Survival Guide

Curious to know more about what these 4 years will hold? Already starting to get overwhelmed? Confused by all the acronyms?

All of your med school-related questions can be answered in the Medical Student Survival Guide. It is a reference guide created by your MSA Communications Officers with the help of many MSA members and staff. Don’t be overwhelmed by its length. We recommend skimming through it and reading the sections that you have questions about rather than trying to read it all in one go. Throughout your degree, when questions pop up, you can pull it up and “command f” or use the table of contents to quickly find the answers you need.

From courses and online resources, to bonding events and research, to medical faculty and organizations, to clerkship and CaRMS, this book has you covered!  It is our hope that it will ease your anxiety and help your medical school journey go smoothly.

The editors, in collaboration with the MD Program (sometimes called the UME) office, have made every effort to ensure that the contents of this guide are as up-to-date and clear as possible at the time of publishing, but this is a student-created guide, not an official MD Program guide. If you are unsure of anything discussed in this guide, please ask any upper-year student, faculty member and/or MD Program staff for more information.