So we're in, now what? (Q's for Current Students)

[Guest HaliEngineer]

Hi all,

Just wondering, what do we do now?

For all the current students, how did you prep during the summer before?

What are the financing options? What are the best ones, and who should we talk to?

What about bursary applications? Scholarship applications?

Any other advice or things to think about?

Thanks!

[Guest cactus]

As someone still waiting for a decision this is my advice.

 

1) celebrate

2) enjoy your summer and the sunshine and save what you can

3) go to the dal website for a list of bursaries and scholarships, if you need more help, go to student affairs (deadline is July, you have some time)

4) minimize use of lines of credit, you have to pay interest on them while you study, canada student loans are better because you don't need to pay interest while you study and you can use interest paid each year as credits on your taxes. But that won't be enough so go to your bank.

[Guest MikeD]

Hey there,

 

I'm in the first year class, and agree with cactus. If by prepping you are talking about reading ahead, I think it's probably not worth it. Our first block is anatomy (pure memorization, very few concepts), so in all likelyhood most of what you absorb will be gone before showing up to class. After getting in, I was so excited that I started buying up every possible book, which was a waste of cash (and I've actually ended up selling most of them). Before each unit there are excellent used book sales that you can take advantage of.

 

As for financing, with that acceptance letter and a copy of your deposit check you won't have any problems with a line of credit (RBC and MD Management being the two most popular at most schools). I'm with RBC, and my advice is to actually visit a branch. I've heard of some people setting it up online, and the people online having no idea there were 150,000 LOCs for students. I set mine up at my branch in Ontario, so I'm not sure which branch deals with things in Halifax. I'm guessing it's the branch closest to the school. We've had some talks from MD management, and I've been impressed with all of their services and their LOC, so you might want to consider speaking to them as well (Annette Howland is the school contact).

 

Bursary wise, there is a nice central application you use that automatically includes you for each Medical school bursary/scholarship. You'll get an email about that closer to May or June I think.

 

Other than that, it sounds like you're in town already. I found it handy to have moved in early, so my apartment was functional and up and running right away. A lot of people showed up just before and since school and activities pick right up, those boxes stayed there for a while.

 

Congratulations and enjoy your spring and summer! (man, some of you maritimers find out early...that's great)

[Guest unaffixed]

Just to add, for most people, a line of credit is pretty much neccessary because student loans will only barely cover tuition. If you can manage without the LOC, that's great, but most people will find that they need it.

 

I will also agree with Mike about the book thing. You will be tempted to go out and buy all the recommended texts brand new but this is a potential waste of money. There will be lots of opportunities to buy used books at much cheaper prices, and a lot of our classmates borrow books from their Med II buddies.

 

Let us know if you have any more questions. Congrats on getting in, Dal is an awesome school!

[Guest JewelLeigh]

One more note: There is generally a session during Welcome Week with the banks offering med student lines of credit. The bank staff who attend this session actually know the details of the LOC for med students and are all there at the same time, so great for comparison and discussion. If you could wait till then, it might be a good idea. Time-wise, it's held the last week of August, and tuition isn't due until 3 weeks into September, so I would imagine that's plenty of time.

 

I set mine up at a branch in my hometown (not near a med school), and that was a mistake. So if you feel you want to get organized ahead of time, make sure you go to a branch that has a banker who deals with med students on a regular basis and knows the details of that specific LOC. The people at the branch I dealt with didn't even know what "residency" meant...eek.

 

Also - be sure to ask about repayment terms! It is something that is very easy to forget about when someone's offering you a huge loan at prime, but that ends up hurting some people come residency.

 

As was said above RBC and MD Mgmt seem to have the most competitive LOCs.

 

I totally agree with the above posters about not bothering to prep during the summer. In fact, both MikeD and I are engineering graduates, (I assume you are too) so I can understand that perhaps you are thinking you should do some reading to try to "catch up" with your biosci undergrad classmates. My opinion - don't bother There are only ever a few people in the class who, for each unit, have a background in the topic, and the rest of us start from scratch. So as engineers, we'll just never be in that lucky 10% who can relax a bit for one unit.

 

The info is taught at a basic level, and with a little hard work (ok, sometimes a lot), it's not a problem to keep on top of it during the school year. So as said above - enjoy your summer - you have 6 years minimum of very hard work coming up!

[Guest naleczow]

I have a question for anyone that's currently a med student at Dal. Can one of you guys tell me approximately how much you spent on tuition + supplies + books during your first year?

 

Thanks so much!

[Guest JewelLeigh]

Tuition this year was approximately $13k (likely going up another 8-10% for next year). Books cost me about $5-600 in first year, but I could've save myself a fair amount by buying more used. Supplies...about $150 I'd say.

 

Hope that helps!

JL

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[Guest naleczow]

Thanks for the info.

[Guest research101]

Another question for current meds:

 

"offer is conditional upon..... maintaining your academic standards"

 

This is what it says in the offer letter - what is exactly meant by this (numerically)? Thanks

[Guest JewelLeigh]

As far as I know, this simply means that you have to complete your degree if you haven't already.

[Guest melNB]

Ok good! It was so vague it could have meant maintain the same average that you applied with.

[Guest scooter]

Hey guys,

I know it is a little early, and i actually have a full-time job I could actually be doing work for now... But I now live pretty damn far from Halifax (though I have a couple of friends there) so what are (is?? what really sucks is htat FT job is teaching English!) your advise(s) on finding an apartment?? I wanna move in about 5 days or so before the semester starts (I think i still have undergrad boxes I never unpacked!). Any idea where to start? i don't want to stick it on my friends to find me an apartment but i don't want to end up far from campus...

 

Also, I heard they coddle you a lot during the first semester, is this true?? I would be great if they kinda hold our hands a bit for the first little while, it has been 2 years since i had to study dawn till dusk (and dusk till dawn for that matter).

 

See you in August !!