Saskatchewan (Regina Campus) vs Calgary--program, student life, buying a vehicle?

[samyo]

Hey everyone,

 

I just got off the Calgary waitlist this morning and am in the very fortunate position of deciding between medical schools. Right now I am accepted at Calgary, Saskatchewan, and NOSM (but am deciding between sask and calgary).

 

The major difference that stands out to me is the 3 year vs 4 year program. Right now my career goals are finishing med school and coming back up north to work as a family doctor or pediatrician (maybe emergency but I don't know a lot about that one). Admittedly I don't know a lot about the specialties, but none of them have really stood out to me to me as I love living in small towns and want to work as some kind of generalist. (but maybe this will change in med school who knows).

 

Here are some of the things I'm considering:

Program focus: I hear that Calgary is great for generalists/clinical skills, but Sask's Regina campus is great for lots of hands-on learning, which appeals to me greatly. Both schools seem to favor starting clinical skills early which is a huge plus. I'm not really interested in doing research so this doesn't factor in as heavily for me.

 

Student life/location: In terms of cities Calgary seems like the nicer choice for sure, but would I even have time to explore the city with the 3 year program? Is the 3 year program unbearably stressful? (This is a longshot but if any U of C students studied for and wrote the MCAT while working full time, is this what your program is like all the time, for 3 years?) I would almost certainly be working during my summers off anyways if I did get them, so losing summers doesn't seem really awful to me.

 

Vehicle: would I need to get a car for Calgary? (plus learn how to drive in the city...) In Sask I can live pretty close to campus/clinics so I likely wouldn't have to get a vehicle.

 

Any input is much appreciated!

[ChemPetE]

Old Calgary Alum here:

- calgary had a solid focus on clinical skills and hands on learning opportunies. I don’t know much about sask but wouldn’t expect too many differences between the two in this area

- student life - You can fit a lot of hikes, camping, ski trips even in 3 years in med. I found myself studying mostly for big exams, but weekends especially in preclerkship were free to explore at least a good portion of the time. Clerkship is a different beast, however and your time is much more limited. My quality of life during pre-clerkship was very good (and certainly better than my undergrad engineering degree imo but your mileage may vary)

 

- Vehicle - there were very few students that survived without vehicles, and is not recommended. You will need to travel across calgary and to some rural sites for clinical rotations. So while I know some rented vehicles for only when they needed them, calgary is not a transit focused city and your quality of life will be much better to buy a cheap/used reliable car for clinic transportation. Bonus is that you can take it to the mountains on weekends. Driving in the city isn’t too bad, but I grew up here. You can still live close to campus, but you will need to go to different hospitals for shadowing, clinics etc so you will need reliable transportation that isn’t buses or the ctrain just to make your life more efficient.

My 2c anyways

[samyo]

Thank you for your response! I have gone ahead and accepted Calgary

[lulik]

Good chooice!   Calgary is one of the fast growing cities in Canada. very close to mountains, has interntational airport, lots of international fights, very affordable rent, you can check it at www.immediate.rent   Great climate, over 1.5 million and growing.