Q&A With A Medical Student Studying Abroad

18 January 2011.  TalentEgg Incubator.

On TV shows like Scrubs , medicine seems like a funny occupation.

But if you were to watch Grey’s Anatomy or House, you’d know that, along with all the jokes, it can be really difficult work too.

In actuality, medicine is an incredibly challenging field, leaving you to work long hours week after week.

“[Living abroad] makes you more resourceful, encourages you to try new things, lets you appreciate what it really means to ‘come home,’ etc.” —Joanna Mathisen, second year medical student, University of Aberdeen

And if that isn’t enough to dissuade you, gaining admission to medical school is very competitive, and also require long hours of studying and hard work once you’re in the program.

So then why do people want to become doctors in the first place?  Quite simply, they wish to help others and make their lives better.

Joanna Mathisen has wanted to be a doctor for most of her life.  But unlike many Canadians, she decided she wanted to leave the country and attend medical school abroad after completing an English degree with a minor in art history at McMaster University.

Joanna is currently in her second year of studies at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland.

Q.Why did you consider applying to medical school abroad in the first place?
A. Because I wanted to live in Scotland – it was very simple! I want to get more travelling in while I’m young and I lived abroad before (in France), and figured that although being an international student is expensive, it would be worth the expense to live for five more years in a foreign country. With a good excuse!

Q. What made you decide on going to U Aberdeen after getting accepted?
A. It was the only university that had accepted me, primarily!

Also, I have two distant cousins in Aberdeen who took me out for dinner and showed me around the town when I went over for my interview, so I felt comfortable there.

Q.What are some things that med school abroad can give you that you can’t get in Canada?
A. Experience living abroad! It’s something I think everyone should do, if they can. Of course, it’s very much a privilege to be able to live abroad, so that makes it extra special. It makes you more resourceful, encourages you to try new things, lets you appreciate what it really means to ‘come home,’ etc.

Medical school is pretty similar across the board (not like taking a Canadian history degree elsewhere!), so you’re not straying too far away from Canadian standards by going somewhere like Scotland.

Q. How will getting your degree abroad make things better for you in terms of practicing medicine?
A. Well, it gives you more choices in terms of where to practise! I’m trying to decide whether to start working here or Canada, and I have that option.

Coming home will be difficult, but not impossible, and I’ve begun my career in the British system, so I can also work here if I wish to. It’s exciting to have that kind of opportunity!

Q. How will getting your degree abroad make things more challenging for you to obtain a residency after graduation?
A. To be honest, I haven’t looked into coming home in much detail because I’m taking things one day at a time. I’m sure I’ll have to write a few difficult exams, and fewer training positions will be open to me than for Canadian-trained students, but the experience of being abroad outweighs those difficulties.

Q. What is the coolest thing about doing your degree in Scotland?
A. I’ve met some amazing people, gotten to know some Scottish family, and met an amazing  Scottish guy who’s now very important to me! It’s been quite a ride!

Q. What is the single-most important piece of advice you would pass on to others considering applying to med school abroad?
A. I would advise anyone to apply abroad even just to be able to dream about it!

Considering Law School: The Bar And Beyond

17 December 2010.  TalentEgg Incubator.

In the previous two articles about considering law school – The Application Process and Studying, Summering, Articling And More – Western law school graduate Alina Preston walked us through the application process as well as the life of a law student.

This time, Preston explains the bar exam and next steps for law school graduates.

“If you’re still not deterred, it’s an amazing profession. The type of work you do is at such a high level, the clients you deal with come in such a range, and at the end of the day you’re helping people move forward with their lives.” —Alina Preston, University of Western Ontario law school graduate

Q. How do you prepare for the bar exam?
A. The bar admission exams are written after you finish law school. There are two of them: the solicitors and the barristers. These exams change depending on which province you’re writing them in.

In Ontario, if you write the exams in the first sitting, end of May and June, you are given the material with six weeks to study from the time you receive the material to the time you write the last exam. So, working backwards, you get the materials right after you finish writing your last third-year law school exams. Which sucks. But almost everyone does it that way.

You study – which means you read through the 1600 pages of material, highlighting as you go and hoping that you remember it when you do the multiple choice exams. The Law Society recommends that you read through the material three times, but this is virtually impossible based on how long it takes the average person to read through a given page. Most students are happy if they make it through all the materials once.

They are open book exams, so worst case (in fact, for most cases) you can just flip through the material. To study for it, people also usually split into groups to create or update last year’s “indices,” which are very much what it sounds like. There are key words written down (alphabetically) and a corresponding page number. So if a question is talking about Topic X, you can look up in your index Topic X, find the appropriate page in the materials, and then read the blurb about it.

There are two weeks that separate each exam. Which doesn’t usually leave enough time to start the second batch of materials after you finish writing the first exam, so plan your studying accordingly. Most people treat it like a job: study from 9-5, and then enjoy your evenings. Depending on your study progress, you may have to extend the studying to the weekends.

Q. What is the bar exam like?
A. It is a marathon. If your write the exams in Toronto, which a vast majority of students do – there were about 1,000 of us writing the June exams, all in the same hall – you’ll be surrounded by students from most of the Ontario law schools. You have to go through security, you’re restricted on what you can bring and how you can bring it in, and everything is regulated to the point that you feel like you’re in kindergarten.

The exam instructions begin at 8:45 a.m., which means you will likely arrive around 7:30 a.m., so that you can sign in, go through security and have time to mentally prepare yourself. The exam finishes at 5:30 p.m., which means you will likely get out of there around 6 p.m. So that means you’ve been at the testing centre almost 11 hours.

By the halfway point, your brain starts to go numb and you just want to get out of there. But you have about a minute and a half to do each question, including reading, researching, and answering so your brain doesn’t have time to stop working. The questions are all multiple choice, so the answer is there somewhere, and the answers also give you an indication of what type of answer they’re looking for (something general or specific).

But there is good news. Most students end up passing, and if you don’t, you have nine more tries within the following three years to write the exam(s) again and try to pass.

Q. Now that you’ve passed the bar exam, what are your options?
A. Once you finish law school and pass the bar exams, you’re still not a lawyer yet. You then have to article for 10 months at a firm and do an online course during this. Some firms require that you finish your bar exams before you start articling, and others are willing to allow you to study and write them during your articling term.

Once your articling is complete, your mentor recommends to the Law Society that you get called to the bar. There are a couple call dates during the year, and once you are called, you are officially a lawyer – finally. So law school, plus studying and writing the bar exams, plus articling totals about four years.

After articling, your firm can then hire you back (or not) as a junior associate. Many of the large Bay Street firms only hire back 50% of their articling students. Consequently, articling is a stressful time.

“If you’re looking to make a lot of money, aim to become a CEO or a VP or go into government. Much better salaries, better hours, better benefits, and sweet severance packages.”

You are the office bitch. You’re the first to arrive in the morning and the last to leave at night. You take on extra work that the rational part of your brain says that you should not. Why? Because you’re not a lawyer yet. Because there’s no guarantee the firm will recommend you get called to the bar to become a lawyer. Because there’s no guarantee you’ll have a job after you finish articling. And because you’re competing against colleagues who are as smart, if not smarter, than you.

So to summarize the process: you stress trying to get into law school.  You stress during your first year of law. Second- and third-year law aren’t too bad and are actually fun. Then you stress about passing the bar exams. Then you stress about articling. You are basically on this rollercoaster of stress, and when you calculate at the end of the day how much you’re getting paid, it’s scarcely better than minimum wage sometimes.

Is this really the profession for you? If you’re still not deterred, it’s an amazing profession. The type of work you do is at such a high level, the clients you deal with come in such a range, and at the end of the day you’re helping people move forward with their lives.

Q. What are some misconceptions about lawyers that are out there?
A. That they get paid a lot. They do, but if you break it down and count all the hours spent in the office combined with all the hours spent on their “crackberries,” it’s not that much in the end. If you’re looking to make a lot of money, aim to become a CEO or a VP or go into government. Much better salaries, better hours, better benefits, and sweet severance packages.

That we’re all slimy grease balls out to steal all your money. We’re not. Or at least most of us aren’t. You’ll meet the odd jerk, but that’s true for any profession and for society at large. Lawyers have to be meticulous, in order that they close off any loopholes and get the maximum benefit for their client. As a result, it takes more time and effort, which is why it costs more.

That we’re all alcoholics. This is mostly true. Alcohol is one of the most accepted forms of socializing and unwinding, so lawyers tend to do it. A lot.

Considering Law School: Studying, Summering, Articling And More

8 December 2010.  TalentEgg Incubator.

In the previous Considering Law School article, I interviewed Alina Preston, a graduate of The University of Western Ontario’s law school, about the application process.

In this article, Alina provides additional insight about what law school classes are like, the material law students study, as well as what law students do when they’re not in the classroom (or the library). She is currently articling at a firm in Toronto.

“With so little feedback on whether you’re actually understanding the material, first year is indeed stressful. Students end up spending 95% of their time reading and summarizing their readings.” —Alina Preston, University of Western Ontario law school graduate

Q. What do you learn as a first year law student?
A. At Western, and I believe most other law schools, first-year law courses are all mandatory and students have no say in what and when they are taking courses.

First year provides you the basic foundation in several areas of law, including criminal,  torts, property, constitutional (or public), contracts and a legal writing class.

Western also requires students to take foundations of law (history of law) and legal ethics in first year.

The main courses are full year courses, with midterms in December and finals in April. The legal writing class is the only one that involves writing assignments. The other two classes, foundations and ethics, are each half a year course so their finals are in December and April respectively.

With so little feedback on whether you’re actually understanding the material, first year is indeed stressful. Students end up spending 95% of their time reading and summarizing their readings.

At Western, class sizes are small. Some of my classes only had 17 students, and one or two classes had our entire grade (165 students). This smaller class size was very beneficial in learning from the professors and being able to ask questions. It also facilitated getting to know everyone within our year. By the end of the three years, I knew by face, if not by name, every person in my graduating class.

Q. What do you learn as a second and third year law student?
A. In second and third year, all the classes were only half a year in length. While there were a few core courses that had to be taken at some point in second or third year, the rest of the courses you were able to pick on your own. Some courses were paper courses, where there was no final exam and just a 30+ page paper, and others had a midterm or assignment and a final.

During these upper years, it is a mix between second and third year students in the classes.

There are also less classes to take in a given year – between four and five courses per semester, rather than the seven courses required in first year. As a result, upper years are much easier and less stressful than first year.

Q. What is “summering”?
A. The process of getting a summer job at a law firm after second year, termed “summering” is a competitive, stressful and often disappointing process. Students ready their resumés and cover letters during the summer after first year, to be submitted to law firms the first week or so of September. Students usually end up applying to any and all law firms, because first year does not provide enough specific information about what type of law students actually want to practice.

“The actual summering at a firm is quite enjoyable. You get paid pretty well (if you’re at one of the bigger firms) and they try to take it easy on you because they want you to come back.”

As a result, firms are inundated with applications, which makes it that much more competitive to get an interview, never mind the job. Once applications are in, firms let students know who gets an interview.

The interviews last from Monday through Wednesday, with cocktails and dinners thrown in on Monday and Tuesday nights, making the long days that much longer.

Wednesday at 5 p.m. firms make the call to offer job(s). By 5:30 p.m. everything is over and you know whether you have a job for the following summer (six months down the road).

If you were unable to secure a job during this crazy process (which is regulated by the Law Society), then you spend the rest of second year trying to avoid talking about summer jobs and hope that you can find something in the mean time.

The actual summering at a firm is quite enjoyable. You get paid pretty well (if you’re at one of the bigger firms) and they try to take it easy on you because they want you to come back, since they’re spending all this time and money training you. Then of course you cross your fingers that they do indeed want to hire you back the following summer, which ends up being the articling term.

Unfortunately, some firms don’t hire back all of their summer students and a lot of in-house counsel positions don’t have an articling position at all, only room for summer students.

Q. What is the process for finding an articling position?
A. Many of the big firms don’t do any external recruitment, which means they only rehire some or all of their summer students to fill their articling positions. There are lots of firms that only hire articling students, but those are generally smaller practices.

So now you’re going through the articling recruitment process, which is very similar to the summering process. Students send out their applications, and three weeks after the deadline find out at 8 a.m. on a Friday whether they have any interviews, as firms (hopefully) call you.

The interviews are scheduled on Monday through Wednesday, with 5 p.m. on Wednesday as the time that firms call to make job offers – for articling positions that start nine months later. Once again, students try to avoid talking about articling for fear of mentioning it to someone who doesn’t yet have a position.

[S]tudents who haven’t yet secured a position then try to spend their third year of law looking for an articling position. The Law Society is actually fairly helpful, with an articling registry set-up for firms to post their positions on, which law students have access to.

Q. What do law students do for fun?  It seems like there is a lot of studying involved!
A. In order to not go crazy, there are a lot of extracurricular things organized and there is a pub night every other week. There are tons of sports teams and clubs that help students unwind.

Also, due to the small class sizes, you inevitably know people who are having a party any given weekend. In first year, there are also a lot of non-drinking or laid back events organized, such as games night, so that students can still wake up the next morning and get some readings done.

Not being accepted to grad school changed my perspective of failure

"Not being accepted to grad school changed my perspective of failure", May 6 2009

I have known since second year that I want to go to graduate school, get my master’s degree and earn my PhD. So, from the summer between second and third year to the October of my final year, I did lots of research.

I looked into different schools in Canada and abroad, as well as their respective reputations. I contacted professors and program administrators to ask about their areas of research and the master’s programs. I even took a “victory lap” year in order to complete a second bachelor of arts degree to improve my chances to getting into the program I wanted.

By November, I contacted three previous professors who agreed to be references for me. One is a professor and director of a prestigious institute, another is an associate professor and was my thesis supervisor the previous year. The last is only a full-time lecturer but has been published numerous times and has spoken at many conferences.

By December, I finished all of the applications and necessary supplementary applications to the six schools I applied to. Based on my grades (which met all of the minimum requirements), my multitude of involvement on campus and (what I assumed were) great letters of reference, I thought I stood a very good chance of being accepted.

In mid-February, I got my first letter. It read (more or less):

Dear Danielle,

We regret to inform you that since we had so many applicants for few many spots we could not accept you this year. Good luck in your future endeavours.

From, Graduate Coordinator

Or, more simply put: Dear Danielle, you’re not good enough for us. Love, School.

Within the next few days, I got two other similar letters, and in the next month I was declined from the remaining three schools.

To say the least, I was devastated. I worked my ass off for three years, but to no avail. This also meant that all subsequent plans would not be materializing for the upcoming autumn. To make it worse, another person I knew who applied to the same program, but with less education than me, was accepted. Simultaneously, many of my friends and acquaintances who applied for teacher’s college were accepted.

Thoughts of FAILURE kept running through my head.

Since I had nothing to lose, I decided I might as well email the directors of some of the programs to find out exactly why I wasn’t accepted. One program only accepted nine students and had 57 applicants. Two others explained my area of interest was too far outside the department. One suggested I should have applied for a sociology master’s, which I found incredibly surprising considering I have never taken any sociology courses.

After all of that – the research, the time and the money spent – I still did not get what I wanted. But that’s not to say that I never will. I suppose despite the losses, I still gained perspective on my future.

I think the most important thing I’ve come to accept is even though I’m not going to be attending grad school this September, it doesn’t mean I will never go. If I choose to do so, I can re-apply for next September. Or I can apply in a few years after doing a post-graduate program in college or working for a few years.

Having come to terms with the fact that I need to change my direction for the short-term, at this point all I need to do is figure out what path to start on.

Post-Graduate Series Part Six: Graduate School

"Post-Graduate Series Part Six: Graduate School", February 2009

Although there have already been six articles about post-graduate studies, I purposefully left out the one on graduate school. In the fall, since I decided that I was going to apply to a graduate program, I might as well write this article after I had finished the application process. So here I am, playing the waiting game...

A Masters degree (as suggested by the name) provides mastery over a specific area(s) of study. Within the specific area or subject the student will have advanced knowledge about the discipline, as well as be able to complete complex analyses and work independently. If you are contemplating a Masters, start doing your research on prospective schools and requirements early. I started looking into requirements and schools after I finished my second year. This may have been slightly premature, but I was very well prepared and organized in comparison to those who started to consider graduate school in October or November of their fourth year. You will want to know what month your application, funding requests and research scholarship forms are due. Since you will be completing your final year when you are in the process of applying, you are going to want to know exactly what is due and when do you don’t miss any deadlines or add unnecessary stressors.

It is a good idea to start contacting professors at prospective schools far in advance of when you will be applying. The sooner you start discussing your research interests with a professor the sooner you will realize if you have similar research interests, and thus how likely your chances of being accepted into the program. Professors are usually quite interested to talk about their areas of research with students (or at least that was my experience). It is also good to establish a dialogue with profs, since the board that looks at applications will be composed of the very people you are speaking to.

Jennifer M. Phelps, assistant dean of graduate studies at the University of British Columbia says that prospective graduate student should be self-motivated, focused, and have a desire to discover or learn more about a specific subject area. Students should also have a specific area of interest in mind if they are thinking about applying. Liking biology is fine for an undergraduate, but as graduate student you would want to know if the genetic frequency of albinism in domestic rabbits is equivalent to that of humans on the island of Borneo, for example. If your research area is not defined it is unlikely you will be accepted; as it shows you are not serious enough about your studies. Granted, what you submit on your application and what you chose to work on the following September doesn’t have to be identical, but there should be a good deal of thought behind what you are thinking of pursuing.

Like all post-graduate programs, grades are important. Just because you meet the minimum does not necessarily mean you will be accepted. The minimum GPA requirement is as low as a B or as high as an A-, but this is all dependant on the school, the program, its size and its popularity. The academic expectations in fourth year are the most difficult. If you are not meeting this minimum as a third year it is not likely that you will have the required grades in your fourth year.

Applications vary from school to school and program to program. As a bare minimum, you will fill out an online application that gives information about your previous academic history, provide a statement of your proposed area of study, submit your transcript(s), and get letters from two or three references. You may need to submit a resume, CV, samples of written work, allowable inclusions, or complete an audition among other things. Of course, application deadlines are not consistent across the board either. For the most part, applications are due between early January and early February, but it is possible that they may be due earlier than that; especially if you want to be hired as a TA or research assistant.

Similarly, prices will vary too. I paid between $75 and $100 for each application. It is quite possible that for certain schools they could be more or less than these amounts; but I found that only two programs I applied to were less than $100. If you don’t think you have what it takes to get in, you may want to play it safe and apply at a later time, as applications end up costing you quite a bit of money!

As mentioned previously, you will need to have a letter of reference (or two or three) written by a professor. The best people to ask are those who know you as a student, as well as whose classes you did well in. Although you may have gotten an A in your Death and Dying class, if the prof has no idea who you are they can’t write you a very accurate letter. That’s not to say they won’t write you a letter, but they won’t be able to provide a lot of information about you, which is problematic. I was told that there are benefits to having tenured professors write your letters, as they are seen as authorities over sessional professors. You will also want to ask possible referees well in advance (approximately two months) of the application deadline if they will be a reference, in order to give them enough time to complete their letter for you. This means they will also finish your letters before the students who asked them last minute.

Tuition for graduate programs does cost more than undergraduate programs, but thankfully not as much as some other post-graduate programs like medicine or law. If you are granted a TA-ship, most of your tuition fees will often be taken care of, which is certainly beneficial. However, you will still need to find other work during the summer months (the pay isn’t that great), especially if you are keen on having the smallest amount of debt possible.

Letters confirming your acceptance or rejection are supposed to arrive between mid-February and mid-March. This allows you enough time to defer your graduation for another semester, or year to take additional classes if things don’t end up working out that well for you.

If you don’t get in, you can always re-apply for the following year once you have all of your final grades. Additionally, it may also be more financially feasible for you to apply after working off some of your debt. This also gives you more time to find out what you’re really interested in, and be positive that you want to spend another eight to sixteen months at school...

Post-Graduate Series Part Four: MBA

"Post-Graduate Series Part Four: MBA", August 2008

It seems more and more people I know are thinking, or planning on going into an MBA program, even if they aren’t in a business-related program now. Like previous articles in the Post-Graduate Series, this article will focus on various components of an MBA program, from the application to what to expect from the classes itself. So what is so great about having a Masters of Business Administration? Read on to find out!

As I alluded to a few sentences previous, you do not need to be in a program in business for your undergraduate degree in order to go into an MBA. It is not unusual in a program (especially McMaster’s MBA) to have students from all disciplines, including science, humanities, social science, engineering and commerce. However having a business degree may allow you to grasp some concepts faster or easier, and may even allow you to waive some courses.

The key to acceptance in any MBA program is being employable. This will come from paid-work experience, as well as what you can gain through co-op placements, internships and volunteering. Just because you are getting paid (or you are not) doesn’t mean the experience will not be valuable. True, it’s nice to get paid (and paid well), but sometimes the experience you get as a volunteer will teach you more employability skills than a job would.

Not all MBA programs are the same. There are three in Ontario (McMaster, Windsor and Brock) that you can apply to without having any full-time work experience. Others need up to five consecutive years (i.e. no summer jobs) worth of experience. Thus, some of the application requirements are slightly different for each school, however; they all require the same general things. They are test scores (coming from the GMAT [Graduate Management Admission Test], and if applicable the TOEFL), workplace experience, leadership capabilities, business aptitude, community involvement, breadth of character, and overall contribution to society. Some schools focus more on the GMAT, while others focus more on the other areas. The GMAT is composed of three parts: a verbal part, a mathematical part, and a written essay. The suggested minimum score is 600. There is also a suggested grade point average that you must obtain to be considered into the program. At McMaster for example it is a B (or 8) average over the most two recent years of study.

Like many of the other post-graduate programs you can apply to, the MBA also requires letters of reference. You usually need about three one to two of which are academic, and one to two of which are from employers. Again this varies from school to school.

Applications for MBA programs can also be a little bit on the costly side, similar to the medical school and teachers college programs that have been mentioned in earlier articles. Why? I don’t really know. However, be prepared to pay anywhere from $75-$200 for each application. In addition, tuition is also very expensive. It is approximately $30, 000 a year, from what I have researched from a few Ontario schools. However, having an MBA can allow you to make approximately $10, 000 to $30, 000 more than someone with only a bachelor’s degree. So although it costs a lot for you to get that education, it will likely yield you a better salary.

Once the application is received, students are selected for interviews. It is here that you want to make yourself stand out. One way to do this is by showing off your employability skills. This can be doing by creating a good resume that highlights key tasks and positions you took on at your jobs (part-time, full-time or volunteer), and what the results were. You should also take care to mention if it pleased your supervisor, if it was innovative, and if there were quantitative results. You may also wish to get used to answering behaviour-based interview questions, as they are frequently used to evaluate potential applicants. Because you are competing for a spot with many other people, you want to think what makes you stand out from the rest; emphasizing experiences that may have been unique or emphasise specific skills.


As I have mentioned at several points already, each MBA program varies from each other. Degroote’s co-op program is the oldest program in Canada, and thus they have established relationships with many different potential employers. Windsor and Laurier also have co-op programs, but because they are much newer they do not have the same relationship with large companies. The MBA programs at Rotman (U of T), Ivey (UWO) and Queen's are supposed to be equivalent to the Ivy League schools of the United States, but their fees are much higher, and they do not offer a co-op option. Some schools also offer the MBA at different rates of study; some schools you need only take a few courses a year and finish when is convenient for you, while others you must finish in a certain amount of time. All of these things must be considered before you determine what school is right for you.

Like other post-graduate programs, a Masters of Business Administration requires a lot of thought and planning over the course of your undergraduate education. So start researching MBA programs early-on if you think it is a path you will one day wish to take.


Special thanks goes to Kirsten Anwender for all of her help with this article!

Post-Graduate Series Part Three (and a half): Medical School

"Post-Graduate Series Part Three (and a half): Medical School", June 2008

In my previous article on medical school, I outlined the application process. This article explains what one would actually do in medical school. That is just as important as the whole application

process and deciding if you really would like to be a doctor.
As I mentioned, medical schools in Ontario are all very different. The first way they differ is in terms of teaching style. Some have a very didactic approach while others are based on Problem-Based Learning (Mac is really big on it, as it was developed here. We do a lot of PBL group work in all faculties at McMaster, so you should be used to it). This is how your first two years of medical school are spent, so you need to be comfortable with how you are taught in order to do well. At Western for example, half of the day is spent in lecture while the other half is most often spent working in small groups.

In your first and second year at medical school (or your first sixteen months if you’re thinking about going to the McMaster medical school) you will be doing in-class learning. This is not necessarily all spent in a lecture hall like our years as undergraduates. There is some (or a lot) of self-directed learning. At certain times for example, you will be taught the clinical skills needed for your third year clerkship. During this time, you have an opportunity to contact other physicians, and do what are known as observerships. This is when you shadow a doctor and see what it is they actually do. These allow you to apply the book knowledge you acquired in your first two years. In addition, the more observerships you do with the same doctor, the more likely you will have freedom to work with patients. Mind you, you must be competent in order to do so!
Your third year is spent in a clerkship position. Your clerkship is spent on wards, working and interacting with patients and really learning medicine. Medicine is much more than just learning in the classroom, you must also have good social skills in order to interact with your patients. Each school has a different way of organizing their clerkships, and your best bet for understanding how they work is to talk to people who are in their third year or above. Some schools make you do your mandatory rotations first, and then you can choose your electives. This allows you to experience the different wards and get an understanding for where you’d like to focus your attention. Western’s medical school uses this method. Other schools mix in the elective clerkships with the mandatory ones, which makes it much harder to know what you will enjoy. Another thing to consider with your clerkship is how involved you will be. Some doctors only allow you to stand and watch, while others want you to be the first person on the scene. Finding a hands-on clerkship is advisable as it is the one that lets you learn the most.

As a clerk you will be working on the wards, doing intake histories, helping to diagnose patients, and deciding treatment plans. You are essentially doing everything a doctor does. The difference is that you always have a senior doctor to report to, and they are the one who is signing off on your orders. So if they don’t agree on your choice, you will not be permitted to choose that method of treatment.


In your fourth year you will continue doing much of the same as you did in third year. You will be working on the wards, and trying to focus on the areas you are most interested in. At the same time, you will be filling out your applications for residency. Your residency occurs after you have obtained your M.D. degree, but is pivotal for you to be able to practice in your field of interest.
In terms of cost, medical school is very expensive. Tuition for medical school is approximately $17 000 a year, and it is estimated that students will spend nearly double that amount. At the same time, due to the demands of the program, it is nearly impossible for medical students to keep a part-time job. As such, they are forced to rely on loans to finance their education. This has long-term consequences for students, and many leave medical school with debt exceeding $100 0000. This causes students to go into sub-specialty practices that offer more money rather than first-line practices that are lower on the pay scale. It can be scary (to say the least) to think about being in that much debt, and it is definitely something that needs to be considered. Furthermore, some people get into medicine for the wrong reasons: they think that in being a doctor they will immediately be making a large salary. Thus, they go into the highest paying speciality just to make money and not because they enjoy what they are doing.
The following is a list of general content of the first two years at Western’s Medical school:

• Introduction to medicine (general biochemistry, psychology, anatomy, etc.)
• Musculoskeletal
• Respiratory and ENT
• Cardiology
• Hematology and oncology
• Infection and immunity
• Dermatology
• Endocrinology
• GI system
• GU system (genito-urinary)
• Reproductive health
• Neurology, Eye and Ear
• Psychology
• Emergency
• Community health which includes ethics, ecosystem health, health care systems and epidemiology

And small groups covering:

• Clinical skills
• Patient interviewing (including breaking bad news to patients)
• Patient centered discussions (i.e. what resources does the community have, what obstacles will we face in interacting with patients, etc.)

Other schools cover the same material but do it in a different way. They will usually break the material into anatomical systems. For example, they will cover the thorax, which includes covering all of the organs in the thorax. From there they would move up to the abdomen and so on.

Remember what I have mentioned about medical school here is more important than getting accepted. If you don’t like what you’re doing than please don’t continue! Also remember that each school values different things and you need to find the one that has the best fit for you.

A special thanks to Bourke Tillmann for all of his help with this article.

Post-Graduate Series Part Three: Medical School

"Post-Graduate Series Part Three: Medical School", June 2008

One of the most coveted, and talked about post-graduate programs is medical school. Once you get accepted into the program, you can expect at least an additional six years of school.

But before I get way too far ahead of myself, I suppose I should explain the entire process first.

Each school has its own academic requirements, and you must research them on their own. There are six schools in Ontario, and sixteen in all of Canada. This is of course not withstanding all of the other schools in North America and all the other countries world-wide. For Ontario schools there are a few commonalities. For example, you need at least three years of an undergraduate degree, a full year of organic chemistry or biochemistry and an essay course. Some schools require more sciences, while others have embraced students with a liberal arts degree. Again, it all depends on what school you are looking at.

If you really want to dedicate your life to health care, it is a good idea to somehow get involved in it before you go through the application process. If you have a chance to volunteer, find an arena where you will interact with patients. If you have never done so how are you truly know otherwise if medicine is really what you want to do?

Along with required courses is the (dreaded and loathed) MCAT. The MCAT, or Medical College Admission Test is a standardized test that asks questions from the biological sciences, the physical sciences, verbal reasoning and writing. The test takes around a full day to complete, and cost approximately $200. Thankfully it is not required for every medical school. I have been told it is not an enjoyable experience, and is just a method to sort out students. Many people choose to take (VERY pricey) MCAT prep courses. These defeat the purpose of the test in the first place, which is to see if your undergraduate education gave you basic knowledge to understand future concepts. You do not need these prep courses to do well; it can be done just as easily with your own effort.

Probably the most obvious, and common criteria amongst all post-graduate programs are grades. Like the other programs, grades are an important component to your being accepted into medical school. Similar to the university application process, each medical school will post the GPA cut-off they used in the previous year for applicants to use as a guide. Some years the average will be higher, and others lower than the year before. Regardless of the actual number, it’s a good average to strive for if you are thinking about applying to med school.

Application for Ontario medical schools is done through a centralized program called OMSAS (Ontario Medical School Application Service), which is part of OUAC. The deadline for applications occurs sometime in October. It should be noted that each medical school has different application forms, and OMSAS is just how you apply to them. Some forms are as simple as listing your name and high school, while others ask you obtuse questions and require you to write essays. It costs approximately $120.00 per medical school to apply.

You will also need three reference letters, and they can be from anyone who knows your character. It would be wise to use a mixture of people, academic references, past employers, and those you volunteered for. That way the school can see how you were viewed in different environments, as there are things more important to the application process than just school.

And then you play the waiting game. Sometime in February you will hear whether or not you get an interview. Each school does their interview process differently: some will read the material you submitted about yourself in the application, while others will not. Obtaining an interview is based on your marks, but what you talk about in your interview is based on what you have learned thus far in your life.

Now of course I’m sure you want to hear about the actual interview process. The question is: I only worked at McDonalds, while X volunteered in Africa, how am I supposed to get in? Well, it is generally understood that it is not necessarily what you did, but what you learned from the experience that matters. You do not need to volunteer, but if you sat on your butt and mooched your way through life up until this point the odds aren’t necessarily in your favour. What you really need is passion: if you are passionate about what you have done in your life it will come across in your interview. Do what you like and learn from it, and push your boundaries. Like any other interview, the point is to make yourself stand out from the rest. Yes, many people can get the grades they need, but it is what you do in your free time that really makes a difference in your interview. They want people, they do not want machines.

The friend who I got most of the information from about the medical school process for this article did EFRT for three years. He was (and still is) also in a band. He says that the people who interviewed him were more interested in his experience in the band, because the skills he learned in relating to others are something that can be transferred to patients. However, doing EFRT gave him some practical experience, and a slight idea of what he was getting himself into. As he says, which I can’t summarize any better: “But really, I think it was showing them that I was human, I did things in life I cared about and I grew from each experience. I didn't tell them about hoops I jumped through, and the excitement I had when telling them about what I had done with my life rubbed off on them and made them excited about me as a person”. Make sure you can bring this same sort of experience and passion to your interviews as well.

Aside from volunteering, many people wonder if research experience is required. Again, this depends on exactly what medical school you plan on applying to. Some schools value research experience highly, while others do not.

After your interview is over you will play the waiting game again. In May you will hear if you are accepted, declined or wait-listed.

So this is the actual process to applying to medical school. Thankfully (or perhaps not) I have more information on medical school and what it entails. If I was to include it all at once, the article would be very long. Thus, I have decided to break it into two parts. The next part covers what one actually does while in medical school.

A special thanks to Bourke Tillmann for all of his help with this article.