This thread got convoluted pretty fast. Needlenose, check your PM.

What i guarantee you is these kids have not worked a day in their life and either have mommy and daddy footing the bill, or dont mind being in some SERIOUS debt.

Lawl.

Right, if someone gets into med school they're not going to go because it COSTS MONEY...damn yo, I'm going to decline the offer because I don't want to be in SOME SERIOUS DEBT!!!!1

If that's the way you feel why the hell are you even in University? It costs money doesn't it? (Well, not for everyone, but that's besides the point).

And why is it such a horrible thing that someone's parents help pay for their education? They've already paid at least $50,000 for you for food, clothing, living space and everything else for the last 18 years.

Your thinking is so backwards it's amazing - try to think ahead for a minute - by having "mommy and daddy foot the bill" as you like to say, the person can get a good education, and get a good job and later on pay back all the money [side note: I'm not naiive enough to think this always happens, but it's not impossible] that was invested into their education easily, and still have enough to spare.

Sure, not everyone is in the position where they don't have to pay themselves, but what does that have to do with anything? It's unfortunate for them, they're going to work harder than the rest of us, but what can be done? Life's not fair - use the advantages you're given, unless you have too much pride to have mommy and daddy foot the bill.

mitch, please dont worry about the few idiots on this forum. You have been very helpful and we certainly appreciate you taking out the time to share your experiences with us.

Originally Posted by manap3000

b/c "everyone" (not really everyone, just some at mac) is living in a dream world where they see becoming a doctor as a way of elevating their social status as an adult, pretty much an ego boost if you will. What i guarantee you is these kids have not worked a day in their life and either have mommy and daddy footing the bill, or dont mind being in some SERIOUS debt.

Most of my classmates and I have all held jobs at one point or another. The fact is Canadian medical students get a pretty awesome deal from the bank (interest @ prime, no principle payments until you're finished your residency/fellowship) and so long as you don't fail out, you're guaranteed to pay it off.

I find this thread encouraging. Today in BIO 1A03 We had a guest speaker to 'encourage us' to become med students and give us hints on what we need to accomplish. The kid had been a lab assistant to 4 different profs was a member of 4 intramural teams and 11 clubs and was the valedictorian for the entire faculty of science and STILL didn't get in first time. That was the least encouraging speech I've ever listened to.

Originally Posted by Replekia

I find this thread encouraging. Today in BIO 1A03 We had a guest speaker to 'encourage us' to become med students and give us hints on what we need to accomplish. The kid had been a lab assistant to 4 different profs was a member of 4 intramural teams and 11 clubs and was the valedictorian for the entire faculty of science and STILL didn't get in first time. That was the least encouraging speech I've ever listened to.

It's really hard when you are from the GTA, you're best chance is basically Toronto (1/10, or something, if I remember), unless you're from up North, First Nations, etc.

Alb, Sask, NB, etc. all give incentives to their in-province candidates. The US has so many schools your bound to get in somewhere (nationally its about 50% acceptance). The UK is not nearly as competitive if you're a national, plus you enter directly from HS, there's less pressure. The Caribbean is an open door basically, but its got a lot of for-profit, sketchy stuff going on (Plus you're cursed with an * forever).

Yeah, GTA=/=doctor, basically. Here we have a huge portion of Canadian society, and I would guess a third if not more of the student population, yet the whole system seems to work against us.



That's how I've come to understand it. I just think its a bit ridiculous that Canada needs doctors so badly, but is making it almost impossible to be one these days, especially if your just an excellent, but not exceptional, non-minority, GTA resident who didn't cure cancer and isn't President of half the clubs on campus and don't have an Olympic medal.

/rant

Originally Posted by Replekia

I find this thread encouraging. Today in BIO 1A03 We had a guest speaker to 'encourage us' to become med students and give us hints on what we need to accomplish. The kid had been a lab assistant to 4 different profs was a member of 4 intramural teams and 11 clubs and was the valedictorian for the entire faculty of science and STILL didn't get in first time. That was the least encouraging speech I've ever listened to.

Say anything memorable? I never got that speech.

Originally Posted by BluandExile

Why is everyone so set on med school?

There are other career opportunities available to you, especially when everyone applying has a 4.0 avg and managed to volunteer around the world.

Mac has an amazing med school, and a decent number of our faculties are oriented towards healthcare (Nursing, health sci, life sci) so it makes since that we have a lot of people interested in med school.

Wow, it's pretty encouraging knowing that you don't have to be an academic super-human to get into medschool here in Canada

I'm pretty sure you need a great resume in order to get as far as you did. So besides achieving great MCAT scores what did you do in order to build up your resume in terms of volunteer work, or extra-curriculars, or participating in research projects and how did you go about doing it? I'm in first year and would like to start as soon as I can before I don't have enough time because I'll be needing to study for that MCAT.

@Skataelan: I didn't even achieve that great of an mcat score in my mind There are many ways to get involved at Mac and start building your profile. I didn't even start as soon as others did, I mainly began after second year. First, there's hospital volunteering. I can suggest any of the hospitals in Hamilton or even Toronto. There are many clubs on campus that are involved with healthcare that you can check out. There are national and provincial organizations such as the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of Canada that have special events you can be a part of. McMaster has a number of events as well. I remember the All Science Challenge event as a science competition for elementary school students. There is also a great rehab program you can get involved with in the IWC called MacWheelers.

Hope that provides some insight, but don't stress about it too much in first year.

Cya

-Mitch

Originally Posted by Skataelan

Wow, it's pretty encouraging knowing that you don't have to be an academic super-human to get into medschool here in Canada

I'm pretty sure you need a great resume in order to get as far as you did. So besides achieving great MCAT scores what did you do in order to build up your resume in terms of volunteer work, or extra-curriculars, or participating in research projects and how did you go about doing it? I'm in first year and would like to start as soon as I can before I don't have enough time because I'll be needing to study for that MCAT.

+1. What EC's did you have?

I'm gonna try to post this again, because for some reason, the last two posts by Strategy and I are only showing up if you are creating a reply. If this works, I want to let people know that if you're interested in any E/C specifics, you can PM me.


@Skataelan: I didn't even achieve that great of an mcat score in my mind There are many ways to get involved at Mac and start building your profile. I didn't even start as soon as others did, I mainly began after second year. First, there's hospital volunteering. I can suggest any of the hospitals in Hamilton or even Toronto. There are many clubs on campus that are involved with healthcare that you can check out. There are national and provincial organizations such as the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of Canada that have special events you can be a part of. McMaster has a number of events as well. I remember the All Science Challenge event as a science competition for elementary school students. There is also a great rehab program you can get involved with in the IWC called MacWheelers.

Hope that provides some insight, but don't stress about it too much in first year.

Cya

-Mitch