are ranking the campuses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bearded frog Posted March 27, 2018 Report Share Posted March 27, 2018 43 minutes ago, Naruto said: I believe research opportunities are easier in Hamilton but how about Waterloo vs Niagara? Because of smaller class sizes ive heard that shadowing and other opportunities are actually better in Waterloo and Niagara. Would a Waterloo or Niagara hurt you for certain specialities? All 3 have pros and cons. The satellite campuses tend to be a tight knit bunch and are relatively close with their administration and staff. The satellites have newer facilities, and are more pampered (gyms in the building, free popcorn, free coffee, frequent free lunches, etc). Hamilton will have more research opportunities, and better representation of certain specialties (surgical specialties, peds cause of the children's hospital, nuclear medicine, etc). Hard to say for shadowing opportunities, since there are more people to shadow in Hamilton, but 140 others also want to shadow. I think at the satellites the admin can help arrange that stuff since its a smaller group. A big disadvantage is having to figure out living in Hamilton for the first three months. I can't speak to WRC vs NRC. At the end of the day, in my year the satellite groups did fine in the match relative to Hamilton, and people matched to very competitive specialties. I think a lot of them wouldn't have chosen it at the start but in the end they were happy with where they were. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edict Posted March 27, 2018 Report Share Posted March 27, 2018 On 3/26/2018 at 10:29 PM, Naruto said: Hi, The ranking for the McMaster campuses is due April 8th. I am having trouble ranking the campuses and would like to see what others (current and prospective students) think. I think all 3 campuses are great and don't have a strong preference for either but some issues I thought of: Location: Hamilton is ofc the biggest city and closest to Toronto. Niagara is the farthest. I'm a city person so I'm leaning Hamilton, Waterloo, Niagara. Opportunities: I believe research opportunities are easier in Hamilton but how about Waterloo vs Niagara? Because of smaller class sizes ive heard that shadowing and other opportunities are actually better in Waterloo and Niagara. Would a Waterloo or Niagara hurt you for certain specialities? I'd like to hear others' thoughts and how you all are ranking the campuses. I found shadowing was actually easy at Hamilton campus. I never had an issue and shadowed a total of 10 different specialties. It was often as simple as an email. All 3 campuses match very well, so I wouldn't be too worried, but I do find research opportunities are better in Hamilton (PHRI, TaARI, Firestone etc). Personally, I very likely matched to my residency program because of research opportunities I had in the Hamilton campus. Typically, lecturers during clerkship tutorials were in person in Hamilton and VC'ed to the regional campuses, and I found it was easier to pay attention and interact with the lecturer by being in person. One advantage of doing clerkship in Hamilton is that you meet a lot of residents and you experience working with residents and staff just like you would in residency. I also found it helped me adapt during my electives quicker. Another advantage of Hamilton is that the PDs at McMaster are typically here and if you are going for a smaller specialty, it can help to have more one on one access to residents, faculty and the PD. I can't speak for the other campuses but I don't know anyone who regretted choosing Hamilton. Overall, these points are all minor, location is also very important, choose based on where you want to live as well. No matter where you end up, you will do well. People match to anything they want from all three campuses every year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plastics91 Posted March 27, 2018 Report Share Posted March 27, 2018 Did everyone receive e-mails to rank campus? I haven't received anything yet, just finished interviewing (March 24) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butterfly_ Posted March 27, 2018 Report Share Posted March 27, 2018 55 minutes ago, plastics91 said: Did everyone receive e-mails to rank campus? I haven't received anything yet, just finished interviewing (March 24) I received mine a few days ago and I interviewed the week before you. You should have it in a few days, not to worry :)! plastics91 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
random_dent Posted March 29, 2018 Report Share Posted March 29, 2018 From talking to people on the day it seems that lots of electives are actually better at the satellite campuses. They have flatter structures so you're won't be at the bottom of a long chain of people, but rather working directly with the practicing physician. Also, for admin staff, the closer relationship makes it easier to design research projects and horizontal electives. If you actually have no preference, put that! I'm kind of desperate for Hamilton as an older applicant who has a wife, house etc. in Hamilton, so I couldn't move and would have to commute to the satellite campuses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vcklo Posted March 29, 2018 Report Share Posted March 29, 2018 Hi, I'm graduating from the Niagara campus this year. I ranked it last 3 years ago because I didn't know anything about it, no connections. I'm originally from Toronto, only knew the city life. If I were to go back in time, I would be happy to do it all over again in Niagara... I got an appreciation for life in the community that I otherwise would not have. As ppl have said, there are pros and cons... here are a couple of things I liked though: I do think you'll probably have more research opportunities in Hamilton, but it would be incorrect to say you won't have good or any research opportunities at the regional campus. The staff (and there's dedicated research staff) are incredibly supportive and want you to succeed (ie publish) because it helps their research program too. I found I got the support I needed to publish and present in time for carms. I was and still am planning on being involved in academics in my career and successfully matched to a program in a big city, so I didn't feel held back in that regard. Anytime I had electives, I did them outside of Niagara since all my cores were in Niagara. I would say what I really liked about Niagara is the 1-on-1 relationship/teaching you have with staff... there's basically no hierachy you find at other institutions where you're at the "bottom", then the junior residents, senior residents, fellows, then staff.... it's just you the student and the staff. I personally found this really helpful when asking them to write me reference letters since we spent so much face-time together. For what it's worth, the last two years Niagara had a 100% match rate for residency. It was slightly annoying to have to move after MF1, but after settling in a month later, it was great. I'm paying $900/mo for 900 square feet, which I'm going to miss. I think having a car is pretty necessary in Niagara. I'll leave it there for now. Galaxy123 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billy55555 Posted June 5, 2019 Report Share Posted June 5, 2019 What is mf1 and why did u have to move after mf1? Do you not have a choice to live in the same apt close to your campus for all 3 years? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IMislove Posted June 5, 2019 Report Share Posted June 5, 2019 25 minutes ago, billy55555 said: What is mf1 and why did u have to move after mf1? Do you not have a choice to live in the same apt close to your campus for all 3 years? Mf1 is like your first big block at Mac, think there are 5/6 of them before clerkship if I’m not mistaken? If you’re based in a regional campus then you only go to Mac for MF1, then you do the rest at your regional campus. Some people choose to live in Hamilton for MF1 and then closer to regional campus after that. Imagine driving from Waterloo or Niagara to McMaster for a semester, probably not the most fun. duckduckgoose18 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lifedecisions Posted June 5, 2019 Report Share Posted June 5, 2019 29 minutes ago, billy55555 said: What is mf1 and why did u have to move after mf1? Do you not have a choice to live in the same apt close to your campus for all 3 years? @billy55555 MF1 is our first unit (Medical Foundation 1)--everyone, including regional campus students from Niagara and Waterloo are expected to be in Hamilton for the duration of this first unit (3 months, Sept to Nov for us, not sure how it'll shift w/ the earlier start date). Afterwards, Niagara and Waterloo students move to their respective campuses. Imo, the move is a huge hassle and considerable disadvantage of the regional campus, I have lots of friends who were super stressed about finding temporary housing, the timing for finding new housing in their regional campuses, moving w/n a short time frame (you don't get lots of time off between MF1 and 2). Some ended up having to pay rent in two places at one, which kind of sucks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lifedecisions Posted June 5, 2019 Report Share Posted June 5, 2019 3 minutes ago, IMislove said: Mf1 is like your first big block at Mac, think there are 5/6 of them before clerkship if I’m not mistaken? If you’re based in a regional campus then you only go to Mac for MF1, then you do the rest at your regional campus. Some people choose to live in Hamilton for MF1 and then closer to regional campus after that. Imagine driving from Waterloo or Niagara to McMaster for a semester, probably not the most fun. Maybe regional students could chime in, but living in Niagara/Waterloo and commuting means you miss out on a lot of social events at the beginning of the year. Not the biggest deal to some, but important for others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billy55555 Posted June 8, 2019 Report Share Posted June 8, 2019 Does mac accomodate switching a campus before starting med school? What if you find a student willing to swap with you , will mac admin do it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
X Æ A-12 Posted June 8, 2019 Report Share Posted June 8, 2019 2 hours ago, billy55555 said: Does mac accomodate switching a campus before starting med school? What if you find a student willing to swap with you , will mac admin do it? Campus assignments are binding, you signed a contract to that effect at some point so no, there will be no switches or transfers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billy55555 Posted June 8, 2019 Report Share Posted June 8, 2019 1 hour ago, swoman said: Campus assignments are binding, you signed a contract to that effect at some point so no, there will be no switches or transfers Even if it is before accepting their offer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
X Æ A-12 Posted June 8, 2019 Report Share Posted June 8, 2019 43 minutes ago, billy55555 said: Even if it is before accepting their offer? Yes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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