Is Mac A Bad Med School?

[rmorelan]

Having lived in US, UK and Australia for different periods the reputation of Canadian med schools seems really high. Not sure why I keep seeing this about their reputation on here so often :-/ Only thing I have against Mac is MMIs and CASPer - lol - why oh why!!!! 

 

I am not sure either - it might be in part that we are so close the states where there is variable quality so people just think that way. Plus people just love ranking things. 

[Caliver]

I went to Mac for undergrad and went to U of T for med school. 

Mac does PBL properly and I strongly believe it works. While U of T is great at throwing a vast amount of knowledge to be examined, it does not know how PBL works properly. 

 

Every school has pros and cons. You will struggle more than clerks from other schools in the beginning, because.. you don't know how things work clinically in the beginning. However, you will have plenty of time to catch up. Last time I checked, Mac students do fine in CaRMS. Also saving one year of tuition would be great... lol. 

 

Just my $0.02

[S. pneumoniae]

While U of T is great at throwing a vast amount of knowledge to be examined, it does not know how PBL works properly. 

Doesn't U of T's new foundations curriculum address this? Mac is certainly a leader and innovator in its pedagogy, and I think now many school's are incorporating more PBL-esque teaching

[BoopityBoop]

Doesn't U of T's new foundations curriculum address this? Mac is certainly a leader and innovator in its pedagogy, and I think now many school's are incorporating more PBL-esque teaching

 

Curricular design is a very small component in PBL. You really need faculty and everyone to embrace the learning style.

 

If you have small group PBL sessions, but the faculty facilitating the session consistently jumps in to lecture it's no longer PBL. It's basically another undergrad tutorial class.