MacMedGrad AMA

[macgradfaq]

Hey guys! 

I am a recent Mac grad and thought some people may want to ask questions regarding the program. There are definitely pros and cons to all schools, and I'm happy to share my own experiences at Mac! 

Additionally, I'm sorry to all the applicants who are rightfully anxious about the current decisions for this admission cycle. I hope you all are able to find comfort that getting those interviews indicate you are already a stellar applicant.

 

[Casablanca]

Thank you for doing this! Should the incoming class expect any backlash for being the "lottery" class?

[MDLD]

I’ve heard it’s hard to figure out specialty in 3 years did u feel rushed?

[macgradfaq]

2 minutes ago, Casablanca said:

Thank you for doing this! Should the incoming class expect any backlash for being the "lottery" class?

IMO, staff, educators, and residents (i.e. those who would be doing your evaluations) most likely will not even know (or care) about your admissions process. Your work-ethic and ability to work with others are what people will notice/care about. This is true for all aspects of your medicine career.

The idea of being in the "lottery class" will most likely be something talked about for the first few months within your class, but not something that would penalize your career prospects. 

1 minute ago, MDLD said:

I’ve heard it’s hard to figure out specialty in 3 years did u feel rushed?

Great question! Personally, I knew that I had less time to figure out what specialty I was going to do. I was systematic in my approach and made sure to explore a lot of specialties. One of the best opportunities at Mac include the "horizontal elective" policy that is pretty unique. I would say this is different from other schools as (1) you have more ownership of your schedule and can decide what is important to you, ex. anatomy lab versus a horizontal in cardiology (2) departments at McMaster are student friendly, and if you show you are willing to see patients, scrub in, or perform procedures, you most likely will be given the opportunity, and finally (3) once you do find what specialty is for you, these horizontals become days for networking, building research relationships, and fine tuning your speciality knowledge. I personally attribute a lot of success on electives/matching to my experiences from horizontals. 

Overall, is there a time crunch to figure out what you want to do? Yes

Do you have the ability to explore specialties enough to make an informed decision? Yes, I would say there is more time to explore in your pre-clerk years compared to other schools

CAVEAT: Idk how things will change with the horizontal policy due to COVID for your upcoming class, but at the same time, students across Canada are doing clerkship online. 

 

[MDLD]

Yeah I kind of worry with a three year program and covid... 

 

worry there will feel like even less time 

[takasugi]

When can you start doing horizontals?

[pretomd]

1 minute ago, takasugi said:

When can you start doing horizontals?

Usually by October, but keep in mind this might not be true because of COVID-19 this year. Horizontal/observership opportunities are going to be limited in the first few months of school at any med school, depending on how this situation plays out. 

[Dr.Strange]

 

30 minutes ago, macgradfaq said:

IMO, staff, educators, and residents (i.e. those who would be doing your evaluations) most likely will not even know (or care) about your admissions process. Your work-ethic and ability to work with others are what people will notice/care about. This is true for all aspects of your medicine career.

The idea of being in the "lottery class" will most likely be something talked about for the first few months within your class, but not something that would penalize your career prospects. 

Great question! Personally, I knew that I had less time to figure out what specialty I was going to do. I was systematic in my approach and made sure to explore a lot of specialties. One of the best opportunities at Mac include the "horizontal elective" policy that is pretty unique. I would say this is different from other schools as (1) you have more ownership of your schedule and can decide what is important to you, ex. anatomy lab versus a horizontal in cardiology (2) departments at McMaster are student friendly, and if you show you are willing to see patients, scrub in, or perform procedures, you most likely will be given the opportunity, and finally (3) once you do find what specialty is for you, these horizontals become days for networking, building research relationships, and fine tuning your speciality knowledge. I personally attribute a lot of success on electives/matching to my experiences from horizontals. 

Overall, is there a time crunch to figure out what you want to do? Yes

Do you have the ability to explore specialties enough to make an informed decision? Yes, I would say there is more time to explore in your pre-clerk years compared to other schools

CAVEAT: Idk how things will change with the horizontal policy due to COVID for your upcoming class, but at the same time, students across Canada are doing clerkship online. 

 

The horizontal electives are not unique to mac and I would know a lot about Mac lol. The only difference is mac calls them "horizontal electives" when in reality it is just a big admin system for just doing shadows that sucks up a lot of time to arrange. In other schools people don't have these restrictions of going through admin like at mac, they just call up a doc and say "hey can I follow you" and you just do. In Mac, if you do dare to go past their huge admin, they citation you just like that girl who ended up being taken out of the program for a year for what she did on a gynecology horizontal (shadow). 

I also do believe that this will ruin the reputation of McMaster among doctors who will pick you for residency programs. The fact that this is in the CBC shows that this is becoming common knoweldge about the mistake Mac has permanently done to themselves. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/mcmaster-medical-school-lottery-1.5564389

Why would someone pick someone with a "lottery" label when they can pick someone who for sure got in on merit. 

There are a lot of benefits about Mac don't get me wrong but I think these disadvantages are starting to accumulate due to COVID for this particular year.

In terms of COVID I agree I think it will be rough to pick a specialty in time. I spoke more about experiences in Mac compare to other schools at this page: 

 

 

[TheWayIAre]

Picking at a probably over-asked question here, but what are your thoughts about the 3 year curriculum, and would it be possible to do a fourth year to increase odds of matching to a competitive specialty?

[ejvrei]

.

[pretomd]

1 minute ago, TheWayIAre said:

Picking at a probably over-asked question here, but what are your thoughts about the 3 year curriculum, and would it be possible to do a fourth year to increase odds of matching to a competitive specialty?

Three year curriculum is faster,  you are encouraged to make a decision about specialties sooner, and there is less time for breaks. The benefit is you save a year and a significant amount of money.

 

You can do a fourth year. McMaster calls it an Enrichment Year. You can use it to pursue a masters/additional research. You can also use 40% of that enrichment year to do clinical electives (~20 weeks). That's a significant number of electives on top of electives you'd usually get. Not a lot of people do it, but an enrichment year is a great option that you can flexibly use to make yourself more competitive. 

[Jon Snow]

3 minutes ago, TheWayIAre said:

Picking at a probably over-asked question here, but what are your thoughts about the 3 year curriculum, and would it be possible to do a fourth year to increase odds of matching to a competitive specialty?

A small number of each class do an "enrichment year" for various reasons, and I think anecdotally this does increase their chances of matching. Seems to be more for extremely competitive specialties, that people kind of came later to the game to and I don't think necessary at all to match well. Often its also people pursuing something they are passionate about as well, and the program is flexible to allow you to pursue those (within reason I believe) 

[laleelada]

32 minutes ago, Dr.Strange said:

 

The horizontal electives are not unique to mac and I would know a lot about Mac lol. The only difference is mac calls them "horizontal electives" when in reality it is just a big admin system for just doing shadows that sucks up a lot of time to arrange. In other schools people don't have these restrictions of going through admin like at mac, they just call up a doc and say "hey can I follow you" and you just do. In Mac, if you do dare to go past their huge admin, they citation you just like that girl who ended up being taken out of the program for a year for what she did on a gynecology horizontal (shadow). 

I also do believe that this will ruin the reputation of McMaster among doctors who will pick you for residency programs. The fact that this is in the CBC shows that this is becoming common knoweldge about the mistake Mac has permanently done to themselves. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/mcmaster-medical-school-lottery-1.5564389

Why would someone pick someone with a "lottery" label when they can pick someone who for sure got in on merit. 

There are a lot of benefits about Mac don't get me wrong but I think these disadvantages are starting to accumulate due to COVID for this particular year.

In terms of COVID I agree I think it will be rough to pick a specialty in time. I spoke more about experiences in Mac compare to other schools at this page: 

 

 

Can confirm students have been given warnings if admin found out about them doing horizontals without permission, but a lot of students do them anyways. It's really not that hard to register one. Some specialties are harder than others, but there are still a lot of opportunities available. That is also not the reason that girl was suspended for a year.

Going off your other points: Yes, it may be difficult at times to figure out what you would like to do in a 3 year period. However, the majority of students are able to explore different specialties and narrow it down before clerkship. Additionally, you do not always need to know your specialty of interest when you're starting clerkship as there are clerkship streams that have later elective periods. If you are unsure of what you want to do with your future, there is also the option of taking an enrichment year. The struggle of COVID is not unique to McMaster and is something being felt around the country. Mac is in the exact same boat as the other clerks at other schools and would have no more of a struggle than other schools that are also having everything delayed and up in the air about electives. They're in the same position for residency. Mac was at least able to compile a virtual platform for learning for clerks and pre-clerks, which of course can have downsides, while there have been other school(s) that have more so left their clerks to fend for themselves. 

The "lottery" for electives is only for pre-clerkship electives (that do not matter). Real clerkship electives are left to the fate of AFMC just like every other school. 

Yes, the pharmacology portion at Mac is lacking. However, I would argue that the majority of your learning (diagnosis, management, pharmacology, what have you) is learned in the clinical setting. You can learn as much, or as little, as you would like during the pre-clerkship years. 

It is also very unlikely that residency programs are going to hold being part of a "lottery class" against you. Residency positions are determined based on your personal statements, extra-curriculars/research/volunteer, reference letters and interviews. They do not consider which school you come from, other than a likely home-school advantage. Being a "lottery student" has absolutely no role in any of those things. If you have good letters, you have good letters.

[Dr.Strange]

8 minutes ago, laleelada said:

Can confirm students have been given warnings if admin found out about them doing horizontals without permission, but a lot of students do them anyways. It's really not that hard to register one. Some specialties are harder than others, but there are still a lot of opportunities available. That is also not the reason that girl was suspended for a year.

Going off your other points: Yes, it may be difficult at times to figure out what you would like to do in a 3 year period. However, the majority of students are able to explore different specialties and narrow it down before clerkship. Additionally, you do not always need to know your specialty of interest when you're starting clerkship as there are clerkship streams that have later elective periods. If you are unsure of what you want to do with your future, there is also the option of taking an enrichment year. The struggle of COVID is not unique to McMaster and is something being felt around the country. Mac is in the exact same boat as the other clerks at other schools and would have no more of a struggle than other schools that are also having everything delayed and up in the air about electives. They're in the same position for residency. Mac was at least able to compile a virtual platform for learning for clerks and pre-clerks, which of course can have downsides, while there have been other school(s) that have more so left their clerks to fend for themselves. 

The "lottery" for electives is only for pre-clerkship electives (that do not matter). Real clerkship electives are left to the fate of AFMC just like every other school. 

Yes, the pharmacology portion at Mac is lacking. However, I would argue that the majority of your learning (diagnosis, management, pharmacology, what have you) is learned in the clinical setting. You can learn as much, or as little, as you would like during the pre-clerkship years. 

It is also very unlikely that residency programs are going to hold being part of a "lottery class" against you. Residency positions are determined based on your personal statements, extra-curriculars/research/volunteer, reference letters and interviews. They do not consider which school you come from, other than a likely home-school advantage. Being a "lottery student" has absolutely no role in any of those things. If you have good letters, you have good letters.

The 3 year curriculum has many pros and cons. I listed some above. Overall I think because of COVID there will be many difficulties associated with it. Mac does have some ways of making up for the rush of picking a specialty but it does not compensate for things more competitive. If you want something compeititve you can't just pick during clerkship. You have to pick electives that help build your resume 6 months in advance!!!!!! If you decide suddenly you want something like plastic surgery, opthomology, dermatology, emergency medicine, etc. there is no way you will get those electives in time to build connections and be at a severe disadvantage. On top of that you need to start doing research early on and if you don't build those connections in shadows earlier it will be harder too. 

It is true that an enerichment year can be done but this is very very uncommon as most people will not risk the additional year looking bad, and match when they are supposed to. In other schools they will not be in the same boat. I have friends at UofT and Ottawa and they are not worried because they have lots of flex time in the summer to make this up. In McMaster you get very little breaks (about 3-4 weeks a year at most and usually you will spend your time off doing research). Due to this, you will not be compensated because of COVID because they can not postpone graduation, the country needs residents. 

I will say that McMaster is good at being more self-directed (despite lectures now being mandatory) but this really depends on the kind of person you are and how you like to learn. 

You said it yourself, there IS a home-school advantage. The topics about personal statements and extra curriculars etc are important but the reality is that everything is based on connections. Getting residency is like getting a job. If you know the program director of a program of course they will pick you over some stranger they just met. Who would they rahter pick, someone who has shadowed them for years or someone who went for a short interview in one day. The reality is that in schools with summers, they can make up for the time lost building connections but at McMaster you won't be able to. 

To give an idea of the pace of McMaster: You enter in August and by febrary'/march, you are already picking summer electives and clerkship organization (streams), whcih means you need to have an idea of what specialty you want by then. CARMS already stated that they will hold interviews online in March next year, do you really think that things will be in person by then at McMaster for someone to make up enough time to pick a specialty. 

There are a lot of specialties and it requires time to go through them to decide. 

[macgradfaq]

First, thanks for the comments and insight! You do make some solid points, but I just want to push back on somethings.

1 hour ago, Dr.Strange said:

In other schools people don't have these restrictions of going through admin like at mac, they just call up a doc and say "hey can I follow you" and you just do. In Mac, if you do dare to go past their huge admin, they citation you just like that girl who ended up being taken out of the program for a year for what she did on a gynecology horizontal (shadow). 

In this case, there does need to be accountability in students participating in patient care, as well as a formal way to ensure students are able to explore specialties. Therefore, having admin coordinate this is the clean and fair way to do this. A free for all with 206 students messaging doctors is neither productive or professional. 

In regards to other schools, I personally think the autonomy of horizontal students at Mac, and the ability to participate in care is better than most schools. Again, personal belief and anecdotes from other schools. Ex. Being able to scrub-in and pilot the lap. as a first year med student versus "scrubbed in" behind ++ residents/fellows Ex 2. Seeing patients on your own versus following a staff around

Side note: as another user has mentioned, the reason why that girl has been taken out of the program is a very complicated issue, and you cannot boil it down to "going past the admin"

1 hour ago, Dr.Strange said:

I also do believe that this will ruin the reputation of McMaster among doctors who will pick you for residency programs. The fact that this is in the CBC shows that this is becoming common knoweldge about the mistake Mac has permanently done to themselves. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/mcmaster-medical-school-lottery-1.5564389

Why would someone pick someone with a "lottery" label when they can pick someone who for sure got in on merit. 

Both of us are really speculating as (I assume) neither of us have been on residency selection committees.

However, from having a successfull match and understanding the nuances of CaRMS, I've learned that matching is all about work-ethic, likeability, and ability to work as a team. Everything else is much less weighted. Many residents will attest to this. 

As a PD, wouldn't you personally rather have a medical student that you can work with and trust, irrespective of what school or label they have? They are stuck with you for 2-5 years - they are going to make sure that you fit well. Also, PDs are busy staff, they are not analyzing their applicants as much as you might think. 

28 minutes ago, Dr.Strange said:

To give an idea of the pace of McMaster: You enter in August and by febrary'/march, you are already picking summer electives and clerkship organization (streams), whcih means you need to have an idea of what specialty you want by then. CARMS already stated that they will hold interviews online in March next year, do you really think that things will be in person by then at McMaster for someone to make up enough time to pick a specialty

This is more or less true, I'll give you that! But you need to acknowledge that most people can rule out 1-3 specialities by then, thus giving you the ability to narrow down your clerkship streams and have an optimal top 3-4 streams. Your summer electives are also meant to be exploratory for specialities you think you want. 

 

Not trying to go against you, just giving the other side Please let me know if any of that doesn't make sense. 

[macgradfaq]

1 hour ago, TheWayIAre said:

Picking at a probably over-asked question here, but what are your thoughts about the 3 year curriculum, and would it be possible to do a fourth year to increase odds of matching to a competitive specialty?

Great question! 

If you know for sure you want something that is historically not competitive, Mac saves you the time and money. I think it's a sweet deal. However, also know that your feelings about specialities change!

At the same time, competitive specialties are more than realistic at Mac (coming from someone who matched to a historically competitive specialty). Matching is all about work-ethic, likeability, and ability to work as a team. Does Mac give you the ability to develop these skills? For sure. Do other schools also give you these skills? Also true! 

The learning philosophy at mac versus other schools is a question you need to ask yourself.

I would say, if you firmly believe that you are a person who prefers to be self-driven and and self-sufficient, then for the most part, you can accomplish what you need to do in 3 years at Mac. Ex. I am someone who hates lectures, would rather be studying on my own more efficiently, and spend time in actual patient care. 

If you would rather have more structure to your curriculum and would like more accountability with more mandatory sessions, then McMaster's teaching style may not align with what you want.

Neither style is better than the other, it's all about how YOU learn best!

[Dr.Strange]

15 minutes ago, macgradfaq said:

First, thanks for the comments and insight! You do make some solid points, but I just want to push back on somethings.

In this case, there does need to be accountability in students participating in patient care, as well as a formal way to ensure students are able to explore specialties. Therefore, having admin coordinate this is the clean and fair way to do this. A free for all with 206 students messaging doctors is neither productive or professional. 

In regards to other schools, I personally think the autonomy of horizontal students at Mac, and the ability to participate in care is better than most schools. Again, personal belief and anecdotes from other schools. Ex. Being able to scrub-in and pilot the lap. as a first year med student versus "scrubbed in" behind ++ residents/fellows Ex 2. Seeing patients on your own versus following a staff around

Side note: as another user has mentioned, the reason why that girl has been taken out of the program is a very complicated issue, and you cannot boil it down to "going past the admin"

Both of us are really speculating as (I assume) neither of us have been on residency selection committees.

However, from having a successfull match and understanding the nuances of CaRMS, I've learned that matching is all about work-ethic, likeability, and ability to work as a team. Everything else is much less weighted. Many residents will attest to this. 

As a PD, wouldn't you personally rather have a medical student that you can work with and trust, irrespective of what school or label they have? They are stuck with you for 2-5 years - they are going to make sure that you fit well. Also, PDs are busy staff, they are not analyzing their applicants as much as you might think. 

This is more or less true, I'll give you that! But you need to acknowledge that most people can rule out 1-3 specialities by then, thus giving you the ability to narrow down your clerkship streams and have an optimal top 3-4 streams. Your summer electives are also meant to be exploratory for specialities you think you want. 

 

Not trying to go against you, just giving the other side Please let me know if any of that doesn't make sense. 

I appreicate the commentary and you make some valid points but I disagree somewhat. 

My older brother is a staff doctor and had been on residnecy CARMS positions/panels himself. Residency is like you said that staff don't have time for you but that is exactly my point. Nobody has time in reality to read through tons and tons of application content. Therefore, it is all about making connections in clinical settings which they will not be able to do as much because of COVID and they don't have summers to make up for lost time. Also, you are right that most people can rule out 1-3 specialties but under NON-COVID circumstances. It will be much much harder since they will not be able to do this earlier. 

As for horizontals (shadows), many people I know in other schools where the process is not formalized like Mac, just go to shadow doctors all the time, it is just not babied like at Mac where there is a lot of slow admin preventing you. The fact that Gynecology and many shadowing oppurtunities are LOTTERY based is all the evidence you need to see why it becomes problematic compare to other schools for shadowing. The waiting time for some even common things like Internal Medicine can be months whereas in UofT, Ottawa, or elsewhere, you just call them up and ask. 

[macgradfaq]

8 minutes ago, Dr.Strange said:

I appreicate the commentary and you make some valid points but I disagree somewhat. 

My older brother is a staff doctor and had been on residnecy CARMS positions/panels himself. Residency is like you said that staff don't have time for you but that is exactly my point. Nobody has time in reality to read through tons and tons of application content. Therefore, it is all about making connections in clinical settings which they will not be able to do as much because of COVID and they don't have summers to make up for lost time. Also, you are right that most people can rule out 1-3 specialties but under NON-COVID circumstances. It will be much much harder since they will not be able to do this earlier. 

As for horizontals (shadows), many people I know in other schools where the process is not formalized like Mac, just go to shadow doctors all the time, it is just not babied like at Mac where there is a lot of slow admin preventing you. The fact that Gynecology and many shadowing oppurtunities are LOTTERY based is all the evidence you need to see why it becomes problematic compare to other schools for shadowing. The waiting time for some even common things like Internal Medicine can be months whereas in UofT, Ottawa, or elsewhere, you just call them up and ask. 

Hey again!

Those points I mentioned were specifically in response to your thoughts on the "lottery label" and the perceived impact on applications, not COVID effects on a 3 year school. 

I totally agree that COVID impacts are going to be tough for all Canadian med students, and possible moreso for accelerated programs like Mac, not denying that. 

You definitely could call up and shadow at other schools, but the point I was trying to make was that (pre-covid) you had more time (less structured week) and more patient care opportunities (student friendly departments) on horizontals. Anecdotally, other schools (ex. UoT and Ottawa as per your examples) have a lot of mandatory sessions, as well as being seen as an "observer" not an active participant. This is a generalization of-course. However, as a mac student, if you wanted to you could do 1-3 8 hour horizontals per week and really work on my patient management skills. Anecdotally, I learned how to be a "clerk" (pre-round, efficient H&P,  dictations) well before the end of first year. 

Overall, your points on COVID are valid and the effects on Mac could be true.  At the same time this is unprecedented and no one can really know.

I am supporting a school that I personally align well with and have had success in

[Galaxsci]

2 hours ago, macgradfaq said:

Hey again!

Those points I mentioned were specifically in response to your thoughts on the "lottery label" and the perceived impact on applications, not COVID effects on a 3 year school. 

I totally agree that COVID impacts are going to be tough for all Canadian med students, and possible moreso for accelerated programs like Mac, not denying that. 

You definitely could call up and shadow at other schools, but the point I was trying to make was that (pre-covid) you had more time (less structured week) and more patient care opportunities (student friendly departments) on horizontals. Anecdotally, other schools (ex. UoT and Ottawa as per your examples) have a lot of mandatory sessions, as well as being seen as an "observer" not an active participant. This is a generalization of-course. However, as a mac student, if you wanted to you could do 1-3 8 hour horizontals per week and really work on my patient management skills. Anecdotally, I learned how to be a "clerk" (pre-round, efficient H&P,  dictations) well before the end of first year. 

Overall, your points on COVID are valid and the effects on Mac could be true.  At the same time this is unprecedented and no one can really know.

I am supporting a school that I personally align well with and have had success in

Hey MacGrad, just wanted to add a point based on the new Mac curriculum that was introduced starting with the current first year class (Class of 2022). The curriculum has made many lectures mandatory that were previously non-mandatory, which has left quite a bit less time for horizontals, certainly less than 1-3 8-hour horizontals per week (maybe 1 of that duration).

It may actually be less than other comparable schools now: Toronto has one weekday off per week and Ottawa has every afternoon off throughout pre-clerkship.

[hijkl]

.

[Peanuts29]

 

3 minutes ago, inkbat said:

do you think that the impacts of COVID will be more extreme on mac as a 3 year program? will we be put at a disadvantage?

what's the social atmosphere like at mac?

thank you!

I rejected Mac partially for this reason. As the people above said, no summers=no time to make up for losses. I feel that I would 100% be put at a disadvantage compare to other schools no matter how you word it.

Mac doesn't care about your success. They didn't care about making the interview process merit based, they didn't care about informing us earlier, they didn't care to be transparent about these now mandatory lectures, why should I assume I wouldn't be put at a disadvantage because of COVID-19 when their is no summer buffer zone like Western. 

Wishing everyone the best of luck and I'm looking for roommates at Western (London) if anyone wants to hit me up!

[macgradfaq]

2 hours ago, Galaxsci said:

Hey MacGrad, just wanted to add a point based on the new Mac curriculum that was introduced starting with the current first year class (Class of 2022). The curriculum has made many lectures mandatory that were previously non-mandatory, which has left quite a bit less time for horizontals, certainly less than 1-3 8-hour horizontals per week (maybe 1 of that duration).

It may actually be less than other comparable schools now: Toronto has one weekday off per week and Ottawa has every afternoon off throughout pre-clerkship.

Hi Galaxsci, thanks for the comment!

Yes I did hear about this about C2022. From my knowledge, the required lectures are still grouped up into the mornings? I.e. most afternoons (if no tutorial) off to do at-least a half day of horizontals (pre-covid). Overall, you are correct and that there is less time for horizontals as compared to the past classes. I personally think it may be more than other schools though! 

However, If you are in C2022 I'm sure you can attest to this more than myself

[macgradfaq]

2 hours ago, inkbat said:

do you think that the impacts of COVID will be more extreme on mac as a 3 year program? will we be put at a disadvantage?

what's the social atmosphere like at mac?

thank you!

Honestly, IMO, yes I think a 3 year school would be impacted more than a 4 year school. As explained by other posters, the lack of summer "catchup" is speculated to be a disadvantage. Tbh I dont know how COVID will affect the clinical exposure for all medical schools, though some posters here (rightfully) believe that 4 year schools have more time to recover from COVID.

I can't directly compare to other schools, but for the most part, Mac is pretty tight knit (pre-covid). You spend 5 medical foundations with different groups and get pretty close with them. Same thing goes for clerkship and the stream you are in! There are lots of clubs, IG, and research groups that run from the student body as well. I personally had a great time with my class and have made life long friends. Though, I wouldn't say this is unique to Mac! 

 

[James Nystead]

In terms of clinical exposure (the most important factor to specialty decision), c2023 will be the lowest priority for Mac Admin. c2021 in clerkship will be the first accommodated back to finish, then c2022 with post MF4 and the beginning of their clerkship in December as well. Horizontal electives will be hard to come by for a long while potentially.

[macgradfaq]

2 hours ago, Peanuts29 said:

I rejected Mac partially for this reason. As the people above said, no summers=no time to make up for losses. I feel that I would 100% be put at a disadvantage compare to other schools no matter how you word it.

Mac doesn't care about your success. They didn't care about making the interview process merit based, they didn't care about informing us earlier, they didn't care to be transparent about these now mandatory lectures, why should I assume I wouldn't be put at a disadvantage because of COVID-19 when their is no summer buffer zone like Western. 

Wishing everyone the best of luck and I'm looking for roommates at Western (London) if anyone wants to hit me up!

Congrats and welcome to Medicine!! Western is a great school and I'm sure they are lucky to have you.

I am sorry about how things went down with your application cycle here at McMaster. I personally think there could have been another way for this cycle to have gone down for the applicants. There is a formal update and FAQ that will be released soon regarding the details on the decision that may shed some light on why certain things (online interviews) were not feasible. I hope the document highlights the concerns you mentioned here.