Guest aimg1 Posted June 6, 2004 Report Share Posted June 6, 2004 I'm trying to decide between UofT and McGill. I think both are good schools and are similar in terms of curriculum style/reputation, but McGill would be definitely a lot cheaper for tuition and living expenses. I was hoping others who are familiar with medicine at McGill and Toronto could give some advice on what they think. Thanks in advance, aimg1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest interviewed Posted June 6, 2004 Report Share Posted June 6, 2004 Hi aimg1, I am making the same decision right now between UT and McGill. My main consideration is the city. My preference is to live in Montreal as I've been there a few times and like it more than Toronto. As far as the school goes, I am not sure if there are major differences (although McGill buildings/rooms are so much "classier" (i.e. historical architecture) than UT's highschool-like building. I know these are pretty soft reasons, but as everyone seem to say on this forum, it really comes down to where you think you'd be the most happy. By the way, are you in province or OOP for McGill? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kirsteen Posted June 6, 2004 Report Share Posted June 6, 2004 Hi there, aimg1: did you receive acceptances from both? If so, congratulations. It's a tough decision since both schools are great, as are their respective cities. Best of luck! Kirsteen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest aimg1 Posted June 7, 2004 Report Share Posted June 7, 2004 Hi Thanks for the congrats Kirsteen. Yes, I received acceptances from both UofT and McGill. I have dual residency for Quebec and Ontario. I'm leaning towards attended Mcgill, but haven't finalized my decision. I like McGill because I will get to live in Montreal and the tuition will be much lower. I made the post becuase I just wanted to get other ppls opinions, before I made my final decision. Interviewed, thanks for the info about why you would choose McGill. I must admit that its hard decide between McGill and UofT based on curriculum style and academic quality issues. Both schools are quite similar in these areas. Thanks aimg1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest interviewed Posted June 7, 2004 Report Share Posted June 7, 2004 Hi aimg1 One thing that does stand out between McGill and UT is the grading system. During my interview visit, a first year McGill student was adamant about McGill's unique Pass/Fail grading versus the Honours/Pass/Fail in all the other schools. His argument was that with only P/F, there's very little stress and competition, with the main learning focus on what you think is beneficial to you becoming a good physician, not on what you think will get you a higher grade. I guess this translates to being okay with not memorizing an entire list of obscure facts for a test that you may never encounter again in practice. Hence, there's less stress. I also guess that regardless of what people say about the non-importance of grades in med school, the H/P/F systems will nontheless lead to a bit more stress than the P/F system, for some people at least. I did hear something about there being a top 15% classification/designation upon graduation at McGill though. So it doesn't seem like its completely P/F grading. Anyone have insight on this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Blackbird15 Posted June 8, 2004 Report Share Posted June 8, 2004 hey there, Just to help shed some light on the mcgill program, one of the downsides of the curriculum here is that you get very little clinical exposure in the first year. At u of t, i believe it's half a day, or a day, per week in first year. Basically, at mcgill, first year consists of lectures, labs, and some small group sessions (mcgill's version of PBL). However, we do have 6 months of pre-clerkship in the 2nd half of 2nd year, during which we learn all the clinical skills stuff that other schools learned over the first two years, so you won't be at a disadvantage when clerkship starts (in fact, if you like doing things in blocks, this might even be a better learning method for you). Other than that, i don't think there's much difference between mcgill's and u of t's curriculum. I was in a similar situation as you last year (i was trying to decide between mcgill and some of the other medical schools -- though not U of T) and decided that the differences in curriculum styles between mcgill and the other schools i was considering weren't enough to justify spending all the extra money and living somewhere else -- i'd done my undergrad in Ontario and was anxious to come back! Also, you should know that, according to the quebec government student financial aid regulations, if you decide to study medicine outside of quebec, you will not be eligible for any loans or bursaries (this is what they told me -- you should double check). In the end, although there are several things about mcgill's curriculum that i don't like, i'm happy with my decision and wouldn't have decided otherwise if I had the chance. Also, regarding the P/F system, I think that we do have some sort of an honours system whereby the top 10% or 15% of the students get some sort of special mention... It's all very vague at this point, and i'm not sure that it makes a significant enough difference to stress anyone out! I hope this is helpful. Blackbird Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest aimg1 Posted June 8, 2004 Report Share Posted June 8, 2004 Thanks for your post Blackbird. You mention many good points... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Wong Posted June 28, 2006 Report Share Posted June 28, 2006 Floating to the top... Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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