a couple of questions for UofT med students

[mattg]

1) What is this whole thing with academies? Is that just pertaining to hospitals that you are going to be doing your upper years out of? I ask because, I am thinking of buying a place downtown (that I can hopefully sell after 4+ years)... but I remember hearing that one academy is in Mississauga, etc... i don't know much about it... is it a bad idea to get a place before knowing your academy? or can you pick your academy? or does it not matter, as everyone has classes downtown?... can anyone elucidate what the deal is with these academies re location please

 

2) Where are most of your classes located? Does it change drastically year to year? Is anything within a few blocks of University and College essentially fine?

 

thanks:)

[ontariostudent]

1) What is this whole thing with academies? Is that just pertaining to hospitals that you are going to be doing your upper years out of? I ask because, I am thinking of buying a place downtown (that I can hopefully sell after 4+ years)... but I remember hearing that one academy is in Mississauga, etc... i don't know much about it... is it a bad idea to get a place before knowing your academy? or can you pick your academy? or does it not matter, as everyone has classes downtown?... can anyone elucidate what the deal is with these academies re location please

 

2) Where are most of your classes located? Does it change drastically year to year? Is anything within a few blocks of University and College essentially fine?

 

thanks:)

 

You will rank your academy TWICE during your MD training. The first time will only be for your first 2 years. You will be at that academy for DOCH (community health course), ASCM (clinical skills), PBL and for some seminars. This could mean anywhere from 1 to 3 days per week.

 

You will also rank before clerkship. Your clerkship academy will be where you are for the majority of 3rd year (4th year is all electives and selectives so technically you can be anywhere).

 

The really important thing to remember is that there are 3 academies and each of them has locations in the downtown core, and you won't find out which hospital you are at until O-Week. With respect to Mississauga, they will generally only put people there if they want to be there. If you are at a hospital that isn't downtown, you may not have to go there for everything (you may only have to go once a week and have your other stuff downtown on the other days).

 

For the first two years ALL CLASSES outside of the ones mentioned above (which are at academies) take place in the Medical Sciences Building. Your best bet is to find a place near campus for the first two years, and move if necessary for clerkship (though only one academy is not based out of downtown, so you have a greater than 2/3 chance of ending up downtown if that's where you want to be).

[mattg]

You will rank your academy TWICE during your MD training. The first time will only be for your first 2 years. You will be at that academy for DOCH (community health course), ASCM (clinical skills), PBL and for some seminars. This could mean anywhere from 1 to 3 days per week.

 

You will also rank before clerkship. Your clerkship academy will be where you are for the majority of 3rd year (4th year is all electives and selectives so technically you can be anywhere).

 

The really important thing to remember is that there are 3 academies and each of them has locations in the downtown core, and you won't find out which hospital you are at until O-Week. With respect to Mississauga, they will generally only put people there if they want to be there. If you are at a hospital that isn't downtown, you may not have to go there for everything (you may only have to go once a week and have your other stuff downtown on the other days).

 

For the first two years ALL CLASSES outside of the ones mentioned above (which are at academies) take place in the Medical Sciences Building. Your best bet is to find a place near campus for the first two years, and move if necessary for clerkship (though only one academy is not based out of downtown, so you have a greater than 2/3 chance of ending up downtown if that's where you want to be).

 

Thanks for the reply

 

So you are saying that in the first 2 years at least, you will be primarily downtown, regardless of your academy?

 

And with regards to clerkship, you mentioned a 2/3 chance... when choosing students for academies, do they consider reasons, or is it just based on chance? (i.e. if I said that I had bought a place downtown, would that increase my chances at getting placed downtown?)... also do you know if many people actually get their 3rd ranked place? (I would think that most people would get one of their top 2... unless there is one academy that is very undesirable, and not many people rank as top 2)

 

thanks again