To achieve the objectives of the medical program, students are introduced to patients within the first Foundation of the curriculum. In this way, students understand the relevance of what they are learning, maintain a high degree of motivation and begin to understand the importance of responsible professional attitudes. Students are presented with a series of tutorial problems, requiring their explanation, the understanding of underlying biological, population, and behavioural principles, the appropriate collection of data, and the critical appraisal of evidence. The faculty function as learning resources or guides. Learning by a process of inquiry is stressed.

The central focus of the program is the tutorial. The class is divided into small groups, each with a tutor. In the tutorial, session students develop a series of learning objectives from each healthcare problem and negotiate how they will approach their learning tasks. They then acquire the knowledge and skills to meet the objectives of the Foundation in which they are working. They also learn to work as a team, helping and learning from peers. The study habits and sense of responsibility to self and others provide a basis for lifelong learning.

Some of the advantages of PBL are: early exposure to the clinical settings and patients; the motivation to learn is self-imposed; students can see the practical application of the knowledge they are acquiring during their studies, and the acquisition of various learning skills promotes lifelong learning.

The Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine fosters a cooperative, supportive and respectful environment. The curriculum evolves continuously, responsive to the challenging needs of Ontario society, nurturing the development of the following competencies at the time of graduation:

• Patient Care: Provide patient-centered care that is compassionate and effective for the treatment of health problems and the promotion of health;
• Knowledge for Practice: Demonstrate knowledge of biomedical, clinical, epidemiological, and socio-behavioural sciences, and apply this knowledge to patient care;
• Practice-Based Learning and Improvement: Demonstrate the ability to investigate and evaluate one’s care of patients, to appraise and assimilate research evidence, and to continuously improve patient care based on reflexivity and principles of life-long learning;
• Interpersonal and Communication Skills: Demonstrate interpersonal and communication skills that result in the effective exchange of information and collaboration with patients, their families, and health professionals;
• Professionalism: Demonstrate a commitment to carrying out professional responsibilities and an adherence to ethical principles consistent with expectations of society, the profession, and law in all professional settings, including clinical, academic, administrative, and personal activities relating to professional practice;
• Systems-Based Practice: Demonstrate an awareness of and responsiveness to the larger context and system of health care, as well as the ability to call effectively on resources in the system to provide optimal health care;
  Collaboration: Demonstrate the ability to engage in inter- and intra-professional teams in a manner that optimizes safe, effective patient- and population-centered care;
• Personal and Professional Development: Demonstrate the qualities required to sustain lifelong personal and professional growth.

Mission: Together advancing health through learning and discovery.

The COMPASS curriculum focuses on the mastery of fundamental concepts in medicine and aims to endure that our graduates have a good working understanding of biological, psychological, and social mechanisms and processes, as well as their impact on health and disease, based on principles of learning drawn from cognitive psychology. The COMPASS curriculum is structured to allow the integration of critically important fundamental concepts in medicine and affords an opportunity for students to have the time to practice applying these concepts to multiple different clinical problems.

The pre-clerkship is divided into five Foundations as well as a horizontal Professional Competencies curriculum which runs throughout the three years of the program.

• Medical Foundation 1 begins with a three-week Introduction to Medicine, which introduces students to areas of personal and professional development required to study medicine as well as the pedagogies and assessments that are employed in the Program. This block is followed by two four-week subunits, one focusing on core concepts related to respiratory and the second focusing on cardiology.
• Medical Foundation 2 focuses on the renal and hematologic systems’ contribution to concepts of oxygenation and homeostasis. Immunologic and host defense aspects of hematology are addressed and students are introduced to some basic concepts in neoplasia.
• Medical Foundation 3 focuses on concepts of nutrition, energy, homeostasis, and reproduction through the study of the digestive, endocrine, and reproductive systems.
• Medical Foundation 4 focuses on concepts of locomotion and neurosensory and behavioural responses to the environment. Students explore the musculoskeletal system, the neurological system, and psychiatric medicine.
• The final unit in the Pre-Clerkship is the Integration Foundation. This Foundation focuses on a review of key concepts from the four Medical Foundations in the context of complex, multi-system diseases, chronic illness, immunology, host defense, neoplasia, maternal and child health risks, and aging-related health care. The Integration Foundation allows students to consolidate medical concepts and skills, clinical skills, and professional competencies, readying them for the transition to Clerkship.
• The Clerkship program consists of rotations in medicine, surgery, family medicine, anesthesia, psychiatry, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, emergency medicine, and electives. Teaching is carried out in clinical practices and in all the teaching hospitals in the Hamilton, Waterloo, and Niagara Regions. Students are expected to travel outside of their home campus area for clerkship rotations and are responsible for transportation and associated costs in order to complete rotation requirements.

Integral to our mission are our extensive research programs. McMaster has been Canada’s top research-intensive university for the past three years, and the Faculty of Health Sciences is a major contributor to this success.

The official admissions policy and deadlines for the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine have been published in the Ontario Medical School Information Booklet. Application to the medical school is completed online at ouac.on.ca/omsas. The application cycle opens annually in early July for entry the following fall. The intention of the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine is to prepare students to become physicians who have the capacity and flexibility to select any area in the broad field of medicine. The applicant is selected with this goal in mind. Faculty, medical students, and members of the community are normally involved in the review of applications.

There are four absolute academic requirements for eligibility to apply to the program:

• By May of the year of entry, applicants must have completed a minimum of three years of undergraduate degree-level work (30 half-year courses or 15 full-year courses or a combination).
• By the application deadline, applicants must have achieved an overall OMSAS converted average of 3.00 on the 4.00 point scale. McMaster calculates the GPA using a cumulative average of the grades from all courses taken at the undergraduate level (and completed by the application deadline of Oct 1), with the exception of foreign exchange credits. We treat all years equally. There is no weighting applied and you cannot eliminate any grades from the calculation. Grades can be from summer, online or supplemental courses as long as the courses were completed at a university in Canada or the US and the grades are issued on an undergraduate transcript. We do not include grades from college, grad studies, or continuing education in the GPA calculation.
• By the application deadline, all applicants to the UGME program are required to write the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT). McMaster will use only the Critical Analysis and Reasoning (CARS) score from the MCAT in the selection process. A minimum score of 123 on the CARS section is required. The most recent MCAT score is used for those who attempt the MCAT more than once.
• All applicants are required to complete a computer-based test, called Casper, as part of the selection process. Casper, the Computer-based Assessment for Sampling Personal Characteristics is a web-based assessment of interpersonal skills and decision-making, to be completed on a computer. Further information is available on the Casper Website.

The Undergraduate Medical Education program uses two formulae to rank applicants – the first provides a rank order list for an invitation to interview, and the second provides a rank order list for advancement to Collation (full file review). The overall weightings reflect our commitment to consider the cognitive and professional qualities of applicants equally.

In selecting applicants for interviews, geographical consideration is applied as follows: 90% of interview positions will be given to those who qualify as Ontario residents. The remaining 10% will be given to all others. To qualify for Ontario resident status, an applicant must be a Canadian citizen or Permanent Resident of Canada at the application deadline and must have resided in the Province of Ontario for at least three years since age 14 by the possible date of entry to the program.

To view the current formulae, please visit our admissions page at Admission Decisions.

In the Faculty of Health Sciences at McMaster University, we are advancing human and societal health and well-being as we train healthcare teams including physicians, nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, physician assistants, midwives, and researchers to work together to provide the best patient care.

The Faculty of Health Sciences introduced the MD/PhD Program with its first students admitted in August 2007. The aim of the Program is to train clinician-scientists who will pursue research as a major priority.

Applicants must be accepted to both the McMaster UGME and to the PhD Program in Medical Sciences, Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, Health Research Methodology, Neurosciences, Biomedical Engineering, Chemical Biology, or Health Policy. Applicants will apply to the UGME through the Ontario Medical School Application Service (OMSAS) by October 1st and submit a separate Ph.D. application to the School of Graduate Studies by November 1st.

Further information on the MD/PhD Program is provided on the Health Sciences Graduate Programs website or by contacting the admissions coordinator at (905) 525-9140 ext. 22983.

With an understanding that Indigenous learners can face specific barriers or challenges when pursuing higher education, schools and programs within McMaster’s Faculty of Health Sciences have facilitated admissions streams for applicants with Indigenous North American (First Nations, Inuit, or Métis) ancestry. Applicants who wish to be considered under the Facilitated Indigenous Application Process (FIAP) must complete a supplementary self-identification application. Additional information can be found at ishs.mcmaster.ca.

Black students are historically under-represented in our medical program. Many barriers exist as part of the long journey in applying to medical school for Black applicants that serve to create inequity in the admission process. As such, with our current mandate focusing on equity and diversity in medicine, we are introducing a Black-Equity Stream known as BESt.

Additional information can be found at Who Should Apply.

Unknown, undiagnosed, and/or unaccommodated disabilities may result in grades that disadvantage applicants unfairly. Applicants with an unaccommodated disability may request additional consideration of grades (GPA) in the UGME admission process. Students with disabilities are encouraged to apply to the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine as long as they are able to meet the requirements of the medical degree as outlined in the Essential Skills and Abilities Required for Entry to a Medical Degree Program. All applicants are encouraged to review this document prior to applying.

Further information around a request for consideration of grades due to an undiagnosed or unaccommodated disability can be found at www.ouac.on.ca/omsas.

The curriculum at all three campuses is identical and takes full advantage of videoconferencing technology to ensure parallel experiences at each of our campuses.

McMaster’s Hamilton campus, which is restricted to pedestrian traffic, is adjacent to the Royal Botanical Gardens at the western end of Lake Ontario. The campus is minutes from downtown Hamilton and the activities that a major city has to offer. Clinical placements are conducted in local hospitals and outpatient clinics as well as community physician’s offices in the surrounding areas including Guelph, Oakville, Burlington, Brantford, Dundas, Ancaster, Stoney Creek, Newmarket, and Mississauga.

The Niagara Regional Campus was planned for students who wish to learn and experience medicine with the benefit of a regional campus setting. The academic portion of the program is delivered at the Cairns Family Health and Bioscience Research Complex at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario. Practical hospital experience occurs at the seven sites in the Niagara region and is taught by exceptional local physicians. Clinical placements are provided in outpatient clinics, private offices in various specialties, the Public Health Unit, the Niagara Health System sites, Hotel Dieu Shaver Health and Rehabilitation Centre, and West Lincoln Memorial Hospital in Grimsby.

The Waterloo Regional Campus is located in the University of Waterloo Health Sciences Campus in the heart of the Innovation District in downtown Kitchener, Ontario. The building is also home to the Centre for Family Medicine and the University of Waterloo’s School of Optometry teaching clinic. Students at the Waterloo Regional Campus have the unique experience of living and learning in one of the fastest-growing regions in the country. The Waterloo Regional Campus is situated in Canada’s leading technology ecosystem and students are exposed to cutting-edge advances in medical technology.

Hamilton Campus Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University, Michael G. DeGroote Centre for Learning and Discovery, Rm 3101 1280 Main Street West Hamilton, ON Canada L8S 4K1 905-525-9140 ext. 22235 Hamilton Campus Website

Niagara Regional Campus Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University, Niagara Regional Campus Cairns Family Health & Bioscience Research Complex, Brock University 1812 Sir Isaac Brock Way St. Catharines, ON Canada L2S 3A1 905-378-5717 NRC Website

Waterloo Regional Campus Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University, Waterloo Regional Campus 10 Victoria Street Kitchener, ON Canada N2G 1C5 519-885-5426 ext. 21104 WRC Website

Application to the McMaster UGME is done through Ontario Medical School Application Service (OMSAS)

Ontario Medical School Application Service (OMSAS): 170 Research Lane, Guelph, ON N1G 5E2

 519-823-1940

ouac.on.ca/omsas/