STUDENT AFFAIRS — MEETING YOUR NEEDS
Support/Career Planning/Learning Assistance

What is Student Affairs?

Student Affairs functions as a support and an advocate for McMaster medical students at all three campuses: Hamilton, Waterloo Region and Niagara Region. The Student Affairs Committee supports students in being successful in their undergraduate medical program.  They provide confidential and free assistance with personal, learning or career issues. They offer support, information, referrals and/or advocacy around any personal or professional issues medical students may be facing.

Student Affairs sponsors events and offers personal assistance in a number of important areas. 

Career Planning

Career counsellors help students to determine their goals within the broad spectrum of medicine and to what kind of physician and what kind of person they hope to be.  Answering these questions can be challenging. We offer resources and support to help students with their decision making including:

  • Confidential individual career counselling
  • On-line and print medical career resources
  • Information sessions on medical specialties
  • Workshops on personality type and its relationship to medicine (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator)
  • CaRMs: assistance with applying for medical residency programs

Learning Assistance

Learning in a problem based curriculum is very different from a more traditional lecture based didactic system. Many students initially have some difficulty in making the transition if they have had no prior experience of this form of learning.  Student Affairs can help students to address their learning issues in a proactive way.

Students in the Class of 2009 have developed a handbook to assist students in their transition to Problem Based Learning.

Student Advisors

Every student in the MD Program is assigned a student advisor who will monitor their academic progress throughout the duration of their time in medical school. Student advisors are faculty members who volunteer for the position and are familiar with the undergraduate program and the special concerns that are common during medical school. Student Advisors are not, in any way, involved in the evaluation of their Advisee.

Student Mentoring Programs

Career counselors, learning assistance facilitators and student advisors all provide invaluable support to students as they navigate the many processes and systems of medical school life; however the more formal nature of these programs and the ways in which they are accessed do not lend themselves to answering all the needs of our students. For this reason, Student Affairs has developed two different mentoring programs which students can access, depending on their needs: MacMasters and MacMentors. These programs are available to students at all three campuses.

The MacMasters program is an informal process where students are provided a list of peers with varying experiences and expertise, allowing them to seek out assistance they might require. MacMentors are residents who have graduated from McMaster medical school and have been identified as being successful in the program and having the interpersonal skills to work with medical students. This program is designed for students who are looking for more than just information and who may want some assistance in adjusting to medical school life or could benefit from advice and guidance from a senior colleague who has been in their shoes not too long ago. Possible areas of focus could include: problem based learning and a new style of learning; high volume of material to be learned and fast pace of program; adjustment to biological sciences; living in a new community; and a variety of other issues.