premed72

New macs coming this fall though right?

The uglier the colour the better! Thats what initiation is all about. You will now have an even more vivid memory of starting your journey in med. Goodluck to the 25s!!

Studying before med school starts is a huge waste of time

I would definately stay home and save money!! There really is no point living away from home during preclerk when you're already in your home town

To OP, your employment experiences will for sure be an asset. Doing research and volunteering at food banks is just as valuable as working a job. The true value of ECs comes in how you share your story by showing schools what you've learnt and gained from them. Goodluck!

Let's go ottawa!!

I highly recommend retaking for CARS. I feel you, I wrote it 3 times and it sucks but its really the best thing to open up some more doors for yourself.

"Reputation" does not matter at all for med school

Yes, I did. Was torn between the two professions but ultimately decided med. Dentistry is super artistic and that didnt really fit my personality. Theres also alot of business and marketing in dentistry. The times I shadowed it always sounded like the dentist was negotiating a treatment plan for their patient and had to put on their sales pitch - not for me. I also didnt know if I wanted to commit to specializing in one specific area of the body when I had interests in other areas of medicine/human systems. These are a few factors I considered. Everyone will have their own opinion

Is camping allowed?

As what bearded frog said, give us your yearly GPA breakdown and if you were a full course load in each of those years.

Also an MS1 at ottawa. Just want to chime in and say so far all the staff that I've encountered (physicians and the occasional resident) have been super approachable and genuinely want you to learn and succeed which is always nice. I also think ottawa offers a good mix of "city" medicine and rural medicine as ottawa is a relatively larger city but has multiple small communities around it. So you can kinda get the best of both worlds. I also don't think going back to live with your parents is a "setback". The only setback as a med student in my opinion is accumulating more debt.

You can have all the fancy experiences in the world but if you can't write an essay or an ABS prompt about them then you're not going to impress anyone. I think alot of people underestimate the written component of the application and don't know how to articulate their experiences and showcase the skills they developed or how the experience impacted them etc.

I personally love living on my own. I cant see myself living with anyone else. I need the privacy and space. I like my own quiet time, especially while studying or when I feel like staring at a wall for 2 hours or even if I just want to have a beer on the weekend. I like my environment clean and orderly and it needs to have "my vibe", this isn't always feasible with a roommate that has other priorities. Yes things cost more (usually just rent costs tbh) but honestly not having to worry about your buddy not throwing his trash away makes it worth it imo. I can see the loneliness thing bein

Most med schools would not use the summer course as part of the GPA calculation but the summer course can be used to satisfy any course requirements they may have. In my opinion, I'd take the "harder" courses in the summer and leave the easier ones for fall-winter so you can keep the GPA safe while also completing any med school course requirements