Guest Kirsteen Posted May 27, 2004 Report Share Posted May 27, 2004 Hi there, With respect to medical school curricula and administration, are most medical schools sympathetic to students who need to take a few days off school during the school term for a family obligation? The reason I ask, my cousin is waltzing down the aisle this October and she elected lucky me to be her chief bridesmaid. However, she's located in Glasgow and the wedding will be held in an old manor on Loch Lomond on a Sunday. Thus, in order to get over there to do the job properly and not be a complete slag to jetlag, I'm looking at a four- or five-day trip that will consume 2-3 school days. Are most medical schools sympathetic to these types of commitments, and is there flexibility in most curricula to fit these sorts of events in? :rolleyes Cheers, Kirsteen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest DonaldKaufman Posted May 27, 2004 Report Share Posted May 27, 2004 Kirsteen and others, Yeah, I was wondering the same thing, because I have a wedding to go to in Wisconsin at the end of Sept., and I feel weird about missing a day or two of school after having been there for only 4 weeks! Students must have these sorts of things come up all the time, and some of them (the mere mortals) must have to miss the odd day due to illness. So, more generally, I was wondering how problematic is it to miss a few days of med school. Also, what happens when you miss days in 3rd and 4th year? Nothing? Or does all hell break loose? -DK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest moo Posted May 27, 2004 Report Share Posted May 27, 2004 First or second year, shouldn't be a problem. At least here, people miss school all the time, usually for family obligations and are excused from PBL, afternoon curriculum or anything else. (Lectures and labs are already optional.) Third and fourth year are a bit different, and my friend had his sister actually plan her wedding during switch weekend in September because he was afraid he couldn't take a day off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest fox Posted May 27, 2004 Report Share Posted May 27, 2004 I guess it depends what school you're at, but at U of A the only thing you're required to go to is PBL and some other small group stuff.... I am sure if you had an obligation to a family member half way across the world they'd be sympathetic. I would just book your ticket and if an issue arises then tell then you had it booked before you even knew you got into med school! At U of A they sometimes let you defer exams, unless it's a midterm then you just miss it and your final for that block is weighted more heavily. All in all, things are pretty relaxed for the most part. Med school is supposed to be a lot of "self-study", so attendance is not a big deal for the most part. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest NL07 Posted May 27, 2004 Report Share Posted May 27, 2004 At Queen's, besides PBL (which you wouldn't have until semester 2) and clinical skills (Which is run throughout the year), every class is pretty much optional, and believe me, many of my classmates exercised that option. Even clinical skills, with a good reason like yours, you can skip. Don't worry about it, you'll find the administration is very helpful and accomodating to students. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest aneliz Posted May 27, 2004 Report Share Posted May 27, 2004 At UWO the only things you *have* to show up for are PCL and clinical methods...and both can be missed the odd time with a valid excuse. Lectures and small groups do not have attendance taken and people tend to go AWOL quite often. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kirsteen Posted May 27, 2004 Report Share Posted May 27, 2004 Hi there, Thanks everyone for your input. It's one of those medical school doodads about which most of us on *this* side are pretty oblivious, so cheers. Kirsteen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Wong Posted May 27, 2004 Report Share Posted May 27, 2004 I echo that. It's bad form to miss PBL sessions, but missing lectures isn't an issue. Small group teaching sessions like Family Practice, Clinical Skills, DPAS (Doctor, Patient and Soceity) aren't things you want to miss regularly either, but can be managed as well. I'm just speaking for UBC, but I can't see that it would be a big issue at other schools either; life is going to get in the way of med school sometimes, that's just how it goes. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bj Posted May 28, 2004 Report Share Posted May 28, 2004 Hey, I agree with the above. There is actually one person in our class that I swear I haven't seen...except for the first week (O-week) and periodically at exams. All our classes are optional, although again anything in small groups is really a professionalism in you miss it. Then again, last year one person took 2 weeks off when their partner had a baby and the faculty was really supportive. They understand that we have lives outside of medicine! bj Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest gucio93 Posted May 28, 2004 Report Share Posted May 28, 2004 Ditto for Mac ... although a lot of our time is spent in PBL, which is mandatory, if you approach your group with your concern at the beginning, most of the time people are very, very supportive and understanding and will acommodate reasonable requests. Sometimes a tutorial can be switched to another day (if the tutor is available and all the group members agree) or in the worst case you would miss a tutorial - worse things have happened and if you are an otherwise hardworking and trustworthy individual, your group will understand. So book your ticket and start enjoying the anticipation. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jerika81 Posted May 28, 2004 Report Share Posted May 28, 2004 Hey Kirsteen, For the U of C perspective, the only thing you would really have to worry about is having an exam during the time you would miss. The Blood exam is some time in October but I'm not sure exactly when- and most likely on a Friday. Other than that, lectures and small groups are generally not mandatory attendance. Your core sessions in the hospital are mandatory but your group leader schedules those so if you are going to be away you can just let the group leader know before they do any scheduling. Lots of my classmates have taken full weeks off this year to go to Cuba or Mexico or whatever, so it's no big deal as long as you think you can make up the missed lectures etc. on your own time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kirsteen Posted May 28, 2004 Report Share Posted May 28, 2004 Hi there Jerika, For the U of C perspective, the only thing you would really have to worry about is having an exam during the time you would miss. That's one of the things that worried me: that October always seemed to be exam season. The wedding is right at the beginning of October, so hopefully there won't be too much going on in terms of testing. If there is, hopefully if I provide lots of notice, I'll be able to take any tests before I leave. Cheers, Kirsteen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jerika81 Posted May 28, 2004 Report Share Posted May 28, 2004 Hey Kirsteen, Unfortunately they pretty much will not let anyone take an exam early or late for any reason. You can of course just skip the exam and write the re-write in June, but that means you would have to study for a course you took in October in June, which would not be fun. But on the upside I'm pretty sure the Blood exam is not until mid October. I think it may have been the Friday after the Thanksgiving weekend, but I'm not sure. I bet if you called the admissions office they could give you an exact date for the exam as it is already set, or they could tell you who to phone to find out. I think Huffer (U of C mod) might know because he is on a committee where he gets to know stuff like that, but I don't know how often he checks this forum so you might want to start a thread in the U of C forum or send him a message. I hope it all works out for you though- it would be a shame to miss the wedding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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