Mcmaster Interview Discussion 2015

[xkittens]

Did anyone else talk and answer questions until the bell rang for the next station? I never "finished" a station, since the interviewer would keep asking follow-up prompts...not sure if that means anything.

Literally every single station for me haha

[fightoffyourdemons]

Okay good lol. The questions were not really "decision" ones so I didn't know if there was a natural end to the station.

[thsc]

Okay good lol. The questions were not really "decision" ones so I didn't know if there was a natural end to the station.

I had the same contention. Got cut-off by the bell every time. 

[thiscomment]

Anyone know when we'll get to pick campus selection? And how much time they give the reply for that?

[spotsanddots]

Anyone know when we'll get to pick campus selection? And how much time they give the reply for that?

Someone confirm this but it might be a week after your interview. Not sure about your second question.

[bakercyclist]

Did anyone else talk and answer questions until the bell rang for the next station? I never "finished" a station, since the interviewer would keep asking follow-up prompts...not sure if that means anything.

 

I had one station that I had mostly summed up my points and asked the interviewer how much time was left since she'd stopped asking follow-ups. She said she wasn't sure, but probably a few minutes, so just as I was figuring out if I had anything else to add, the bell rang! Eight minutes goes by real fast!

 

I think they said two weeks after the first interview sessions for campus selection. Anyone else hoping for a regional campus?

[thiscomment]

I had one station that I had mostly summed up my points and asked the interviewer how much time was left since she'd stopped asking follow-ups. She said she wasn't sure, but probably a few minutes, so just as I was figuring out if I had anything else to add, the bell rang! Eight minutes goes by real fast!

 

I think they said two weeks after the first interview sessions for campus selection. Anyone else hoping for a regional campus?

 

 

I wish they had a better online video/tour of their campus. I saw their videos and it didn't really give me a sense of the campus.

 

Like it would be good if there was some video to look at the class/facilities and also the general surrounding area/town/cities -- and how far away those cities/towns were.

[bearded frog]

If you have any specific questions about the regional campuses or want photos, either post here with your questions or contact Wendy who will forward you to someone at that campus and they will be very happy to answer any questions and even provide specific photos if you're interested. If you want info on the location of the campuses too feel free to ask that here or make a new thread or contact Wendy.

 

Campus selection usually comes 1 week after interview, with 2 weeks to choose.

[Heisencat]

Did anyone else talk and answer questions until the bell rang for the next station? I never "finished" a station, since the interviewer would keep asking follow-up prompts...not sure if that means anything.

 

Isn't that what the MMI is supposed to be like? You talk about the initial prompt on the door and then answer their follow-up questions, until you run out of time. Would you rather sit in silence after your initial bit ends? 

[fightoffyourdemons]

I guess I just hear stories and posts where people have said that they discussed their bit and then sat in silence until the time ran out. Not just for Mac MMI, but for other schools as well. 

[jlkhhylyiluh6]

Felt good this morning! SO much better than Queens. To address some people above, some MMIs have stations where the interviewer does not say anything to you, ie you just talk the whole time and they dont ask questions (which SUCKS if you run out of things to say before time is up). 

[pablo_yike]

Well, I procrastinated at various points along the application process from MCAT prep to OMSAS forms to.....

 

But I'm proud to report that I've wasted no time whatsoever compiling a mental list of things to beat myself up over saying/not saying if I'm not accepted.

 

6.5 weeks.......tic.......toc.......tic.....toc

[BeeDoc]

Looks like they just sent out the campus ranking survey to people who interviewed on March 21st or 22nd! 

 

Does anyone know how we can set up a tour at the regional campuses?

[fightoffyourdemons]

I think you can email Wendy, and she'll connect you with the people at the other campuses.

[BeeDoc]

I think you can email Wendy, and she'll connect you with the people at the other campuses.

 

Thanks!

 

Also, does anyone have any insight on each of the campuses? i.e. pros and cons?

[Euphenism1]

Thanks!

 

Also, does anyone have any insight on each of the campuses? i.e. pros and cons?

 

Yeah, I'd also like to know more - especially differentiating between Niagara and Kitchener  

[Sarvish]

I can try and answer specific questions about Niagara and how it differs from Hamilton but I have no knowledge on Waterloo.

For tours, e-mail Wendy and she'll put you in touch with someone at either NRC or WRC and they've got a list of students willing to give tours.

[bakercyclist]

I don't know much about the campus, but if anyone wants to know about KW as a (twin-)city, I can answer questions. Something to keep in mind is that it's going to be a bit of a hassle to get around the city for the next few years with the LRT construction. King St. between the campus, GR Hospital and the universities is closed for a year right now. So it'll be great to be here in 2017 once there's an LRT, but before that it could be a bit frustrating. 

[BeeDoc]

I can try and answer specific questions about Niagara and how it differs from Hamilton but I have no knowledge on Waterloo.

 

For tours, e-mail Wendy and she'll put you in touch with someone at either NRC or WRC and they've got a list of students willing to give tours.

 

Hey Sarvish,

 

I'm leaning towards Niagara as my top choice regional campus. Can you give me some info as to what you think sets Niagara apart from the Hamilton campus or vice versa? Also, how do you find the quality of the teaching hospitals/teaching facilities (e.g. simulation labs, anatomy labs) in Niagara compared to Hamilton?

 

Thanks for the insight! 

[Sarvish]

Hey Sarvish,

 

I'm leaning towards Niagara as my top choice regional campus. Can you give me some info as to what you think sets Niagara apart from the Hamilton campus or vice versa? Also, how do you find the quality of the teaching hospitals/teaching facilities (e.g. simulation labs, anatomy labs) in Niagara compared to Hamilton?

 

Thanks for the insight! 

 

Hey! I'm super excited that you're leaning towards NRC! I was one of those people that you heard about on the interview day that ranked Hamilton first but would now rank Niagara first without a doubt. I absolutely love it here.

 

Things that set us apart:

1) Smaller Class size - I really enjoy the smaller class size actually -- we're all really close friends that run into each other pretty much every day. There are tons of socials organized and it's really easy to get the entire class together for someone's birthday. I also have close friends in Hamilton/Waterloo and it's not that far if you're worried about being completely separate. 

 

2) Amazing admin - I think we have nearly as many (or even more) administrative staff as we do students at NRC. They really, really care about you and the first day we showed up, they had studied our photo IDs and referred to us by names, which was a super nice personal touch. There are lots of people to help you out whenever you have even the slightest problem

 

3) Electives - Related to admin, we have a wonderful electives coordinator at Niagara. If you want a horizontal elective in Hamilton, it's your job to find a doctor willing to take you and e-mail them on your own. For us, we have an electives coordinator who you can email and say "Hey, I want to do a day in X specialty on this day" and she will personally find you a doctor and hook you up with them. Super convenient and makes it very easy to spend a lot of time in the hospitals if you're into that. 

 

4) Closer to attendings on placements - I spent a few days in Hamilton doing horizontals where I was pretty much shadowing a resident which works for some people but I didn't enjoy that much. In Niagara, you're nearly always with an attending since there's very few residents in the area and because you're next in line, you can get to do some really cool things that sometimes the resident would do in Hamilton. I got to help place a few CVCs and some friends have done chest tubes and suturing in the ER. Speaking of the ER shift, amazing experience without a resident to be under, you're usually the first person to see the patient after the triage nurse (As a 1st year!) and you'll do the history and relevant physical and report back to the attending. I found it to be an amazing experience compared to when I was in Hamilton and I was just following people around (May have just been a bad preceptor)

 

5) Facilities - Our main hospital (St. Catharines) just opened in May 2013 so it's brand new and super gorgeous. Beautiful student areas where you may have tutorial/clin skills and lots of state-of-the-art equipment.

 

6) Standardized patients - We have access to unlimited SPs in Niagara whereas there's a limit set in Hamilton to how many hours each tutorial group can have. Really nice to practice physical exams on since they're trained ahead of time for the case for the week (They'll pretend to be in pain and they'll know which signs they should show during the physical exam). Simulation labs are the same as Hamilton I believe

 

7) Anatomy - Our anatomy lab is admittedly smaller than Hamilton but we do have anatomy every week (it was only once every month when I was in Hamilton for MF1) with a smaller group, 14 of us at a time. The anatomy docs drive down from Hamilton to teach and bring the relevant specimens so you're not getting anything subpar there either. Also, we get a cadaver for our class that we get to dissect whereas Hamilton has an anatomy opportunity that's through a lottery or something like that.

 

That's all I can think of off the top of my head, feel free to ask any more specific questions if you've got them

[Recoil]

Hey! I'm super excited that you're leaning towards NRC! I was one of those people that you heard about on the interview day that ranked Hamilton first but would now rank Niagara first without a doubt. I absolutely love it here.

 

Things that set us apart:

1) Smaller Class size - I really enjoy the smaller class size actually -- we're all really close friends that run into each other pretty much every day. There are tons of socials organized and it's really easy to get the entire class together for someone's birthday. I also have close friends in Hamilton/Waterloo and it's not that far if you're worried about being completely separate. 

 

2) Amazing admin - I think we have nearly as many (or even more) administrative staff as we do students at NRC. They really, really care about you and the first day we showed up, they had studied our photo IDs and referred to us by names, which was a super nice personal touch. There are lots of people to help you out whenever you have even the slightest problem

 

3) Electives - Related to admin, we have a wonderful electives coordinator at Niagara. If you want a horizontal elective in Hamilton, it's your job to find a doctor willing to take you and e-mail them on your own. For us, we have an electives coordinator who you can email and say "Hey, I want to do a day in X specialty on this day" and she will personally find you a doctor and hook you up with them. Super convenient and makes it very easy to spend a lot of time in the hospitals if you're into that. 

 

4) Closer to attendings on placements - I spent a few days in Hamilton doing horizontals where I was pretty much shadowing a resident which works for some people but I didn't enjoy that much. In Niagara, you're nearly always with an attending since there's very few residents in the area and because you're next in line, you can get to do some really cool things that sometimes the resident would do in Hamilton. I got to help place a few CVCs and some friends have done chest tubes and suturing in the ER. Speaking of the ER shift, amazing experience without a resident to be under, you're usually the first person to see the patient after the triage nurse (As a 1st year!) and you'll do the history and relevant physical and report back to the attending. I found it to be an amazing experience compared to when I was in Hamilton and I was just following people around (May have just been a bad preceptor)

 

5) Facilities - Our main hospital (St. Catharines) just opened in May 2013 so it's brand new and super gorgeous. Beautiful student areas where you may have tutorial/clin skills and lots of state-of-the-art equipment.

 

6) Standardized patients - We have access to unlimited SPs in Niagara whereas there's a limit set in Hamilton to how many hours each tutorial group can have. Really nice to practice physical exams on since they're trained ahead of time for the case for the week (They'll pretend to be in pain and they'll know which signs they should show during the physical exam). Simulation labs are the same as Hamilton I believe

 

7) Anatomy - Our anatomy lab is admittedly smaller than Hamilton but we do have anatomy every week (it was only once every month when I was in Hamilton for MF1) with a smaller group, 14 of us at a time. The anatomy docs drive down from Hamilton to teach and bring the relevant specimens so you're not getting anything subpar there either. Also, we get a cadaver for our class that we get to dissect whereas Hamilton has an anatomy opportunity that's through a lottery or something like that.

 

That's all I can think of off the top of my head, feel free to ask any more specific questions if you've got them

 

You are selling NRC very well

[BeeDoc]

Hey! I'm super excited that you're leaning towards NRC! I was one of those people that you heard about on the interview day that ranked Hamilton first but would now rank Niagara first without a doubt. I absolutely love it here.

 

Things that set us apart:

1) Smaller Class size - I really enjoy the smaller class size actually -- we're all really close friends that run into each other pretty much every day. There are tons of socials organized and it's really easy to get the entire class together for someone's birthday. I also have close friends in Hamilton/Waterloo and it's not that far if you're worried about being completely separate. 

 

2) Amazing admin - I think we have nearly as many (or even more) administrative staff as we do students at NRC. They really, really care about you and the first day we showed up, they had studied our photo IDs and referred to us by names, which was a super nice personal touch. There are lots of people to help you out whenever you have even the slightest problem

 

3) Electives - Related to admin, we have a wonderful electives coordinator at Niagara. If you want a horizontal elective in Hamilton, it's your job to find a doctor willing to take you and e-mail them on your own. For us, we have an electives coordinator who you can email and say "Hey, I want to do a day in X specialty on this day" and she will personally find you a doctor and hook you up with them. Super convenient and makes it very easy to spend a lot of time in the hospitals if you're into that. 

 

4) Closer to attendings on placements - I spent a few days in Hamilton doing horizontals where I was pretty much shadowing a resident which works for some people but I didn't enjoy that much. In Niagara, you're nearly always with an attending since there's very few residents in the area and because you're next in line, you can get to do some really cool things that sometimes the resident would do in Hamilton. I got to help place a few CVCs and some friends have done chest tubes and suturing in the ER. Speaking of the ER shift, amazing experience without a resident to be under, you're usually the first person to see the patient after the triage nurse (As a 1st year!) and you'll do the history and relevant physical and report back to the attending. I found it to be an amazing experience compared to when I was in Hamilton and I was just following people around (May have just been a bad preceptor)

 

5) Facilities - Our main hospital (St. Catharines) just opened in May 2013 so it's brand new and super gorgeous. Beautiful student areas where you may have tutorial/clin skills and lots of state-of-the-art equipment.

 

6) Standardized patients - We have access to unlimited SPs in Niagara whereas there's a limit set in Hamilton to how many hours each tutorial group can have. Really nice to practice physical exams on since they're trained ahead of time for the case for the week (They'll pretend to be in pain and they'll know which signs they should show during the physical exam). Simulation labs are the same as Hamilton I believe

 

7) Anatomy - Our anatomy lab is admittedly smaller than Hamilton but we do have anatomy every week (it was only once every month when I was in Hamilton for MF1) with a smaller group, 14 of us at a time. The anatomy docs drive down from Hamilton to teach and bring the relevant specimens so you're not getting anything subpar there either. Also, we get a cadaver for our class that we get to dissect whereas Hamilton has an anatomy opportunity that's through a lottery or something like that.

 

That's all I can think of off the top of my head, feel free to ask any more specific questions if you've got them

 

Thanks for the fantastic reply! NRC sounds really really great - I hope to setup a tour of it soon!

[Birdy]

Hey! I'm super excited that you're leaning towards NRC! I was one of those people that you heard about on the interview day that ranked Hamilton first but would now rank Niagara first without a doubt. I absolutely love it here....[/size][/font]

Well, that all makes me feel better about putting NRC as my #2 choice. Hamilton works better for us job and school-wise for my husband and kids, but I really like what I hear about Niagara. If it were just me, I'd have put it as my first choice. Think I'd be just as happy at either, though.

[Heisencat]

Hey! I'm super excited that you're leaning towards NRC! I was one of those people that you heard about on the interview day that ranked Hamilton first but would now rank Niagara first without a doubt. I absolutely love it here.

 

Things that set us apart:

1) Smaller Class size - I really enjoy the smaller class size actually -- we're all really close friends that run into each other pretty much every day. There are tons of socials organized and it's really easy to get the entire class together for someone's birthday. I also have close friends in Hamilton/Waterloo and it's not that far if you're worried about being completely separate. 

 

2) Amazing admin - I think we have nearly as many (or even more) administrative staff as we do students at NRC. They really, really care about you and the first day we showed up, they had studied our photo IDs and referred to us by names, which was a super nice personal touch. There are lots of people to help you out whenever you have even the slightest problem

 

3) Electives - Related to admin, we have a wonderful electives coordinator at Niagara. If you want a horizontal elective in Hamilton, it's your job to find a doctor willing to take you and e-mail them on your own. For us, we have an electives coordinator who you can email and say "Hey, I want to do a day in X specialty on this day" and she will personally find you a doctor and hook you up with them. Super convenient and makes it very easy to spend a lot of time in the hospitals if you're into that. 

 

4) Closer to attendings on placements - I spent a few days in Hamilton doing horizontals where I was pretty much shadowing a resident which works for some people but I didn't enjoy that much. In Niagara, you're nearly always with an attending since there's very few residents in the area and because you're next in line, you can get to do some really cool things that sometimes the resident would do in Hamilton. I got to help place a few CVCs and some friends have done chest tubes and suturing in the ER. Speaking of the ER shift, amazing experience without a resident to be under, you're usually the first person to see the patient after the triage nurse (As a 1st year!) and you'll do the history and relevant physical and report back to the attending. I found it to be an amazing experience compared to when I was in Hamilton and I was just following people around (May have just been a bad preceptor)

 

5) Facilities - Our main hospital (St. Catharines) just opened in May 2013 so it's brand new and super gorgeous. Beautiful student areas where you may have tutorial/clin skills and lots of state-of-the-art equipment.

 

6) Standardized patients - We have access to unlimited SPs in Niagara whereas there's a limit set in Hamilton to how many hours each tutorial group can have. Really nice to practice physical exams on since they're trained ahead of time for the case for the week (They'll pretend to be in pain and they'll know which signs they should show during the physical exam). Simulation labs are the same as Hamilton I believe

 

7) Anatomy - Our anatomy lab is admittedly smaller than Hamilton but we do have anatomy every week (it was only once every month when I was in Hamilton for MF1) with a smaller group, 14 of us at a time. The anatomy docs drive down from Hamilton to teach and bring the relevant specimens so you're not getting anything subpar there either. Also, we get a cadaver for our class that we get to dissect whereas Hamilton has an anatomy opportunity that's through a lottery or something like that.

 

That's all I can think of off the top of my head, feel free to ask any more specific questions if you've got them

 

Wow, I'm loving the sound of Niagara! Thanks for the info. What would you say are some disadvantages of being at the NRC? Also, is it necessary to have access to a car at the regional campuses or can one rely upon public transport? What do you think of St. Catharines as a city?

[Sarvish]

Wow, I'm loving the sound of Niagara! Thanks for the info. What would you say are some disadvantages of being at the NRC? Also, is it necessary to have access to a car at the regional campuses or can one rely upon public transport? What do you think of St. Catharines as a city?

Glad people seem to be warming up to the idea of NRC. 

 

Disadvantages: Honestly, nothing major, a few things I can pick on though.

1) VCing - While not the worst, there's times where people in Hamilton forget to use the microphones at their table so we can't hear student questions during lectures but someone from NRC/WRC will usually interrupt the lecture to ask and people will fix that. It was also more of a problem right when we moved but definitely not a huge annoyance. Sometimes there will be interest groups that don't book VC rooms (completely their fault, it's literally a checkbox on the form) but if you ask early enough, they'll VC it. 

 

2) Sub-specialties - We have most specialties in Niagara but for some specific things, Hamilton is sometimes the best option. Like for forensic psychiatry, I have to drive into Hamilton because there's just not good options in Niagara for it. It's only a 45 minute drive which isn't bad and you're not going to be driving into Hamilton too often at all, some people go less than once a month. 

 

3) Car - That's the one big thing I think of, you really need a car to get around Niagara. We had 1 person in our class who didn't have a car when we moved in December and she got one as soon as she could because the transit is not great and a lot of the best learning opportunities are on late-night or call shifts when public transit doesn't run. I mean you could probably get around without a car but I'd say it's a near necessity. 

 

 

In terms of St. Catharines as a city, I like it! I thought I wouldn't because I grew up in Toronto and had never lived in a smaller city but it's nice. People are super friendly and will sometimes stop and talk to you if they recognize your med backpack. They're also really excited about having med students in the area and will tell you how proud they are of you which is always a good pick-me-up. Haven't found anything really lacking, there's good malls, farmer's markets, bars/pubs. Niagara Falls is about 15 minutes from my house so tons of tourist-y things to do around there. On the off-season, we got a hotel room for <$50 in Niagara Falls for 4 of us and just spent a night hanging around the casinos and surrounding area. Also, as Ellery said during his NRC talk during all of your interviews, the border is also really close which makes for fun day trips! 

 

ETA: I forgot to mention, sometimes people state research as lacking at regional campuses and I disagree with that. We have a great research coordinator who's helped everyone at NRC set up a QI (Quality improvement) project on improving the medical curriculum that we're presenting posters for in a couple weeks. The next stage of it is a QI project related to a clinical aspect which, I believe, you work on during clerkship. There's also other research projects available if you decide you want more. Our research coordinator managed to find me a great project that I'm working on that should result in a publication and it's pretty low workload.