Friday, August 29, 2008
O Week
I am coming to the end of my first week of medical school and I am absolutely loving it! We had our White coat Ceremony a few days ago and it was a little cheesy - big speeches and even one mention of how friendly doctors don't get sued. We got out coats placed on us and everyone clapped and took pictures. I am sure I would have enjoyed it more if my family was there, but they are thousands of miles away. Then we had a nice lunch and got a tour of the computer facility and shown how to log in to everything. All our course notes and schedules are online which is really cool but there are so many websites to remember and a lot of different log ins and passwords. The school I am at is similar to my undergrad university in many ways and it is a bit daunting to start over in a new city and a new school. I am constantly getting lost, don't know where anything is, and I have a to do list a mile long. The book list is ridiculously long and I am not even sure which books are actually important. Luckily the second years are extremely helpful and have been giving us tips and throwing amazing parties for us so we get to know everyone. We have had a lot of speeches and introductions to the curriculum in general and what to expect. One thing I really like about my program is the fact that they spend so much time talking to us about all the support that is available for us - emotionally, financially and so much more. They spent a lot of time talking about how to balance our relationships and they will even be setting up a Q&A for us to talk to physicians who are married either to doctors or non doctors and how they make everything work or how sometimes it doesn't work. We have also gotten a financial lecture, which is really nice because I am a lot more informed than I was before and even though my debt in the end will be staggering (even though Canada is much cheaper than the US) I feel confident now that there are lots of resources for me. I start actual classes on Tuesday so I will be updating my blog with more details of what med school is actually like.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
85% is not a tax, it's robbery!
While recently traveling to the US for a day to drop a friend off at the airport, we went to do some shopping as well. The shopping was good and we bought a reasonable amount between the two of us. On a whim we picked up a cheap case of beer and two cheap bottles of wine. While at the border we made the mistake of telling the border guard the truth. Unfortunately there is absolutely no tax exemption for alcohol or tobacco for visits less than 48 hours, which I didn't know. So we went into pay for the taxes on the alcohol, which I figured would be a reasonable amount, like 20% at the most. Turns out the tax on alcohol is 85%!!! When you add the currency conversion the wine and beer would have doubled in price. Ironically the beer was still cheaper than it would have been in Canada. We decided the wine was not worth it and left it behind.
I was in shock at the ridiculous amount of tax the government charged to bring back what I thought was a reasonable amount of goods from the US. I think this is a good example of the difference between the two countries in terms of health care as well. The US revolves around the principles of capitalism and competition to lower prices and produce the best product. This is why the US has the most innovative health care, with the best technology and the latest treatments available. This is why many Canadians go down to the US for treatments. The US health care system is obviously not perfect and would probably work better if it was even more capitalist and encouraged more competition between insurance providers to get better prices. Canada on the other hand is government regulated with all prices set kind of like the alcohol in provinces like BC, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario to name a few. In the government's attempt to regulate alcohol the price shoots up with taxes and it is almost impossible to compete with the taxes and regulations. The selection also suffers and we are left with fewer choices of beer, wine and spirits than the US. This is paralleled in health care with artificial prices (in this case less than the US but paid for by more taxes from us) and lack of selection (wait lists and limited options in terms of treatments).
Now the comparison isn't perfect but it certainly got me thinking at the differences between how Canada and the US are run, especially in health care. Normally I am very supportive of Canadian health care, but this incident got me thinking. There must be a better way to do things than to have ridiculous "taxes" and complete government regulation. Maybe there is a happy medium between the two systems. I am sure I will update this post once I have a better idea of the ins and outs of the health care system.
I was in shock at the ridiculous amount of tax the government charged to bring back what I thought was a reasonable amount of goods from the US. I think this is a good example of the difference between the two countries in terms of health care as well. The US revolves around the principles of capitalism and competition to lower prices and produce the best product. This is why the US has the most innovative health care, with the best technology and the latest treatments available. This is why many Canadians go down to the US for treatments. The US health care system is obviously not perfect and would probably work better if it was even more capitalist and encouraged more competition between insurance providers to get better prices. Canada on the other hand is government regulated with all prices set kind of like the alcohol in provinces like BC, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario to name a few. In the government's attempt to regulate alcohol the price shoots up with taxes and it is almost impossible to compete with the taxes and regulations. The selection also suffers and we are left with fewer choices of beer, wine and spirits than the US. This is paralleled in health care with artificial prices (in this case less than the US but paid for by more taxes from us) and lack of selection (wait lists and limited options in terms of treatments).
Now the comparison isn't perfect but it certainly got me thinking at the differences between how Canada and the US are run, especially in health care. Normally I am very supportive of Canadian health care, but this incident got me thinking. There must be a better way to do things than to have ridiculous "taxes" and complete government regulation. Maybe there is a happy medium between the two systems. I am sure I will update this post once I have a better idea of the ins and outs of the health care system.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
New Laptop
For all of my undergrad I had been using a clunky 19 inch Dell laptop. It is still working after 5 years with only a few repairs, and most were under warranty. It is still my main computer but for medical school I wanted to treat myself to a new laptop, a super tiny portable laptop that I could throw/gently place into my backpack everyday and take everywhere with me. I was originally thinking of going with the new Asus eee pc with the bigger screen. I had heard reviews of the 7 inch one being a pain because you had to keep scrolling left and right to veiw webpages.
So these are the three main computers I looked into and frankly I didn't do a whole lot of research because I knew what I wanted and I bought this kind of impulsively.
First, the new Asus eee pc 1000....
Price: $559 in Canada
Screen: 10 inch
Memory: 1GB
Hard drive: 80GB
Operating System: Windows XP or Linux
Battery life: ~7 hours with 6 cell battery
Weight: 1.45 kg
Plus built in webcam
The new HP Mini-note which has had some good reviews
Price: $599
Screen: 8.9 inch
Memory: 1GB
Hard drive:120GB
Operating System: Vista
Battery life: 3 or 6 cell
Weight: 1.27 kg
You can also get it with a Linux OS which would probably be preferable to Vista because I have heard that Vista is quite a processor hog.
Acer Aspire One...new this summer, not a lot of reviews on this one
Price: $429
Screen: 8.9 inch
Memory: 1GB
Hard drive: 120 GB
Operating System: XP or Linux
Battery Life: 3 or 6 cell
Weight:1.26 kg
They are all very similar and the asus eee pc is far better known. And each subnotebook comes with prices plus or minus $100 depending on which OS you choose, how much battery you want, etc. Basically I chose based on price, which the acer is superior in. However I am still waiting for mine to come in the mail, as it is not in stock at most places. The only reviews I read about it were for the Linux OS with the small 8GB hard drive. They were all pretty positive and I have pretty high expectations for my new little laptop. I tested the basic version at a store and it is much smaller in person! I think the keyboard on any of these little guys would take some getting used to. I have heard that the HP mini note has a pretty slow processor and a lot of places are stocking it for around $700 or more which is the same price as a basic normal sized laptop these days (this is the main complaint about this one). Basically after taxes, the Acer is still cheaper than the un taxed price of either of these computers, Mine will even come in a nice shade of blue. Plus at under $500 I can afford to replace it in a few years when something better comes along. And in the field of subnotebooks the competition is getting fierce and I feel that going for too many fancy features defeats the purpose of getting an ultra light, portable laptop. When my old laptop finally bites the dust I think I will invest in an ultra fast desktop, which can be reasonably purchased for around $1500 with all the bells and whistles I could possibly want.
I originally wanted a tablet PC, the kind that you can swivel the screen and write on. However, even though these computers are in the 4th or 5th generation now they are still very expensive and retail around $2500 or so. Plus I am limited by location. Canada tends to be a late adopter in most electronics and getting my hands on a decent tablet for a reasonable price would have been hard. Hopefully when I graduate I will be able to buy a cheap tiny tablet pc (there are rumors of them being made in japan already). But my next purchase will probably be a combination phone/pda for third year like the ones vitum medicinus was reviewing here. Hopefully increased competition will give Canadians more choices in blackberry/i-phone ish things for good prices.
I would probably not use this as my primary computer just because it is very small and doesn't have certain things I might want like a CD drive in certain situations, but it should be pretty good for day to day use. I will be adding a new post with my initial thoughts of the acer aspire and how useful I think it is if it ever arrives! Ah, the trials and tribulations of being an early adopter. I hope this helps anyone looking for a cheap laptop to complement an existing laptop or desktop.
So these are the three main computers I looked into and frankly I didn't do a whole lot of research because I knew what I wanted and I bought this kind of impulsively.
First, the new Asus eee pc 1000....
Price: $559 in Canada
Screen: 10 inch
Memory: 1GB
Hard drive: 80GB
Operating System: Windows XP or Linux
Battery life: ~7 hours with 6 cell battery
Weight: 1.45 kg
Plus built in webcam
The new HP Mini-note which has had some good reviews
Price: $599
Screen: 8.9 inch
Memory: 1GB
Hard drive:120GB
Operating System: Vista
Battery life: 3 or 6 cell
Weight: 1.27 kg
You can also get it with a Linux OS which would probably be preferable to Vista because I have heard that Vista is quite a processor hog.
Acer Aspire One...new this summer, not a lot of reviews on this one
Price: $429
Screen: 8.9 inch
Memory: 1GB
Hard drive: 120 GB
Operating System: XP or Linux
Battery Life: 3 or 6 cell
Weight:1.26 kg
They are all very similar and the asus eee pc is far better known. And each subnotebook comes with prices plus or minus $100 depending on which OS you choose, how much battery you want, etc. Basically I chose based on price, which the acer is superior in. However I am still waiting for mine to come in the mail, as it is not in stock at most places. The only reviews I read about it were for the Linux OS with the small 8GB hard drive. They were all pretty positive and I have pretty high expectations for my new little laptop. I tested the basic version at a store and it is much smaller in person! I think the keyboard on any of these little guys would take some getting used to. I have heard that the HP mini note has a pretty slow processor and a lot of places are stocking it for around $700 or more which is the same price as a basic normal sized laptop these days (this is the main complaint about this one). Basically after taxes, the Acer is still cheaper than the un taxed price of either of these computers, Mine will even come in a nice shade of blue. Plus at under $500 I can afford to replace it in a few years when something better comes along. And in the field of subnotebooks the competition is getting fierce and I feel that going for too many fancy features defeats the purpose of getting an ultra light, portable laptop. When my old laptop finally bites the dust I think I will invest in an ultra fast desktop, which can be reasonably purchased for around $1500 with all the bells and whistles I could possibly want.
I originally wanted a tablet PC, the kind that you can swivel the screen and write on. However, even though these computers are in the 4th or 5th generation now they are still very expensive and retail around $2500 or so. Plus I am limited by location. Canada tends to be a late adopter in most electronics and getting my hands on a decent tablet for a reasonable price would have been hard. Hopefully when I graduate I will be able to buy a cheap tiny tablet pc (there are rumors of them being made in japan already). But my next purchase will probably be a combination phone/pda for third year like the ones vitum medicinus was reviewing here. Hopefully increased competition will give Canadians more choices in blackberry/i-phone ish things for good prices.
I would probably not use this as my primary computer just because it is very small and doesn't have certain things I might want like a CD drive in certain situations, but it should be pretty good for day to day use. I will be adding a new post with my initial thoughts of the acer aspire and how useful I think it is if it ever arrives! Ah, the trials and tribulations of being an early adopter. I hope this helps anyone looking for a cheap laptop to complement an existing laptop or desktop.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
My Formula for MCAT Success
I think the MCAT is one of the most daunting tasks that faces any pre-med. On the day of my actual exam I met many people who had taken it more than once and even one girl who planned to write the test and immediately register for another testing session one month later. But it doesn't have to be an overwhelming test. It's just like any other standardized test (like the SATs etc) and with the proper preparation it is (fairly) easy to get above 10 and even 12 in every category. My strategy will not work for everyone though. It entirely depends on how you study best. I am also extremely cheap and could not stomach the idea of paying over $1000 for someone to teach me stuff I was already supposed to know.
For those of you unfamiliar with the MCAT it is made up of four sections. Three sections are marked out of 15 each: chemistry and physics, biology and organic chemistry, and verbal reasoning. The last section is two essays which are marked and you are given a mark from L to T, which doesn't make any sense...Anyway, you get a total score of 30M or whatever. Schools tend to either have a combined score you must meet or minimum scores for each sections. A good rule of thumb is that higher than 30 is good but 35 or above and you shouldn't have any problems. For the essays, a lot of schools have cut offs of O or P.
My first piece of advice would be to take the test as soon as you can after you learn the material. In most cases this would be after second year of university. That way all the information is fresh in your head and you stand a better chance of remembering everything. I waited way too long and took it in my fourth year, which made it very difficult/frustrating to study.
What worked for me was buying a relatively cheap study manual ($60) from Kaplan/Princeton whatever that covered all the material and included a lot of practice tests. I was lucky and had a friend who took the expensive course so I got all of her practice tests as well. I was also lucky in that I took the electronic test which is only 4-5 hours instead of 8. I found the books that give you a good overview contain way more than enough information than you need to be successful in the test. Buying $500 worth of specific subject books may seem like a good idea but you will never have enough time to go through it all.
My study schedule started about 6 months before I wrote the actual test. I only studied about 1 hour a day if that for the first fews months and then gradually built it up as the test came nearer. In the last few weeks I was doing several hours a day and about 8 hours on the weekend of practice tests. But it was not a strenuous schedule and I suggest that anyone who is taking classes and trying to study at the same time try this method because you do not want to try and cram everything into your head two weeks before the test. The best advice I have is practice, practice, practice! Then when test day comes you will be really comfortable with the format of everything and be able to go through the questions quickly and without hesitation.
But like I said, this method will not work for everyone, but it worked really well for me and I surpassed all my expectations when I actually took the test.
For those of you unfamiliar with the MCAT it is made up of four sections. Three sections are marked out of 15 each: chemistry and physics, biology and organic chemistry, and verbal reasoning. The last section is two essays which are marked and you are given a mark from L to T, which doesn't make any sense...Anyway, you get a total score of 30M or whatever. Schools tend to either have a combined score you must meet or minimum scores for each sections. A good rule of thumb is that higher than 30 is good but 35 or above and you shouldn't have any problems. For the essays, a lot of schools have cut offs of O or P.
My first piece of advice would be to take the test as soon as you can after you learn the material. In most cases this would be after second year of university. That way all the information is fresh in your head and you stand a better chance of remembering everything. I waited way too long and took it in my fourth year, which made it very difficult/frustrating to study.
What worked for me was buying a relatively cheap study manual ($60) from Kaplan/Princeton whatever that covered all the material and included a lot of practice tests. I was lucky and had a friend who took the expensive course so I got all of her practice tests as well. I was also lucky in that I took the electronic test which is only 4-5 hours instead of 8. I found the books that give you a good overview contain way more than enough information than you need to be successful in the test. Buying $500 worth of specific subject books may seem like a good idea but you will never have enough time to go through it all.
My study schedule started about 6 months before I wrote the actual test. I only studied about 1 hour a day if that for the first fews months and then gradually built it up as the test came nearer. In the last few weeks I was doing several hours a day and about 8 hours on the weekend of practice tests. But it was not a strenuous schedule and I suggest that anyone who is taking classes and trying to study at the same time try this method because you do not want to try and cram everything into your head two weeks before the test. The best advice I have is practice, practice, practice! Then when test day comes you will be really comfortable with the format of everything and be able to go through the questions quickly and without hesitation.
But like I said, this method will not work for everyone, but it worked really well for me and I surpassed all my expectations when I actually took the test.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Why do med students need first aid?
Many medical schools in Canada require first year students to take a standard first aid class with CPR before they are even allowed in the classroom. This is a fairly easy but exhausting two day course which must be paid for out of the student's own pocket (a common theme in medicine). At first I wondered why I should have to take a life saving course when I was shortly going to pay a lot of money to enter into a life saving profession. It seemed a bit ridiculous to take all this before I even learned anything at the school itself. Then it hit me. I realized that the reason I should take this class is so that I don't embarrass my medical school. How horrible would it be for me to be at the scene of an accident or emergency and proudly proclaim to be a medical student at (university) and not be able to do anything useful. I truly believe this is the main reason I was forced to take this class. However, I should add that it is a really useful class and I wish I had taken it a long time ago because it is a good idea for everyone to know at least a bit of first aid.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
My First Post
Hello blogging community,
After two years of watching and diligently reading medical blogs posted by doctors, medical students, nurses, and other people in health care I am proud to be joining the ranks as a medical blogger. I just got accepted to a Canadian medical school and want to begin chronicling my journey over the next few years giving my tips, tricks, commentary and all my mistakes. I found it extremely helpful to read blogs showing the "hidden" side of medicine when I was thinking about applying to medical school, and now I want to hopefully provide some helpful advice and funny stories to other bloggers and premeds and anyone else who wants to read this blog. I also want to be able to look back on this in a few years and remember what I was feeling and how far I have come. I felt like I knew a lot of the hardships I would be facing in my career from all the reading I have done. However, with only a few weeks until classes start I have already begun to realize how in over my head I actually am! People say applying is the hard part and once you are in then it is easy, but they neglect to mention the vast amounts of papers to sign, forms to fill out, vaccinations, first aid, and other tests you need to complete before they will even let you set foot in the classroom!
After two years of watching and diligently reading medical blogs posted by doctors, medical students, nurses, and other people in health care I am proud to be joining the ranks as a medical blogger. I just got accepted to a Canadian medical school and want to begin chronicling my journey over the next few years giving my tips, tricks, commentary and all my mistakes. I found it extremely helpful to read blogs showing the "hidden" side of medicine when I was thinking about applying to medical school, and now I want to hopefully provide some helpful advice and funny stories to other bloggers and premeds and anyone else who wants to read this blog. I also want to be able to look back on this in a few years and remember what I was feeling and how far I have come. I felt like I knew a lot of the hardships I would be facing in my career from all the reading I have done. However, with only a few weeks until classes start I have already begun to realize how in over my head I actually am! People say applying is the hard part and once you are in then it is easy, but they neglect to mention the vast amounts of papers to sign, forms to fill out, vaccinations, first aid, and other tests you need to complete before they will even let you set foot in the classroom!
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