Reason to choose Manitoba

[Guest pjdavis]

I know this may be a bit premature but I have been wait-listed at another school and was wondering about reasons to choose Manitoba should I be accepted at both. Anyway one of the things I've heard is that Manitoba has a rotating internship program. Meaning that everyone when they qualify has basically the same training, and it is not geared towards a specialty in medicine when clerkship begins as with other schools. Is this true? If so is residency in Manitoba a little different, where one is playing catch up on others who have choosen their specialization at the beginning of clerkship?

 

-pjdavis

[Guest dhowser]

would any moderator like to answer this? I'm also interested.

 

As well, does manitoba do all of their core rotations before doing their electives? I know that UWO has their electives in fourth year after doing their rotations.

 

Thanks!

[Guest j100]

Hey there,

 

Well I can't comment on other schools, but at the U of M your years 1 and 2 are spent in lectures. Years 3 and 4 are clerkship, and are spent rotating through core set of specialties, as well as a couple of elective periods.

 

The list in no particular order is as follows:

1. Family Medicine

2. Community Medicine

3. Internal Medicine

4. Obstetrics and Gynecology

5. Pediatrics

6. Psychiatry

7. Surgery

8. Multiple Specialty Rotation

--Anesthesia

--Emergency Medicine

--Community Health Sciences

--Opthalmology

--Otolaryngology

9. Electives

 

The only exception is that electives occur towards the end of clerkship. I can't exactly remember the number of elective periods but I believe it is 2 or 3.

 

You may find the following link useful:

 

www.umanitoba.ca/facultie.../index.htm

 

Regarding residency, I don't think there are any major differences between UofM and other schools with regards to "playing catchup" in residency. I believe that everyone who graduates from a Canadian Medical school is on equal footing when it comes to residency. That might also be subject to personal opinion.

 

Cheers,

 

J.

[Guest Koppertone]

Well, one of the primary reasons why I'm chosing Manitoba (other than the fact that I've only heard from one other school to date) is their incredibly low tuition and housing. Tuition is just about $8000/yr, and they gave me a $5000 entrance scholarship making it far more affordable than the $14,000 I'd be facing at other schools.

[Guest dhowser]

that's very true that it's much cheaper but apparently even at the more expensive schools, almost everyone gets compensated somehow by bursaries and what not. At least some people have told me that! I think that would offset the cost a little bit as well for any school

[Guest coastal79]

I haven't gone to U Man, and I won't be going, but I did have it ranked #2 on my list of the 4 schools I got interviewed at, above UBC and U of A. The reasons? Small class size, and the OOP students seemed to fit into the class quite easily. I think there would be more opportunities to be active and do things there than at a bigger center like U of A or UBC. At the same time, you would get some zebras because it's not that small (although I wonder how relevant to learning the basics of becoming a physician the zebras are). Also, the summer programs sounded excellent. PJ, since you've been waitlisted at U of A, I would say another thing to consider is your learning style. U of A is predominantly lectures for the first two years, which I didn't want. Manitoba has some lectures and some PBL. Finally, the cost factor is huge. Cheaper tuition, plus summer programs that pay you while you learn more about medicine? Can't really beat it. Dhowser is right, some schools (but by no means all of them) have bursaries and scholarships to offset the costs. But I'm sure Manitoba also has these available.

[Guest j100]

Costal,

 

You mentioned some really good info that I neglected to include. I echo your comments:

 

1. Tuition at U of M is one of the lowest in the country, and I don't feel the quality of the education suffers for this. I can't see bursaries, and scholarships offsetting this difference for all students in the more expensive schools.

2. The faculty are always wanting to hear student feedback, and try and improve/change things based on this feedback.

3. Nice balanced mix of lectures, tutorials and you even get some patient contact in first year.

4. Due to the smaller class size there are ample opportunities to become involved in outside activities.

5. There are some really good summer programs. Such as BSc. Med program, Rural Med program, Northern Med program. There are also other unpaid programs that you can become involved with.

 

These are just some of the good things!!

 

 

Cheers,

 

J.

[Guest ManitobaMed]

Hey there,

 

Indeed, during clerkship here, core rotations are completed before electives, so electives don't begin until Med 4. However, the core rotations include some options. One of the rotations, for example, includes a medicine selective and a surgery selective, which hopefully give you the opportunity to do work in your specialty of choice before reaching electives. Also, for surgery, you can choose a particular general surgery service (green, gold, and orange at HSC or one of two services at St. Boniface), and these services offer different core experiences.

 

One of the reasons the U of M has switched to doing core rotations first -- the current med 3 class is the first at our school to follow this schedule -- is that this system allows students exposure to all major specialty areas prior to the residency application. Also, some elective programs require that certain core rotations be completed prior to the start of the elective.

 

 

Reasons for choosing the U of M:

1) Every other year, the med class is cool, so this is a good year to get in. (Sorry, j100. )

2) You'll have a lot of fun trying not to lose *too* badly to my class in floor hockey.

3) There are 89 fantastic members of the class of 2006 just waiting to be revered. No, really, we'll let you worship us. (I believe the med lockers are just the right size for a shrine...)

4a) Beer and Skits.

4b) The many profs who provide inspiration for Beer and Skits.

5) The HSC I.D. photo guy will keep taking pictures until you look both human and friendly in your photo.

 

 

Or, to take your question more seriously (though shrines are always welcome):

6) Reasonable tuition.

7) Relatively cheap rent, even if you live somewhere nicer than the med apartments.

8) Blended teaching style. (lectures, self-directed, tutorials, and PBL)

9) Grading is a straight pass-fail (no honours), so there's no competition among students.

10) Certain courses are excellent, and most are very good. (I readily admit there are a couple of duds, but you'll likely find those anywhere you go.)

11) Most course directors are open to changing and improving their courses.

12) Good clinical experience in preclerkship.

13) Extracurricular opportunities in a wide variety of activities: student government, intramurals, volunteerism, art projects, etc.

14) The people on staff at the Bannatyne campus are super-friendly, including but not limited to: the gym people, S204, the cleaning staff, the folks in the book store... While this might seem like a silly point to make, friendly, familiar faces make a huge difference when you're a couple of days away from a block exam and you've hardly slept in 2 weeks.

15) The students. We rock. (Did I mention shrines?)

[Guest Ian Wong]

I've had the chance to meet and talk with several grads from U of M, including those about to start residency and those already in residency. It's been my impression that like U of S, U of M students get a sick amount of responsibility on the wards compared with their counterpart med students elsewhere in Canada.

 

I remember complaining about how hard Internal Medicine was at UBC in terms of hours and patients (this is hospital dependant, of course), to which a U of M grad told me about HIS med student experiences in Winnipeg. Suffice to say I quit whining at that point! The thing is that all that extra autonomy and work that you put in at the med school level I believe makes your transition into residency that much more comfortable.

2) You'll have a lot of fun trying not to lose *too* badly to my class in floor hockey.

PS: REAL med students play ice hockey.

 

Ian

[Guest ManitobaMed]

No worries, Ian... we play ice hockey, too. Floor hockey just happens to be played in co-ed, class-specific form, allowing for better rivalry development.