Queen's Med VS UWO Med

[kevinkwon84]

Hi.

I'm going to apply to both Queen's and UWO next year.

Yeah, both schools are good...but I was just wondering

where would you people go if you were to get accepted

to both? Oh, and please consider the following things

when you are posting your answers

 

1) curriculum

2) location (Kingston vs London)

3) campus life (this includes the campus attractiveness)

4) reputation

5) libraries

 

 

Yeah, well, thats about it

 

THNX guys and girls!

[The_B]

I did my undergrad at Western, and am currently at Queen's and I can honestly say that for everything , it depends. I personally think that:

 

1) curriculum - Queen's is changing, so I can't say.

2) location (Kingston vs London) - I really loved London

3) campus life (this includes the campus attractiveness) - Western

4) reputation - Equal

5) libraries - No idea

 

In the end, the questions you need to ask yourself are:

-does location of the school matter. At Queens, all of the hospitals are a short walk away from where I live. When I was at Western, UH was further from where I lived (and I lived close) than either of the 3 major hospitals here, and the other two main hospitals were much further.

 

-am I confident I can choose? This one had me going to Queens. They threw me a bone first, so they won.

 

-size of city

 

-size of class. This is one thing the admin at Queen's is all about. Due to the smallish nature of the school, it's easier to know the faculty, and make connections.

 

Personally, I loved London, and even though I am only first year, I am considering making Western my first choice for post-grad. But thats a function of London, not of Western or Queen's. In many ways, as far as opportunites are concerned, I think Queen's has a few advantages, but then so does Western. The choice is pretty personal, since many people prefer smaller classes, some prefer bigger ones. Some like a smaller city, and others...you get the point. IMO, you can't go wrong here.

[ploughboy]

Having never attended, or even set foot, on the Queen's campus I can only comment on UWO:

 

1) curriculum

 

I'm not too happy with the preclinical curriculum at UWO, but not a lot of people were (note the use of the past tense). My class is the last one to go through Western's "old" curriculum. In response to student concerns, the curricuum has been "realigned" for the class of 2010 and beyond. Maybe a first-year can post about their experiences, though judging by all the furrowed brows I see these days I expect they're busy studying...

 

On the other hand, UWO's clerkship rocks (apparently, I won't be in clerkship until September). It rocks for two reasons: 1) you do all of your core rotations in 3rd year, and your away electives in 4th year so you don't look like a complete numpty in front of your away preceptors 2) UWO clerks are "first call" which means if bad stuff happens on the wards in the middle of the night, it's the clerk who gets first crack at it*. Scary, but a great way to learn. 3) Ok, three reasons, not two - you're done all your clinical electives before CaRMS. I don't understand what value there is in doing clinical electives post-CaRMS.

 

Queen's clerkship may be equally fun/scary, but I know nothing about it.

 

PS - I believe UWO has a larger cachement area than Queens.

 

2) location (Kingston vs London)

 

Umm...depends on your own situation. London is a lot closer to my family, and that's a huge plus for me, but somebody from Belleville might prefer Queen's. Basically London is half-way between Toronto and Detroit with all the fun they entail, while Queens is close enough to Montreal that you can make excursions.

 

 

3) campus life (this includes the campus attractiveness)

 

Western is...pretty. Lots of stone and stuff. I'm seriously caught in the "med-school bubble", and don't interact much with the rest of campus. Apparently there's a lot of stuff going on on campus, but I tend to stick pretty close to home. That said, I'm certainly not bored. We apparently have the most student-run clubs of any medical school in Canada, and I don't doubt it - there's always something going on and I usually find myself double or triple-booked. Whether it's a talk by a residency director, UWO intermurals, choir practice or a wine tasting there's always something going on, and UWO med students tend to be very involved and sociable.

 

4) reputation

 

Both good schools. Don't make this a critical factor in your decision. Somebody once told me that Queen's is an "old money" school, while UWO is a "new money" school, for whatever that's worth.

 

5) libraries

 

Dude, you've got "libraries" on your short-list of criteria. Sounds like you'd be a good fit at U of T.

 

Ok, serious answer - anything medically related I access from home through the UWO library website. They have a whack of e-textbooks, and all the major journals, available online. I expect Queens will be the same. There's some nice eye-candy in the Western libraries, but I suspect that's not what you're asking about. I think it's probably a tie on this point.

 

 

Best regards, etc

 

pb

 

 

* Some restrictions apply. Dealer may sell for less. See store for details.

[kevinkwon84]

Ploughboy>>>

 

I am actually studying undergrad bio @ the UofT

 

I'm from BC and its been like 4 years since

 

I moved out to Toronto for "better" education....but I still ain't

 

getting used to this place. Man, sometimes I feel that I should have

 

went to UBC. Thanx for the information dude

[kevinkwon84]

to me, libaries are actually one of the important factors when

it comes to choosing med school. UofT libaries are always

overcrowded especially during the exam period (and I just can't

study in my rez). Quiet study environment in the library is

actually what I was looking for (not because fancy libraries

make schools look good or anything )

[The_B]

to me, libaries are actually one of the important factors when

it comes to choosing med school. UofT libaries are always

overcrowded especially during the exam period (and I just can't

study in my rez). Quiet study environment in the library is

actually what I was looking for (not because fancy libraries

make schools look good or anything )

 

Don't quote me, but I don't know of any schools that don't have busy libraries come exam time. My advice, find a quiet spot somewhere other than a library. It's what I do. Classrooms, rarely used computer labs, there are all sorts of places that await the determined seeker.

[flying kumquat]

i'm only an undergrad at Queen's....but if you don't mind homogenity, frat-style clubs at good ol' Ale House, and a library that's more like a fashion show (aka Club Stauffer), then Queen's will be a perfect fit for you

 

I have to say that, as a med student, I feel pretty removed for what you describe (though I realize it's a bit tongue-in-cheek). I recognize all these attributes are there, but I feel you don't have to go too far out of your way at all to avoid them. And certainly, Kingston is more homogeneous than Toronto - but isn't almost any other Canadian city?

[bioboy2007]

I have to say that, as a med student, I feel pretty removed for what you describe (though I realize it's a bit tongue-in-cheek). I recognize all these attributes are there, but I feel you don't have to go too far out of your way at all to avoid them. And certainly, Kingston is more homogeneous than Toronto - but isn't almost any other Canadian city?[/QUOTE]

 

Yeah, Calgary's very homogeneous

 

...must...escape...

[peachy]

to me, libaries are actually one of the important factors when it comes to choosing med school. UofT libaries are always overcrowded especially during the exam period (and I just can't study in my rez).

If this is something that is important to you then ask about it at your interviews. While there may not be good places to study as an undergrad at U of T, med students have it a lot better, with private study areas at most (all?) of the hospitals, some of which are really nice.

 

As to the original question about UWO vs Queen's, I wanted to add that the interview weekends are one of the best ways to find out if one of them fits you better than the other. I found that the two schools had a completely different feeling at the interviews.

[ploughboy]

to me, libaries are actually one of the important factors when

it comes to choosing med school. UofT libaries are always

overcrowded especially during the exam period (and I just can't

study in my rez). Quiet study environment in the library is

actually what I was looking for (not because fancy libraries

make schools look good or anything )

 

Hey,

 

Like others have said, most schools have dedicated study space for med students. We have a 50+ seat study room just for Meds. It's fairly basic (desks, chairs) but deathly quiet. We also have a nice comfy lounge (with TV, pool table, etc so not a lot of studying happens there), a mini meds/dents/nursing library (which tends to be filled with giggling nurses) and a zillion small group rooms which people take over and study in during exams (noise level varies, depending on who's around you).

 

Then there's always the Law Library (which has suddenly gotten more popular), or the main campus libraries (which are alwyas busy and like at Queens can be a bit of a fashion show). For the truly innovatie, there's various branches of the London Public LIbrary, if you really want to get away from it all. Me, I study at home, but I have a dedicated office in my apartment. You likely won't be living in rez during medschool.

 

London is ery WASP-y, but like Peachy said, the best time to assess your feeling of the city and campus is during interiew weekend. I'd encourage you to go early and stay late at whatever schools you have interviews at. View the facilities first-hand, talk to the med students (we were in your shoes not very long ago, we know what it's like and we're happy to offer advice) and get an in-person sense of the "vibe" of the place.

 

Best of luck!

 

pb

[studentz]

to me, libaries are actually one of the important factors when

it comes to choosing med school. UofT libaries are always

overcrowded especially during the exam period (and I just can't

study in my rez). Quiet study environment in the library is

actually what I was looking for (not because fancy libraries

make schools look good or anything )

 

UofT has something like 50 libraries, many of which are not crowded, let alone overcrowded, at any time of year. Laidlaw at UC is a prime example. But as others have mentioned, medical students at every school have areas to study that students in few if any other program can access, and these include hospital spaces.

 

Realistically, the library is much less of a variable for med school than undergrad. There were times in undergrad where I was glad I was at UofT because few libraries in the world would have had some of the humanities and social science books I used for various papers. But in med school most of what you will need will be electronic journal subscriptions or texts that are in most hospital libraries anyway.