McMaster vs Western

[Pagan]

Has anyone chosen McMaster over Western? And if so, what were your reasons?

[mm_med]

I did!

 

My reasons may not apply to you though.

1. My undergrad program was PBL based and I loved it. I couldn't imagine returning to a lecture heavy curriculum. I would absolutely hate it. I would have gone to Western if it was my only option, but given the choice, I preferred PBL.

2. I prefer Hamilton to London. It's a bigger city and the health sciences facilities here are incredible. There is a lot of great research here and world-renowned programs. London has incredible people and research too, but Hamilton was more suited to my academic interests.

3. McMaster's curriculum allows for a lot of freedom in pre-clerkship and you can really tailor the program to what you want it to be.

4. 3 years!

5. I'm not really interested in rural medicine, which Western really seemed to be pushing during the interviews.

 

Some other things as well, but they are personal and wouldn't really apply to anyone else. In the end both programs are incredible and will give you a great education. It's all about your preference. Take your time and research both options. Good luck!

[mac2016]

Has anyone chosen McMaster over Western? And if so, what were your reasons?

 

I want to begin by saying that I think all Ontario schools are fantastic and you'll get a great medical education no matter which school you choose to go to. Instead of focusing if/why Mac is better I will discuss a few factors that I considered when making my decision (between Mac and another school - not Western). How much importance you place on each factor is personal.

 

1) Cost

For me, this was a fairly significant factor. Living is not very expensive in Hamilton. I live with a housemate and I pay around 440/month including utilities and parking. Plus, at Mac, I have to pay one less year of tuition fees. I added these numbers up and compared the two schools that I was considering. Mac was significantly cheaper for me to attend. I knew I would have my Line of Credit but I still did not want to accumulate any debt that I did not have to.

 

2) Friends and family

Yes, you will make new connections in medical school. However, if being close to your family and friends is important to you, consider it! I like being able to go home on weekends and spending time with my family. Medical school can be stressful at times and having good support systems in place can help alleviate some of that stress.

 

3) The city

I personally like Hamilton. It's not as big as Toronto but it's a major academic center and it's very close to the GTA. It is also a very diverse city - lots of socioeconomic and ethnic diversity - which is really good in terms of getting broad clinical experiences. All hospitals are accessible by bus. If you have a car, they are just a short car ride away.

 

4) Research!

LOTS of research happens here at Mac in pretty much every field. I've found it very easy to get involved with research here. I am not too sure about Western.

 

5) Three years

This was a fairly big pro for me.

 

6) Learning style

I find PBL to be a fairly good way to learn. I know I would not be able to sit in lectures 8 hours a day 5 days a week. A lot of people have misconceptions about how PBL works so I'll try to explain it a bit. Each week we have the following:

-Two 3 hour tutorials (with MD or PhD tutors to answer our questions and keep us on track). In each tutorial, we have 1 to 3 clinical scenarios. We discuss the anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology, presentation, epidemiology, treatment, etc. for each scenario. Then, we set objectives for the scenarios we have to discuss in our next tutorial. We prepare for these tutorials using lectures, videos, textbooks, journal articles, etc. We are provided with "suggested resources" for each tutorial.

-Anatomy session (once every 3 weeks for 3-4 hours): We have anatomists who teach us for 2-3 hours and then we write a bell-ringer exam. HOWEVER - if you're very interested in surgery or such you can always book as many sessions with the anatomists as you like. They are very happy and willing to teach. Also, the anatomy lab is open all day (8 am to 11 pm I believe) for you to go and self-study in - not every school gets to do that.

-Clinical skills (3 hours a week with a resident or staff MD): You learn history taking and physical examination skills and practice them on real patients or simulated patients - super valuable.

-Pro Comp (3 hours a week): Usually a lecture followed by a group discussion on topics such as ethics, law, communication skills, etc.

-Lectures (~8 hours a week): Mostly recorded and posted online (good quality)

-LOTS of time and opportunity to set up and do observerships in any specialty

 

7) CaRMs

All Ontario schools have pretty similar match rates. There are ups and downs of course but overall Mac does very well. This year we had an exceptionally fantastic year (stats have not been released yet).

 

Good luck!

[Tdot2014]

For similar reasons as my Ottawa vs Mac post, I would have chosen UWO over Mac as well, but did not apply with a 10 in verbal.

 

1. The program has a mix of lecture and PBL, therefore having some educational guidance in lecture and also the PBL opportunity to develop collaboration and critical thinking skills.

 

2. Having summers off allows you to make more connections and explore research opportunities in different specialties, even outside of London if you want to match elsewhere, to make you more competitive for residency programs. I know it is possible to explore research opportunities in addition to your class schedule, but I myself would prefer to spend my extra time shadowing to find the specialty that best suits me

 

3. UWO campus is beautiful and the overall student body is very social (as is Mac's!).

 

4. Matches slightly better. I feel that having the extra year to gain more experience, in research and shadowing, allows you to decide what specialty suits you and also makes you more desirable in the eyes of competitive specialty programs (as a result of the extra experiences).

 

As for Mac, I absolutely loved the campus and the medical students that were volunteering my day. I would be ecstatic to gain an offer there. I am just sharing a perspective to help you make this huge life decision. Congrats on your offers and I hope this helps!

[ellorie]

I went the other way around

 

I wanted to have summers off, and I actually like the more lecture-heavy curriculum. There is still a lot of time for independent learning, but the lectures give some direction - and that's important for me. Not everybody needs that or likes that, but personally, I do.

 

Also - having all my elective time (16 weeks) at the very end of clerkship was a huge advantage for me. I wanted to be on my game, and have time to plan out my best strategy and make sure I took full advantage of all my elective weeks.

 

I would say that we still have a fair bit of freedom here to shape our learning experiences.

 

I enjoyed my interview day at Mac and would have been happy to go there - it's a great program and has some huge advantages. I just found that UWO suited my needs slightly better.

[honeywell12]

For similar reasons as my Ottawa vs Mac post, I would have chosen UWO over Mac as well, but did not apply with a 10 in verbal.

 

1. The program has a mix of lecture and PBL, therefore having some educational guidance in lecture and also the PBL opportunity to develop collaboration and critical thinking skills.

 

2. Having summers off allows you to make more connections and explore research opportunities in different specialties, even outside of London if you want to match elsewhere, to make you more competitive for residency programs. I know it is possible to explore research opportunities in addition to your class schedule, but I myself would prefer to spend my extra time shadowing to find the specialty that best suits me

 

3. UWO campus is beautiful and the overall student body is very social (as is Mac's!).

 

4. Matches slightly better. I feel that having the extra year to gain more experience, in research and shadowing, allows you to decide what specialty suits you and also makes you more desirable in the eyes of competitive specialty programs (as a result of the extra experiences).

 

As for Mac, I absolutely loved the campus and the medical students that were volunteering my day. I would be ecstatic to gain an offer there. I am just sharing a perspective to help you make this huge life decision. Congrats on your offers and I hope this helps!

 

Just to clarify point 1) Mac has lectures as well! These are formally delivered on Monday and Friday mornings. They are also recorded and posted online. In addition, we have "lecture series" organized by different student interest groups. For example, "internal medicine lecture series" or "chest x-ray interpretation lecture series" - these are delivered by residents and/or staff MDs.

[sjc2]

 

6) Learning style

I find PBL to be a fairly good way to learn. I know I would not be able to sit in lectures 8 hours a day 5 days a week. A lot of people have misconceptions about how PBL works so I'll try to explain it a bit. Each week we have the following:

-Two 3 hour tutorials (with MD or PhD tutors to answer our questions and keep us on track). In each tutorial, we have 1 to 3 clinical scenarios. We discuss the anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology, presentation, epidemiology, treatment, etc. for each scenario. Then, we set objectives for the scenarios we have to discuss in our next tutorial. We prepare for these tutorials using lectures, videos, textbooks, journal articles, etc. We are provided with "suggested resources" for each tutorial.

-Anatomy session (once every 3 weeks for 3-4 hours): We have anatomists who teach us for 2-3 hours and then we write a bell-ringer exam. HOWEVER - if you're very interested in surgery or such you can always book as many sessions with the anatomists as you like. They are very happy and willing to teach. Also, the anatomy lab is open all day (8 am to 11 pm I believe) for you to go and self-study in - not every school gets to do that.

-Clinical skills (3 hours a week with a resident or staff MD): You learn history taking and physical examination skills and practice them on real patients or simulated patients - super valuable.

-Pro Comp (3 hours a week): Usually a lecture followed by a group discussion on topics such as ethics, law, communication skills, etc.

-Lectures (~8 hours a week): Mostly recorded and posted online (good quality)

-LOTS of time and opportunity to set up and do observerships in any specialty

 

 

This is super helpful information! Can someone share a typical week with former hours? I am going to be applying for Sept 2015, knowing full-well I will have to commute from either Oakville or Toronto for at least one year (if I even get in, which is a long-shot!). I have a car, which should speed up the commute since I'll be going against traffic. But I am curious about start times in the morning - do you have to be there by 7? 8? A week in the life of a first year med student would be great to hear!