More than one acceptance

[Guest BROKA]

Hi Everyone,

 

Congratulations on your acceptances!! It still doesn't feel real to me.

 

Anyway, I need some help. I have been accepted into both Ottawa and NOSM, and now I have a very difficult decision to make.

 

Both schools seemed wonderful at the interview.

 

If any of you can suggest items for my pro/con list for either school that may be helpful.

 

Also, one concern that I have with Ottawa is that students will not get hands-on clinical experience until upper years and even then they are below those doing residencies or clerkships. Am I true in thinking this?

 

I want to say yes to both :b

[Guest Talon01]

Howdy,

 

At Ottawa you'll be able to practice your clinical skills on a volunteer 'patient' from the community in a small group (6-8 students) once day per week. So far in first year we've learned cardio exams, resp exam, ab. exam. This gives us a good 'hands on' experience before we meet 'real' patients in a 'real' clinical setting.

 

As well, many students participate in electives. In fact, we have a block of time that we have off EVERY tuesday afternoon (after 12pm) that is intended to be used for students to participate in electives (it even says on our schedule 'electives'). Speaking to my classmates, they've been exposed to many different techniques and procedures that many students won't get to do until 3rd and 4th years.

 

At Ottawa we're lucky in the sense that we usually have 2-3 afternoons off per week and many students use this time to book electives - as I said above - study, sleep, go to the gym, etc.

 

If you have any other questions feel free to post them or you can PM me!

[Guest Talon01]

I should add the doing electives is fairly easy given the close proximity to CHEO and the General Hospital. If you went on the tour you would have seen that our medical school is right between these 2 hospitals and we're actually physically connected which makes it nice and toasty when you're walking over on the brisk winter days!

[Guest BROKA]

Thanks Talon,

 

I think I am leaning towards Ottawa at this point. But, my decision seems to change every half hour or so.

 

Does Ottawa use a pass/fail grading system or a percentage grading system. How competitive are the UofO med students? (just curious because i've heard horror stories where students may steal resources etc.)

 

I'm really getting down to minor details at this point, but I'd like to make a really informed decision. and, who better to talk about the school than current medical students.

[Guest 0T6]

Just to reiterate with Talon's said, I think we get as much and likely more clinical exposure in years 1 and 2 than any other school in Ontario, and I'm basing this on speaking to students and post other schools. We have a lot of clinical exposure in our curriculum, starting with doing histories on real patients from the SECOND WEEK of 1st year to learning physical exam technique. And through electives and observerships you get to supplement the curriculum with other techniques. It's awesome.

 

We use honors (80%)/pass(60%)/fail. We're given percentage grades for each block, but it's only HPF on our transcript.

 

Competition? What's that? Honestly I think our class is super friendly and cooperative, and with an online curriculum, there's no such thing as stealing resources

 

You've got every right to ask these questions so keep asking until you feel informed enough to make that choice.

 

Good luck.

 

PS. We have Talon01. No other med school can claim that!

[Guest leafs123]

Hey guys,

 

I am debating between Toronto or Ottawa. I did my undergard at U of T, and although U of T is a great program, I am somewhat leaning towards Ottawa.

 

I was curious to know if Ottawa's 3rd/4th year clerks are first-call like Western's?

 

Thanks for your help,

 

leafs123

[Guest 0T6]

Hey leafs,

 

I'm a UT undergrad too and the only thing I miss is the MSB timmy's

 

Honestly Ottawa's a nice city and a nice change from the crazy bustle of the tdot, and it's certainly a different atmosphere here than that of UofT.. I'm not saying better or worse, but different, and I think it's a great experience to learn in those different conditions.

 

Regarding clerkship, I'm not entirely sure if we're FIRST call (hopefully one of the 3rd/4th years can field this one) but our clerks do overnight call.

[Guest leafs123]

Hey OT6,

 

I know who you are, but I won't reveal your identity here.

 

See, if you can find me on your msn list

 

Honeslty, I really fell in love with Ottawa's program during Interviews. They seem to do so many little things right.

 

U of T is great, and well-respected, but I like the "feeling" of peace I had while in Ottawa.

 

Hope to talk to you on msn and learn some more about Ottawa's program!

 

Take care,

 

leafs123

[Guest Talon01]

Yup, we use the Honours (above 80 - or above 78 if you exceed expectations in PBL), pass (above 60 - or above 58% if you exceed expectations on PBL) and fail (<60 - or <58% if you exceed expectations in PBL). Honestly, the class average for the exams are much higher than any class I've ever had in undergrad. You receive your mark in a personal email. You get your percentage, the class average, and your exam breakdown on each section so nobody else how anyone else did (except by judging via the class' mean on the exam)

 

I personally don't find people in the class too competitive. Usually people share websites/study charts or notes they make/exam tidbits with each other via email or an online forum we have. The social aspect is also great!

[Guest satsumargirl]

Can't speak for the anglophone stream but as a U of Ottawa student in the francophone stream, I have had quite a bit of clinical exposure in my first year. My first day on my PSD (which was like in September I think...I don`t actually remember) I was giving people needles! Being paired with a famly doc for PSD meant I could work on interview skills, develop physical exam skills and see lots of neat stuff and even do a few things... like give needles, burn warts, flush out ears etc..

 

And if PSD isn`t enough for you, you can do as many electives as you like. For example, in November (only 3 months after starting med school), I was in the OR on a neurosurgery elective. Other people I know have done electives in infectious diseases, Emergency medicine etc.. It really is up to you.

 

Stealing resources?? :eek I haven`t heard of this!! At this point we are all IN med school and should be helping each other through it. For the most part, I think Ottawa med students are pretty friendly and laid back. And yeah, as OT6 pointed out, stealing resources doesn`t make too much sense when all your class notes are online.

 

Good luck with your choice!

[Guest g22g]

I will persuade you to come to Ottawa. The city and hospitals are designed for medical students. You'll need to be fit, have fun, work hard, worktogether, and at the same time see a broad spectrum of medicine to have an open mind to your career choice and profession..

 

We also like to say that the school tries harder... (New Deans coming in, new expansions for student services, more flexibility and opportunity in summer vacation / learning / research / electives, you get an acceptance phone call, and state of the art technology with tablet PCs.)

 

Having said all that

 

Clerkship for internal is first call for 6 wonderful/awful weeks with 1 in 3-4ish call. When you are lucky to get more than 2 hours of sleep while on call. You will have to make treatment decisions, see really sick patients, have to communicate your plan to your team/staff at switch over and finish notes on your patients by noon. While on Call about 1 in 5 students love the action and will never be able to get stimulated like that again. Three more of the five appreciate how much they learn in terms of knowledge, clinical skills, and esteem, the last one thinks about "ringing the bell."

 

Peds is 3 weeks of ward work 1 in 4-5 call. More sleep is possible and you are shared 1st call (the nurses will call intern if orders are necessary). I can't speak for Surgery or OBGYN at OT, yet...

 

In clerkship you are graded Pass Fail. There is a separate section for "nominate for outstanding award" which typically only goes to 1 in 10 students.

 

I put together a list of 40 plus reasons to come to Ottawa. Look for it in the archives... I'll try to bring it forward.

 

Good luck and ask around...

g22g

[Guest 0T6]

O-Week for you guys might include Talon and I busting out Journey - Don't Stop Believing, JD and Turk styles, during the pubcrawl night. If you're lucky.

[Guest Maelswarm]

Thanks for the info guys... I'm still trying to decide between UT or UO.

 

Leafs123, I'll be talking to you more about this in person

OT6 - expect a phone call!

 

I'm interested in hearing about what you guys think are the NEGATIVE aspects of Ottawa... thanks!

[Guest leafs123]

Hey guys,

 

One more question. How much time off do students have in their 2nd year. I looked at the GASTRO block schedule, and there does not seem to be any time off to pursue electives. Is this a GASTRO-specific phenomenon, or all blocks, in 2nd year are like this. It would be nice to have at least an afternoon off to pursue electives/research/catch-up.

 

Thanks,

 

leafs123

 

P.S. For anyone interested, I asked a 3rd Year UO med students about clerkship, and this is what he had to sy..."Internal Medicine and Pediatrics are the only rotations where the student is first call. For Surgery, Obs/Gyn, and Psych, the junior resident is first call and the student usually gets paged for consults in the ER."