MapReduce Posted June 1, 2011 Report Share Posted June 1, 2011 Hi everyone, I've had the fortune to be accepted by both McMaster and McGill med. It was quite an honor to be accepted by them as both are excellent medical schools. However, I have trouble making a final decision. I am from Ontario and live quite close to Hamilton. There are both advantages and disadvantages to the 3 year program offered by Mac but I ultimately decided that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages for me. Finally, I like the independent and flexible learning environment offered by Mac. For the above reasons, I am leaning towards Mac over McGill. However , one concern I have is that McGill, at least from what I read, has a better reputation than Mac. I wonder if the prestige of McGill would offer more advantages for me - maybe not for residency(as reflected by CarMs statistics, both schools match equally well), but what about further down the road? I'm interested in any input from current medical students. I kept my post brief to get to the main point. I can elaborate more on my personal reasons afterwards. Much Appreciated:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deeman101 Posted June 1, 2011 Report Share Posted June 1, 2011 Haha! I was exactly in your situation last year. Around the same time too! Both are great schools. I never felt like I got short-changed with my options on these. I ended up going to McGill over Mac. If you want to know specifics just PM me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DubZteR Posted June 2, 2011 Report Share Posted June 2, 2011 Hi everyone, I've had the fortune to be accepted by both McMaster and McGill med. It was quite an honor to be accepted by them as both are excellent medical schools. However, I have trouble making a final decision. I am from Ontario and live quite close to Hamilton. There are both advantages and disadvantages to the 3 year program offered by Mac but I ultimately decided that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages for me. Finally, I like the independent and flexible learning environment offered by Mac. For the above reasons, I am leaning towards Mac over McGill. However , one concern I have is that McGill, at least from what I read, has a better reputation than Mac. I wonder if the prestige of McGill would offer more advantages for me - maybe not for residency(as reflected by CarMs statistics, both schools match equally well), but what about further down the road? I'm interested in any input from current medical students. I kept my post brief to get to the main point. I can elaborate more on my personal reasons afterwards. Much Appreciated:) McGill is more known outside of Canada but for the purposes of carms in Canada, it doesn't really matter which school you choose. The last time I was at McGill, their facilities were in serious need of revamping! The Mac facilities are much newer. Mac is also only 3 yrs so you'll be done 1 yr earlier than if you were at McGill. Montreal is however, a much livelier city than Hamilton (though you are only 40 mins away from Toronto). Can't go wrong with either school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mithril Posted June 2, 2011 Report Share Posted June 2, 2011 If I had a choice between the two schools, I would choose McGill just because it's located in Montreal. Montreal is one hell of a city. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NLengr Posted June 2, 2011 Report Share Posted June 2, 2011 Mac. The shorter year will give you more money in the bank at the end of the day. That means a lot when you are staring down a 200k debt. Unless you really dislike PBL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MapReduce Posted June 2, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2011 Thanks for the replies. There's definitely location and finance to account for. However, the most important thing to me is what I'm getting out of each school in terms of education. Another thing, Mac has a long established trend of churning out high number of family physicians. Is this high percentage of people choosing family med as first choice a result of student bias(more females, more mature students who prefer quick residency and lifestyle aspect of family med) or a result of self-selection due to not having enough exposure or preparation time for the more competitive specialties? McGill seems to offer more exposure and time in this regard. Not saying I've ruled out family med yet already but I want to have more options in terms of choosing and exploring different specialties. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deeman101 Posted June 2, 2011 Report Share Posted June 2, 2011 Mac. The shorter year will give you more money in the bank at the end of the day. That means a lot when you are staring down a 200k debt. Unless you really dislike PBL. Dude...you plan on having a 200k debt coming out of med? No one needs to have more than like $110k debt unless they want to. The one year doesn't mean a lot in the long run. Unless you have a goal like being a fully licensed physician by the time you're 30. Or something like that. Its not like picking between a 2 year and 7 year residency. OP. Try to find and talk to some 3rd/4th year med students. Doesn't have to be ones specifically from McGill or Mac, just ones that have interacted with clerks from each school during rotations. They should give you a relatively unbiased view of how each school prepares you for what really matters. (clerkship) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vancity88 Posted June 2, 2011 Report Share Posted June 2, 2011 (to OP's second post) I'm not a Mac student, so I can't comment as to why Mac students tend to prefer family med as a first choice, but from everything I've read and heard, the Mac students who want the competitive specialties DO match to them. From what I've been told, Mac is a great school in terms of allowing for exposure to a number of specialties (hospital and residency programs are excellent) and allowing time for electives. That's just what I've heard though; a Mac student would probably be better equipped to answer with more detail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackJack Posted June 3, 2011 Report Share Posted June 3, 2011 Go to Mac. It's three years rather than four. Their match rates aren't worse than average. They're very close to Toronto so you can network there if you want to. McGill is in Montreal which is a great city but the hospital facilities are dated, and residents get paid less there than in the rest of Canada(I mention this because most people match to programs affiliated with the school they attend) It's also four years. Their match was apparently a disaster this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NLengr Posted June 3, 2011 Report Share Posted June 3, 2011 Dude...you plan on having a 200k debt coming out of med? No one needs to have more than like $110k debt unless they want to. The one year doesn't mean a lot in the long run. Unless you have a goal like being a fully licensed physician by the time you're 30. Or something like that. Its not like picking between a 2 year and 7 year residency. I'm already done. I don't have 200k worth of debt. But if you are paying 17k a year in tuition, you are only left with 42k for the next 4 years if you assume 110k of spending. Shared rent (say at least $6000 a year), transport (it's very difficult to go to many schools without a car), food, entertainment, books, supplies and elective/CaRMS interview travel quickly add up. It would be a REAL stretch to live off the 10.5k a year you would have left over after you pay tuition. 200k is generous. 110k MAY be do-able, but with great difficulty and limited elective travel. I expect to live a decent, but not extravagant life over the 4 years you'd end up with something in the middle. Of course, if you are lucky you get parental help and/or scholarships/bursary's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NLengr Posted June 3, 2011 Report Share Posted June 3, 2011 residents get paid less there than in the rest of Canada(I mention this because most people match to programs affiliated with the school they attend) Truth. PGY-1's are paid 41.3k in Quebec, vs. 51k in Ontario. Most Quebec PGY years are about 10k less than other provinces. You'll REALLY appreciate that extra 10k when you are a resident. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deeman101 Posted June 3, 2011 Report Share Posted June 3, 2011 Yea internal at McGill was a disaster. lol. They overestimated how much people wanted the program and undersold it. But the class itself matched well. I go to McGill, I don't plan on doing my residency in QC. Mainly because I don't know french well enough, lol. But anyways most people stay in the area of their med school because a) they were already from there, and one tends to like the area they've been in, worked in, gained a good relationship with the staff for years. But theres nothing that ties you to stay. But McGill's residency programs are pretty good on their own, regardless of salaries. Considering OSAP hands out a ton of bursaries to almost every med student, most people don't pay the full tuition. Most ON students get about 1/3rd to 1/2 back in bursaries. According to my OSAP estimate next year I'll get ~80% back in bursaries. And if you don't have a car its really not hard to live on 12k/yr. Most med schools you can manage without one. EDIT: Forgot to mention the resident's salary is under negotiation right now. We just got an email that our small group leaders (residents) will not be leading our groups from today on because they're strike! NOOOOO! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NLengr Posted June 3, 2011 Report Share Posted June 3, 2011 Considering OSAP hands out a ton of bursaries to almost every med student, most people don't pay the full tuition. Most ON students get about 1/3rd to 1/2 back in bursaries. According to my OSAP estimate next year I'll get ~80% back in bursaries. And if you don't have a car its really not hard to live on 12k/yr. Most med schools you can manage without one. I didn't know OSAP was so generous, since I'm not from Ontario. At my school, it would be extremely difficult to attend without a car. I can think of at least 3 others where I did electives where no car would be a huge pain. School dependent I guess. 12k is still tight. $500 a month for room rent, that's 6k a year. That leaves you with 500 a month to cover food, entertainment, supplies, transport (busses here will run you 5 bucks a day), utilities. Hell, I eat probably $150 a month in food just eating at home. I suppose if you lived like a poor student and were being pretty dull (i.e. not partying and drinking) it would be easier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
switchit Posted June 4, 2011 Report Share Posted June 4, 2011 I go to UofT, so I can't really tell you about the experience at Mac/McGill. But what I do want to tell you is DON'T pick the school you want to attend based on: 1) a little more debt 2) 3 yr vs 4 yr -The extra $20,000-35,000 debt is NOTHING when you will be making $200,000+ down the line. NOTHING -A 4 yr program lets you have some much needed rest in the summer--- you definitely need it, because med school is INTENSE. Also, it gives you good time to do shadowing/research, which definitely helps when matching for more competitive specialties in competitive locations like Toronto However, you live somewhat close to Hamilton so you might consider going to Mac just because you'll be closer to friends/family--- just a thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firesinx Posted June 12, 2011 Report Share Posted June 12, 2011 I go to UofT, so I can't really tell you about the experience at Mac/McGill. But what I do want to tell you is DON'T pick the school you want to attend based on: 1) a little more debt 2) 3 yr vs 4 yr -The extra $20,000-35,000 debt is NOTHING when you will be making $200,000+ down the line. NOTHING -A 4 yr program lets you have some much needed rest in the summer--- you definitely need it, because med school is INTENSE. Also, it gives you good time to do shadowing/research, which definitely helps when matching for more competitive specialties in competitive locations like Toronto However, you live somewhat close to Hamilton so you might consider going to Mac just because you'll be closer to friends/family--- just a thought. Actually it's more like 150k+ (based on statistics this is the average pay for specialists in Canada) realistically and your forgetting taxes will wipe out more than 30%+ of your salary plus other living expenses. On top of that your make alot less when your just starting your career, so paying the debt back will take probably 2-3+ years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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