FIRST STUDENTS NOW BEING ADMITTED INTO NORTHERN MEDICAL PROGRAM
June 24, 2004 for immediate release
After months of reviewing applications, the first group of Northern Medical Program students is beginning to take shape.
Complete identification of the first group of 24 NMP students is still a few weeks away, but early indications are that a significant number of the students will be from rural and northern areas. In fact, this year, there has been a doubling in the number of northern and rural applicants to Medicine in BC.
The Northern Medical Program is part of the expanded UBC Faculty of Medicine and its objective is to increase the number of physicians practicing in northern and rural areas.
This year, UBC has implemented a number of new initiatives that are helping to identify the applicants who appear to be the most suitable for rural education. This is something that has never been done before at any medical school in Canada. These initiatives include new questions on the application form, adding a northerner to each student interview panel, and creating an NMP admissions sub-committee that includes representation from UBC and UNBC as well as from northern physicians.
“It’s important to remember that admission to the Faculty of Medicine is based both on academic and non-academic criteria and that the system developed by UBC is objective and fair to all,” says Dr David Snadden, Associate Vice-President of Medicine for UNBC and Associate Dean for the Northern Medical Program at the UBC Faculty of Medicine. “The new evaluation tools that we are using for the NMP help us select students from the pool of successful applicants to the Faculty as a whole. At the end of the day, we want to recruit the best medical students, with some additional evaluation tools built into the selection process that recognize rural suitability. Our goal is to select students who have the greatest potential to successfully complete this rigorous program, and who are more likely to settle and practice in northern and rural communities.”
Admission into the Faculty of Medicine is very competitive: the total number of seats in the province annually has been increased from 128 to 200 this year, but there were about 1300 applications for admission and just over 500 were selected for an interview. In addition to the 24 students in the Northern Medical Program, 24 are being admitted into the Island Medical Program (UVic) and 152 will study at the UBC campus in Vancouver.
After months of reviewing applications, the first group of Northern Medical Program students is beginning to take shape.
Complete identification of the first group of 24 NMP students is still a few weeks away, but early indications are that a significant number of the students will be from rural and northern areas. In fact, this year, there has been a doubling in the number of northern and rural applicants to Medicine in BC.
The Northern Medical Program is part of the expanded UBC Faculty of Medicine and its objective is to increase the number of physicians practicing in northern and rural areas.
This year, UBC has implemented a number of new initiatives that are helping to identify the applicants who appear to be the most suitable for rural education. This is something that has never been done before at any medical school in Canada. These initiatives include new questions on the application form, adding a northerner to each student interview panel, and creating an NMP admissions sub-committee that includes representation from UBC and UNBC as well as from northern physicians.
“It’s important to remember that admission to the Faculty of Medicine is based both on academic and non-academic criteria and that the system developed by UBC is objective and fair to all,” says Dr David Snadden, Associate Vice-President of Medicine for UNBC and Associate Dean for the Northern Medical Program at the UBC Faculty of Medicine. “The new evaluation tools that we are using for the NMP help us select students from the pool of successful applicants to the Faculty as a whole. At the end of the day, we want to recruit the best medical students, with some additional evaluation tools built into the selection process that recognize rural suitability. Our goal is to select students who have the greatest potential to successfully complete this rigorous program, and who are more likely to settle and practice in northern and rural communities.”
Admission into the Faculty of Medicine is very competitive: the total number of seats in the province annually has been increased from 128 to 200 this year, but there were about 1300 applications for admission and just over 500 were selected for an interview. In addition to the 24 students in the Northern Medical Program, 24 are being admitted into the Island Medical Program (UVic) and 152 will study at the UBC campus in Vancouver.
