futurefamilydoc

The disability insurance isn't specifically for the LOC, disability insurance is to help with any costs should you be unable to continue your schooling/career (yes, LOC payments will be one thing your disability insurance will help with but you will also need money to cover things like basic living expenses depending on the disability, person's financial situation, etc.) I did med school in Ontario so it may vary between provinces, but almost everyone I know got insurance from the OMA, and a few from RBC I believe. Personally with how cheap it is during medical school (especially via the OMA) I would recommend everyone gets it, you never know if you could get hit by a bus going to school one day and have your future changed forever. UofT in fact requires students (or at least used to) to have disability insurance to even be eligible for their financial aid program.

Anecdotally, but I worked with a few physicians who trained in the 70's and 80's who apparently paid off their tuition each year just by working summer jobs at local businesses (stores, factories, etc) during their summer break. Some rough napkin math - today if one worked 40 hrs/week at minimum wage of $14/hr for 3 months, they would make $6720, which is around a quarter of what my tuition costs. So tuition has definitely increased more than our potential to pay it off without debt.

I received OSAP for 8 years in total between undergrad + med school, so no need to worry you will still be eligible. I think they've made it mostly grants now, and your school may have its own financial aid program with scholarships and grants on top of OSAP (we had this at Toronto at least)

For most people the best deal is to go with the OMA policies

Good news for LOC's (but not good for the economy I imagine), the BoC just announced the interest rate is going down to 0.5% http://www.thestar.com/business/2015/07/15/bank-of-canada-cuts-interest-rate.html

With no interviews and your stats, I would say the wording of activity descriptions in your ABS may have been a problem. Did you have other people read them over, and did you try to incorporate the CANMEDS roles into what you did?

Give OSAP a call, I believe the number is the one on this page: https://osap.gov.on.ca/OSAPPortal/en/Contacts/MinistryandPartners/TCONT003504.html

The current system definitely isn't ideal. It shouldn't be too difficult for each bank to provide one person at each branch with a simple concise document outlining how the LOC's work (would be helpful for those who live far from the big cities), or alternatively tell the branches they should only refer students to their specialists at the major branches. The way it works now can be somewhat confusing, and definitely doesn't provide the most convenient service.

Accepted to Niagara Campus (1st choice) Timestamp 8:55 AM EST In Province GPA: 3.98 VR: 11 Interview: Felt horrible about 1 station, very happy with 2-3, felt okay about the others Still deciding between Mac and UofT

Time Stamp: 9:05 AM EST Bad Waitlist wGPA: 3.98 Location: OOO/IP Stream: EN ECs: 300+ hours volunteering as first responder, several other long-term volunteer activites, some unique short term activities, 4 years part time/full time employment, no research Interview: Felt okay about it, but apparently did not do too well

TIME STAMP: 10:19 AM EST Result: Accepted to Mississauga! (1st choice) Interview Date: January 25th Program: MD wGPA: 4.0 (if I qualified for weighting, if not 3.98) MCAT: 10/11/12/Q (PS/VR/BS/WS) ECs: 300+ hours volunteering as first responder, several other long-term volunteer activites, some unique short term activities, 4 years part time/full time employment, but 0 research! Essays: Felt good about them Interview: One station felt horrible, 1 went great, the rest felt okay Year: 4th year UG Geography : IP