Time Off - Summers and Christmas

[thedreamer]

Hi,

Does anyone know how much time we get off during the UBC MD program for summers and Christmas for each year of study?

[frenchpress]

Roughly, based on the past couple of years and what they’ve published so far for next year:

1st year: ~ 2 weeks at christmas, 11 weeks June - mid august

 2nd year: ~ 2 weeks at Christmas, 6 weeks May - mid June 

3rd year: ~ 2 weeks at Christmas, 5 weeks June - mid July

Not sure about 4th year - The first group of 4th year students to go through the new curriculum are just doing so this coming year, and I haven’t seen anything published for it yet (and it may shift in the future anyways).

This schedule isn’t set in stone and there has been a proposal to shift around some of the weeks, at least in 2nd year, but I believe the total amount of vacation is supposed to stay about the same.

 

[jfdes]

On 5/21/2018 at 12:33 PM, frenchpress said:

Roughly, based on the past couple of years and what they’ve published so far for next year:

1st year: ~ 2 weeks at christmas, 11 weeks June - mid august

 2nd year: ~ 2 weeks at Christmas, 6 weeks May - mid June 

3rd year: ~ 2 weeks at Christmas, 5 weeks June - mid July

Not sure about 4th year - The first group of 4th year students to go through the new curriculum are just doing so this coming year, and I haven’t seen anything published for it yet (and it may shift in the future anyways).

This schedule isn’t set in stone and there has been a proposal to shift around some of the weeks, at least in 2nd year, but I believe the total amount of vacation is supposed to stay about the same.

 

For the 11 week period at the end of first year, could you say how much of that time people generally take as vacation vs time spent doing research / other things to benefit CARMS match? 

[frenchpress]

5 hours ago, jfdes said:

For the 11 week period at the end of first year, could you say how much of that time people generally take as vacation vs time spent doing research / other things to benefit CARMS match? 

Some people do research, for example, through SSRPs. But I would say the larger majority of people take least a good chunk of that take time off as vacation. You’re just not going to have another opportunity to take that kind of time to travel or relax or do whatever you want for many years afterwards, so most people seem to try to enjoy it. That’s definitely what I would recommend.

There is an opportunity to do research through MEDD 419 and 429 FLEX time. The current schedule involves roughly 6 half days in the 2nd semester of year 1, 6 weeks full time at the end of year 1, and a half day each week during year 2 + 2 weeks full time at the end of each semester in year 2. You can use your FLEX for pretty much any kind of ‘scholarship’ and there's not a tonne of oversight. So it’s not uncommon for people to take advantage of it to do pretty lightweight projects and then fudge their hours so that they can study more or travel more. But a lot of people also get a lot of real research done in this time, and are able to get publications, etc. So if you're gunning for a CARMs specialty for which you really think research will be critical, you can make very good use of FLEX and avoid eating into your limited vacation. 

Edit: I should add you can also do things like shadow, work in the community, get certifications, etc, in FLEX time. It's not just for research. So you can take advantage of it to do a variety of things that might be priorities for you. 

[jfdes]

3 hours ago, frenchpress said:

Some people do research, for example, through SSRPs. But I would say the larger majority of people take least a good chunk of that take time off as vacation. You’re just not going to have another opportunity to take that kind of time to travel or relax or do whatever you want for many years afterwards, so most people seem to try to enjoy it. That’s definitely what I would recommend.

There is an opportunity to do research through MEDD 419 and 429 FLEX time. The current schedule involves roughly 6 half days in the 2nd semester of year 1, 6 weeks full time at the end of year 1, and a half day each week during year 2 + 2 weeks full time at the end of each semester in year 2. You can use your FLEX for pretty much any kind of ‘scholarship’ and there's not a tonne of oversight. So it’s not uncommon for people to take advantage of it to do pretty lightweight projects and then fudge their hours so that they can study more or travel more. But a lot of people also get a lot of real research done in this time, and are able to get publications, etc. So if you're gunning for a CARMs specialty for which you really think research will be critical, you can make very good use of FLEX and avoid eating into your limited vacation. 

Edit: I should add you can also do things like shadow, work in the community, get certifications, etc, in FLEX time. It's not just for research. So you can take advantage of it to do a variety of things that might be priorities for you. 

Thanks for the info.

How long would we have to keep available for an SSRP if we were interested in pursuing it?

[frenchpress]

15 minutes ago, jfdes said:

Thanks for the info.

How long would we have to keep available for an SSRP if we were interested in pursuing it?

I think they’re usually 8 weeks. Although honestly the funding (~$3000) is so little given the amount of other loans and bursaries and credit you have available, you may find the money isn’t worth the commitment. I typically think research students should always be paid, but this is one exception where some people find it better to just volunteer and do the research on their own schedule.