Medical school has a hidden curriculum — the unspoken rules, the unwritten timelines, the people who somehow already know who to email. If you didn't grow up with that map, the first months can feel isolating in a way nobody talks about. This guide exists so you don't have to navigate it alone.
Medicine has a hidden curriculum. The acceptance letter tells you you got in — it doesn't tell you when to set up your line of credit, what a CEE actually is, which neighborhood to live in if you're at MAM, why you need a tuition deferral form even though you have OSAP, or who at the Faculty actually picks up the phone.
If you came in with mentorship — a sibling, a parent, a friend a year ahead — most of this is small talk over dinner. If you didn't, it's a thousand small decisions made under pressure, with the quiet suspicion that everyone else got the memo and you missed it.
You didn't miss it. There was no memo. The information is real, but it's scattered across emails, Discord servers, alumni group chats, and one Google Doc that someone updated in 2022 and never touched again. This guide is an attempt to put it in one place, written plainly, kept current.
If something's missing, tell us — we'll add it. And if your question is too specific or too personal for a public page, the Feedback form goes to a real student who will either answer you directly or connect you to someone who can: a current MD, an academy faculty member, the Office of Learner Affairs, the Financial Counsellor — whoever's actually best placed to help. You're meant to be here. We're going to make sure you have what you need.
I'm a UofT MD student in the Class of 2T9. I started this guide because I spent my first months in medical school piecing together what now feels like basic information from twelve different sources, and watched classmates around me do the same — quietly, and often more anxiously than they let on.
The version of me who got an offer letter would have given a lot for a single page that said "here is what to do, in the order you need to do it, and here is who to ask if you get stuck." So I made one. It's not finished and probably never will be — every cohort changes things, and every student finds a gap I missed. That's what the Feedback page is for.
If you're reading this on the day you got your offer: congratulations. Take a breath. The list ahead is long but it's all doable, and none of it is a test of whether you belong here. You do.
— Ali Ahmed (2T9)
A few moments from medical school so far. More to come.
A running log of meaningful changes to the guide. Useful for returning visitors, and a way to flag whether time-sensitive info (rates, fees, dates) has been re-verified recently.
Initial public version
First version of the guide goes live for the Class of 3T0. Covers Post-Acceptance, O-Week, Housing (with interactive map), Finances, Academics, Handbook, Mentorship, About, and Feedback. Includes verified Scotia LOC details, current 2026 fee figures from the Faculty, and the academy decision date from the previous cycle (June 26 last year).
This guide draws on years of accumulated wisdom from upper-year MD students, alumni, and faculty mentors who answered questions, shared notes, reviewed drafts, and connected new students to the right resources. Listed alphabetically.
· Adham ElSherbini · Amel Sassi · Angie Awadallah · Anum Anjum · Arpsima Aziz · Hirday Josan · Phoebe Ji · Shazia Rahiman · Soliana Lijiam · Add names here · Add names here
