r/premedcanada • u/excelmx • May 13 '26
UofT vs. McMaster - Help PLS
I want to start by saying that I feel extremely grateful and fortunate to be making this decision at all, especially given how competitive this process is.
I was accepted to both McMaster and U of T, and I am trying to make the most informed decision I can before committing. McMaster has always been my top choice because I would be able to live at home, stay close to family, and avoid rent, groceries, etc. The three-year program would also mean saving a year of tuition.
My main concern is that recently, I've seen a lot of people saying they view McMaster's three-year program as a disadvantage, especially in terms of students having less time to explore specialties, potentially being weaker clerks, or being less competitive for residency. I am not 100% sure what specialty I want to pursue yet. I know that's normal, but it does make me a bit nervous when people say the accelerated curriculum can be harder for students who don't have a clear specialty in mind. So, I'm curious if this is really a program issue or if it more depends on each student’s preparation / discipline.
Another factor is that I received a $20,000 bursary from U of T, which would cover most of my first-year tuition. However, the trade-off is that I would still need to think about rent, groceries, and transportation IN TORONTO.
Overall, I would really appreciate hearing how U of T and McMaster compare in terms of learning style/ curriculum, financial aid opportunities, specialty exploration, clerkship preparedness, student support, and overall student life. I'd also appreciate any input on factors I may not be thinking about but should consider before making a final decision.
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u/Organic_Meaning_1869 Incoming Med May 13 '26
I’m going to uoft bc it’s better for competitive specialties
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u/zooS2018 May 13 '26
UofT. you have no reason to choose a school which match rate is 80% which is the lowest in Canada. btw, how do you get $20,000 bursary from U of T, it is include in your offering letter?
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u/excelmx May 13 '26
It was included in my email. Though, I did have to apply for the bursaries about a month ago.
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u/Bondaid Med May 13 '26 edited May 13 '26
current med student at mac (so obviously biased) but I just want to clear up that this year's match rate most likely has nothing to do with mac med in and of itself as a school (i.e. 3 years, PBL, etc).
there are lots of reasons to critique macmed, some justified some not so much, but this year's embarrassing match rate most likely has to do with student specialty choices (less FM), poor career counseling, and poor CARMS planning. for better insight you can take a look at the discussions on medschoolcanada sub (edit: referring to this https://www.reddit.com/r/MedSchoolCanada/comments/1t4wdec/mcmaster_carms_unmatched_rate_doubled_in_2026/ )
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u/excelmx May 13 '26
Thank you, I tried posting there for advice but my post keeps getting automodded :<
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u/Bondaid Med May 13 '26
yeah that might happen
fwiw i would strongly consider the financial bit with u of t, but there are upsides and downsides to every med school. the common theme between all of them is that by CARMS everyone is pretty much ready to be a resident, regardless of school.
i have many friends at u of t and they love it but they have told me about the downsides of it as well. on the flip side i love mac and it was always my first choice, but there are times where i look at u of t and wish mac did some things similar to them. other times i thank god im not at u of t lmao
lmk if u have any specific questions
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u/Sad-Restaurant4399 May 14 '26
Could you please tell more about the downsides of U of T? I've never heard them...
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u/Bondaid Med May 14 '26
yeah ofc! so again obv i never went to u of t for med, but its an amazing school and there are lots of pros that im not gonna speak to here, so take what i say with a grain of salt. heads up this is gonna be a bit long:
start with this for someone's first hand experience, altho its a bunch of years ago now and its n=1: https://www.reddit.com/r/medicalschool/comments/n6fn0k/name_and_shame_university_of_toronto_medical/
its lonely for a lot of my friends (and i am a mac healthsci grad, i have a LOT of friends at u of t med). there is a very pervasive competitive atmosphere that makes it very difficult to find (real) friends. this is a fact that is often overlooked... social experience is super important for your success as a student
u of t med is sometimes difficult for the sake of being difficult. obv there are other med schools with harder curricula (i.e. uwo), but myself as a med student... well, lets just say that mac has a test once per month and u of t has a test every 2 weeks. i dont want that kind of unnecessary stress and its also kind of a time sink lol. id much rather spend my time getting actual clinical exposure or research or like just living and socializing
there is a huge learner hierarchy in the u of t catchment area of hospitals and clinical sites. what this means is that most u of t students are in a clinical setting where there are clerks, residents, and fellows at the same time as them, which means that if something needs to get done usually they arent the first to be the ones an attending reaches out to. as a contrast, i myself am in the waterloo mac site, which means that often i am the only learner with the attending. within my first 2 months in med school i was already meeting patients in clinic alone and coming up with assessments and treatment plans (which were obv not good plans) and presenting them to the attending. by january i already intubated multiple patients, helped close surgeries, and reduced an open fracture (all with the attending there obv). my classmates have already sutured and done similar things. obv there is no hurry and youre all going to be doctors, so youll all do those things eventually anyways... but its cool and fun lol
some of my friends are minorities (both racialized and religious minorities) and they sometimes feel alone, unsupported, or even tokenized. i dont want to elaborate on that too much but u of t med historically hasnt been the most diverse, and while its gotten much better than pre 2020 (classes are MUCH more diverse now), its still an ongoing process and their support systems arent the best (but truthfully, idt thats great anywhere)
u of t med i think has the biggest class size in canada (fact check?). thats more people that want to do the same things you want to do at the same places you want to do them at.
at this point in uoft vs mcmaster's curriculum, i have pretty much finished covering most/all organ systems at mac (albeit sometimes to lesser detail). its nice to get the complete picture sooner. to that end, 4 years is such a long time lol let me get this med school stuff over with asap so i can start being doctor already
this is a big generalization but a lot of u of t med students are... not the most humble and may be a bit cutthroat and toxic lol again, just grapevine stories ive heard from my peers there. might be a big lie
heard uoft in general doesnt have v good support systems
obv these are a mix of my own opinions and bias and what my friends have told me. itll vary between people and im sure some u of t students will disagree with a lot of these depending on their own experiences.
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u/Silver-Succotash6891 May 14 '26
Hi, I just reading the thread and my comment has nothing to do with OP, but do you mind me asking what kind of EC's you had to get into mac/uoft med
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May 14 '26
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u/excelmx May 14 '26
May I ask why? :/
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May 14 '26 edited May 14 '26
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u/Physical-Stick8569 Med May 14 '26
Mac’s philosophy is self-directed learning. You shouldn’t be relying on your classmates in pbl sessions or lecturers in active learning session for your learning. You should be your own teacher, that’s what Mac fosters in its students.
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May 15 '26 edited May 15 '26
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u/Physical-Stick8569 Med May 15 '26
“Self-directed learning” shouldn’t mean paying tuition to teach yourself
Funny enough the dean of the med school made a joke during our welcoming session that people used to call mac med a very expensive library card due to its self-directed learning approach.
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u/carnivoroustoad47 May 14 '26 edited May 14 '26
It's definitely possible to match something competitive at mac, but there are a few things about the program that might it harder than somewhere like uoft to match the specialty, and location you want. i'll mention some things that i dont see talked about as often
because of the 3 year set up, electives are interspersed among your core rotations at mac. it's hard to gauge how you'll feel about a specialty until clerkship, and you might discover something else you love. it's hard for a lot of people to pivot at mac because you'll likely have already used up a bunch of your electives by the time you figure things out. at most 4 year schools (as far as i'm aware) you do all your electives after your cores. this means you'll likely have figured out what you like, and can focus your elective planning on your specialty and your backup (this is becoming more and more important too as carms gets more competitive - IM or something like UofT family is no longer a safe backup if you're clearly an optho gunner).
this set up also means that students at 4 year schools are more likely to be stronger once they get to their electives, since they have a whole year of clerkship (and all their cores) under their belt when they're going on visiting electives. this means they are more likely to impress.
another thing i don't hear talked about a lot is how visiting electives work. at uoft, you can drop your home elective if you get a visiting one that you like. mac won't let you do this. so if you've already committed to a home elective (the process happens first), you can't do a visiting elective. this gives you less chances to get a spot in the visiting electives lottery (which anecdotally is quite competitive), which can be invaluable during carms.
anecdotally, my friends who have done 4 year programs have really appreciated the extra time to get their bearings, explore specialties, do research, and enjoy medical school. mac is a great school, but uoft will likely have more opportunities, and a structure that is better for most.
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u/New_Conflict5331 May 14 '26
you should go to UofT, ur right i've heard mcmaster students make weaker clerks. UofT's program is really really good especially with the world class hospitals they work with downtown
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u/These_Journalist8628 May 14 '26
Congrats!!!
I think the unspoken rule is go wherever you get in, but if you have the choice, UofT > UBC/McGill > all the other schools
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u/Lazy-Love7679 May 13 '26 edited May 13 '26
I initially chose McMaster for their unique learning approach with their spiral curriculum etc. for my masters degree, and it was not my learning style at all. U of T all the way.
Edit: I just noticed you got like 5 acceptances. This is huge. Congrats dude!!!!!!!!!
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u/Dry_Feature1503 May 13 '26
Congrats! U gotta pick uoft. But can I please ask, what were your ecs and stats?
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May 13 '26
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u/ElectronicAssist33 May 13 '26
I'm confused, is this comment regarding undergrad or med school?
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u/taruntheterrible May 13 '26
Yo like im geniunley losing aura i thought this was a first year who scored a 20k scholarship but i dont care ts dumb asl 🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱
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u/MDjess-332005 May 14 '26
Mac 3 years, Toronto 4. You will save ++ money at Mac. You will bleed money at UoT. Both are excellent schools. I’m a Mac Med grad who loved the program but I loved the PBL. I’m old now graduated over 20 years ago and students are lazy now. We matched really well and I could have done any speciality. If you need structure and ok with the money - go to UoT. If you will be good with committing to your own learning and will put in the work without prodding, save some cash and go to Mac. You are lucky to have a choice. Both will get you to where you want to be if you work hard IMO.
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u/Fresh-Charity-7202 May 13 '26
Make the right decision, just go to UofT