0T6 Posted February 1, 2007 Report Share Posted February 1, 2007 This thread got buried in the archives and I thought I'd revive it. (Mods please sticky, g22g I've updated some stuff ) If anyone wants to add anything, just reply in this thread! Vijay: our anglophone histology prof for memorizing 100 student names, for shaving his hair to raise money for cancer, and calling you "Smart girl" or "Smart guy." (g22g) TWO!! weeks of orientation (g22g) It's the closest Ontario school to Montreal.(noncestvrai) a guilt-free WORK-FREE weekend every 6 weeks (tt) THREE weeks off for xmas break in first year (tt) [editor's note one student in the second year class went to Africa for a clinical elective by getting an extra week off]. protected nap..i mean..study time...(tt) PBLs starting on Monday and ending on Friday which means you are forced to study at least a little bit from week to week. (g22g) Technology: we have a dedicated laptop program so if you want to get techy, like record lectures, avoid writers cramp, instant message a friend, or use a web based dictionary to clarify a term you can. (g22g) The laptops for Meds09 are tablets! ...their Admissions office people really seem to care. I sent a wee note to Nicole a few weeks ago, inquiring about a few things. The Asst. Dean of Admissions sent me an e-mail at 7am yesterday morning (a Saturday), asking me to call him. Since I was on the computer at that time, and figured he'd be there, I did. His first question: "What Asst. Dean of Admissions in Canada would do this?" I had to give him that as this was the second time this year that I'd spoken to him early in morn. [it was Richard Hebert (please insert the accent, my keyboard is not compliant!). I find him to be perpetually helpful, insightful and generous with his time. ] It would be great to see some other schools follow suit. I've only been impressed by these guys...(Kirsteen) Clinical exposure - can start doing electives/observerships right away if you want to. There's protected time on our schedule to do it.(Tash000) Supportive staff - they actually ask for and respond to feedback (Tash000) City - great urban and outdoor life. Clubs, restaurants, bars are great. Close to water and snow...almost everyone skiis or boards in my class...I'm trying to learn! (Tash000) Systems based - just makes more sense. You learn everything about a single system at the same time. Most schools are like this now.(Tash000) PEOPLE - great, relaxed group of people! This is the most important, I think. Super friendly and generally laid back students. If you crave competition, this isn't the place to be! (Tash000) E-curriculum - all the sources you need are at your fingertips. Also makes PBL a lot more interesting since you have diagnostic info integrated into the case (ie. videos of echos, heart sounds, etc.) (Tash000) Ottawa is bilingual, so is the university and the MD porgram. I believe it is part of our national culture/history and everybody who wish to honor our national tradition, improve their french and study medicine, should choose UO.(Tutifruiti) If you want to learn French, there are FREE courses at the school to do so! I love the E-curriculum, I download all the powerpoint presentation AND online notes on which I am able to take notes, highlight, underline. This is super cool since I don't have to carry huge binders (they grow very fast!) and am able to zoom on picture which are in colour! Paper notes users don't have that chance. Moreover, the library and classroom are all wired for internet so during a lecture if you don't understand something, you can immediately look online. Yep, I am very enthousiastic about the e-curriculum... it is a must for all computers and technology lovers!(Tutifruiti) The program also offerers small group learning as large classroom sessions. So if you learn best through self learning you can chose to not go to lectures (one or two of my classmates prefers this option). You have to go to small group sessions (PBL) but it may not be the primary focus of your studies (like me, for example I prefer lectures). And if you get something from both methods of learning then I think you would be in the majority of the class. (Sil) You have a lot of free time, at least 3 afternoons free per week. We are encouraged to follow physicians around to rule specialties in or out. I started doing a thoracic surgery elective and while in my first month in med school, I had my hand inside somebody's thoracic cage and was feeling a tumour. And I have classmates who have rotated throughout different specialties, seen births, etc. (Sil) The location of the school is great we are between 2 major teaching hospitals. The Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario which is great place to do rotations and work. And the Ottawa General Hospital. After classes you just have to walk over and do your elective. As well, within the city we have the Heart Institute which is world renown for cardiology. Ottawa being the second largest city in Ontario has specialists in every discipline and usually our tutors for PBL are specialists of whatever block we are studying (for example I had a cardiologist for cardiology, a nephrologist for renal, etc). (Sil) My classmates are great. I constantly get e-mails from individuals from the class (people that are not necessarily my friends) telling us about extra-resources that they have found on line, tables they have created or notes that they are sharing. As a class we are very cohesive. I find that med students in my class hang out together a lot of times (soccer games, movies together, girls and guys night out, block parties, diners, intramurals, etc, etc, etc). (Sil) I really like the e-curriculum. I cannot say enough about that. At the beginning of the block we are handed all of the notes that we need for the block (the power point presentations and extra writing the profs want us to have). These power point presentations are also available online. So I can make my notes directly on the computer. Many books are available online. The advantage is that I can go to the library with my laptop and my course notes and leave most of my books at home (my laptop is way lighter than Harrison's Internal medicine). As well, if I need to look up a medical term I don't need to carry with me (or borrow) a medical dictionary, is all online (provided by the university). Many of the extra materials are provided online also for example we got extra CDs with breath sounds, heart sounds, and extra random material some PBL tutors give us. A student was hired by the faculty and took pictures from prosections of anatomy specimens. I can easily study for this at home, at the library, from a PBL room, ie the night before an exam (well you get my drift. And without my laptop would I have enough time to check this site non-stop ? (Sil) I don`t find the med school location a bother at all....for us southend-ers it`s closer and has less traffic flow during rush hour. The 85 (bus) takes you downtown within a matter of 10 minutes. Altavista, although not a bustling neighbourhood, is fairly close to St. Laurent Blvd. which provides easy access to a huge mall, 24 eateries, golf courses, a Hooters, and the ever popular nuDEN!!! (James W.) As far as Ottawa goes as a city to live in...I've travelled and spent significant time in all major Canadian cities and have also spent time in many of the less-known cities...I would say I have a pretty good handle on what other Canadian cities are like. I would say, in my opinion, the three nicest places to live in Canada, in order of my personal preference are: Ottawa, Montreal, Vancouver. Ottawa is an amazing city. I lived here when I was younger and it was pretty lame with respect to night life, etc. Ottawa currently has a great night life scene...the market is really fun...and Hull is right next door. Good restaurents are everywhere. Ottawa is also very clean and safe, as major Canadian cities go. Our cost of living is also excellent relative to other major cities in Canada.Ottawa also has lots of great things to do outside...if you're sporty...there are miles and miles of bicycle/blading/running paths, we have the canal...the gatineau is right next door for hiking and cross-country skiing in the winter...we have world-class bass, pickerel/walleye, musky fishing within 15-30 minutes of downtown...(Peter Hill) Ottawa's a great place to visit. I did an away elective there and absolutely loved it. The downtown area is a lot of fun, and the staff and residents at the hospital were some of the happiest and friendliest that I've ever had the pleasure of working with. (Ian Wong) Because of the e-curriculum, you can confidently dose through lectures and know that you can download relatively detailed sets of notes for the classes you missed.*(Mistah Anderson)*mistah anderson does not advocate sleeping in class. However he currently holds the record for most classes slept thru for meds 2007. Our med school, is physically attached to *two* hospitals: the Ottawa General and the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario. This means that not only do you have two training hospitals and two places to do on-site electives... but you also have multiple cafeterias to choose from for lunch. (Mistah Anderson) We get complementary newspapers each morning by stopping by the education office. (g22g) Like Mac you are relatively high on the teaching food chain (There aren't a great deal of residents between you and the patient). For instance great practical hands on expeirence like CABG. (Steph Macdonell) I am here. (Steph Macdonell) Graduate students are given special considerations. (Dave M.) Beautiful scenere in Gatineau Park (Dave M.) Its great to come to Ottawa and see more Leaf's fans at the coreal centre watching the Sens get whooped in overtime. (Demetrios S.) Ottawa has the best fan base and club for the Minor League Hockey. (Misha M.) Mentor night: about once a month or two you hang out for dinner and an activity with one or two physicans and few third, second, and first year colleagues. The docs typically pay. And if you happen to miss an activity they will call to check up on you to make sure everything is alright. For instance we are going skate the canal, try beavertails, and have dinner at their house this Feb. weekend. The entire project is lead coordinated by the med students.(g22g) Student leadership and Community health groups: First year students will be given the opportunity to mentor a child stricken with cancer, provide health education to high schoolers, coordinate a summer elective in Bear country, and attend weekly seminars on international health. Click here for details mededu.med.uottawa.ca/aesculapian/HTML/CommunityInternationalHealth/CommunityHealth/groups.htm (g22g) So you think you are SMRT? SMRT club: Stands for Seminars on manuscripts that Revolutionize Therapies: It’s a journal club organized by the first year class to cover tomorrow's therapies today. Sessions are lead by an enthusastic student and with the audience of a faculty member experienced in the topic of the month. Click here for the web page: mededu.med.uottawa.ca/meds2007/SMRT/ (g22g, shameless plug) EGSO, a group of forty first year students that work together to answer and share the learning objectives given by the faculty in a particular block. Student answers are further screened by two peer reviewers. Excellent collaboration!(g22g) Med Show! Our academic assistant dean shaved HER (yes.. HER) long blonde locks to raise money for paediatric cancer research! PSD (physician skills development) has you doing histories on REAL inpatients during the SECOND week of classes! Free shuttle bus to main campus (administrative stuff, gym, intramurals, etc) and to riverside and civic campuses of the ottawa hospital (electives, clerkship) Anatomy lab online! Cadaver pictures are labelled and all online so you're not in the anatomy lab with a bunch of cadavers by yourself on a tuesday night! Meds09 is so amazingly sweet and baked cookies and cupcakes for Meds10 before their immunology exam! Putting in a "Meds" volleyball/hockey/basketball team into the intramural league so you can relive your glory high school days of when you scored 4 touch downs in a single game for polk high. *suggestions for extending the list are welcome!* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
temp_degoo Posted February 1, 2007 Report Share Posted February 1, 2007 OT6, the fact that you are on here so often, and provide such useful advice, is the strongest indication of the free time the Ottawa student has and the quality of the students (since they come on here to help others). Both are extremely strong reasons! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talon01 Posted February 1, 2007 Report Share Posted February 1, 2007 Hey! Here's the shuttle bus schedule for you: http://www.protection.uottawa.ca/en/shuttlergn.html It unfortunately does not run on weekends. There's quite a few libraries at UO. The health science one is located in RGN (the med school building). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
everyoneloveschem Posted February 1, 2007 Report Share Posted February 1, 2007 To everyone considering coming here, it really is true about how friendly the class is. The second years have been great for us - they came to our pre-exam review and gave us the real scoop on the exam, they're always happy to answers questions we have, and they even baked for us before our immunology and infection exam!! People in our class are always sending around helpful links, and documents. And at our end of block parties, there is always a really good turn out. Most of the physicians I have encountered have really encouraged us to come in and see what they do, or to help us organize electives with their colleagues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Footyfanatic Posted February 4, 2007 Report Share Posted February 4, 2007 Hi everyone, I have my interview on the 28th of February and I just wanted to let you guys know that I've learned quite a bit about the med school and its students from this thread. I'm now more excited than ever to attend, I feel UOttawa is the most balanced med school with its lecture and PBL schedules. I didn't know that we can do our electives and have practical exposure to real medicine so early on. This just sweetens the deal. Good job to everyone who posted and a sincere Thank You. Saif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talon01 Posted February 4, 2007 Report Share Posted February 4, 2007 Hi everyone, I have my interview on the 28th of February and I just wanted to let you guys know that I've learned quite a bit about the med school and its students from this thread. I'm now more excited than ever to attend, I feel UOttawa is the most balanced med school with its lecture and PBL schedules. I didn't know that we can do our electives and have practical exposure to real medicine so early on. This just sweetens the deal. Good job to everyone who posted and a sincere Thank You. Saif Congrats on the interview and good luck! During the first week or 2 of school you get an elective contact list for all the different fields. So you're able to arrange an elective in almost any field within the first few weeks of school starting (assuming they can fit you in). If you have any more questions feel free to make a new thread or drop me a PM! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0T6 Posted February 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2007 There's also a good chance you'll get significant clinical exposure from the get go in the curriculum. The first term of first year in PSD (physician skills development) is about doing histories and most tutors take you into their clinic. So I had a neurology resident and gen surg resident for my tutors so by the 2nd week of med school I was doing a full history on a stroke patient (it IS true.. you remember the 1st patient you ever see ) and the week after that a post-op history on someone with diverticulitis. So add to that the elective experience that talon's mentioned and you're in good shape when it comes to clinical exposure right from the start! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuantum Posted June 6, 2007 Report Share Posted June 6, 2007 I'm trying to decide on a tablet PC to buy, and I'm just curious...which one is UofO using for the 2011 class? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Footyfanatic Posted June 6, 2007 Report Share Posted June 6, 2007 Hey Kuantum, they used the IBM ThinkPad X41 Tablet last year I believe. Here is the website for it: http://www.medicine.uottawa.ca/medtech/laptop/eng/description.html Since we're given the labtops in orientation, then I guess they'll have until then to decide which ones we'll use. We used these labtops for the emotional intelligence test we took at the interview, they're solid pc's man. Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuantum Posted June 6, 2007 Report Share Posted June 6, 2007 Thanks...I was thinking of getting the Lenovo Thinkpad T60/61...but it is ridonculously expensive...but it may be worth it. I was disappointed that there was no internal optical drive though...I need to watch my DVDs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Footyfanatic Posted June 7, 2007 Report Share Posted June 7, 2007 I said the same thing about the internal optical drive, lol - maybe we can install our own disk players? Are we allowed to mod them? I have a feeling the answer is no... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EESH Posted June 8, 2007 Report Share Posted June 8, 2007 I'm pretty sure you can mod them (I was going to add more memory anyway, unless it comes loaded already), but I don't think there's an internal bay on the X60 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talon01 Posted June 8, 2007 Report Share Posted June 8, 2007 holy sidetrack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0T6 Posted February 2, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2008 Bumpity Bumpson! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryd Posted December 11, 2008 Report Share Posted December 11, 2008 Is the new curiculum the same as said above, do you see clinical time in first year or is like all the other med schools and you have to wait until 3rd year. At least afternoons are off, not like U of T, lectures all day long Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Posted December 11, 2008 Report Share Posted December 11, 2008 Is the new curiculum the same as said above, do you see clinical time in first year or is like all the other med schools and you have to wait until 3rd year. At least afternoons are off, not like U of T, lectures all day long Although I'm not in the new curriculum, I think it allows for even more clinical time than the previous one. You have the same basic structure as before, with the bonus that afternoons off means you can organise lots of electives! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogerroger Posted December 11, 2008 Report Share Posted December 11, 2008 Albeit true in respect to the lectures at UofT I feel compelled to clear up a common misconception. We do have significant clinical time in first year. In fact we do a lot of stuff outside of class and it is all crammed into a busy schedule. For example I spend one morning a week (4hrs) in a hospital, taking histories of patients, practicing physical exam techniques etc. So as you cram hours of lectures in your head you also are working away at your practical clinical skills. Then in another course we spend time in the community every week. Just today I spent an afternoon at a school doing some health education type stuff. Then before this I was with a nurse seeing clients in their homes. As far as I understand it most of the Ontario med schools have similar programs in this respect. However, I am sure the clinical side of things is very good at Ottawa! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1234 Posted December 12, 2008 Report Share Posted December 12, 2008 Why should you choose OttawaU Meds? When its your option.... bahahaha lol i kid i kid - really solid program, and i like their computer-based curriculum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry-mon Posted January 21, 2009 Report Share Posted January 21, 2009 the new curriculum gives you the option to skip 80% of your classes (equivalent to going to 1 day's worth of mandatory sessions), this allows you to have a life, have room for friends, electives, lots of drink, etc. and after all that terrible learning to get here, wouldn't you appreciate a little freedom too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raed Posted January 21, 2009 Report Share Posted January 21, 2009 lol don't listen to Jerry, in the new curriculum you don't have to skip 80% of the classes to have a life. In fact, even without skipping any classes, there is still ample time to do clinical electives, hang out with friends, relax, and study. Jerry is just one of the few exceptions in the class who rarely show up and still destroys the exams . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sanserie Posted February 6, 2009 Report Share Posted February 6, 2009 Evaluation scheme has been changed from pass/fail/honors to just pass/fail Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tarzan_55 Posted September 29, 2009 Report Share Posted September 29, 2009 Reidney is also a genius, mad luv to reid styllz.... holla back ....teez for life sons Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corporate Gifts Posted November 20, 2009 Report Share Posted November 20, 2009 Hi, this is a good topic to have discussion on bit as I have go though all the posts replies there is not much to talk about every most of the replies have been written what I wanted to share. ____________ Pay Per Click | SEO | worldclic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
future_doc Posted November 25, 2009 Report Share Posted November 25, 2009 Troll/advertiser reported Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattg Posted February 28, 2010 Report Share Posted February 28, 2010 is this thread still true/relevant? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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