Honestly, I did some undergraduate coursework at UBC after graduating from SFU. I found that SFU was far more student friendly in terms of student services and campus amenities at the undergraduate level. I don't think there is any major difference in quality of teaching. UBC is obviously bigger and gets more research funding and might have more to offer graduate students.
1. I used to sleep a lot and then cram before exams. Now, it depends on the rotation. During general surgery and internal medicine, I was averaging 3-4 hours of sleep per night and working between 10-18 hours per day.
2. Definitely a combination of the above. It is essential to time your use of stimulants (eg. caffeine) and meals in order to stay alive throughout the day. Med school is a marathon so you have to find a sustainable lifestyle. Sometimes I don't get to eat. If you round and then go straight to the OR, there is no time for a sit down meal. You need to bring little snacks and hide them in your scrubs. Again, it depends on the rotation. Sometimes you get a regular 1 hour break for lunch.
3. In 1st and 2nd year I read a fair bit every day and could cram for 10+ hours per day on weekends before big blocks of finals. In 3rd year, you are forced to learn a lot throughout the day. For example, you will see patients and present them to your resident or staff, every day, in clinic. Or you will stand in the OR for 8+ hours while you are pimped by the resident and/or staff member. This means they quiz you throughout the operations while you are assisting them. I am physically and mentally exhausted at end of day and often collapse into a pile on the floor when I get home. I try to eek out 2 hours a day of studying but this sometimes proves impossible. I still have to cram before end-of-rotation finals, however. In general, I have not found it difficult to pass exams and exceed class averages. Some of my classmates don't study at all for exams in clerkship, however.
4. Most likely: Emergency medicine, general practice. Still considering: internal medicine, radiology, anesthesiology.
5. I'm in debt. One day when I'm old and bitter I will withdraw all my money and go buy a piece of land in the middle of nowhere and never return -_-
Rotation: in 3rd year medical school you do rotating internship, so, for e.g.: internal medicine, obstetrics/gyne, general surgery, orthopedics, pediatrics, etc.
Internal medicine: These doctors are known as "internists" and they are doctors who focus on medicine in particular, usually for patients who are admitted to hospital. e.g.: cardiologists, rheumatologists, respirologists, nephrologists, etc.
Resident: A doctor who has graduated medical school and is in their residency program which is a 2 to 5 year period where they become specialized and work under the supervision of a very senior doctor known as a "staff person".
Sleep: When you close your eyes and you stop being conscious
@mattias88 What's JMA? Is that part of MBB? And don't you think something like radiology would make more sense as a specialization with your computer science skills?
And wow. FROM a 2.8 to 4.3 that's amazing. How many semesters or years did this take you? It's usually the opposite for most students. Like it's either do poorly in the first year of UG and do decent throughout UG after pulling it up or doing really well and slowly going further down throughout UG. How did you manage to achieve this besides the obvious of motivation, ambition, work ethic etc.
Do you watch doctor shows on Netflix?
And if you watch Scrubs, what does it mean when they call Snoop Dogg Attending his name, they used to call him Snoop Dogg Resident which I understand now with what you said but how about "Attending". I understand it's higher than Resident?
What are the four basic bodily fluids humors in medieval medicine?
Also want to say thank you for choosing this career path and doing something that truly contributes to society.
And if it makes you feel any better, Elon Musk the CEO of Tesla Motors and SpaceX clocks in 80-90 hour weeks and it used to be 100-hour weeks but needs to spend more time with his two twins and three triplets.
Also I know of someone who became a doctor and then a lawyer to defend his own practice. Cool huh? Imagine all that studying and reading...
Oh and do you think someone in medical school could survive without coffee? I mean it's still a drug... which I think doctors themselves should avoid as much as possible. Also how bad is your handwriting?
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