Guest BCgirl Posted December 5, 2001 Report Share Posted December 5, 2001 Hey guys, I have heard that in the States where you go to school for undergrad can have an impact when you're applying to med school. Do you think it matters much in Canada? Thanks! Good luck on exams everyone! I just wanted to add: Does it matter when applying to Canadian med schools? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jase Posted December 5, 2001 Report Share Posted December 5, 2001 apparently, queen's university is like langara down there - those who live in vancouver will know what i'm talking about cheers =) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest strider2004 Posted December 5, 2001 Report Share Posted December 5, 2001 What's Langara? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Katie Posted December 5, 2001 Report Share Posted December 5, 2001 It's a community college tons of people go to before they come to UBC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest brandonite Posted December 5, 2001 Report Share Posted December 5, 2001 I don't think it has an impact in Canada. The general view is that all the undergrad schools in Canada have a similar quality of education. I suppose if you had done a lot of your pre-med coursework at a community college or something (do they even do that in Canada? they don't in Manitoba...), then they might think twice about it. I don't think there's the wide discrepency between universities in Canada that there is in the US. I'm fighting against that problem with my US application. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bad hombre Posted December 6, 2001 Report Share Posted December 6, 2001 So Jase, Are you trying to say that a lot of people from Queen's go down to the States for Med school, or that they don't respect Queen's very much? Just wondering, your post was kinda ambiguos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jase Posted December 6, 2001 Report Share Posted December 6, 2001 bad hombre, point taken. i will choose that "they don't know what queen's is" not that they don't respect us, but they've never heard of "queen's" queen's - a park in new york, a band, a queen bee, but a university in Kingston, Ontario? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BCgirl Posted December 6, 2001 Report Share Posted December 6, 2001 Brandonite, Are you at the University of Manitoba for your undergrad? I'm just wondering... if you are, I would have to gloat about the Vanier Cup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest brandonite Posted December 6, 2001 Report Share Posted December 6, 2001 Nope, I'm at Brandon University (hence the name). But we tend to adopt the Winnipeg teams, so you can feel free to gloat. We've lost a lot lately... You can take pity on us, if you'd rather... What's a BCGirl doing out in Nova Scotia? Traitor!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TimmyMax Posted December 6, 2001 Report Share Posted December 6, 2001 Hey all, I'm pretty sure that all the schools in Ontario have some blurb in their admissions handbook saying something to the effect of: "U of X medical school does not favor any one Canadian university or program over another", which basically means that so long as you went to a Canadian university and completed a degree, you're no better or worse than anyone else. Now, I do know that this does not necessarily apply to smaller schools- I knew this one guy who went to Caribou College in B.C. (location?) and he got a lot of static from the med schools over converting his marks, etc. and ultimately didn't get in despite having strong marks, which sucked. As for the U.S., I have heard stuff that they do care where you went, but I wouldn't know exactly, having never applied myself. From what I gather though, the states only seem to be aware of 2 or 3 Canadian schools, namely U of T and McGill- I find it a little surprising that they haven't heard of Queen's. Anyway, that's what I know- sorry about the babble, but it's a damn long wait 'til February! Best of luck, Timmy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ThugJaan Posted December 6, 2001 Report Share Posted December 6, 2001 Hey, I acutally know quite a bit about the US system from a lot of family and friends that have survived the process. First, the truth of the matter is that they really do NOT know what Queen's is; they will think you are talking about some dinky New York school. However, the States place so much more emphasis on the MCAT exam; basically your choice of school (be it Queens/MAc/or McGiLL) won't hinder you if you have a 36+ MCAT score. Where it really hurts is in residency, if you want to apply to the US from Canadian Schools. It matters a LOT more now, and if you don't come from McGill, you can basically kiss anything other than family away. Maybe a UofT grad will get an IM, but it would need a sick USMLE score. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BCgirl Posted December 8, 2001 Report Share Posted December 8, 2001 Hey Brandonite. Yeah, the name makes sense I thought you were from Brandon (not that you go to the school). I had a lot of fun watching the Vanier Cup As for why a BCgirl is in Nova Scotia... it's a little case of "you get no help from your parents for paying for school if you stay out in BC." My parents moved out here when I graduated from high school and I was "persuaded" to come too. I don't regret it though. It's a good experience to live in a different part of the country (Nova Scotia is *SO* different from BC). Plus, from living out here, I realize how much I want to live in BC again I definitely want to go back. Good luck with your exams and apps everyone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest brandonite Posted December 9, 2001 Report Share Posted December 9, 2001 Well, my parents told me they'd buy me a car if I stayed in Brandon to do my undergrad, and when you're 18, it's pretty hard to turn down that. I wish I'd gone somewhere else for undergrad now, looking back. It looks like I'm going to end up at UofM for medical school, so that means that I'll never get a chance to really go away and do something different. Not that I don't like Manitoba - I intend to practice here, as I love the province, but... I guess there's always residency, though... So I can completely understand the NS thing now! Best of luck! And I see your name pop up on SDN sometimes - I go by the same username on that board too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BCgirl Posted December 9, 2001 Report Share Posted December 9, 2001 Hey Brandonite, What Canadian schools, other than U of M, have you applied to? Have you heard any good news from the US schools yet? It's too bad you regret going to Brandon for undergrad. I would think that your MCAT scores would "make up" for going to a school that they probably haven't heard of (I remember from SDN that your scores are awesome -- congrats by the way ). I'm glad that Canadian schools don't place such an emphasis on your undergrad school since my school is relatively unknown and small. I'm almost positive that there are probably only a few people from my school that have applied to UBC this year (with me included). But the small size isn't too bad, since I've had some really good opportunites here that I probably wouldn't have had (or it would have been a lot harder to get them) at a bigger school. One bad thing about a school this small is that it's easy for students to get caught up in departmental politics. Good luck! I've gotta go study for my biochem final now... fun fun fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TimmyMax Posted December 9, 2001 Report Share Posted December 9, 2001 Hey BC Girl, You said your school was "relatively unknown and small"- just wondering, what school might that be? Anyway, best of luck to all with exams, etc.- we're halfway there and there are only 2 months to go until we hear the good news about interviews (hopefully)! Take care! Timmy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BCgirl Posted December 11, 2001 Report Share Posted December 11, 2001 TimmyMax, For the sake of some anonymity, I would rather not say where I go to school. Good luck on exams everyone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TimmyMax Posted December 11, 2001 Report Share Posted December 11, 2001 Hey, No problem- I was just interested. Take care, all! Timmy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ThugJaan Posted December 11, 2001 Report Share Posted December 11, 2001 LOL...the rest of us come on here and help you out by posting where we goto school, what our interviews were like, and our stats...and you do not want to mention which school you come from? Geese....its anal retentative people like yourself that all med students hate... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BCgirl Posted December 12, 2001 Report Share Posted December 12, 2001 Hey ThugJaan, where do you get off making assumptions like that?? Talk about judgmental. Thanks a lot! You really seem to enjoy dissing people on message boards since you do it so often. Just so you know, I didn't want to mention what school I go to because I am the ***ONLY*** BC resident applying to UBC from my school! I know that for a fact!! I think I'm probably only 1 of 2 people even applying to UBC from my school... I don't know who might read these message boards... who knows, maybe someone could want any little reason for rejecting an applicant. I don't want to give that to them by some stupid post on a messge board. Sure, that might be paranoid, but so what. It's fine for someone like Brandonite to say where he's from because there is probably a ton of people applying to U of M from Brandon. Please don't judge me when you don't know me and have no idea what I'm like. You couldn't be any more wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Wong Posted December 12, 2001 Report Share Posted December 12, 2001 To each his or her own. Everyone has different comfort levels when it comes to the information that they feel ready to release in a publuic environment. Let's keep things civil though. Ian UBC, Med 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest strider2004 Posted December 12, 2001 Report Share Posted December 12, 2001 I can understand someone not wanting to give details before med schools see them. As a future interviewer I wouldn't necessarily want to give others an unfair advantage/disadvantage in interview situations. This can easily be brought about by biases from various topics. I friend almost had his acceptance jeapordized because somebody e-mailed the school pretending to be him and pulled himself OFF the waiting list. It was all corrected(because my friend called to confirm) and he's here now but that's pretty scary stuff. Keep your anonymity BCgirl. Us moderators don't care because we're trapped in this medical system for many many years(pre-exam bitterness shining through) put until you're in, try to keep a squeaky clean record. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Wong Posted December 12, 2001 Report Share Posted December 12, 2001 Wow! That's pretty cold... Ian UBC, Med 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ThugJaan Posted December 12, 2001 Report Share Posted December 12, 2001 Comeon, this is all getting absurd right now. BcGirl thinks that she might get rejected by somethign she says on a message board...what ever happend to medical ethics? If I was interviewing BCGirl and figured out that she was the person I was talking to, I would not let it infulence the way I treated her. And, if I felt that I could not interview her b/c she might think that I would be unfair (once I disclosed this) then I would recommened that I no longer partake in the interview. Of course this won't apply to me since I do not really want to interview anyone. I just think that it is very anal of people that want to come on a message board, ask questions such as "What are your stats?" "What was you interview like?" when they themselves fail to disclose even the most trivial information. I don't mean this only to you BcGirl, since you may have a point being that you are the ONLY bc person from your school (UVic, right? j/king), but I just mean in general. At my Queens interview last yr some girl asked everyone how their interview went, and whenshe got asked, she kinda smirked and said that she would rather not say. Damn a-retentive people! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Akane200 Posted December 12, 2001 Report Share Posted December 12, 2001 Please, if she doesn't want to say where she's from, then just leave that alone. (It's really none of our business anyways) If you're worried that she is one of these anal retentive people, then perhaps her actions will show/ have shown that already. We don't have to/ have a need to point that out and start an argument (I mean, that won't do much good either rite? ). I'm not taking any sides, but you should respect her right to privacy just same as we enjoy ours (or what little privacy that we have). Setting the "danger on future interviews thing" aside (which seems lame, I will admit), we should respect her privacy regardless of the "absurdity" of her justifications. What seems to be trivial info to you, may actually be quite important to others. For example, when I first started posting here (before I changed my profile), I was getting inundated with a lot of email messages from people. Some people were weird, and a little scary. So, privacy and sense of safety were quite important things to me afterwards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest strider2004 Posted December 12, 2001 Report Share Posted December 12, 2001 Interviews are an interesting phenomenon. Last year I did a lot of stuff with interview orientation and some of those interviewees probably gave a different impression in the interview than outside. In an informal setting, we had a girl grilling us on Queens and Kingston for 1h and took 4 PAGES of notes that she was going to memorize for her interview the next day. If it were remotely possible that I were interviewing her, I'd probably try to stay away from her the day before. If I were to interview her the next day, I probably wouldn't be giving her the same chances as someone who I didn't have grill me the day before, even if they had identical answers and perhaps identical 'affect'. I'd prefer to interview everyone on equal footing, therefore anonymous. I'll talk more about interviews next year, when it becomes more pertinent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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