Over the course of the week beginning on August 26, 2014 the Faculties of Medicine and Dentistry at McGill University held their annual orientation session, welcoming the incoming class of students.
As they began their journeys to become physicians and dentists, the approximately 230 students were provided with a plethora of information to help guide them along the way.
The students themselves expressed a mix of emotions on their first day. “I was a little nervous – I couldn’t sleep at all last night,” said Karen Tam. “But people are very nice and it just seems like it is going to be a great community and it’s going to be a great four years here.”
“I don’t really think the full magnitude has hit me yet. It’s still a bit surreal when I hear people say that I’m a medical student,” said Corrado De Marco. “To think about what I know now compared to what I will know in four years from now is pretty much the most exciting and overwhelming thing – to think about the sheer knowledge that I’m going to learn and how I am going to apply it, kind of like infinite possibilities that I can’t even begin to grasp right now but that I’m sure are going to become more clear as time goes on.”
As the second class to be taught within McGill’s new MDCM curriculum, Dr. Robert Primavesi, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Medical Education and Student Affairs has high expectations for the Class. “Last year the implementation [of the curriculum] surpassed all of our expectations,” said Dr. Primavesi. “So we are very lucky to be tweaking the curriculum and not doing major changes this year. This class is going to be very lucky in that they benefit from what we did last year. We know what the students are going through and we know how to help them better, to anticipate things more as we go along. My expectation is for an excellent year.”
“I’m very excited to meet new people and start this exciting journey of being on my way to being a doctor. I like helping people but also like teaching. I think with medicine you get to not only help people but to teach them about health as well.” – Kapil Sareen-Khanna (right)
