Guest adlinner Posted June 5, 2003 Report Share Posted June 5, 2003 I've just sent in my decline for UofT's admission - whoo that feels good for some reason. (The program and the city are just not for me.) If you're on the waiting list, I hope this will brighten your day come June 13th! Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest macdaddyeh Posted June 5, 2003 Report Share Posted June 5, 2003 adlinner: Purely out of interest sake, where did you accept? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest adlinner Posted June 5, 2003 Report Share Posted June 5, 2003 Hey Macdaddyeh I (provisionally) accepted Western - although I am waiting to hear if I get off the Queen's waiting list. My reasons come from several months of research and soul searching - but if anyone would like to add any comments, I welcome them. a) the program - My two goals in the next four years is to become prepared for residency and to live happily - ie prestige of a school is not a factor and ie I am an idealist. The quality of an undergrad MD program varies proportionally to its size within the faculty of medicine. Toronto, while endowed with many hospitals and much funding, tends to focus on the years beyond undergrad meds. Western, with its smaller class size and more attention to the undergrad program, will prepare me better. Anecdotal evidence tells me that Western clerks tend to get to do more because - while its hospitals don't serve quite as large of a population - there are less residents around to scoop up the attention and experience. Moreover, Western's clerkship program is the best out there; I can't help but feel it'll make me most prepared for my electives, CaRMS and first-year residency. As for preclerkship years, I am a fan of systems-based and patient-centred learning; they are precisely how I think. I like how we get to come back in the last term of fourth year, and I like its rural week. On a personal level, I related much better with the students at Western than at Toronto. Concordantly, I think I'd be most happy with the people in my class and my school at Western. the city - I can't imagine living the average 45 min to get to class in TO. At Western it's about 5-10 min max. The cost of living, a VERY big factor for me, is of course much cheaper in London. I like cleaner air, don't prefer traffic jams and never felt I needed to be close to the lights of a big city (although visiting is always great). As for Queen's? The undergrad MD program IS almost its faculty. I think undergrad med students there get the most attention in Ontario, especially since all the doctors in Kingston are somehow associated with the school. But its clerkship program is a bit of a problem: however you dice it, 52-weeks of clerkship before your electives is always better than six. :rolleyes I think I will 99.5% choose Western even if I get the call from Queen's before July 3rd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ceeb23 Posted June 5, 2003 Report Share Posted June 5, 2003 But adlinner, the question you have to ask yourself is first and foremost, do or do they not have laptops??? :rollin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest PDSP Posted June 5, 2003 Report Share Posted June 5, 2003 Adlinner: I think you have very nicely and concisely summarized the benefits of Western's program. In particular, your comment regarding the excellent clerkship experience offered by UWO has been repeated multiple times by those from UWO and those from U of T. One of the remaining factors that I am toying with is the effect of the number of residency positions at a given university in relation to its' students success in being matched to competitive residency positions. That is, does the fact that U of T having, for the most part, the highest number of residency positions for a given specialty affect the rate at which its' students match, either to U of T or elsewhere? Any thoughts on this one? PD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest adlinner Posted June 5, 2003 Report Share Posted June 5, 2003 PSDP - Hey I noticed your similar situation on the Western board...cool! I happened to ask this question at my UofT interview - "How do your med students match up come residency, especially at Toronto hospitals?" And the answer I got was, paraphrasing here, they do well, and about as well as (if not better than) the other schools. I think what he meant is that there will be good students and better students in a meds class - that will be the main factor. I asked this question precisely because I was wondering if going to a competitive residency's undergrad school gives an advantage, but the prof's answer seemed to discourage that. I hope someone else can add another voice to this discussion! :\ Ceeb23 - LOL. Your med school will be the best - we southwest Ontario simple folk will be stuck with our desktops all undergrad. >: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest PDSP Posted June 6, 2003 Report Share Posted June 6, 2003 Adlinner: So, it's UWO for sure, eh? I'm getting close to making that call as well. The more I ponder, the less my ability to objectively compare U of T and UWO. So, what was your undergrad in? I did Aero Engineering at U of T. (Hence the analytic slant to my evaluation of the different med schools) PD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest adlinner Posted June 6, 2003 Report Share Posted June 6, 2003 Hey PDSP Yah, I definitely know the feeling. For some strange reason, it's so hard just to say yes after all this time of working for it! But I think it's alright to feel this way. It is a big decision. Seneca wrote "Chance makes a plaything of one's life." (this can always be said of the medical school application process in general. :rollin ) Although very seldom do we really get to make a choice in life, here we have a choice. Queue the Matrix 2 Theme music and pan to architect scene. :smokin I think if you've done an undergrad degree at UofT then the city part of it would be less of an issue for you as it would be for me (assuming you didn't hate living in TO). But for both of us, I strongly think UWO will give the better MD education - a smaller class size and a better clerkship program are clear advantages. I had just done three years of a four year degree in Biochem and English Lit. (Hence the respective use of "anecdotal evidence" and "concordantly" in the same message above.) :lol Western is a beautiful, clean campus with really nice and friendly people. It is part of the reason I've choosen to stay. I'm glad you're close to making the call to come to Western. In that case, I'll be able to increase the number of classmates I know from one to two. See, Mustangs are friendly and this contributes to a non-competitive atmosphere. Yours DL "As you adequately put, the problem is choice. But we already know what you're going to do, don't we?" - The Architect, Matrix Reloaded Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest PDSP Posted June 6, 2003 Report Share Posted June 6, 2003 Adlinner: So, if choice is simply a realization and understanding of what has already been decided, then why do I choose to put myself through the agony of trying to make a choice? :eek :eek :eek :eek :eek PD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest whenwillithappen Posted June 6, 2003 Report Share Posted June 6, 2003 It's because you want to know how you came to that choice :hat :lol :lol :lol Congrats everyone, especially Namgal!!! I got in to Queen's C'mon ppl go to UWO its amazing (This is my trick to open up spaces at UofT :b :b :b ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest adlinner Posted June 6, 2003 Report Share Posted June 6, 2003 So, if choice is simply a realization and understanding of what has already been decided, then why do I choose to put myself through the agony of trying to make a choice? Since choice is what has already been decided, you have chosen to put yourself through the agony of making a choice BECAUSE it is the only thing you can choose. By making your decision difficult, your unconscious is making your "forced" choice seem more like it WAS your choice. (The alternative is to say, "oh, I just pick this one" and then maybe it would seem like it was meant to be, rather than free will.) Moreover, all this effort that has gone into your choice makes your choice school retrospectively seem better when you go there in the fall. So agonize as much as you can before July 13, PDitty, and when you come to Western in the fall you will realize, proportional to your agony, how great a school you have chosen! :smokin :smokin :smokin :smokin :smokin Yours ad linner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peachy Posted June 7, 2003 Report Share Posted June 7, 2003 So agonize as much as you can before July 13, PDitty, and when you come to Western in the fall you will realize, proportional to your agony, how great a school you have chosen!Or, alternatively, realize it at U of T! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UWOMED2005 Posted June 7, 2003 Report Share Posted June 7, 2003 One of the remaining factors that I am toying with is the effect of the number of residency positions at a given university in relation to its' students success in being matched to competitive residency positions. That is, does the fact that U of T having, for the most part, the highest number of residency positions for a given specialty affect the rate at which its' students match, either to U of T or elsewhere? Any thoughts on this one? P-ditty (I hope you don't mind me using that nickname ), I wouldn't worry much about that. First, if you did go to U of T I'm not sure the increased spots would matter much as you'd also be competing against increased # of students in that program for Ophtho, ENT, Emerg, etc at U of T. Same as for UWO. Second, you CAN match to other schools for a competitive specialty. . . it just so happens people matching to super-competitive specialties tend to match to the same school because they have more time to lay groundwork. Third, do you really know what you're going for anyways? And can you honestly be the 1st med student in history (ok, wee bit of exageration) to maintain the same career goal for all 4 years? Because such worries only apply to a limited number of specialties. . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest PDSP Posted June 7, 2003 Report Share Posted June 7, 2003 Adlinner (a.k.a. the prophecy) Interesting way of putting it. Darn, if that is the case, then the retrospective evaluation will provide me tonnes of "proof-positive" that the right decision had been made. Peachy: U of T is still in there too. UWOMEDS2005: You make a good point. No, I have not nailed down what I want to do. (I'm not the chosen one!) So, all of this wondering and pondering might be for not come fourth year. Thanks for the perspective PD (Pditty, P-ditty, PuffDaddy, etc ...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lcloh Posted June 7, 2003 Report Share Posted June 7, 2003 Quote: do they or do they not have laptops? Hehehe. I know this comment was made in jest, but as part of the Learning Resource Centre steering committee meeting held at Western just a few months ago, it's interesting that the comment about laptops came up. The committee identified several problems with laptops in the hands of a medical class and medical school: 1. What does a student do if they forget their laptop for class... or doesn't have it available, or messes it up so bad that it can't be used... etc. Has the potential of happening. Dealing with the downtime was one of the issues they identified. 2. Inattention in class. At the Richard Ivey School of Business at Western, they have laptops as a core component in their program as well as wireless internet access throughout the entire building. Students have taken to surfing, chatting, and playing games during lecture hours and becoming a general distraction. It has become so bad that lecturers now have the option of shutting off the wireless internet and that Western has deemed that no general lecture theatres outside of Ivey will have wireless internet until something is done about this. 3. Examinations. Laptop based exams in the Richard Ivey School of Business revealed that many students prefer doing their exams the unscrupulous way... you can guess what that means without me elaborating too much - hidden files, hidden internet sites, etc. Of course, there are a ton of pros as well, but Western's faculty has deemed that for the meantime it is more advantageous to wait - technology will improve, control will improve, and eventually laptops may become an integral part of the curriculum at an optimal level of pros with as few cons as possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest PDSP Posted June 9, 2003 Report Share Posted June 9, 2003 To All, I just accepted an offer at UWO, so one more free spot at U of T. Good luck to those of you on the wait-list. PD Adlinner: We gonna be classmates! :rollin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest adlinner Posted June 9, 2003 Report Share Posted June 9, 2003 Puffy D, Since brevity is the soul of wit, I will be brief: good choice! :rollin Drop me a line at dlin@uwo.ca when you have the chance. Best Daren Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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