Q&A With Mac Med 2015

[petersmith]

One concern I have about Mac: while I love the idea of a 3 year program, the downside is that I'm really not sure (at all) what specialty I want to pursue. I plan on spending my time wisely and taking advantage of as many opportunities as possible to figure it out, but if there are any current students who felt similarly when they were entering med school, can you comment on how things have worked out? Do you feel like it's more difficult to explore and really figure out where you fit in best due to the compressed time frame, or is that just a misconception on my part?

I can understand where that idea comes from, that you won't have enough time to really figure out what you love. At Mac, you have plenty of time for what we call "horizontal electives", which is basically shadowing a doctor. It could be a single ER shift, could be working alongside a specialist once a week for 2 months... there are endless options and it's all up to you. These are generally used to get more experience or to rule specialties in or out. However, they are completely optional, so you only need to do what you are comfortable with.

 

Personally, I thought that I knew roughly what I wanted when I started, but with more experience, it soon became apparent that I had no idea. Now I'm almost finished first year and I've got a pretty good idea of what I want to do. I've basically got my eyes set on one specialty, while also investigating one more that I'm also interested in. Many of my classmates (McMaster 2015) have also narrowed down their selections to 1-3 specialties already.

 

So basically, I wouldn't worry about it. Last-minute changes of heart can and do happen to people at all schools. Just use your time wisely, talk to upper years, shadow doctors... you'll find your place.

[h9i9j9]

thank you applemanv3!

[inspiring-curmudgeon]

Congrats h9i9j9!!

 

USMLE Step 1 - I don't have stats for you, but generally, unless you are looking to the states for residency or future fellowships, there is little utility in actually writing the USMLE Step 1. Some people do, but most of my colleagues don't plan on it. As for the sciences bit at Mac, it's fairly true that if you are thinking of writing it, you will need to find time to prepare. I suggest you start and then once you know people in the class, perhaps you can prepare as a group if you can find enough classmates interested in it. I have personally decided not to.

 

Academia and Research - there are no shortage of opportunities. In my opinion, there is plenty of time to find a PI, propose a project, and finish it. I completed a project between inception in late November to completion and submission in January. Also won an award for it. And let me tell you, I AM NOT a research type of guy. I just found something of interest and proactively made it happen.

 

I know several people in the Class of 2014 that have multiple publications, most before even starting clerkship. Again, it's how you make use of your time and opportunities.

 

+1

 

There is no reason you can't do research while at McMaster. In fact, I'd venture to say it's easier than at other, as staff know you don't have summers to slave away on a humongous project. I myself have published 4 papers to date, with a few more in the pipeline. Others in my class have done much more (optho gunners). The curriculum lends itself nicely to having devoted time for research activities, as there is a lot of free space, and you decide what you want to do with it. Some prepare really well for tutorial, others do research, and others sleep 10 hours a day. That's part of the reason why mac produces both the best and the worst doctors.

 

Cheers

[holiday1001]

hey. don't hate

 

+1

. Some prepare really well for tutorial, others do research, and others sleep 10 hours a day. That's part of the reason why mac produces both the best and the worst doctors.

 

Cheers

[thetruth]

During the interview day, the option of a research year was brought up (once the 3 med years are complete). What do you think of this option? Is it used only if you don't match or do many research-interested students take this route?

[inthesticks]

while making my decision, i found this PDF pretty helpful, it's from 2011 but the info i'm sure is still valid!

 

http://fhs.mcmaster.ca/mdprog/documents/MGDstudentbrochure_2011.pdf

 

apologies! I just received my package and i see they have an updated brochure!

[ADH]

Relative to other medical schools, how much rote memorization is there in the MD Program at Mac? My guess would be that there is a very minimal amount, but I am not sure.

[shady]

Relative to other medical schools, how much rote memorization is there in the MD Program at Mac? My guess would be that there is a very minimal amount, but I am not sure.

 

How do you learn medicine without memorization?

[ADH]

^ I am referring to rote memorization, the act of retaining material through the simple use of repetition. This is in contrast to remembering content by understanding concepts and seeing connections and patterns.

[Rext]

It depends entirely on your learning style. There are some people who enjoy and excel at rote memorization whilst others prefer to use a more integrative approach to learning.

 

There are certain aspects of medicine for which rote memorization is needed (e.g. vascular anatomy) but this is the nature of medicine itself, not unique to McMaster.

 

In general, I would say that there is a lot less rote memorization required at McMaster. One of the biggest advantages of PBL is that YOU (i.e. the student) get to decide what are the key aspects to study and retain (with some guidance from the program of course). You don't have lecturers who expect you to memorize every detail on every slide.

 

^ I am referring to rote memorization, the act of retaining material through the simple use of repetition. This is in contrast to remembering content by understanding concepts and seeing connections and patterns.

[ADH]

^ Thanks! Yes, I realize that I will invariably need to use some rote memorization, but I prefer to minimize it whenever possible. Mac sounds great.

[thetruth]

Are there bursaries/scholarships that we should already be applying for? I heard Schulich had bursary applications due in early May.

[ottawamed.90]

Are there bursaries/scholarships that we should already be applying for? I heard Schulich had bursary applications due in early May.

 

If I'm not mistaken, these applications happen ~October at Mac

[aryastark]

Yup, bursary applications are due in October. You will receive an email from the MD office sometime in September I believe

[ADH]

Are the 3 hour lectures (twice a week) optional? Are they recorded online? And are they conducted like traditional lectures in other programs?

[benge88]

The vast majority of lectures are recorded online and made available to us. There is no attendance taken, so they are effectively optional, although the material covered is certainly testable.

[nikki dale]

Just be aware when asking questions about the curriculum, that different aspects of the curriculum change pretty much every year because it is actually very responsive to feedback. So the fine details related to how often something happens, on what day, etc. that you're hearing from us now may not be applicable when your time comes. Anatomy may be getting a revamp, and I think there is some exploration about making lectures mandatory, although I'm not sure how that would work logistically.

[ADH]

^ Thanks for the information. I noticed that Mac and UBC both have about 6 hours of lectures and 6 hours of PBL per week. I am surprised to read this, since I thought Mac was known for being "almost all PBL" compared to other schools. Are there major differences between the PBL/ lectures at UBC and Mac?

 

Thanks again.

[holiday1001]

i find our lectures are mix between 'core' material and 'supplementary' material. ie the lecture on DM is 'core' while another on cytogenetics may be more supplementary

[aryastark]

^ Thanks for the information. I noticed that Mac and UBC both have about 6 hours of lectures and 6 hours of PBL per week. I am surprised to read this, since I thought Mac was known for being "almost all PBL" compared to other schools. Are there major differences between the PBL/ lectures at UBC and Mac?

 

Thanks again.

 

Its not really the number of hours that make Mac PBL intensive, but rather the way PBL is structured. I can't speak to what UBC's curriculum is like, but just based on other schools that use PBL, they don't always use it the same way as Mac. We usually receive 1-2 cases per PBL tutorial. Each tutorial, we take up the case from the previous tutorial (that we have usually spent a few days preparing for- although this depends on the complexity of the case), and set up objectives for the next tutorial. So I find that its more about how much we prepare during our "off" time, and the tutorial itself is more for consolidation and working out difficult concepts and questions we might have.

[ADH]

^Very helpful; thank you! Is there a minimum passing grade for Concept Application Exercises (CAEs) ? Also, this may sound a bit paranoid, but are there ever issues with peers (in tutorial groups) making negative comments that adversely affect the comments on transcripts? The subjectivity of this process makes me a bit nervous....

 

Thanks again for the responses!

[aryastark]

^Very helpful; thank you! Is there a minimum passing grade for Concept Application Exercises (CAEs) ? Also, this may sound a bit paranoid, but are there ever issues with peers (in tutorial groups) making negative comments that adversely affect the comments on transcripts? The subjectivity of this process makes me a bit nervous....

 

Thanks again for the responses!

 

No worries! I've heard of a couple of cases where peers have made negative remarks that were recorded in tutor evaluations (pretty unusual for this to occur), but students have the right to see those and ask that they be changed/ removed. CAE's are very subjective, and all of my tutors have said from the outset that they don't consider CAE's in their evaluations. However, I've also heard of tutors that do take them seriously. There is no minimum mark, but if you consistently do poorly and aren't participating in tutorial, they would probably have a discussion with you and try to help you improve (again, I haven't heard of this ever happening). Honestly, as long as you do your tutorial prep and participate, you will be completely fine!

[tberry3]

I was just reading through an admissions brochure from a couple of years ago (as I'm still waiting for my package) and it mentioned that Hamilton bus passes are not included. Is that still the case? If so, do people typically buy bus passes or is it not worth it?

[shady]

I was just reading through an admissions brochure from a couple of years ago (as I'm still waiting for my package) and it mentioned that Hamilton bus passes are not included. Is that still the case? If so, do people typically buy bus passes or is it not worth it?

 

I was talking to McMaster students (non-med) and they all had free transit passes. Apparently as long as you are a full time student at Mac you get a free bus pass.

 

Can any med student confirm?

[nikki dale]

I was talking to McMaster students (non-med) and they all had free transit passes. Apparently as long as you are a full time student at Mac you get a free bus pass.

 

Can any med student confirm?

 

Med students are not part of this deal.

We 'voted' to get out of it and instead pay a lower ancillary fee because by the time you're in 2nd and 3rd year, you're mostly driving, and may not even be in Hamilton for months at a time.