UCC experience

[Childs]

Does anyone have any input on UCC? Do graduates obtain residences in North America?

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[jf1987]

Does anyone have any input on UCC? Do graduates obtain residences in North America?

I found this posted elsewhere on SDN for 2010:

I'm just graduating now from UCC and can give the match results for our class.

18 North Americans in total class size of about 125
15 are Canadian
2 are American
1 is dual citizen

17 applied to match this year
1 chose to do intern year in Ireland for personal reasons

Both Americans applied only to US
1 matched to IM in Portland
1 matched to IM at Baystate (MA)

1 Canadian applied only to US and matched to IM SUNY Buffalo
Remaining 14 (including dual citizen) applied only to Canada:

1 has not matched by end of second round of CARMS

Others all matched:

IM London
IM Saskatoon
FRCP Emergency Med Toronto
Psychiatry Toronto
Lab Medicine Toronto
FM UNO
FM Northern Manitoba
FM Peace Liard (Northern BC)
FM Regina
FM MUN (x2)
FM Saskatoon

I must be forgetting someone but that's about it. All but one matched and all to their first or second choice (under the circumstances... i.e. some trying to avoid return of service etc). Unmatched applicant still has scramble to try. That makes 1 or 2 genuinely unmatched candidates I know of (to US or Canada) at UCC in five years out of 100+ applicants. No worries!

Looks good to me. Not the most competitive spots but seems safe enough forsure. I have a friend who is in second year there and he was very positive about it when I recently spoke to him.

 

[med2UCC]

For the 3 years I was actually paying attention, we had many matches to Family and internal, 2 to gen surg, one to ortho, one to rads, one to pathology, one to OBGYN, 2 to anaesthesia, one to Emerg, 2 to psych, one to public health. Only one person in that 3 years failed to match completely out of 26 or so people (the class above us and the class below were both unusually short of Canadians). Cheers,
M

 

[deleted158872]

can any current or past UCC students give a review of the GEM program?

 

[hurshy6]

For the 3 years I was actually paying attention, we had many matches to Family and internal, 2 to gen surg, one to ortho, one to rads, one to pathology, one to OBGYN, 2 to anaesthesia, one to Emerg, 2 to psych, one to public health. Only one person in that 3 years failed to match completely out of 26 or so people (the class above us and the class below were both unusually short of Canadians). Cheers,
M

Do you know how difficult it is to obtain electives in Canada?

 

[deleted158872]

what is the format of exams at UCC: MCQ, short-answer, essay?
is research mandatory?
how hard is it to set up US electives?

 

[futureworlddoc]

Friends in the Irish programs used family connections (docs in the family) to set up electives. Most people you email randomly to host you will not respond. Try it. Set up an email account and email 10 docs/programs in your country and see what happens. A friend at UCC specifically said you should do US electives first to build experience as Canada is very biased! "Can't get into Canada?" A fellow asked my friend in front of a group of residents and Canadian clerks as everyone was introducing themselves. Happened to him on more than one occasion. Said he never had a problem like this in the U.S. If you don't have many personal connections try a school that has formal arrangements with US schools eg RCSI or SGU

 

[deleted158872]

If you don't have many personal connections try a school that has formal arrangements with US schools eg RCSI or SGU

hm... even at RCSI, I've heard that electives (the ones associated with the school) are given based on class rank.
if you can't get one through the school then you'll have to set it up by yourself.

RCSI students may correct me on this.

 

[futureworlddoc]

Question re observership and building OR experience:

From what I know, in Canada from day one of med school students will start forming relationships with certain programs they are interested in. They will do tons of observership on their own time and watch ORs. A huge benefit is that school have videos of most lectures so people don't always attend class also UofT for instance is about to begin a very flexible schedule to allow students to do these extras (observership, research, self study etc).

Does Ireland have mandatory attendance? Video lectures? Are hospitals open to observership on your own time? Is there a spring break? Holiday break? Time off? So I could fly home and do observership?

 

[deleted158872]

Does Ireland have mandatory attendance? Video lectures? Are hospitals open to observership on your own time? Is there a spring break? Holiday break? Time off? So I could fly home and do observership?

i want to know the answers to these Q's as well.

also:
1/ how much time is spent in labs each week?
2/ is curriculum system-based, spiral, double-pass or one-pass?

 

[deleted158872]

can anyone tell me how much of these subjects UCC teaches: biochem, immunology, microbio?
in other words, does the material you get from UCC nearly enough for USMLE or do you have to study a lot on your own?

can someone comment on the teaching quality/curriculum, attendance policy & American elective rotations at UCC?
when are students allowed to do U.S. elective rotations?
are you given time off to do electives?

acc. to UCC website https://www.ucc.ie/en/medical/prosstud/gem/about/overview/ , students are allowed to do elective rotations in the summer after M3 year.
is that true?
if so, how can they apply for US residency on time? do they have to spend an extra year, then?

and what does the research project that students are required to do in the last 2 years entail?

 

[Jloyay]

i want to know the answers to these Q's as well.

also:
1/ how much time is spent in labs each week?
2/ is curriculum system-based, spiral, double-pass or one-pass?

Hi guys,

I'm a first year UCC medical student and peer support leader.

There are random attendance sign-in checks for classes (especially clinical classes). If you choose to skip and they took attendance (haven't skipped, so I'm going by info from friends) they send an email asking why you weren't present so you need to explain.

Labs are not really a big component, you will have two hours of physiology lab and two hours of dissecting room (anatomy) at most per week. Anatomy DRs are usually once a week, while physiology labs are once every 2-3 weeks.

The curriculum is mostly systems-based. In the first term of first year you do musculoskeletal system (so basically you learn about how skeletal, smooth, etc. muscles work in physiology, the limb and shoulder skeletal muscles in anatomy, etc.), then in second term you get thrown cardiac, respiratory, renal, hematology and reproductive. Third term (the one we're doing now) is GI, endocrine, and abdominal organs.

Neurology is covered in second year.

 

[deleted158872]

Hi guys,

I'm a first year UCC medical student and peer support leader.

There are random attendance sign-in checks for classes (especially clinical classes). If you choose to skip and they took attendance (haven't skipped, so I'm going by info from friends) they send an email asking why you weren't present so you need to explain.

Labs are not really a big component, you will have two hours of physiology lab and two hours of dissecting room (anatomy) at most per week. Anatomy DRs are usually once a week, while physiology labs are once every 2-3 weeks.

The curriculum is mostly systems-based. In the first term of first year you do musculoskeletal system (so basically you learn about how skeletal, smooth, etc. muscles work in physiology, the limb and shoulder skeletal muscles in anatomy, etc.), then in second term you get thrown cardiac, respiratory, renal, hematology and reproductive. Third term (the one we're doing now) is GI, endocrine, and abdominal organs.

Neurology is covered in second year.

Thanks. It sounds like you cover everything in 1st year... What do you learn in 2nd year?

How many students per cadaver? Is there a tutor for every cadaver table/group?

 

[hurshy6]

Hi guys,

I'm a first year UCC medical student and peer support leader.

There are random attendance sign-in checks for classes (especially clinical classes). If you choose to skip and they took attendance (haven't skipped, so I'm going by info from friends) they send an email asking why you weren't present so you need to explain.

Labs are not really a big component, you will have two hours of physiology lab and two hours of dissecting room (anatomy) at most per week. Anatomy DRs are usually once a week, while physiology labs are once every 2-3 weeks.

The curriculum is mostly systems-based. In the first term of first year you do musculoskeletal system (so basically you learn about how skeletal, smooth, etc. muscles work in physiology, the limb and shoulder skeletal muscles in anatomy, etc.), then in second term you get thrown cardiac, respiratory, renal, hematology and reproductive. Third term (the one we're doing now) is GI, endocrine, and abdominal organs.

Neurology is covered in second year.

Hi Jioyay!

Just wondering what you have heard about matching in your upper years so far.
Do many Canadians apply to both Canada and US?
Matching rates for Canada?
Or anything else about the experience would be a great help as well!
Thanks in advance!

 

[Jloyay]

Thanks. It sounds like you cover everything in 1st year... What do you learn in 2nd year?

How many students per cadaver? Is there a tutor for every cadaver table/group?

We learn neurology in second year and the clinical exams and history taking dealing with that. There's also a bit of epidemiology and an elective class that you can take (for example, marine medicine or Irish medicine). We also begin doing GP rotations in the second year second term.

For the lab cadavers, there are demonstrators that explain the materials to you. It is about 4-5 people per cadaver and demonstrator.

Hi Jioyay!

Just wondering what you have heard about matching in your upper years so far.
Do many Canadians apply to both Canada and US?
Matching rates for Canada?
Or anything else about the experience would be a great help as well!
Thanks in advance!

Hi,

The last time I checked up on the 4th years, 16 people out of 21 got matched. 9 back in Canada, and 7 to USA (this was all first round). The second round offers came out yesterday I heard and there were 3 interviews in the second round. Haven't looked into it.

Generally, as an IMG, connections are very important. Always try to please your program director when doing electives, invite them for coffee, meet with them to talk, etc etc. as they as responsible for determining whether you will get a residency spot.

 

[deleted158872]

We learn neurology in second year and the clinical exams and history taking dealing with that. There's also a bit of epidemiology and an elective class that you can take (for example, marine medicine or Irish medicine). We also begin doing GP rotations in the second year second term.

For the lab cadavers, there are demonstrators that explain the materials to you. It is about 4-5 people per cadaver and demonstrator.



Hi,

The last time I checked up on the 4th years, 16 people out of 21 got matched. 9 back in Canada, and 7 to USA (this was all first round). The second round offers came out yesterday I heard and there were 3 interviews in the second round. Haven't looked into it.

Generally, as an IMG, connections are very important. Always try to please your program director when doing electives, invite them for coffee, meet with them to talk, etc etc. as they as responsible for determining whether you will get a residency spot.

Thanks.
So when you cover a system, you learn everything about it including Patho? And that leaves only Neuro left for 2nd year?
Is there any USMLE subject that is not taught sufficiently at UCC?
Could you please comment on the non-science courses, and how exams are in those? Thanks a lot

 

[deleted158872]

We learn neurology in second year and the clinical exams and history taking dealing with that. There's also a bit of epidemiology and an elective class that you can take (for example, marine medicine or Irish medicine). We also begin doing GP rotations in the second year second term.

if you cover everything except Neuro at UCC in 1st year, does that mean that UCC is going twice as fast as US med curriculum? :O

 

[Jloyay]

if you cover everything except Neuro at UCC in 1st year, does that mean that UCC is going twice as fast as US med curriculum? :O

I'm not sure how the US curriculum works, but yeah we cover allll the major systems in first year, and then only neuro in second year. Definitely think they could have structured it a bit better

 

[deleted390966]

I'm not sure how the US curriculum works, but yeah we cover allll the major systems in first year, and then only neuro in second year. Definitely think they could have structured it a bit better

One to 1.5 year basic science curriculum is being adopted by US schools. Some - Duke, Baylor, Harvard, Penn - have been doing it for decades. They don't go twice as fast, they filter out the minutiae to make the curriculum more concise. TBH, I wish my school had this curriculum because I want to get to the clinicals sooner.

 

[Protean5]

Hey guys (first post), some questions for UCC GEM students who happen to pass by:

1) Is the curriculum didactic or PBL? If it's a mix, are there more lectures or 'PBL' sessions typically?

2) How many hours of classes in general, i.e. contact hours, per day do you guys typically have?

3) How many hours of lectures per day are typical?

 

[Jloyay]

Hey guys (first post), some questions for UCC GEM students who happen to pass by:

1) Is the curriculum didactic or PBL? If it's a mix, are there more lectures or 'PBL' sessions typically?

2) How many hours of classes in general, i.e. contact hours, per day do you guys typically have?

3) How many hours of lectures per day are typical?

Hi Protean,

to answer your questions:

1) The curriculum is largely didactic mixed in with about two hours of PBL/small group learning which are based on what you learned in lecture for that week.

2) It varies, busy weeks can range from 25-30 hours of lecture and anatomy labs while some weeks we have less than 10 hours of class overall. It gets busier towards the third term though.

3) The longest days are usually 9-4 PM, but there definitely are days where you only have one lecture (one hour per lecture). It also varies.

Hope this helps.