Average day in McGill school of medicine

[temp_degoo]

I don't think this has been done for McGill, although other schools have one. If the current McGill meds can write a description of the average day/week (or a particular day, doesn't matter).

Things of interest are: class timings, housing situations, resources provided by school, quality of instruction/curriculum, hours spent studying, social activities of the class, general impressions of why you like/dislike it, what you think is unique about the school, etc etc etc. If a couple of you could take a few moments for this it would be great and appreciated by many! Thanks.

 

EDIT: here's a good start- http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=343503 , but I'd like some more opinions.

[miss_sunshine]

I'll start and hopefully some of my classmates or upper year students will add to it. This is just a perspective of BOM (the first year and a half). I really have no idea of how things are like after that because the experience and schedules really varies on the person.

Classes are held every day usually from 8:30 and run until around 3:00. The schedule if different everyday. We are handed a schedule for the whole unit in our coursepack (which is basically all the compiled notes for the unit for each lecturer). Some units we finish earlier, some later. Depending on the unit, there will be labs (histology microscope labs and gross anatomy labs). There are also small group (like PBL sessions where we discuss cases relevant to the physiology we are learnng in class) 1-2 x week, depending on the unit. We alternate who presents the cases that day.

Housing situation: most students live either in the mcgill ghetto or near the mcyntyre building (like on dr. penfield, where I live). A big majority of the class live at home, either in the west island or south shore and commute to school. If you currently live with your family and don't mind the commute, living at home isn't a bad idea for BOM because the hours are still decent (Unlike clerkship). I think some 3 and 4th years still live at home and commute but I'm not sure how they manage and many one of them can comment on this. I don't think anyone lives in rez although it may be possible. it's pretty easy to find an appartment in montreal and rent is very reasonable.

Resources provided by the school: mcgill provides good resources for us. All our notes are available online, along with lecture recordings. There are tons of online help/resources made by the school (online tutorials, etc...) that you can check out on http://sprojects.mmi.mcgill.ca/

There are tons of study space available to us and mcgill has MANY MANY libraries. Since we are still considered undergraduate students, we have access to all the same resources other undergraduates have (reduced gym memberships, student societies, clubs).

QUality of instruction/curriculum: I am very satisfied by the quality of intruction. Quality of lecturers varies and with any school, we have some bad lecturers and bad notes for particular lectures but in all, quality of instruction is very good. McGill has many distinguished professors and researchers (MDs and PhDs) who are experts in their fields and I think it's great to be learning from them. I like the way the curriculum is set up with mainly didactic teaching. McGill is not a PBL based school, although we have PBL like sessions with small groups. If you like a PBL environment, mcgill is NOT for you. Also, I like the systems based approach and the way everything is structured in units whre we study everything relevant to that particular system (histo, anat, physio, ..). pass/fail really helps to alleviate a lot of the stress. The only problem that I (and most of my classmates) have is the evaluations. Everything is Multple choice and we have exams around every 3 weeks. This definately keeps you on your toes and up to date with the material but can be stressful since there isn't much "down time". Also, mcgill has NO spring break

Hours spend studying: this VARIES a lot. WE have people in our class (the extreme minority) who spend hours every day studying. These are mainly the med-p's who haven't really been exposed to al ot of the m aterial or the amount of information thrown at us. During the first 1-2 weeks of a unit, things are pretty relaxed. I usually only study a couple hours a week and take time to workout, travel on the weekends orspend time with friends. The week before the midterm, I really put th estudying in high gear (aka CRAMMING). A lot of people dont attend class and study on their own with the lecture notes. I attend 3/4 of the lectures and study the rest on my own.

Social Activities: there are ALOT of them. we have a lot of parties and events organized by different clubs (ie: some people are going to BENIN this summer on a humanitarian trip and threw a party to raise money). Different clubs have different events (movie nights). You won't get bored at mcgill med and living in montreal. Our class gets a long really well and i find it's like a big family. We spend a lot of time together.

Gen. impresions of what i dislike/like: I dislike the constant testing. I like the pas/fail aspect. I like the didactice lecture style. I like my classmates and the environment at mcgill med. Everyone is always helping eachother out.

Unique to the school: i think mcgill has the best med school, but im biased If you come here, you'll find that you are entering a big family. Each year's class is different and has their own vibe. You will definately find people who share your interests. You were selected by mcgill because mcgill thinks you are a good fit for the school and will get along well with the others they chose and add something to the class. What is truly unique to mcgill is that it is located i nmontreal, the best city on north america. There is SO much ot do here, you wil never get bored.

well that's a start, hopefully others will add to it

[garp]

I wont address BOM (the first 1.5 years) since miss_sunshine did a great job above...though I will say that it honestly depends on your learning styles and that in my humble opinion, there are no weak medical schools in Canada (unlike some that I interviewed at in the US when I applied)...Having a humanities background, I chose McGill because I knew that I would get a solid basis in the basic science before attempting the clinical science...though we do have some small group teaching/problem-based learning, I knew that a purely PBL curriculum was not right for me...in addition, I liked how McGill condenses all the lectures into 1.5 years and you have 6 months of time solely spent in the hospital being appropriately acclamated before clerkship begins...contrary to miss_sunshine, I liked the constant testing as it forced me to keep up with the material versus other programs which only have testing twice an academic year...

 

I will comment on ICM (intro to clinical medicine)--the half year before clerkship...we have 3 seven week blocks: internal medicine, surgery (including anesthesia and optho) and "family med" (includes neurology, derm, psych, oncology)...I think this is the best part of McGill's curriculum as it allows you to experience the wards, the OR etc before actually being given the responsabilities of direct patient care...McGill's approach can be critisized as "sink or swim" though I have found most physicians to be extremely supportive...for instance, I had to do most of the pre-op assessments during my anesthesia week as well as interviewed patients and wrote in the charts during plastics and vascular surgery clinics...of course checking with the staff and residents after meeting with patients...all this to say, once clerkship begins, McGill students are very well prepared clinically and do well on electives throughout clerkship...

 

I am not sure if this addresses the question "a day in the life of..."...but hopefully provides at least some insight into the second year of the curriculum (which btw, lends itself to tons of free time for weekends away, taking language classes and getting in shape before summer arrives :-))

[temp_degoo]

Thanks for posting, keep them coming. Any information is good.

During ICM, are there still tests or "classwork", or is it entirely hospital based?

[garp]

It depends on the rotation...for instance, for the 7 weeks of internal med you have a final written exam and final oral exam (whereby you interview a patient on the wards and complete the appropriate physical exam...after which you discuss your differential diagnosis, appropriate tests and basic treatment plans)...as well as 4 case reports over the 7 weeks (history and physical and differential diagnosis all written up)...there are no lectures per se, but you do have problem-based teaching sessions on common problems (e.g., renal failure, hypertension etc...)...in surgery, you being with a week of clinic skills whereby you learn how to suture, intubate, put in IVs etc...there is a written exam at the end of the 7 weeks and I think 2 case reports...bottom line is that the testing is very clinical and relevant...if you keep up with the rotations then the tests are only a formality and dont count for very much of your overall mark (example: the internal med oral exam is worth 10%--more of a learning experience)...hope this clarifies!

[Gabalt]

Hey

I just wanted to say that I totally agree with miss_sunshine... this is exactly BOM in words. I just want to add that anatomy labs are amazing. If you already have an anatomy background (did systemic in undergrad) than you will be able to help those poor premeds (like me LOL ), but if you don't, I think it is an amaaazzzinnngg way to learn anatomy. I personally learn by finding "stuff" in the lab... only looking at my Netter does not help me at all...

 

Concerning the comments of Garp, thanks for giving us those info, it is very interesting to know a little bit more about what to expect for next year .

 

PS: By the way, teachers that are MDs at McGill are also very welcoming in terms of shadowing. My friends and I did a lot of shadowing during the year and, I heard only good experience. I went to the OR at the children for a whole day, to oncology clinic twice, to ICU and pneumology departement, etc. You always have those opportunities and its great because you still have the chance in med1 to manage your time like you want. It is ok to skip some lectures and a lab and go shadow, you have the time for this, or to do other activities also. Like organizing a whole humanitarian trip to BENIN http://www.initiativebenin.com

[noncestvrai]

In 3rd year, you live in the hospital, and hope you will keep girlfriends/friends/family...from saying "and you are?".

 

If I had time I'd write how I spend my many hours being a scut monkey. I could also tell you how I cut someones large bowel or tapped someones belly, but I'll let you find out yourself when the time comes. You will also try to get a strory from a rambling war vet, and also from a unilingual woman from Sri-Lanka, all that and so much more during clerkship.

 

Stay tuned.

 

noncestvrai

[garp]

NCV,

 

Were you in your call room when you wrote that message? :-) Can't wait for clerkship!

 

-garp

[noncestvrai]

Bro, ICM is a GOOD time, POM is a misery, if you value a "normal" life. People say clerkship and res is not how you practice really...yet it's like 7 years of your life, so it's still a hard pill to swallow. You gotta love it eh!

 

No, I was not in the call room, rather my bedroom. I needed some sleep, bad, I just finished my surgery rotation.

 

Please enjoy the last summer of your life, garp. I mean it.

 

noncestvrai

[miss_sunshine]

From what I've been hearing, clerkship is misery (as NCV mentioned above) but things get better in residency once you finish first year (unless you are in internal or surgery (except ENT or optho and other cushy surg subspecialities minus ortho). For a lot of our small group sessions, we have residents leading the discussions and most of them seem to have a decent amount of free time although not as much as practicing physicians. So it isn't utter misery for 7 years (more like 3rd year +first year residency so 2 years of total utter misery + a couple years of less misery). Again, all of this depends on what you want to do in residency. I'm actually dreading third year for many reasons, including the early morning starts and on call but looking forward to actually being able to be in thie hospital instead of siting in lecture for 8 hours a day

[miss_sunshine]

noncestvrai, i sent you a PM