February 5th

[Guest missing MB]

Really Brandonite, you seemed like such a reasonable guy! The order of greatest sports is:

1. soccer (indoor or outdoor)

2. rugby

3. hockey (ice or floor or street)

4. lacrosse (I've never played, but it's fun to watch...)

5. Canadian rules football...maybe....because I'm feeling generous and the Bombers weren't embarassingly bad this year...

 

Numbers 4 and 5 can change on any given day, but 1, 2, and 3 are set in stone.

 

 

How many from Brandon are interviewing this year? There were three - I think - the year I took biochem, and I remember a couple of them mentioning the amazing resource that is the BU pre-med advisor.

 

 

I noticed the view count, too. I lurked for several months before posting anything. Needless to say, I'm a lot less self-conscious about it now.

[Guest brandonite]

I've never played Rugby. Always wanted to learn. And, believe it or not, I'm the only Canadian guy who never learned how to skate! I should be kicked out of the country. I'm more into summer sports. And I've only heard of lacrosse, don't really know too much about the game. I'll have to sit down and watch a game.

 

There are three of us interviewing, that I know of. Maybe more that aren't in biochem this year. I know a couple people got waitlisted last year, and are working this year, so they might be more out there.

 

Nobody else seems to have taken our offer to contribute.

[Guest Ian Wong]

Hockey #1. Everything else is optional!

 

Ian

UBC, Med 3

[Guest BCgirl]

The only thing I can contribute is that I know it's really cold in Winnipeg

 

Good luck with your apps guys

[Guest bmy1]

re: AGPA

 

for OOP applicants, what does an A- count as? 3.5? 3.75? 4.0?

 

It doesn't say on the website. Thanks.

[Guest missing Manitoba]

Hi bmy1,

 

I'm not really an authority on this, but I think an A- is a 4.0; this might, however, depend on your university's grading scheme.

 

 

Ian,

 

Hockey is great....it's just not soccer. Admittedly, I suck pretty royally at hockey (the puck won't leave the ground, and I can't skate very well anymore) so I might be a little biased.

 

 

Brandonite,

 

Definitely try rugby at some point if you have the chance -- it's SO much fun! I played in an intramural tournament last year -- there was no tournament this year because of all the injuries -- and I loved it!

[Guest brandonite]

bmy1 - It's a 4.0. Everything gets converted to the UofM scale. A and A- are 4.0, and a A+ gets a 4.5. And, they drop a lot of your worst credit hours. At my university, an A+ only counts as a 4.0, and there is no dropping of credit hours, so my AGPA is MUCH higher than my GPA at Brandon.

 

BCGirl - nice to see a fellow sometime-SDN'er on here. And you get used to the cold. I actually miss it sometimes. And any Manitoban who can afford it goes to Florida or California for two weeks in January. I have friends who go to Hawaii for two weeks. Sadly, I cannot afford that, so I'm stuck here. Maybe when I'm a doctor... It has a nice way of breaking up the winter, I'm told.

 

Ian - I play floor hockey. I'm a decent defenceman. But I can't skate or rollerblade, so ice hockey is a bit out of the question.

 

missing - I'll give it a try sometime this summer. I had a conductor (I'm a sometime musician) who kept telling us stories about his rugby days during rehersal. It was interesting... He told me about a guy who lost an ear during a game one time, and just had them put it in a cooler until the end of the game so he could keep playing....

 

Anyway, that has me thinking - Saz - do you know of any musical opportunities? I play both jazz and classical saxophone. I've played in the BU concert band for two years. Do you know of any med students who still keep up the music? I'd hate to just let it drop... It's really a great stress reliever...

[Guest missing MB]

Hey Brandonite,

 

I was wondering about playing opportunities, too; I haven't been able to participate in any kind of ensemble since high school, and I really miss it. I played the french horn in junior high and high school, plus took private lessons in cello and piano. Unfortunately, my horn was a rental. Although I still have my cello, I don't really play it anymore, but I play the piano all the time. (Stacey, formerly of BU and now a U of M med, was my duet partner. )

 

As for ears being damaged/torn off during rugby, apparently, it happens quite a bit, hence the ear protectors that many competitive rugby players wear -- and the missing/damaged ears that many of them sport. Thankfully, my ears escaped fully intact when I played.

 

 

BCGirl,

 

Good to see another poster in this neck of the woods! Manitoba is indeed cold...very, very cold...But, we Manitobans like griping about our awful weather, so it serves its purpose.

[Guest brandonite]

I know Stacey. We played in Westman Youth Band together for a couple years, and we were both Chem demos. I talked to her over break. She's really liking UofM. She's living in the apartments, and she was really happy with them. Small world. I'm pretty sure I must know you somehow... Brandon isn't a very big place. Probably as soon as I see you, I'll recognize you.

 

I've heard that there is are several jazz bands at the UofM just for non-music students, and I've heard that a bunch of med students do play in them. Not so sure about classical/orchestral type bands.

 

What is it about rugby that causes ears to be pulled off? That's strange... Are they torn off by other players?

[Guest Ian Wong]

The ears usually aren't pulled off. As a former hooker (ie. the guy that gets crushed in the center of each scrum), what usually happens is that the ear is crushed on impact.

 

What then happens is that you can get a large accumulation of blood (known as a hematoma) in the ear, as blood vessels are torn. The blood is trapped between the cartilage, and the skin of the ear. When this happens, the blood supply to the cartilage is compromised, and it dies, and often shrivels and folds up on itself. This is known as a cauliflower ear, and looks pretty damn ugly.

 

A cauliflower ear can be prevented by immediately cutting into the ear to drain out the blood, but there's not much else you can do to fix a cauliflower ear after the fact, which is why preventing them in the first place is so important.

 

By taping back the ears, you lower their profile from the front, and minimize the chance of them getting hit. Plus, you look that much meaner.

 

Ian

UBC, Med 3

[Guest sazzafrazz]

hello people,

wow tones of messages. that's great. no time for capitals today. our class has a band. 11 of my classmates are involved including 3 or 4 singers. in fact if you don't tell anyone...there's a certain end of block II party at a certain someone's house on friday and the band will be making a surprise performance. they play a little of everything.

 

don't forget when your preparing for interviews on your own to make sure you voice your answers. don't just think about what you're going to say, actually say it out loud. I think you'll find that you may choose to say it differently once you actually hear your answer. it's possible you may find yourself struggling for words too. this happened to me when i was practicing. i have a lot of experience giving presentations and various talks but there is a lot on the line and it makes you really think about what your saying while your talking, it can trip you up a little.

 

it's great that you get to do mock interviews, this will help to. in the city we didn't have that option last year, so maybe you'll have a one up on everyone else.

 

back to the books

saz

[Guest missing MB]

Ian,

 

Thanks for the medical explanation! I've never actually seen one of these injuries take place, so I didn't really know how they occurred.

 

 

Saz,

 

Thanks for the suggestion. I've been going over answers in my head, but I haven't tried practicing out loud. I might get a list of questions together, both based on my sketch and on stuff at interviewfeedback, and get a friend to mock interview me.

 

 

Brandonite,

 

You probably wouldn't know me -- I tend to blend in and avoid notice. I might know who you are, though. Would you happen to be the guy at the med info session at BU a couple of years ago who asked about being a physics major and going into medicine? I recognized him at the time from a band thing I'd participated in a few years before at BU. (I have something of a knack for remembering faces).

 

I was asked to audition for the Westman youth band after the band's director sat in on one of my school band's practices but decided against it because of other commitments. And, Brandon is definitely a small place. If the people applying from BU this year are the same ones who were at that info session, I went to pre-school with the older brother of one of them and went to elementary school with the older brother of another! :eek

[Guest brandonite]

Ian - thanks for the explanation as well. Somehow, I couldn't believe that people just tore each other's ears off. I don't know the exact physiology of what holds the ear to the rest of the head, but I know that it would take a lot of force to pull it right off.

 

Saz - Thanks for the tips. I want to get it over with, more than anything. I'm hoping to get one of the first interview days, and then I can forget about things for a bit, and maybe get early admission in April. Hopefully early in February. I just have to wait for one of my references to get her info in.

 

missing - I don't think that was me. I might know who you're talking about, though. I remember not asking a single question, and being glad that someone else asked that question... What did he look like?

 

I sat at the back of the with the first year girls (now third year, and applying with me).

 

Youth Band was wierd. You were lucky to avoid it. We had to do chants in songs, and other strange things. I had a thing for one of the clarinets, if I remember right, so I stuck around. :lol But the music was pretty bad.

[Guest cheech10]

Ian,

So that's why those crazy forwards taped their ears back! As a fullback and winger myself, I always wondered. Backs were lucky enough not to have to worry about stuff like that.

 

You Manitoba folks are lucky, getting all the action from schools this early. I think a lot of the views aren't from lurkers, but from Ontario applicants getting antsy.

[Guest missing MB]

Brandonite,

 

I heard about the chanting -- two of my high school classmates were in the band. Admittedly, I wouldn't have enjoyed that very much.

 

The guy I'm thinking about had blond hair. Come to think of it, though, he might have been in first year. :\ Aside from some of my soccer teammates and people from Elton Collegiate, I didn't really know a lot of people outside of my biochem class.

[Guest brandonite]

Ya, I don't think that's me. My hair is more brownish, and I know I didn't say anything at the meeting. I think I might know who you're talking about. I'll introduce myself to you in September, with any luck.

 

Too bad you didn't know more people. BU is great - everybody is really friendly. That's what I'm looking forward to at UofM. I've heard so much about how close the class is. US schools are supposed to be so competitive, and so focused on research and work. I don't mind working, but I also want to go to a fairly relaxed environment.

 

But I suppose you were only around for a year, so I can forgive you.

[Guest missing MB]

The people in my biochem class were great! And Drs. Belke and Yo were super, too. But, between chemo and radiation, I didn't have the energy to do a lot of socializing.

 

I actually chose the med schools I applied to based on positive things I'd heard about the students (and, to a lesser extent, based on geography), rather than what I'd heard about the schools' academics. But then, I'm not overly interested in research. :\

[Guest brandonite]

OK. You're forgiven, with your illness and all. I've seen a few people going through chemo, and to do that while going to school must have been really tough.

 

Did you apply to a lot of schools? I've only ever seen you talking about Manitoba. I'm curious as to how you would rank Manitoba compared to the Ontario schools. What's the feeling you get from people at Queens med? I have a friend who's applying to Ontario schools, but I decided not to (I'm out-of-province, and my MCAT is the best part of my application, not my GPA).

[Guest missing MB]

Hey Brandonite,

 

Doing school and chemo at the same time wasn't too bad ; the chemo unit in Brandon was really great about letting me schedule my treatments so that my energy level would be highest around tests and exams. And, I was only taking two classes during chemo (three during radiation), so my workload was pretty light.

 

In addition to Manitoba, I applied to Queen's (where I'll probably get an interview), Alberta (where I might get an interview), and USask (where I probably won't get an interview).

[Guest brandonite]

I always really liked the chemo people in Brandon - I was there a fair bit with my grandmother. Again, not the same, but I got an idea.

 

And I applied to 4 US schools and Manitoba. I passed on the Ontario ones (for reasons I told you about...).

 

Anyway, seeing as how it just seems to be you and I on here these days (with saz's help, of course), and I don't really have any more pressing questions about Manitoba...

[Guest Vijay]

Hey Sazzafrazz,

 

I am in your class, and have been running the "other" Medical School Admissions Forum on Delphi (http://www.delphi.com/anandmed/messages). And judging by the address you should be able to guess who I am. Who are you?

 

Honey Brown