is it really harder?

[Guest cedar05]

Hey guys and gals,

 

I keep hearing that UofT is a harder program than most of the others in Canada and that you don't have as much time as people at other schools to do EC's. Is this true? What does everyone else think?

 

Thanks

[Guest pmcv]

I think it's baloney, but I don't go there.

 

www.torontomeds.com/admissions/index.htm

[Guest scrubbed]

As a first year student a U of T, I don't think that U of T's curriculum is necessarily harder than other curriculums.

 

Some people may not like the fact that there are more lectures, and exams every month compared to other schools.

 

At the same time, other people may like the fact that things are a bit more standardized, and thus you have clear ideas of what you need to know. As well, you do get more feedback with more constant exams. Finally, some schools have all their exams at the end of the semester, which might be stressful.

 

I've had to work hard this year, but I've also had the time to pursure sports; attend lectures, talks, and shadowing opportunities outside of class times; and participate in other programs that the med school has to offer. I also live close to campus, which gives me more free time, as I don't have to commute each day. Other students are involved in many activities as well.

 

In addition, though I haven't experienced yet, U of T's second year is a bit lighter than it's first year. I've heard that at other schools that it is the opposite situation.

 

I think it also depends on the value that you place on how well you want to do. If given a choice, some people will sacrifice activities in order to learn the material required to do very well on an exam, while others will maintain their activities no matter what. Some residency program directors, including internal medcine at U of T, have said that they aren't conerned about preclerkship marks, though they do care about clerkship marks and evaluations.

 

I hope that I was able to address some of your concerns. Please feel free to ask any more questions that you have.

[Guest DancingDoc]

You mentioned that you have had time to do some shadowing. I have been told by many people that there is not much time to that first year. When (both time of day and which semesters) did you find you could fit in shadowing physicians? Thanks

[Guest scrubbed]

Hey there,

 

I did an evening program called Therapeutic Communications, which runs in the fall and the spring. I did it in the fall. It consisted of a weekly session with a client as well as a weekly session with a psychiatrist and other members of the group. The commitment to that was about three hours a week. I also did a couple of sessions of emergency psychiatry shadowing on weekend evenings as well in both semesters.

 

If you look at the course schedule for Metabolism and Nutrition and Brain and Behaviour, found under the appropriate course links here, there is free time on Tuesday mornings as well as some other random times in the schedule; I've shadowed a couple of family physicians during this time and visited a reproductive health clinic as part of a student group's reproductive health elective. As I was in town over spring break in March, I did a bit of shadowing during this time as well.

 

The Interest Group in Family Medicine also held a couple of clinical skills workshops, featuring skills on models, not real people, such as suturing, injections, gynecology, and obstetrics.

 

In terms of dedicated time in the curriculum, as part of our clinical skills course in the fall, there was an event called Day of the Doctor, where you shadowed a physician around for one day: I shadowed in an eating disorders clinic for my experience.

 

It's reasonably easy to set something up: most of my tutors have been open to shadowing. There are also opportunites to have physician mentors other through academies or student groups, such as the ones that I mentioned. The Student Affairs Office is also a good resource.

 

That said, not all students choose to shadow, nor is it necessary. I just wanted to pursue areas that I was interested in.

 

If you have anymore questions, please don't hesitate to post.

[Guest MedSchoolGirl2005]

I think if you're comparing first year at u of t verses mac, mac is waaaay lax by far. They have PBL which goes at a slower pace than the medical sciences courses at U of T.

 

I dont know this through firsthand but i have friends at mac and also at u of t...and u of t students get tested a lot and have all the sciences in the first 2 years. Mac's material is spread out...being taught over a timeframe of 3 years...and when they are tested, its moreso a gauge for students to know what they know...so that they dont fail the licensing exam at the end. These marks are not written in stone nor count towards the gpa...

 

Like i said, not firsthand experience...but experiences from good friends of mine. In the end, an MD is an MD...doesnt matter where you get it...its all what you make of the experience...