Disappointed With Assignment To Uoft Mississauga Campus

[futurefamilydoc]

OP was looking for support from the community regarding a transition that may be difficult. Everyone has worked hard, everyone has different challenges they must overcome. The best thing you can do is validate the person's concerns instead of dismissing them as trivial because they're in a different position as other individuals. Everyone's narrative is important

I don't think robclem was trying to be dismissive, just trying to put things into perspective. The commute to MAM really isn't a big deal in the grand scheme of things, and you still get the same quality of education as a student at the St. George campus. For the OP it may be a big enough issue for them to turn down their offer, which is entirely their right, but it's still important to provide them with some information to aid their decision and allow them to make a more informed choice rather than a rash decision.

[Selstaar]

OP was looking for support from the community regarding a transition that may be difficult. Everyone has worked hard, everyone has different challenges they must overcome. The best thing you can do is validate the person's concerns instead of dismissing them as trivial because they're in a different position as other individuals. Everyone's narrative is important

 

 

Hey,

 

Providing someone with insight into the perspectives of others who may not agree doesn't equate with being unsupportive. I agree with you...it's necessary to validate concerns. But it's pretty easy to wind up only listening to those who reaffirm your worries...and, in this case, a lot of those will wind up being people who declined their offer to the Mississauga campus and don't have the experiences necessary to provide fully informed perspectives regarding the challenges you'll incur.

 

OP, you're right. Commuting to and from school will wind up having an impact on your emotional and physical health and wellness. Same with the challenges of moving to a new city if that's what you wind up doing. So will medical school. And, you would face them even if you'd been admitted to the downtown campus. I think the next four years and frankly, the rest of your career will wind up revolving around deciding which pains you're most willing to endure. 

 

robclem mentioned that everyone worked hard. OP worked hard as well. And, I think more so than the pressures employed by anyone else, the primary driver should be their wants and the experience they feel their efforts have earned them.

[PurpleS]

Providing someone with insight into the perspectives of others who may not agree doesn't equate with being unsupportive.

 

Yes, I agree. I was more referring to the posts that were like "why are you complaining, at least you got an acceptance!"

 

To OP: Your campus assignment may have not been ideal, I'm sure the UofT MD community and everyone at MAM will supportive on the days where the commute is too stressful Best of luck!!

[Organomegaly]

to be frank, who even cares if they decline the offer, it just means that the waitlist moves one spot and someone else will be incredibly happy and be a better fit for the campus

 

 

to each their own; i think part of this strong response to the OP (albeit I do find the timing of the post to be in bad taste and reflect less than ideal sensitivity) is that people are uncomfortable with seeing others in their position not bend over backwards for medicine. 

[Redpill]

to be frank, who even cares if they decline the offer, it just means that the waitlist moves one spot and someone else will be incredibly happy and be a better fit for the campus

 

 

to each their own; i think part of this strong response to the OP (albeit I do find the timing of the post to be in bad taste and reflect less than ideal sensitivity) is that people are uncomfortable with seeing others in their position not bend over backwards for medicine. 

 

Nah, people are just annoyed at OP for complaining about how they are disappointed the same day that about half the people on this board received some very unfortunate news. For someone who received straight rejections, it would probably feel like rubbing salt onto a very open wound.

[penguin04]

to be frank, who even cares if they decline the offer, it just means that the waitlist moves one spot and someone else will be incredibly happy and be a better fit for the campus

 

 

to each their own; i think part of this strong response to the OP (albeit I do find the timing of the post to be in bad taste and reflect less than ideal sensitivity) is that people are uncomfortable with seeing others in their position not bend over backwards for medicine.

Nah, I think people are miffed because the OP is complaining about a 30 minute commute. In the grand scheme of things, the distance is not really that big of a deal. Mississauga is a "different city" but it's so close and accessible to St. George. MAM is a gorgeous campus with an incredible community! To the OP, I hope you choose to accept your offer. You'd be missing out on something really fantastic.

[Edict]

I think its definitely both,

 

First OP shouldn't have posted so soon after offers came out since many people didn't get offers and it would be insensitive.

 

Second, it seems as if OP would have been happy only if they got into UT St George, which is a part of one medical school out of all the medical schools in Canada. One would then think, does she expect to do all her training in downtown Toronto and work as an attending there as well? How realistic is that.

 

Third, a 30 minute commute is something millions of people have been doing their entire lives without complaint, in fact many of her future patients will have not only managed hour long commutes (or longer!) both ways for most of their lives. Is she then going to tell them their "health" has been irreversibly harmed now because of their commute?

 

At the end of the day, there is privilege in being a doctor, self care is important but we need to also balance that with realizing how difficult others have it in this world and realizing that we are still one of the lucky few. Besides, no one forced you to be a doctor. 

[lexiiiluther]

It's not that every person who has had to take a 30 minute commute has bee irreversibly harmed because of their commute. All people value different things and OP may just value this more than other people. It's whatever floats your boat, and it's different for everyone. 

I can understand why they might be disappointed - they worked hard (like everyone else) and the result wasn't necessarily as they wanted. I think it's okay to be disappointed. However I feel like the topic is starting to run away from itself... OP didn't say they would decline their offer, from my perspective they were just looking for personal experience, reassurance and reasons for why MAM is a great school. Perhaps the wording or timing of the original post could have been different, but OP seems to understand that (or at least by now a lot of have people have been saying as much).

Instead of focusing on the negatives or continue faulting OP, why not continue to offer more perspective on MAM instead of having the mentality that OP should just suck it up and accept it?

From some posts in this thread I can gather that...
 

• if you have to commute, it's quite efficient. There is a free shuttle! A majority of people relocate, but if you want to commute that's up to you, and it's definitely doable, though it isn't necessarily recommended. Perhaps you and your significant other can find a middle ground distance-wise? 
• Curriculum is changing a bit so consider this as well when considering whether you would still like to commute.
• "Faculty is unbelievably accommodating and goes the extra mile for us" -robclem21
• "[You] get amazing clinical experiences in first and second year akin to what clerks see in third and fourth year" -robclem21
• Brand-new building (less than 5 years)
• Amazing environment, and class is like a family
• In another thread, Osteogeek said that they lose at least 10 hours a week in transit, but that it is worth being able to be with their SO everyday. (It can also be quite expensive). Source
• "Most people applying to UofT have this fear of being placed in Mississauga when in fact yearly reviews for the past couple years have shown that Mississauga is the better campus " - Insomnia Source
• Smaller campuses tend to have better class sizes, more clinical exposure, and better teacher to student ratios
• You still have access to Toronto hospitals for observership/shadowing
• Food can be cheaper in the Mississauga area Source
• "That being said MAM gets some sweet perks (candies, t-shirts hahaha) and have a super sweet new building (MSB is old and moldy)." - ACHS Source
• You will get the same degree from U of T no matter what campus you're at
• A thread on housing in Mississauga if you do decide to move
• Here is a blog post about MAM from a student there

 

I hope you do choose MAM as you had posted earlier. It's a great school, and I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

[Organomegaly]

It's not that every person who has had to take a 30 minute commute has bee irreversibly harmed because of their commute. All people value different things and OP may just value this more than other people. It's whatever floats your boat, and it's different for everyone. 

 

I can understand why they might be disappointed - they worked hard (like everyone else) and the result wasn't necessarily as they wanted. I think it's okay to be disappointed. However I feel like the topic is starting to run away from itself... OP didn't say they would decline their offer, from my perspective they were just looking for personal experience, reassurance and reasons for why MAM is a great school. Perhaps the wording or timing of the original post could have been different, but OP seems to understand that (or at least by now a lot of have people have been saying as much).

 

 

Thank you for phrasing it much better than I could have

 

This thread should have been about discussing the pros and cons of commuting and giving the OP a different perspective

 

It was basically derailed into shaming for rejecting an offer to med (which we don't even know the OP is doing). I've seen this happen on pm101 before. Another married poster got into an Ontario medical school but declined because the location simply wasn't ideal for them - the response to her on that thread was almost vile. 

 

Not everyone is going to uproot themselves for a med acceptance, even if many people see self-sacrifice as a necessity to live the "med life". People choose what sacrifices they want to make and when.

 

Why people care so much is beyond me - if she doesn't taken the offer than the waitlist simply moves up. There was literally no harm done. 

 

The only thing this OP should have done is wait a bit more before asking this question

[Edict]

Thank you for phrasing it much better than I could have

 

This thread should have been about discussing the pros and cons of commuting and giving the OP a different perspective

 

It was basically derailed into shaming for rejecting an offer to med (which we don't even know the OP is doing). I've seen this happen on pm101 before. Another married poster got into an Ontario medical school but declined because the location simply wasn't ideal for them - the response to her on that thread was almost vile. 

 

Not everyone is going to uproot themselves for a med acceptance, even if many people see self-sacrifice as a necessity to live the "med life". People choose what sacrifices they want to make and when.

 

Why people care so much is beyond me - if she doesn't taken the offer than the waitlist simply moves up. There was literally no harm done. 

 

The only thing this OP should have done is wait a bit more before asking this question

 

I think the OP should have just waited a bit but also been a bit more sensitive. Complaining that a 30 minute commute is too long and then chastising medical students for not caring about each other's wellbeing is a bit much. 

 

I've been doing 2 hour commutes on public transit every day since I was 11.

[B A T M A N]

Someone must live a very pampered life if they're complaining about a 30min commute lol. 

[PurpleS]

Someone must live a very pampered life if they're complaining about a 30min commute lol. 

 

Please don't make this kind of assumption. Let's try to offer OP advice on the pros and cons of commuting and allow her to make an informed decision without judgement.

 

I commuted all throughout undergrad, and although I know it's not quite the same as med, OP can feel free to PM me for some advice that got me through the commute on long stressful days.