waiting game

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there,

 

This all sounds a bit crazy/scary, eh? Does anyone know if UBC have managed to work out the logistics for this coming September? That is, will there be adequate resources to teach, in particular, the Vancouver class? (Since the Island and PG classes seem to be fairly decently organized and the resources accounted for.)

 

Best of luck with this week's mail!

 

Kirsteen

[Guest Makunouchi]

Hey,

 

Thanks for the updates... hope everything is organized at all three sites come next year.

 

I guess it's time to... wait some more...

 

The sunshine makes things easier to pass the time (or procrastinate).

[Guest sedination]

Hi, I just registered to let you all know that I just called Admissions today and they said they haven't sent out the letters yet. When I asked if they expect to send them out soon, all they said was that they'd be out by the end of the month...so I guess we shouldn't expect their arrival for at least a few more days.

[Guest Jazz]

Man...a lot of us got all worked up over nothing.

[Guest Kels2004]

Oh man, I was hoping they were out!!!

 

I guess we go back to the waiting game.

 

Shoot.

[Guest kupo]

just relax everyone,

 

go eat some schwarma or something =)

 

good luck everyone

 

kupo

[Guest aiko]

i'm still hopeful. Anyone receiving today's mail yet?

[Guest Ian Wong]

Heya,

 

I generally try to stay out of these discussions regarding the expansion since I'm no longer a medical student, but I was involved in a few of the committees that were working on this project back then.

 

The first point is that it is absolutely inconceivable that the expansion won't occur. As has been noted elsewhere, BC is the worst province in Canada as far as turning out physicians for a province with our population size. We are only graduating 128 students a year, while losing roughly 300 physicians a year due to retirement, death, relocation, etc. More importantly, we have a severe inequity between rurally-based physicians, and urban physicians.

 

Everything that we have currently tried to do to recruit Canadian physicians into rural areas has failed. On call stipends aren't working, extra rural bonuses aren't working, and physicians aren't coming because the lifestyle of a rural doc is usually poor (and med students these days are keeping lifestyle as a premium consideration), and because of the current nationwide disinterest in Family Medicine (we are all training as specialists in urban areas, and getting comfortably reliant on those tests/consults/procedures only available in large, tertiary care centers.) Even now, after all the attention focussed on rural healthcare, a very large percentage of our rural physicians are coming from other countries, and must work rurally as a condition of their licensure.

 

As a result, the new focus on getting rural physicians isn't to provide incentives like crazy (still very important, although very expensive), but rather in training medical students rurally in those environments and developing an interest in rural care from the onset. I can personally say that I noticed in my class that people coming from the rural areas of BC are the ones who intend to return to those areas to practice. Big city people who were born and raised in Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond, etc, have absolutely no intention of working in Prince George, or Port Moody, or anywhere other than the Lower Mainland.

 

As a result, this expansion is a necessary project. It is very much the hope of UBC that physicians educated in Prince George (and to a smaller extent, those in Victoria), will be more likely to practice in the north, or on the island. Politically, this expansion is vitally important for the government as well, and they have committed the funds for the construction of these new facilities, the hiring of faculty, etc. Failure of this expansion is simply not an option.

 

I can only speculate that other medical schools across Canada might be looking at the results achieved by UBC, in decided whether they should also be expanding rurally in an attempt to meet their province's needs. Every other medical school in Canada is grappling with how to get their graduates into rural areas. Again, the idea that this expansion model might become a standard by which other medical schools try to serve the rural component of their province's population makes the success of UBC expansion that much more important.

 

As far as the clinical faculty go, they have made similar demands of the administration, even during the time I was a med student, threatening to strike if they didn't receive increased compensation/recognition. I don't think this is so much a question of money, as it is a question of recognition. Any teaching faculty at UBC always has the option of going back into private practice, which invariably pays dramatically more than being on teaching faculty. In fact, by the very fact of taking up an academic university position, you are voluntarily giving up tens of thousands of dollars annually.

 

I think the clinical faculty want more recognition, and more political clout when it comes to being consulted and relied upon for such huge decisions as a medical school expansion. Clearly, they are and will continue to be a critical component of UBC medical school, so it behooves the administrators and the clinical faculty to get along, because both parties are necessary to make the medical school work. I would not be surprised at all to hear that there is friction between the two parties right now; it's simply not possible to make such a big project work without stepping on toes or asking people to make a bigger committment than they were initially prepared to do.

 

This is no different than the curriculum switchover to PBL/Lecture hybrid that occurred three years before I started med school, and which similarly had a large number of critics. Big changes usually mean big adjustments for everyone. Even during my time, as the third class through this new curriculum, we were constantly providing feedback about changes and improvements we felt could be made to the curriculum. I would similarly expect noticeable teething problems for the distributed programs in Victoria and Prince George. Any pioneer class should expect that, but they should also in fairness expect that the medical school will be most attentive in tweaking and correcting these deficits as quickly as possible.

 

Anyway, I think the clinicians would be the first to tell you that this sort of a project might be a viable way of recruiting new medical graduates into rural areas. It certainly can only be an improvement on our rural recruitment as it currently stands. The difficulty then, is finding clinicians who are able and willing to teach given how much time demands are already on them. I see this as the major hurdle of the expansion (it's easy to construct buildings, but much harder to fill them with faculty).

 

Still, given that this project can only benefit the clinicians and community in the long run, plus the fact that UBC and the government are both throwing their weight behind the project, I'm sure that whatever concessions/incentives are necessary to recruit these teaching clinicians can be negotiated out. Perhaps this meeting is a stepping-stone to that.

 

Still, speaking only for myself, if I had the option to choose which venue to train at, it would be the Vancouver site. I'm not big into the pioneering spirit myself, and I can personally vouch that the Vancouver experience is solid. Still, heading to Victoria or Prince George will undoubtedly open up a lot of other opportunities and connections; I just personally prefer sticking with something that is already established.

 

The second point is that despite not having the most coordinated, nor the friendliest admissions department (Calgary is tops in this category; Adele is exceptional!), UBC is a very strong medical school, and your teachers and classmates reflect that. There's an incredible sense of comraderie within your class, and you all connect with each other as classmates.

 

It's obviously very difficult to do otherwise, but I wouldn't let your experiences with Admissions colour your decisions about the actual day-to-day experiences of being a UBC medical student (where you have literally zero contact with any of the admissions staff). Being as wide-spread a campus as we are, it's impossible for med students to give tours, or even be present on-site during interviews (seeing as many of your were interviewed at the downtown sites), but hopefully the Wine and Cheese events gave you some indication of the enthusiasm level of this class.

 

The final note is that UBC has excellent clinical training and good research opportunities, and we match extremely strongly compared with other Canadian medical schools. You will have an excellent shot at any specialty coming out of this medical school, and that ultimately needs to be a priority, if not a top priority, for all medical students.

 

I think that matching strongly is much like the value of a stock in the stock market. Lots of matches to competitive specialties indicates, much like a highly valued stock, a high level of confidence from program directors that UBC is turning out quality graduates who will do well during their residency program. I believe you'll continue to see that as our curriculum evolves and our school expands further in the future.

 

Furthermore, I think that you'll get an extremely strong education at UBC, and you will get strong mentoring and experiences in whichever direction or area that your future career goals will lead you. I think we have an awesome medical school here in Vancouver, and that if you decide to come here, you'll be extremely happy you did.

 

Ian

[Guest soapyslicer]

Hi Everyone,

 

Figures today he was later than usual. Saw him coming and was out the door. He was shaking his head "NO" before I could even ask.

 

Will keep you updated. His comment was even if it was put in Campus Mail on Friday afternnoon, he sorts fairly early in the am so figures it would be one more day. Of course this was discussed prior to going online and reading the latest rumours. I still think we have a decent chance of getting letters by Friday or Tuesday next week.

 

Hang in there,

 

Soapy

[Guest sedination]

Hey,

 

Possibly some more bad news. Given that the letters may have been mailed late on Friday and I called Admissions early on Monday, I thought there was a chance that the receptionist who I had spoken to was not told that the letters had been sent out already. So I called again and this time mentioned that I had heard that the letters were sent out last Friday but she reaffirmed the letters had not yet been sent out.

 

Furthermore, this time she said they would be sent out HOPEFULLY by the end of the month. That "hopefully" seems to me like the letters are not that close to completion and won't be mailed for a while. I hope I'm wrong because I'm sure most of us won't want to wait until early June....

[Guest sn0w0wl]

Ouch! Didn't want to hear that.... but thanks to all for helping to clarify the situation with the letters.

 

Ian--just out of curiosity, do you mind sharing with us what residency you matched to? (I don't think I've come across the info elsewhere.)

 

sn0

[Guest soapyslicer]

I don't think I have gone to bed this early in years. I would just like to wake up a week from now and all of this is over. Of course the saga could still be continuing.........|I

 

soapy

[Guest Jazz]

I just feel bad for telling a friend who also applied to UBC about the rumour that we may get the letters today, and she got all freaked out. Who are the "sources" that people are getting the info from anyways?

[Guest physiology]

Hey Kupo,

 

Do you mean shawarma? It's a foreign word (don't know the origin, but Middle Eastern) and it refers to that meat dish (they "carve" it off this huge hunk of meat") with rice, tangy salad, usually some soft tortilla and humus?

[Guest Ian Wong]

I matched into Radiology. I thought I was going to be a surgeon throughout medical school, but Radiology really is a better fit for my career goals and ambitions. There's no doubt that I'm a computer guy at heart, and the fact that I can work with the top-end of computer technology while also applying my love of Anatomy to medicine makes Rads a perfect match for me.

 

I'm happy that I'm going to be a cave dweller.

 

Ian

[Guest mydream88]

Ian,

I congratulations on getting matched to rads, though I am not sure if this occured this year because you have mentioned being out of med school already

 

mydream88:)

[Guest sedination]

It didn't come in the mail today...considering I live just outside UBC, I don't think they were sent out on Friday....

[Guest Jazz]

Yeah, I live in Van and didn't get anything, so no way they sent it on Fri. I actually saw my mailwoman walking up with a brown package and my heart literally stopped...turned out it was some @#%$ for my sister...that was just so so cruel.

[Guest kaylen]

Rumours, rumours rumours...I guess if you really want to know what is happening, you have to go straight to the source and ask.

 

So on a different note, what kind of packages do you think the rejection/admission letters will come in? Bigger packages for successful candidates and one page letters for unsuccessful ones?

[Guest soapyslicer]

Usually.....and I qualify that by only what has happen in previous years

 

8.5 X 11 - brown envelope - good news

Small envelope - waitlisted or rejected

 

PS - No mail for me today either.

 

soapy

[Guest kupo]

yep physiology,

 

shawarma is what i meant indeed. good food, gives you excellent breath. i couldnt spell it off the top of my head.

 

im in ottawa right now and there are an abundance of shawarma places.

 

really good stuff

 

kupo-man

[Guest ubcpharmer]

just a thought

 

how about if each of us calls the office on a particular day. that way they wont get angry b/c the same person is calling and we will be able to keep tabs on when the letters go out

 

what do you guys think?

[Guest not rex morgan]

if they're busy answering phones, they will have less time to stuff envelopes! :b

[Guest sedination]

ubcpharmer,

 

sounds good! that way it'll eliminate many hours of sleepless anxiety for all of us if we know for sure that the letters won't arrive the next day. How about you do tomorrow and I'll do Friday?

[Guest physiology]

I think the only thing that will achieve is a pissed off receptionist. From what I recall, she can get really moody sometimes. Granted, that was the day our applications were due and many of us (including myself) dropped off our applications in person, disturbing her, and quite possibly disturbing her even more by pestering her with questions (My question was "Are you sure in province students only submit ONE set of official transcripts?")

 

Now that I have to drive to work everyday, I get pissed off in my car EVERYDAY, and it's not a good feeling. So I guess I feel for her. And ya know what, fingering the #$@%head who cuts me off or the schmutz tailgating me doesn't make things any better, only just worse...but I digress