Question For Current Ubc Med Students

[Fleming]

Hi guys,

 

Being from BC, I am interested in UBC for med school. One thing I'm curious about is how close the class is. I come from a big university for undergrad, and I know that it's hard to get to know your classmates and make new friends in some cases with such a large class. So my question: Is the UBC Med class close? Being the biggest med school in Canada, do you find that you don't have as close a relationship with your fellow med students? Or, do you think of them as close friends? I'd just like a different experience from that which I had at McGill, which would mean getting to know my classmates better.

 

Thoughts?

 

[humhum]

If you are referring to the Vancouver site, I'll tell you the class sizes are huge. On top of that, you may not know of the fine print that dental students will share most of your classes, adding to the already massive class sizes.

 

There are a number of group sessions, so you get a chance to interact with smaller group sizes. One of them you rotate every some weeks. But the rest, they are permenant as you are assigned.

 

You will make some good friends the first six months. 1/3 of these you will say goodbye to after six month as they go back to their sites.

 

Will you make good friends? Sure. Yes, it close knit. Nope, not the Vancouver site. But I hear that is the case with the smaller sites. But even they got to go through Vancouver for first six months.

 

UBC is not a med school that I'd call close knit.

[thsc]

If you are referring to the Vancouver site, I'll tell you the class sizes are huge. On top of that, you may not know of the fine print that dental students will share most of your classes, adding to the already massive class sizes.

 

There are a number of group sessions, so you get a chance to interact with smaller group sizes. One of them you rotate every some weeks. But the rest, they are permenant as you are assigned.

 

You will make some good friends the first six months. 1/3 of these you will say goodbye to after six month as they go back to their sites.

 

Will you make good friends? Sure. Yes, it close knit. Nope, not the Vancouver site. But I hear that is the case with the smaller sites. But even they got to go through Vancouver for first six months.

 

UBC is not a med school that I'd call close knit.

Oh dear...that's not the news I was hoping for. I'd imagine that with 1/3 of your class gone to other sites, your class sizes should be reasonably around 190.

[lokiki]

You will definitely make close friends, if that is the goal. Are we all best buddies- nope.

 

Also, there is a silver lining. If there's someone you don't particularly get along with, you can avoid them pretty easily. May not be the case in smaller schools.

[herewego]

I would agree that the Vancouver site is less "close-knit" than the other sites based on pure numbers. Even the social butterfly can't be friends with all 190 or so people. However, do you really expect a group that large to all be connected? Yes there are cliques but that is bound to happen regardless of the social environment. I'm sure regardless of where you go you will make amazing friends

[thsc]

I would agree that the Vancouver site is less "close-knit" than the other sites based on pure numbers. Even the social butterfly can't be friends with all 190 or so people. However, do you really expect a group that large to all be connected? Yes there are cliques but that is bound to happen regardless of the social environment. I'm sure regardless of where you go you will make amazing friends

I'm wondering how commonplace cliques are at a place like queen's with only 100 students. 

 

I'm not a fan of the whole high school clique culture. 

[herewego]

Well I wouldn't say they are high school cliques but I guess everyone would have varying opinions on that. Does sound like you are more interested in a smaller school so I wish you the best of luck in your application process!

[thsc]

Well I wouldn't say they are high school cliques but I guess everyone would have varying opinions on that. Does sound like you are more interested in a smaller school so I wish you the best of luck in your application process!

I was actually quite interested in UBC, but wasn't aware that you guys had to share your classes with dental students on top of an already massive class. That doesn't sound very great. 

[humhum]

It is good that you are asking the question. For me, the big classes sizes are not too bothersome, but I can definitely appreciate that for some a sense of close-bonding during their educational years is a high priority. If you are that person, you really should be looking at other schools.

 

That said, UBC is a paradoxical on this matter. If you are in one of the non-Vancouver sites, your class sizes are 32 students. That is the tiniest med school community anywhere in Canada. But if you are in Vancouver, if you have one of the most massive class sizes.

 

The main issue in my opinion is forcing the non-Vancouver student to spend the first six months in Vancouver. Everyone is worse off because of this. Those first sixth months are the most critical bonding periods. By the time you go to your own site, there is effectively 1.5 years of classes left. The third and fourth years people are quite dispersed for everyone as we go into electives all over the place.

 

The Vancouver people are worse off too. I already feel terrible that I have so say goodbye to so many great people I have met during the first semester. The thought of not seeing them for at least another 3.5 years, and probably ever after the first semester over is pretty damn yucky.

[Snowy]

I was actually quite interested in UBC, but wasn't aware that you guys had to share your classes with dental students on top of an already massive class. That doesn't sound very great. 

 

We only share big lectures with the dental students (PRIN, FMED) - its really not so bad. I don't even notice a difference. We have our own anatomy and small group learning. Also, if a really close-knit group is more your style why not consider one of the distributed sites? They have class sizes of 32 and the faculty seems to go the extra mile (put on dinners/lunches/events/super helpful/etc)

[thsc]

We only share big lectures with the dental students (PRIN, FMED) - its really not so bad. I don't even notice a difference. We have our own anatomy and small group learning. Also, if a really close-knit group is more your style why not consider one of the distributed sites? They have class sizes of 32 and the faculty seems to go the extra mile (put on dinners/lunches/events/super helpful/etc)

Less resources and options in terms of population dynamics, reserach and hospitals. 

[humhum]

"Options in terms of population dynamics"??

 

That doesn't really mean anything. If these things are your concerns, then they are not really valid. There are more research opportunities and hospitals for every kind of discipline and specialty you could ever want or need, whether in Vancouver or at the distributed sites. And you can always come back to Vancouver for research in the summers.

 

And although our classes are huge, the access to resources for every kind of support imaginable (academic or otherwise) that UBC med students get approaches the excessive level in my opinion. Often it seems like the med department has unlimited money to do whatever it wants (except adding seats for more students). Even the building itself is kind of insane, one of the newest, largest, and most expensive on campus, designed entirely around the needs of the MD students - they have similarly impressive ones at each site. The IT technology that connects the distributed sites and organizes our learning materials is mind-boggling complex and top-notch. In addition, there are dozens and dozens of staff that support every tiny aspect of our daily functioning, everything from answering our emails instantly to putting lecture print outs to each individual mail box. And there is plenty of options for every resident. Whatever limitations in terms of actual jobs for specialists there maybe, it is no different than anywhere else in Canada.

 

Yeah, UBC is not close-knit and often feels like you are sheep in the herd, but it sure as hell doesn't suffer from lack of resources for its med students.

 

Someone mentioned they don't notice the large numbers or the dental student additions. Can't say I feel the same. LSC1 is suffocatingly packed with sea of faces that I have never met before, even after 10 weeks in.

[DTP]

Just a few extra notes:

1) You're only with the people from the other sites for 4 months not 6.

2) You have three different kinds of weekly small groups (8 people/group), one of which rotates every couple of weeks.

These will give you a chance to get to know around 35 people pretty well. If you happen to really like some of your group members,

it'll be pretty easy to become friends with them.

3) Orientation gives you A LOT of opportunities to meet people. You can go to camp, there are small group activities

during orientation, etc.

4) You're gonna barely notice the dental students. Other than their physical presence in lectures, we don't really mingle much

(this is the case for the vast majority of med students, there might be a few who do). So they don't really preclude our bonding time

 

The bottom line is: you're gonna have a hugely diverse and talented group of people to choose friends from and you will

make some great friends. And once school gets more intense (mostly starting second term), you wouldn't even want

to spend your time with "too many" people. You just want your good friends.

[standbyme]

I get wanting to be surrounded by friends and a great support system, but I feel like you should chose your school based on the education you will be receiving. The friends and support network are something you can build anywhere, if you really wanted to. I am sure most people feel the same as you do. I would say it is safe to assume that no matter where you attend school, you can make the best of it if you want to.

Good luck!

[thsc]

I get wanting to be surrounded by friends and a great support system, but I feel like you should chose your school based on the education you will be receiving. The friends and support network are something you can build anywhere, if you really wanted to. I am sure most people feel the same as you do. I would say it is safe to assume that no matter where you attend school, you can make the best of it if you want to.

 

Good luck!

You bring up a good point, but I think in CAnada, the education system is more or less very similar (excluding Mac of course), so I didn't think it would be too useful to use that as a point of comparison. Of course, research wise, there is a bigger difference across the schools. 

[Phosphorus]

I would love to go to the Vancouver site simply because I've always wanted to live downtown (despite the added cost). I have already developed an interest in a few areas of medicine (e.g., emergency medicine), but I fully understand that those interests will likely change over time. Given the large number of people at the Vancouver campus, I fear that it will become difficult to develop a close relationship with some of your evaluators and thus making it difficult to obtain strong letters of reference and evaluations. At this point, my site selection is really dependent on:

 

1) Vancouver campus

• Large class size leading to the caveats mentioned above.
• Living in a gorgeous city with a lot of life.

2) Kelowna Campus

• Small class size; can develop very strong relationships with evaluators (perhaps they also care more because it's a new site).
• A city that I think is safe to assume does not compare to Vancouver (to be fair, I've never been to Kelowna).

Really tough decision.

[thsc]

I think the letters of recommendation should be the least of your concerns. There are more than enough physicians around to develop a strong relationship. Having 50 extra students shouldn't make a huge different in my opinion. 

[fugacity]

Just to chime in as another person at VFMP, the class size may go down in future years with the introduction of the new curriculum and ALC sites.  The ALC pilot was not popular last year for the 2017s, and is incredibly popular and somewhat competitive this year for 2018s.  Next year, expect a bigger portion of the class assigned to an ALC. 

 

I don't know too much about ALCs, but from what I understand it's a mini distributed site within VFMP.  It seems like you will be bound to a smaller group (8-16) for the majority of your activities (PBL, clinical skills etc.).  The group will be based at smaller hospitals compared to VGH.  Therefore I think there's an option for those that attend VFMP.  There's the big class if you are to be a socialite and smaller ALCs for those that want more personal relationships. 

 

Although nobody knows what the ALC will be like next year.  My best suggestion is to attend the interview and ask the dean about that during the Q&A period.

[herewego]

Implications for 3rd year have been proposed that students apply for an ALC which contains one or two hospitals. Students then do the majority of their 3rd year rotations at those hospitals while still ranking other rotations (e.g. obs/Gyn).

 

It does appear that UBC is breaking away from the 188 or whatever crammed together as the 2nd year Lions Gate and RCH locations videoconference in everyday and are rarely seen in the walls of Diamond. Not to make your choice more difficult but I do believe UBC is aware of the overcrowding lecture theatre and lack of resources to accommodate everyone, so between curriculum renewal and ALCs, UBC could have a major overhaul in the coming years. Obviously pros and cons to it but nevertheless something to consider in choosing UBC.

[srum]

Another change on the horizon is the separation of the MD and DMD programs next year.  Therefore the current applicants don't have to worry about dental students supposedly crowding their lectures

[sgh87]

I'm not sure what your definition of 'close-knit' is. Personally, I have a group of friends who I consider very close, and spend a lot of time with inside, and outside of school. There are multiple gatherings throughout the school year where you will have many classmates attending (house parties, bar parties, etc).

 

Further, our class is incredible at sharing resources. We all try to help each other out (whether it be via sharing summary notes, online resources, etc.).

 

You can't possibly be best friends with 200 people. In saying that, I'd say that we have a pretty close class.

[Mithril]

As a 4th year med student at UBC I'd say most of the class is close. There are lots of small group opportunities to make friends and once clerkship hits in 3rd year you're usually with 4-5 other med students on the same service doing the same rotation in your track. 4th year is different, though, since everyone is all over the place in the country.

[lokiki]

Seriously, you just wait until our video for MMI weekend comes out. You will see that we make friends very very easily.