Cowtown - Sunday (Day 2)

I woke up on Sunday feeling refreshed. Despite my trouble falling asleep, I seemed to have evaded my typical morning grogginess. I ordered up some breakfast, for some reason I thought I was really hungry. After waiting twice as long as I was told to wait, my massive stack of pancakes arrived. I learned a valuable lesson that day: anxiety suppresses my appetite. It wasn't like I was freaking out, not at all. It was more of a mixture of excitement and not knowing what to expect. Whatever it was, I think I managed to eat a single pancake (out of 3) and some fruit. I plan to switch up my traveling breakfast. From now on, I'll get a bagel and tea. Nothing too heavy.

I checked out of the hotel around 11AM and headed over to the Health Sciences Centre where the interviews were held. I got there way too early - my Vancouver-based distance/traveltime calculations are way off. These cities have no traffic (especially on Sunday!), and the distances are within eyesight. In any case, instead of looking like a complete tard, I decided to walk around the Health Sciences Centre in my own little one-man informal tour. It's an impressive building. It seems new and sleek, and I assume somewhat functional.

Just inside the entrance of the Health Sciences Centre.

I guess that means me!


Hippocrates. I like his toga.

Soon enough, my interview day started. This 4.5 hour trek lasted me from noon till near 5pm. The medical school interview at U of Calgary is pretty intense. It comes in two parts:

Part 1 is the Multiple Mini Interview. In this segment, we do a round robin interview with 9 individual judges spending 10 minutes at each station. As with all medical schools, I've signed a confidentiality agreement of some sort, so I can't give much in the way of details. Basicaly, think of it as 9 first impressions.

Following Part 1 was, you guessed it, Part 2 - the On Site Essay. We were given 50 minutes to type two essays. Again, no details. But trust me in this, it wasn't very fun or enlightening. At least we got to type it up in the computer lab.

Finally, we were done! We got the canned speech about how great the medical school program is at U of C. The faculty/doctor who spoke to us, and generally followed us around all day, was a great guy. Calgary Flames jersey aside, he seemed like a really nice guy.

With the interview day over, I waited another aeon for my taxi. First, picked up my stuff from the hotel, then off to the airport. It must be a Calgary thing - I had a great time chatting with the cab drivers in Calgary. I got to the airport way too early, but I had nothing else to do. Did you know that WestJet doesn't let you check in earlier than 5 hours before your flight? Well now you know.

That was a very, very long 5 hours. In that span of time, I ate 12 inches of sandwich and read half a book. Thank god I found some nice individual sofas right beside my gate. I bet my ass-print is permanently pressed into that sofa. I'll be sure to check on my way back from Winnipeg (as I'm stopping in Calgary).

Trying reading this book for 4 hours. I dare you.

As we were finally settling into the plane, the captain came on with some not-so-great news. Maintenance had found a large dent in the tail of the airplane, rendering it unfit to fly. Great, another hour of sitting around. Although, I suppose that's better than disintegrating mid-flight.

Almost home.

So, what did I learn through this experience?

• Vancouver is an amazing city. Hands down, the scenery, the city, the shops and entertainment. I don't think there's much competition - in Canada at least. I've been to lots of places, but only now that moving away has become a very real possibility have I realized how amazing this city is.
• Interviews for medical school aren't as big and bad as I thought. Just relax, be yourself, and don't worry. I don't know how well I did, but what's done is done - no need to second guess myself.

Last, but not least, my summary of studying medicine at the University of Calgary:

Pros:

• Calgary isn't Vancouver, but it's still not that bad of a city. It's urban, modern, and growing fast. At least Calgary has Vancouver style condo highrise buildings going up. Also, downtown Calgary is pretty clean and safe.
• Calgary has covered walkways EVERYWHERE...you could probably make it through a whole winter day without going outdoors. And trust me, for a spoiled Vancouverite, that sounds very tempting.
• The medical school is nice, it looks new and modern. It's also attached to a major hospital.
• Travel between Calgary and Vancouver is fast (~1 hr flight), convenient, and cheap. Thank you WestJet.

Cons:

• I didn't get a very good vibe from the student body. I don't know what it is. As a point of comparison, the med students at U of Manitoba were much friendlier. Then again, Calgary goes through a lot of interviews compared to, say, Manitoba, so that might be a factor.

Unsure:

• Calgary is an innovative school. Their medical curriculum is taught according to the 100 or so different ways a patient can present to physicians. Traditional anatomy, physiology, pharmacology, and pathophysiology are integrated throughout. However, I'm not totally sure if this is a good thing. Traditional medical education has worked well for a very long time--it has a well tested track record.
• The undergraduate MD program is only 3 years long, instead of the typical 4 years. On the plus side, that means I finish school and get into residency a whole year sooner. However, that also means I only get 4 weeks of vacation a year, instead of 3 months. This limits my possibility to do a research project, or to gain extra clinical experience outside of my formal training.

That's it for Calgary, check back soon for the next installment of my "national tour".