It’s that time again when our office is prepping for the upcoming admissions notifications and as most of you know, on May 15th final decisions including offer letters for our program will go out. Whilst it is always a day of mixed emotions, we will be excited to announce the UBC MD Class of 2017! Leading up to notification day last year, we had a series of posts about our offer process. This year, we thought we would tell you about some great aspects of the UBC MD Program, which you may not be aware of.
People (yourself included!) may think that once you are admitted to the UBC MD program your social life will be over. You will no longer have time for your significant others, friends and family. You will spend endless nights studying, and all your focus will be on those thick heavy medical textbooks.
We won’t lie – medical school is hard. However, you may be surprised to learn that our program is not just about lectures and clinical training. Our students are also encouraged to take part in health and wellness programs, charitable projects (e.g. Food Drive , Run for Rural Medicine, World Aids Day, etc.), physician shadowing, mentorships, class plays, parties, Arts in Medicine, and so much more! Many students continue with their own volunteer work or take up research opportunities, amongst other things.
Although they are not mandatory, we believe all of these experiences enrich both your medical education and your life. Many of our faculty members help create projects and opportunities for students to be active in the university, local and global communities. Finally, if you don’t find something that interests you, create your own opportunity! We’ve had many students pilot projects and initiatives both inside and outside the program. The Medical Undergraduate Society (MUS) can provide information on current projects, events and clubs.
All of our program areas have support and resources available at all times if you need help with personal, financial, and academic issues. Additionally, UBC Medicine has a dedicated financial aid officer who can help students make the best decisions for their individual and unique financial situation. For more information about financing medical school, look here:
Other awesome opportunities a UBC medical education will give you:
– Early clinical experience. Even in the first semester of med school students begin to learn clinical skills and enter family practice
– Rural training opportunities. The UBC medical program is committed to giving every student at least one great rural training experience during their medical education
– An entire province of possibilities. While students are divided into four main program areas, if an opportunity exists at a different site it may be possible to get permission to explore your interests away from your ‘home’ base for a set period of time – this is particularly true for summer student research opportunities.
No matter which of our four sites you may be offered, we are confident you will enjoy your medical training at UBC. Thank you to all of you for your interest and we’ll be in touch soon.
Will we receive an email on May 15th letting us know the decision, or will we have to check the OAS? Is there a predicted time that decisions will come out (morning, afternoon?). Thanks!
An email will be sent out on May 15 via the online application system. Sorry, we are unable to confirm at what time of the day will the decisions be released.
Hi,
My understanding is that after the commitee selects the admissible applicants they get ranked. I understand the way this ranking process works is confidential and I am sure there are convincing reasons behind why it is confidential. Is it possible for you to discuss those reasons?
Best
As you alluded to in your question, everyone should know that post-interview, we take a holistic view of the files. Obviously we have to have some way of putting all applicants in an order for the committee to discuss. But to your question- why do we not give details about how we do this following the committee’s decisions? Well, we have an extremely complicated process at UBC with 4 program sites all with lists that take into consideration your site preferences and admissibility. While the admissions committee is blinded to your preferences when they determine your admissibility we do try and place people where they want to go. Knowing how our master list is organized will in no way help you predict whether or not you will be made an offer of an admission and therefore we do not disclose it. We endeavor to give you information that will help you judge your ‘chances’ not provide false hope or false despair.