To current UWO meds with multiple acceptances

[Guest Chieka]

I don't know if you've already covered this in earlier posts, but I was just wondering why you chose UWO over the other schools. It seems that the Ontario schools are pretty strong when it comes to quality of education, so I'm curious as to why you chose one school over the other. Please share.

 

Thanks,

 

C.

[Guest UWOMED2005]

I found it tough to choose between UWO and Queen's. In the end, it was the layout of the third/fourth year curriculum and greater cachement (I think that's the sp.) size for UWO that sold me.

[Guest TimmyMax]

Swanky meds lounge. You'll see on your interview weekend!

[Guest aneliz]

I chose UWO for a bunch of reasons:

 

1. I liked the city of London better then Toronto...which was my other choice. It is smaller, cleaner, cheaper to live in, quieter, more sane, etc, but still big enough to have lots to do and a big patient base to learn from.

 

2. I liked the UWO curriculum better. I like how they teach things in themed blocks in first and second year. I also liked the 3rd and 4th year curriculum better too....UWO students have more exposure to things during clerkship because there isn't as big a feeding chain of people as there is in Toronto. As well, we are done all of our core rotations AND four months of electives before CaRMS. And, I liked the idea of the fourth year transition period too.

 

3. UWO's tuition was cheaper then Toronto and the class size was smaller at UWO.

 

4. UWO has lots and lots and lots of extracurricular activities, clubs, groups, sports etc and the students were really enthusiastic and active. Not so much at UofT...lots of commuters there and they don't seem to do much together other then class...(at least from what I got on the interview weekend).

 

5. UWO's classroom, lounge and computer/study facilities were MUCH nicer

 

6. The people at UWO were always welcoming and happy to help and very enthusiastic about the school....didn't get this so much when I interviewed at Toronto. UWO also provided tonnes of info on anything you could ever have wanted, from maps of the city to details of lines of credit with different banks to help finding housing....

 

7. I just felt that UWO was more 'where I belonged'...you know that gut feeling that you could fit in and be happy somewhere? Well, for me, UWO was it.

 

Hope that helps!

[Guest mying]

I had to make a quick choice between UWO and Queen's. (The acceptance from Queen's came in the day I was leaving for Temagami... my parents called me when I was already on the road.)

 

I chose UWO because...

 

I liked the city of London better. It's just more "my type" than Kingston was. I'm a country girl, and maybe that's part of why. London is closer to all my family, some of whom live within 30 minutes (some who now live in London itself), and my own hometown only 1.5 hours instead of 5 hours away. London is also closer to my fiance, in Guelph -- it enables us to live together next year partway between the two cities without too much hardship. (I hope).

 

I liked what I understood at the time about the differences in curriculum, which was nothing to what I know now. Even then I understood how similar Queen's and UWO were, but not so well the differences. But I would still choose UWO for the design of the curriculum, especially in fourth year, to allow for completion of most electives before CaRMS, and the "back-to-school" time at the end of fourth year.

 

Since I was somewhat unable to choose, I also tossed it to superstition and figured that since I got the letter from UWO first off, whereas I was taken off the waiting list at Queen's; and the fact that I was headed to Temagami with a girl who had just graduated from UWO... that the fates wanted me to go to UWO. Scientific? Not really. Sorry.

[Guest JSS02]

I decided to come here over Queen's. The biggest reason was just a better gut feeling that I got when I interviewed here. The first years seemed to have a great class dynamic (not that it didn't exist at other places... just that it was more obvious here), were very welcoming, and just seemed like a cool group of people in general.

 

Also:

- We start clerkship a bit earlier here

- London's a bit closer to home than Kingston, and is a much bigger city. I'm from the GTA, and Kingston had too much of a small town atmosphere for me.

- More people my age here (avg. age here is 23, and 25 at Queen's... not a huge deal, but as a younger applicant, this still influenced my decision)

- I was under the impression that Queen's had two sets of mega-exams per year (i.e. December and May). It might sound strange that more exams could be a good thing, but the amount of stuff we cover in one quarter is already harrowing enough. In first year, we have 4 sets of exams, each covering 6-10 weeks of material. This is already quite stressful as it is, especially when you're someone who crams (like me). To be responsible for twice as much material would require an even more drastic change in my study habits.

 

In the end, it really depends on which one you feel suits you best. I don't think you can really "go wrong" with any Canadian medical school in terms of quality of education. When you're interviewing at each school, try to talk to students, faculty, etc. and find out as much as you can. Take part in interview weekend activities. You'll certainly learn a lot more this way than if you just came to the interview itself and left right after.