New Year, New Habits

Bad habits don’t disappear.  They are simply replaced by new ones.

One well-known observation is that fitness centers tend to be the most packed the first two weeks of the New Year, but then the numbers start to peter out until only the regulars are left at the end of the month.

I’ve never been a big fan of New Year’s resolutions myself, but they are a good starting point.  The difficult part is seeing it through to the end (of the year, at the very least).  

Juggling Priorities - Reflections for the New Year

During high school and university, I've had classmates that seemed to be multitalented. It seemed as though there wasn't anything they couldn't do – while consistently maintaining a high GPA in a difficult major with a full course load, they also managed to find the time to participate in a senior role in student government and as an executive member in numerous student clubs/organizations , volunteer at the hospital, conduct research on multiple projects in their department, hold onto a part-time job or two and have enough time to party.

I will admit that I've tried to emulate these outstanding peers of mine, but it was a constant juggling act which bought me only a fleeting sense of happiness. It also meant sacrificing quality over quantity or just time to chill out and relax.

This blog is called “The Aspiring Polymath”. I had a lot of goals in mind when I first started this blog – improve my language skills (French, Chinese), learning a programming language, picking up a dead language (Latin, Egyptian hieroglyphs), brainstorming ideas for a novel, getting my name on as many peer-reviewed articles as I can in my field, finishing some of my licensing exams...all this on top of a full course load along with volunteering and some extracurriculars.

In hindsight, I'm not sure if I was just overly ambitious or merely exhibiting signs of delusional thinking.

    

Somewhere I lost sight of the forest for the trees because in attempting to do too much at once, I actually ended up making less progress overall.

Therefore, my goal for 2014 is simply this: Do less but do it well.  

"Why obesity is not your doctor’s problem."

An excellent article entitled "Fat City - What can stop obesity?" was posted by Dr. Karen Hitchcock in March 2013 in The Monthly.  I think it's well worth reading.  

Have you ever tried counseling obese patients about considering weight loss?  A lot of people will agree with the concept ("I don't want to be fat!"), but only a few make the effort needed to change.   

In some ways, scientific research has taken obesity outside the realm where it is a consequence of choices made by a more or less free-willed individual in a more or less free society, which nonetheless disapproves of excess. In current medical research obesity is often conceptualised as an unavoidable disease. It’s your genes, your metabolism, the chemicals in your environment, what your mother ate when she was pregnant, whether she fed you at her breast. It is everything but what you choose to put in your mouth. 

On a slightly-related note - if anyone's ever visited a McDonald's in Australia, you'd be surprised at the difference.  In terms of beverages, an Australian "large" is pretty much equivalent to the American "medium" and the "small" to the "happy meal size".  Oh and Reddit agrees.     

UBC DAP vs. BCIT Dip. Tech (Acct) vs. UofT MMPA

Before I decided on the UBC DAP, I also made sure to consider the other available options - well, two other ones.  I know that Douglas College and Langara also had some similar programs but these were the ones I looked at:

• BCIT's Accounting Diploma
• University of Toronto's Master of Management and Professional Accounting Program. 

I did have a few things I took into mind when deciding on a program, namely that it:

1)  Provided the prerequisites needed for CGA/CMA/CA
[CGA actually has this nifty chart where they list almost every single accounting program in BC along with what CGA prereqs they fulfill.  If you're trying to decide on a place beside UBC/BCIT, it's worth checking it out.]

EDIT: With the new CPA program rolling out in BC, there have been a few changes in what DAP courses are needed.  However, you can find the chart here.

2a)  Could be finished as quickly as possible (preferably within 1.5 years since that was the time frame I was working with)
2b) Had the least number of required courses

3) Cost the least amount to complete

Other (slightly less important) considerations were that it:

5) Had recruiting by the major CA firms

6) Didn't have overly onerous entrance requirements.

But hey wait a minute, you say.  Wouldn't having onerous requirements mean that they're accepting quality students instead of every Tom, Dick and Harry?  I know people hate this answer but it really does depend on what you mean by that.

Let me put it this way: I haven't seen any evidence for or against stating that the UofT MMPA has a higher employment rate by the Big 4 (or similar firms) when compared to say, the UBC DAP despite their arguably more rigorous entrance requirements.  What I do know is that a large number of DAP students have managed to secure a job in some of the firms in question.  What that says about things is up to you to decide.     

Though if you think about it, all three programs I have listed here are designed to prepare you for the same thing: a career in accounting.  Besides, I took my MCAT literally 2 weeks before I started the UBC DAP in September so I needed a program that didn't need a whole bunch of extra stuff like the GMAT.

[And because I know someone's gonna make a comment about this: I took the UBC DAP, so all info about other programs are simply stuff I found from their websites and from former students on forums.]
 
UBC Diploma in Accounting (DAP)
Completion time (minimum): 10 months F/T
Cost: ~$10,000
Entrance requirements: 4 year undergrad degree
Required courses: 11

BCIT Diploma in Technology (Accounting)
Completion time:  2 years
Cost: ~$10,000
Entrance requirements: High school graduation with English 12 and Math 11.
Required courses: 32

If I remember correctly, another reason I wasn't too keen on BCIT was that I'd have to complete their B.Tech in Accounting as well to fulfill the same requirements needed by CGA/CA/CMA that the UBC DAP would be able to fulfill alone.  Probably more suited towards high school graduates that want to progress into accounting but for whatever reason, choose not to pursue a BCom/BBA.

University of Toronto - Master of Management and Professional Accounting
Completion time: 27 months (if you don't have academic exemptions)
Cost: ~$60,000.
Entrance requirements: GMAT, 4 year undergrad degree, interview, reference letters, personal essays
Required courses: 33 (and 2 co-op work terms)       

I like to think of the MMPA as a kind of mash between UBC's DAP and ECM (Early Career Masters) programs.  Also, rumor had it that 1-2 of the Big 4 were no longer recruiting here.  One selling point is that it's labelled as a Master's degree, which some people think looks better on their CV.   

Shoes for the Wards

For me, clinical day shoes must fulfill a couple of requirements - namely, that they be:

1) Comfy

• Some days I'm on my feet from 7 AM - 5 PM (or even longer!) and so this is my number one requirement.

2a) Look professional

•  Technically my clinical school has a strict no 'runners' rule, but I've gotten away with wearing mine quite a few times.  In the OT though, runners are probably the better option.

2b) Match what you're wearing

• Runners fail miserably at this; conversely, ballet flats match almost anything but they also have the side effect of being bloody uncomfortable! Trust me, I have three different pairs of ballet flats that I adore but can't wear if I'm going to be on my feet for more than an hour.

3) Protect your feet

PW Minor Broadway.

• Depending on what you're doing, you want your feet covered especially when you're working with fluids or sharp objects.   

My first pair of shoes were a pair of black leather lace-up comfort shoes I'd gotten from Walmart (similar in style to the one shown on the right, but at 1/4 of the price).  They pretty much fulfilled all the criteria I had so unsurprisingly they also wore out pretty quickly.






I'd tried ballet flats for awhile but after limping home following one long day on the wards, I'd decided that it wasn't practical in the long run.

Ankle boots from DWD Shoes

I switched to ankle boots for awhile, in particular combat/doc marten-style boots.  Surprisingly, it seems like these boots are the new fashionable thing to wear these days, which works out well for me.  You wouldn't think it but they do fulfill every criteria above and if I'm particularly worried about #2a, I'd pair it with some long dress pants (boot-cut, of course) and they look great.  

 

Reflections on International Medical Schools

A lot of the information in this post is based off of forums (SDN, Premed101), friends and Google..and a minor bit from personal experience.  As you've probably gleaned from my previous posts, I was a arts/science kid in undergrad.  So I had a lot of contact with overeager premed and prelaw students.  Unsurprisingly, some of it rubbed off.

One of the biggest questions that usually crops out on the premed forums - for those thinking of applying outside North America for medical school - is "Caribbean vs. Australia vs Ireland vs UK vs Europe vs Asia vs. Etc".  Regardless of where you ultimately decide to go to, you'll be labelled an IMG if you decide to head back to North America - but that's probably best left as the subject of another blog post.  It's no secret that studying where you want to eventually practice is the best plan, but sometimes things don't work out the way you want them to.  That's life.    

Everyone has their reasons for applying outside of Canada/USA. Some want to avoid the MCAT, some because the NA schools can be rather unforgiving about their GPA requirements, some because they didn't get in despite having the stats, etc.

I'm not here to make judgements on that.  Rather, what I want to provide is a 'Pros and Cons List' of what I think these locations encompass.  Remember, these are my opinions - feel free to disagree but please don't get nasty about it. Parts of this post has previously appeared on SDN but since I wrote that post as well...

Why I Quit AIESEC

What is AIESEC?

AIESEC is an international organization with over 80,000 members in 110 countries around the world.  There's a very large chance that your campus may have one as well.  If you do, you may have seen these enthusiastic people in their blue t-shirts all around marketing various events and activities.

First Impressions

To the outsider, it also seems like a selective club where membership is only limited to a lucky few that manage to make it through all the hurdles.  In fact, I remember remarking to a friend that it seemed eerily like the frat/sorority rush that was also happening on campus.  During my undergrad degree, I was interested, but it also seemed like way too much of a time investment just for the privilege of having someone consider your application.

Mandatory information sessions followed by a huge online application form, leading to 2-3 days of a large group interview and then followed by another group activity event...all for the privilege of joining the bottom of the totem pole.  It didn't seem worth it, so I didn't try.  Of course, I suspect that process may have helped in weeding out people that thought like me. 

Second Chances...

Fast forward a few years and I'm onto my second degree at a new university.  This campus also has an AIESEC branch and as with before, I constantly saw them around campus.  I found myself wondering what I had missed by not joining and decided to go for it.  Luckily for me, this branch had a much more stream-lined application process, which I liked.  An online application followed by a panel interview.  A week later, I got my acceptance email and details for the introduction meeting for new members.