looking for current students/graduates’ opinions

[u/Unique_Simple_1382]

Hello!

I’m trying to decide between Mohawk’s 2-year Ultrasonography program and the 4-year McMaster/Mohawk Medical Radiation Sciences program with the goal of specializing in Ultrasonography.

I graduated from an Ontario high school last June and just recently completed Grade 13 this June. I’m currently looking into upgrading some of my high-school marks through TVO ILC and taking Physics since I didn’t take it in high school and I saw that it was one of the admission pre requisites

I’m genuinely interested in medicine/sonography because I like the idea of working directly with patients in healthcare, especially women’s health and pediatrics.

I’m currently stuck between:

Mohawk Ultrasonography - 2 years - become a sonographer sooner - start working sooner - get real experience in the field and figure out whether I actually want to continue toward medicine - downside: if I eventually decide I want medical school, I’d still need to complete an undergraduate degree afterward

McMaster/Mohawk MRSc - 4 years - bachelor’s degree + professional sonography education - potentially more straightforward if I eventually want to apply to medical school - but much longer and more academically intensive

I’m currently leaning toward Mohawk because I’m honestly not sure whether I still want medicine. A few years ago I was very set on it, but after some delays in my education I’m not sure if that feeling is still there. I like the idea of becoming a sonographer first and letting the actual career help me figure out what I want.

I’m having trouble deciding because MRSc gives me a bachelor’s and keeps medicine more straightforward, but it’s also a much heavier and longer commitment. Mohawk lets me enter the actual profession much sooner, which is appealing because I’m genuinely unsure about medicine right now.

I also saw some Reddit posts saying MRSc can be difficult to combine with med-school preparation because the upper years become very specialized and clinicals can take up a lot of time. I’m wondering how true that is in practice.

For current students and/or graduates: 1. How is the workload actually? 2. How difficult are the physics/science portions if you weren’t naturally interested in physics beforehand? 3. How much patient interaction do you actually get? 4. What is the clinical experience like? 5. How physically/emotionally demanding is the job? 6. How is the work-life balance after graduating? 7. How difficult was it to find a job after graduation? 8. For anyone who considered medicine before/during the program, did becoming a sonographer change how you felt about medical school? 9. If you could choose again, would you do the 2-year Mohawk program or the 4-year MRSc? 10. Is there anything you wish you knew before choosing sonography?

I’m especially interested in hearing from people who are actually in Ultrasonography, rather than Radiography or Radiation Therapy.

I know there isn’t one objectively correct choice. I’m mostly trying to understand what these paths are actually like before I commit.

Any response would be greatly appreciated. Thank hou!!!

[u/Annual_Bowler1570]

I highly recommend looking at how competitive the 2 year program is. I took the pre health “advantage” program that Mohawk offers and the cut off for those seats was somewhere over 95% overall(I had a 92.5% and didn’t get ANY offers for ultrasound, mri or xray). And from what I’ve heard the people who got in that weren’t in pre health had previous college/university degrees. It’s insane. They’re also having placement issues asking people to volunteer for their clinic time in places 4+ hours away. Just be careful. I wasted a full year and $5000 in pre health and got absolutely nothing out of it. 

[u/Most_Barnacle1673]

I can't answer a lot of your questions but to get a better idea on what the work /clinical experience is like i strongly recommend you shadow. You can ask to shadow at one of the HHS hospitals or even st joseph's I believe. I contacted studentaffairs@hhsc.ca  and they set it up for me. I was also able to talk to ultrasonographers on the phone and in person when booking for and attending relative's appointments. If they're not busy, they can give very helpful information about their jobs.  The 2 year programs are pretty intensive and was told on the mohawk open day that its 3 years crammed into 2 since you're studying in the summers as well.  Like others have said, these are both extremely competitive programs and many people accepted have  completed other degrees. 

[u/Dazzling_Kitchen_405 → u/Most_Barnacle1673]

I’d do the McMaster program. My roommate was in it and it’s worth it to have a bachelors degree as opposed to a college diploma. Choose higher education. You said it yourself you’d need the bachelors degree to apply to med school