Persephone

Honestly doing an information interview with a specialist, or attending Interest Group events talking about what working in a specialty is like are good ways of getting pre-clerkship exposure to different specialties and often times more representative of that specialty than a one day horizontal elective! There are other ways to explore, it's not the end of the world, you will find out what you like one way or another. The issue right now in Hamilton isn't "slowing doctors down" as much as it is inadequate PPE across the country and ensuring safety protocols for students so that no student con

Upper year students are scheduled to go back to clinical duties on July 6 and as we continue to get updates this tentative date is looking likely to hold up. No where in Canada will clinical activities look entirely the same as they did pre-COVID-19. Every school is going to have challenges due to COVID-19 and I don't agree that Mac's are any larger than any other school. I don't think traditional style lecture based learning affords any greater impact than PBL or AL-LGS during virtual learning either. The active learning virtual LGS's that are the most interactive are the ones I get the most

There's no evaluation of you based on what date you write it. As long as you're following the school's deadline requirements for the application, it's fine.

Hi there, it is against the law to ban pets from rentals.

If it makes you feel better I know someone who finally got an interview for the first time and acceptance after 5 years of applying. Sometimes you have to figure out what you can tweak to give you that extra boost into the interviewing category. For that person, it was an MCAT rewrite, but it really depends on where you're applying and what their criteria for selection are, so if you know a bit about that that can help you strategise as well.

Don't let these posts scare you. Mac has a very high match rate. Medical school is difficult no matter where you do it, it will just be for different reasons depending on the school. There are a ton of ECs to get involved with here and it's a great research center, if that's something that interests you. Many people in my class have partners in Toronto and family and they visit them frequently. It's totally doable. That being said if you get offers to both off the wait list, do what feels right for you. I would say having your support system nearby for med school is a great ide

I did my undergrad at U of Ottawa and it was a great city to be a student in at the time. Being at Mac now I have to agree the city isn't as nice, but there definitely isn't "nothing to do", I'm never left with no options for my weekends, at least based on my personal interests. And of course Toronto is right nearby. 4 years vs 3 years is a matter of personal preference. 3 years is definitely a bit of a marathon, but I also don't think I could stomach a big long summer break at this point (I'm a non-trad "older" student), I'm too impatient to finish and I know what I want to specialize in most

No problem! I am unsure, since I did get an acceptance off the wait list. Haven't heard of people who didn't get off the wait list getting an email like that though.

A random number of upper years join your facebook groups, including the NRC and WRC ones. I wouldn't read anything else into the numbers there. Also some new students are slow to get on joining the facebook group. It's impossible to tell. I know how stressful this waiting game is, I was all of you last year. Try to find ways to relax, though it might be hard. Best of luck!

Having done both solely MMIs (Mac and UBC) and the mixed MMI + panel (Queen's and U of A), I can't say a 20 minute panel really did much for me or gave me much more of a chance to show my personality. I don't know what U of T is like though, my guess is it's longer than 20 minutes?

I've read somewhere that traditional style interviews favour narcissists, so I wouldn't be so fast to pine for those to become more prevalent.

You clearly haven't been paying attention to the climate science?

If you're worried about the fate of Earth in the future, which is legit, try to think about how important it will be to have caring physicians around to advocate for climate change mitigating policies and to care for those whose health has been harmed by climate change. If that doesn't sound like what you want your role in the world to be that's fine. But don't give into a bleak nihilism when there is always good that can be done to help alleviate suffering.

"Before you go on leave, make sure you have worked 600 insurable hours in the last 52 weeks, or since your last claim in order to qualify for EI."

CaRMS's site has what amount of leave your entitled to by province, and also links to the provincial residency organization pages: https://www.carms.ca/match/r-1-main-residency-match/salary/#1511459027032-06ec5e41-5301