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The Big 3 Canadian Med Schools


ReaI

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Hi, I heard that the 3 best Canadian med schools ("The Big 3") are U of T, McGill, and UBC.

 

Which of the three is the most prestigious? How big is the difference in prestige among the three schools?

 

Thanks.

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hey I am being serious here...

 

The reason why people aren't responding or taking your thread seriously is because you should be happy if you even get into ANY medical school in this country. You need better stats than harvard med to get into even some of the worst med schools in Canada...so therefore no one considers prestige of med schools unless they get into a bunch of them and have to decide 1. I hope this answers your question.

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Thanks for the reply.

 

I acutally have been admitted to those schools and I have made my choice but I'm just wondering what others think...

 

Hopefully you chose the most prestigious one because we wouldnt want students from a more prestigious medical school looking down upon you and then you not feel good about yourself.

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Lol its amusing to see how irritated people get with questions like these.

 

To answer your question OP, there is no such thing as a "prestigious school" in Canada. The fact that only Toronto and McGill are "recognized" globally is a testament to that seeing as there are departments all over the country that put out better research that the corresponding departments at these schools (not in every department of course)

 

Now in terms of how you should have gone about selecting your school... In my opinion this is the priority sequence. Which city do you like best? Which teaching style do you like best? Which school gives you a better vibe? and lastly, Which specialties are you interested in?

 

The red is where your "prestige" would come in. Is cardiology your thing? Go to UoT, where their heart research makes the rest of Canada seem pretty piddly.

 

Thats my 2cents at least.

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Lol its amusing to see how irritated people get with questions like these.

 

To answer your question OP, there is no such thing as a "prestigious school" in Canada. The fact that only Toronto and McGill are "recognized" globally is a testament to that seeing as there are departments all over the country that put out better research that the corresponding departments at these schools (not in every department of course)

 

Now in terms of how you should have gone about selecting your school... In my opinion this is the priority sequence. Which city do you like best? Which teaching style do you like best? Which school gives you a better vibe? and lastly, Which specialties are you interested in?

 

The red is where your "prestige" would come in. Is cardiology your thing? Go to UoT, where their heart research makes the rest of Canada seem pretty piddly.

 

Thats my 2cents at least.

 

The whole question of 'prestige' to me seems so frivilous, almost as much as caring about how many 'Face Book' friends I have or how many views my You Tube video gets. Just some need for ego stroking ... at least when worded in that way "Which school is most prestigious" because they seemed to hope that they chose the school with the most prestige which just seems juvenile if you ask me.

 

However your points resonate with me and I agree with everything you said. Yes if prestige means the quality of heart research or being at a med school that has access to trauma centers etc, then yes you could select schools based on their expertise/access to those interests of yours.

 

Beef

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Lol its amusing to see how irritated people get with questions like these.

 

To answer your question OP, there is no such thing as a "prestigious school" in Canada. The fact that only Toronto and McGill are "recognized" globally is a testament to that seeing as there are departments all over the country that put out better research that the corresponding departments at these schools (not in every department of course)

 

Now in terms of how you should have gone about selecting your school... In my opinion this is the priority sequence. Which city do you like best? Which teaching style do you like best? Which school gives you a better vibe? and lastly, Which specialties are you interested in?

 

The red is where your "prestige" would come in. Is cardiology your thing? Go to UoT, where their heart research makes the rest of Canada seem pretty piddly.

 

Thats my 2cents at least.

 

When you say heart research do you mean basic science or clinical research?

I'm not trying to suggest that UotT doesnt do good heart research, BUUUT... in Canada, I believe the three major specialized centers for cardiology are Edmonton (Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute), Ottawa (University of Ottawa Heart Institute) and Montreal (Montreal Heart Institute).

There is a chance that I may be mistaken, but I work in Clinical Reserach at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute and those are the specialzed centers we tend to collborate with in multi-centered studies.

 

Regardless, I dont think UofT would put the Heart Institute here in Ottawa at shame. The docs here are so talented and so well informed! As for the research here, it really is world class.

I cannot speak enough praise for the people here. They are so professional and treat students with a great deal of respect.

If anyone is ever interested in cardiology down the road, I HIGHLY recommend you come to Ottawa for a few weeks and do an elective here at the Heart Institute.

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When you say heart research do you mean basic science or clinical research?

I'm not trying to suggest that UotT doesnt do good heart research, BUUUT... in Canada, I believe the three major specialized centers for cardiology are Edmonton (Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute), Ottawa (University of Ottawa Heart Institute) and Montreal (Montreal Heart Institute).

There is a chance that I may be mistaken, but I work in Clinical Reserach at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute and those are the specialzed centers we tend to collborate with in multi-centered studies.

 

Regardless, I dont think UofT would put the Heart Institute here in Ottawa at shame. The docs here are so talented and so well informed! As for the research here, it really is world class.

I cannot speak enough praise for the people here. They are so professional and treat students with a great deal of respect.

If anyone is ever interested in cardiology down the road, I HIGHLY recommend you come to Ottawa for a few weeks and do an elective here at the Heart Institute.

 

Its like that at almost every medical school. Its not until you go and meet the faculty of other schools do you realize who is more talented than others. For example,

 

-my current tutor (neurologist) is an award winning author of short fiction.

-My thoracic surg tutor is one of 3 foremost esophageal cancer specialist in North America.

-My internal med tutor was a missionary physician in Congo during their civil war and has an amazing book out basically detailing how he should've been killed like 10 times over while he was there.

-My rads tutor is pioneering virtual colonoscopy in Canada

-My gen surg tutor was an amazing football player and got drafted to play with the Alouettes (but turned it down for medicine). His son is currently playing for the Sask rough riders.

 

etc. etc. etc. I could keep going. Point is I'm continually amazed and all the evidence that I can see suggests they are the best in the world, but I know similar physicians exist all throughout Canada at many different institutions.

 

 

So don't worry about prestige. Most med schools in Canada have plenty of it. Everybody will claim their faculty is the bestest ever because some of these physicians are just unfathomably good.

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what school are you at?

 

deeman is @ McGill.

 

Yup. But I'd say the type of people I described earlier is more a characteristic of Montreal than just purely the type of physicians in McGill. There are just some really exceptional people here. Not like the population of Toronto (where I grew up) I'd say. Ex: I never met so many lay people that casually run marathons every few months.

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Are we seriously having this discussion again in a different sub section of the forum, under a different thread name?

 

I think there should be a sticky/FAQ or some other tl;dr summary for all med school prestige/awesomeness related silliness and questions...

 

 

Also:

Best i could come up with...

 

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<3

 

Mainly because I'm going to be attending UofC.

 

How about "You go to UofA? Wai not UofA+?"

 

22378169

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The reason why people aren't responding or taking your thread seriously is because you should be happy if you even get into ANY medical school in this country. You need better stats than harvard med to get into even some of the worst med schools in Canada...so therefore no one considers prestige of med schools unless they get into a bunch of them and have to decide 1. I hope this answers your question.

 

I don't think this is true at all... having gone to undergrad in US, I know for a fact both statistically and from my experience that Harvard med is insanely difficult to get in..

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