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Can anyone out there elaborate on the Mac PT program a bit? The online resources I've found on the curriculum are a bit vague. I was wondering if any current students could give some insight into what the spiral curriculum is actually like? How is research incorperated? What about electives? Thanks in advance:)

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3 hours ago, GivinPTaShot said:

Can anyone out there elaborate on the Mac PT program a bit? The online resources I've found on the curriculum are a bit vague. I was wondering if any current students could give some insight into what the spiral curriculum is actually like? How is research incorperated? What about electives? Thanks in advance:)

Spiral Curriculum in short: Every unit you learn some MSK, cardio resp and Neuro each unit (5 in total) and they built in complexity as you progress. This means that each clinical exam you will have all 3 components tested which simulates the national exam very well in my opinion (need to be able to switch from MSK to neuro ect very quickly)

Year 1 your research classes focus on interpreting evidence and how you can incorporate this into your tutorial groups, you progress to learning about systematic reviews and scoping reviews and in year 2 under the guidance of a supervisor you complete either of those 2 projects. Have a very high chance for publication 

Electives: Only available in year 2 in either of the last 2 units some examples are advanced MSK, women's health & paediatrics but these could change based on feedback as they've only been implemented for one cohort so far (its new for the curriculum) 

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@HK2018 How did you find the placements at Mac? I was looking into the catchment area and clinical partners list, and, especially compared to UoT, it felt a little limited? Did you, or anyone else, feel that way? And how are placements chosen/assigned?


On that note, can anyone else give more info on their placement selection experience, and placements themselves, for the different programs? 

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@GivinPTaShot Not sure what you mean by limited, quantity or quality of placements? We have not had any issues with getting enough placements for our cohort, in terms of options I can't speak to UofT's as I am not familiar but we have lots of teaching hospitals in Hamilton including a children's hospital. We also span into the Niagara region and Guelph (along with many others) further increasing the # of Hospital placements. Keep in mind Mac has the northern studies stream and thus some classmates go up north each placement.

How placements are assigned: You get assigned placement settings in each of the 4 placements (need to have one acute, rehab and community) within your assigned setting you rank from 1-10 your placement preferences and you get assigned based on a ranking system that takes into consideration what placements your peers ranked as well.

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7 hours ago, HK2018 said:

@GivinPTaShot Not sure what you mean by limited, quantity or quality of placements? We have not had any issues with getting enough placements for our cohort, in terms of options I can't speak to UofT's as I am not familiar but we have lots of teaching hospitals in Hamilton including a children's hospital. We also span into the Niagara region and Guelph (along with many others) further increasing the # of Hospital placements. Keep in mind Mac has the northern studies stream and thus some classmates go up north each placement.

How placements are assigned: You get assigned placement settings in each of the 4 placements (need to have one acute, rehab and community) within your assigned setting you rank from 1-10 your placement preferences and you get assigned based on a ranking system that takes into consideration what placements your peers ranked as well.

I was worried about this too! The list is just much smaller than that of U of T. It also does say that the list isn't exhaustive and they try to keep updating it. I was worried about this because I saw hamilton has like 10 hospitals and some have like oncology rehab units and unique placements and I would hate to not have this opportunity. But I forgot that students going up north allows more opportunity and since they assign you an area of practice you dont have 60 students competing for 1 hospital placement. Do hospitals typically take only one student at a time or do some take multiple? Did you feel that you and your colleagues got diversity and uniqueness in your placements? :)

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11 minutes ago, AlliPT said:

I was worried about this too! The list is just much smaller than that of U of T. It also does say that the list isn't exhaustive and they try to keep updating it. I was worried about this because I saw hamilton has like 10 hospitals and some have like oncology rehab units and unique placements and I would hate to not have this opportunity. But I forgot that students going up north allows more opportunity and since they assign you an area of practice you dont have 60 students competing for 1 hospital placement. Do hospitals typically take only one student at a time or do some take multiple? Did you feel that you and your colleagues got diversity and uniqueness in your placements? :)

To answer how many students each Hospital takes -  it varies a lot per clinical placement, the hospital doesn't make the decision on how many students to take, this is up to preceptors offering students clinical placements. I have seen as high as ~6 clinical placements offered at one hospital (all on different units) and sometimes the same hospital doesn't offer any, it really just comes down to preceptor availability. 

In regards to the list of partners I would guess this is not a list that is updated very frequently, the faculty is constantly recruiting new preceptors and preceptors change when they offer placements to students all the time so this would be difficult to tract but I am sure it gives a rough idea of the options ! 

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13 hours ago, HK2018 said:

To answer how many students each Hospital takes -  it varies a lot per clinical placement, the hospital doesn't make the decision on how many students to take, this is up to preceptors offering students clinical placements. I have seen as high as ~6 clinical placements offered at one hospital (all on different units) and sometimes the same hospital doesn't offer any, it really just comes down to preceptor availability. 

In regards to the list of partners I would guess this is not a list that is updated very frequently, the faculty is constantly recruiting new preceptors and preceptors change when they offer placements to students all the time so this would be difficult to tract but I am sure it gives a rough idea of the options ! 

Thank you!! How do you feel about job prospects? I look at PT job postings and they all just say "registered with the college" and "able to work independently and with a team" and possible "experience in _________ an asset". In my opinion I dont think it matters where you went to school. People always talk about the "connections" from U of T but they have so many students and people that the preceptors probably wont even remember you when you're done your placement unless you make a big impression. They also have hundreds of facilities so it's unlikely that the 6 weeks spent at sick kids vs McMaster kids hospital will get you a better job, especially if you're applying to different hospitals. People act like if you dont go to U of T you'll never get a job in the GTA, and If you go to Mac you're stuck in Hamilton. So strange. 

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