med school cliquish?

[loodogg]

Hugely clickish

 

There are:

The Gyne-Girls (also includes other surgical or competitive specialties)

The Jocks (emerge FTW)

The Bro's (surgeons in waiting)

Gunners row (plastics or optho)

The Great Wall (armed with tupperware container full of foul smelling rice)

Calcutta Connection (rads)

Salt Lake Syndicate (you don't have to be a mormon, but it helps)

The Old People/Council of Elders (they have old man balls)

Spare Parts (just here for the education)

 

this is hilarious

[Comeon]

This is so accurate. I feel bad being a "Spare Parts" person.

 

Hugely clickish

 

There are:

The Gyne-Girls (also includes other surgical or competitive specialties)

The Jocks (emerge FTW)

The Bro's (surgeons in waiting)

Gunners row (plastics or optho)

The Great Wall (armed with tupperware container full of foul smelling rice)

Calcutta Connection (rads)

Salt Lake Syndicate (you don't have to be a mormon, but it helps)

The Old People/Council of Elders (they have old man balls)

Spare Parts (just here for the education)

[brooksbane]

have you made friends that you would continue to be close friends with after meds?

 

Not a single one. I'd be happy to never see any of them again.

[Comeon]

I have asked some of the doctors I have worked with this question - most have said no (most residents also say no). They have the occasional reunion - the rate of obesity and divorce becomes unusually high.

 

have you made friends that you would continue to be close friends with after meds?

[igeorgex]

I have asked some of the doctors I have worked with this question - most have said no (most residents also say no). They have the occasional reunion - the rate of obesity and divorce becomes unusually high.

 

are you kidding me? out of a class from anywhere of 100-250 people, who share at least ONE major interest with you (i.e. medicine), there is nobody you have connected with? even those in my class who are either married/have children (and thus have huge family responsibilities) have made some great friends here.

 

also, you do realize that your classmates of today are your colleagues of tomorrow. be friendly, get to know them - when you need to advocate for your patient and bug the rads/gen sx/plastics staff or refer to someone you can trust then these connections become crucial.

 

just my $0.02

[GREGtotheHOUSE]

Hugely clickish

 

There are:

The Gyne-Girls (also includes other surgical or competitive specialties)

The Jocks (emerge FTW)

The Bro's (surgeons in waiting)

Gunners row (plastics or optho)

The Great Wall (armed with tupperware container full of foul smelling rice)

Calcutta Connection (rads)

Salt Lake Syndicate (you don't have to be a mormon, but it helps)

The Old People/Council of Elders (they have old man balls)

Spare Parts (just here for the education)

 

I spilled coffee all over the floor from laughter.

[Comeon]

I did not say that I have connected with no one. I feel that I have made some great friends, but the reality is that friendships fall apart - especially if people end up in different residency programs. I hope that being a friend does not take priority over providing patient care.

 

are you kidding me? out of a class from anywhere of 100-250 people, who share at least ONE major interest with you (i.e. medicine), there is nobody you have connected with? even those in my class who are either married/have children (and thus have huge family responsibilities) have made some great friends here.

 

also, you do realize that your classmates of today are your colleagues of tomorrow. be friendly, get to know them - when you need to advocate for your patient and bug the rads/gen sx/plastics staff or refer to someone you can trust then these connections become crucial.

 

just my $0.02

[tooty]

Not a single one. I'd be happy to never see any of them again.

 

do you connect with some of your co-residents at least?

[vs09]

Can I ask anyone out there, what about a smaller school like Queen's? They seem to pride themselves on the small, close-knit class size of 100, and claim that they are are like a big family, at least that's the impression I've gotten from them (interview presentation, interview video, forum posts, etc). Is there anyone who can comment on how friendly that class is generally? Do they develop lasting friendships, or are they cliquey as well? Appreciate any insights!

[Dr.Henderson]

We're all quite close and I wouldn't say there are any cliques in our class. There are groups of people who tend to hang out together more outside of class due to similar interests (gym, restaurants, concerts, bar scene) but there's absolutely no exclusivity- we are all quite close both in and outside of class. You're going to have that happen in any environment where people are together all the time. What makes a clique is its impenetrability, in my opinion.

 

There's a pretty immense collegiality not just within the class but across the classes as well- with everyone willing to help one another out. I cannot say enough about the community feel of this school. There could be variances in some years, but this has been my experience.

 

It seems that its been happening for a while as our associate dean is a Queen's grad, graduating ~30 years ago, and still has reunions with colleagues. I can certainly see this happening within our class as well as I have made many, many lifelong friends here.

[Fresh fry]

I spilled coffee all over the floor from laughter.

 

Glad someone enjoyed it

[vs09]

Thanks Dr. Henderson! That's what I was hoping for, a nice, supportive and close-knit group of people for colleagues. That helps keep Queen's in my 1st choice spot

[zeroNINE]

In any size class you'll always find a few cliques, not to say it's absolutely exclusive, but sometimes you can't invite everyone, in which case you'll pick your closest friends. Not to say people aren't helpful or nice, it's just they would like to hang out with people more like them.

 

My advice: during O-week go to every event even if it isn't part of the schedule. If there are people hanging out, go to it.

[goldenhawk]

What other schools have a similar "community" vibe to Queen's? Just wondering because that's something I really value in a school and that probably would have made Queen's my first choice, but I wasn't fortunate enough to interview there. Does it depend on the class size, the school's culture or what?

[Pantaloons]

Uh......probably important to distinguish between "cliques" and "groups". Cliques seem exclusionary and are something I've not worried about since highschool. "Groups of friends" are an inevitability when you have +150 different personalities in one class: like dissolves like. People hang around similar personalities and common interests. With a class of 150 people, you're bound to find a more intimate group with whom you click.

 

 

And of course, at Western, we have numerous class-wide and school-wide socials events that are fun. People come and we all hang out together.

 

I can only speak about the 2013 Western med class, but we are a very friendly group of people. If you read the post-interview discussion thread every year, we always make a super friendly impression.

 

In the end, your ability to be happy and fit in with your peer group is likely dependent on a number of different personal, interpersonal, and peer-group factors which make it difficult to make generalizations.

[dlee88]

Hugely clickish

 

There are:

The Gyne-Girls (also includes other surgical or competitive specialties)

The Jocks (emerge FTW)

The Bro's (surgeons in waiting)

Gunners row (plastics or optho)

The Great Wall (armed with tupperware container full of foul smelling rice)

Calcutta Connection (rads)

Salt Lake Syndicate (you don't have to be a mormon, but it helps)

The Old People/Council of Elders (they have old man balls)

Spare Parts (just here for the education)

 

LOL........

[futureGP]

What other schools have a similar "community" vibe to Queen's? Just wondering because that's something I really value in a school and that probably would have made Queen's my first choice, but I wasn't fortunate enough to interview there. Does it depend on the class size, the school's culture or what?

 

i'm guessing probably schools with smaller sizes and also in regional campuses people are probably pretty tight

 

e.g. mac waterloo, niagara campuses, western windsor

e.g. manitoba, saskatchewan, UBC regional campuses

 

once it gets >~150 or 200, you just can't know everyone in the class (well you can prob know by face but yeah :S)

 

i think Queen's is the ideal size of ~100. big enough but not too big

[apache]

EPIC!! N who-tf would ever nail the salt lake connection... I always wondered if they anyone else grouped them into a clique... spare parts, lol, oh my, i thing you can subdivide small parts into two groups though, there's the small parts involved and uninvolved, cause some small parts people hang out with multiple groups but dont really fit into a single one, or any, just because theyre sort of more dynamic in their personality, and theres the spare parts wtf, they were in the class people

 

Hugely clickish

 

There are:

The Gyne-Girls (also includes other surgical or competitive specialties)

The Jocks (emerge FTW)

The Bro's (surgeons in waiting)

Gunners row (plastics or optho)

The Great Wall (armed with tupperware container full of foul smelling rice)

Calcutta Connection (rads)

Salt Lake Syndicate (you don't have to be a mormon, but it helps)

The Old People/Council of Elders (they have old man balls)

Spare Parts (just here for the education)