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Thoughts On Doing Extra Courses


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Looking for some advice on doing extra courses. It was my 1st cycle last year and I did not receive an interview but was "close". My NAQ was ~33 but my average is ~82%. I have at least 165 credits in the mix but UBC does drop your worst year. Just wondering if anyone has insight on whether doing an additional 30 credits is a good idea or at least some online courses as I do work full time.

 

Thanks!

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Looking for some advice on doing extra courses. It was my 1st cycle last year and I did not receive an interview but was "close". My NAQ was ~33 but my average is ~82%. I have at least 165 credits in the mix but UBC does drop your worst year. Just wondering if anyone has insight on whether doing an additional 30 credits is a good idea or at least some online courses as I do work full time.

 

Thanks!

What I found helpful was making an excel spreadsheet with all the courses I've already taken with the letter grades converted to UBC percentage and added together to determine my overall GPA average. Then I added in courses I was thinking of taking with conservative estimates of the grades I thought I would achieve. 

Then you can figure out how many more courses you would need to do to improve your GPA enough to make it worthwhile :) 

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Thanks guys. Oh I already did that haha. If I got 92-95% in 30 credits I can bring my average up to 84-84.5% which is quite a bit. It certainly would've been enough to land me an interview. I am only really thinking of doing psychology courses as that would've been a my other choice of major.

 

I can't really take a year off work so I don't know what would be reasonable for course load over the coming year.

 

GPA would be 3.56 --> 3.6x

 

Just not sure if my NAQ will go up or down this year...I've heard that as long as your work experience is quality experience, it is just as good for NAQ.

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Thanks guys. Oh I already did that haha. If I got 92-95% in 30 credits I can bring my average up to 84-84.5% which is quite a bit. It certainly would've been enough to land me an interview. I am only really thinking of doing psychology courses as that would've been a my other choice of major.

 

I can't really take a year off work so I don't know what would be reasonable for course load over the coming year.

 

GPA would be 3.56 --> 3.6x

 

Just not sure if my NAQ will go up or down this year...I've heard that as long as your work experience is quality experience, it is just as good for NAQ.

Purely my opinion, but I think that if you can afford it, bringing your GPA percentage from 82% up to ~84% is worth it. Apparently this was the formula for AQ evaluation for the 2016-2017 cycle:

1.57907*(GPA) - 111.0834 = AQ score

so an 82% would give you AQ = 18.4

and an 84% would give you AQ = 21.6

 

That 3 point jump can make a huge difference!

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They assign a letter based on %-age performance in the course it seems..

 

At the moment I have planned my upcoming Sept - Apr around two short TRU-OL programs but haven't checked AU yet. Maybe they have more interesting programs I'm not sure. I'm looking at taking one/two TRU-OL course this summer to meet a pre-req for another program (just in case) as well.

Are you going to take random classes or a program? I've never done this online, it's quite different.

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They assign a letter based on %-age performance in the course it seems..

 

At the moment I have planned my upcoming Sept - Apr around two short TRU-OL programs but haven't checked AU yet. Maybe they have more interesting programs I'm not sure. I'm looking at taking one/two TRU-OL course this summer to meet a pre-req for another program (just in case) as well.

Are you going to take random classes or a program? I've never done this online, it's quite different.

Ah ok. So basically if you get an A+ it would be equivalent to a 95% at UBC. I am planning on taking psychology courses primarily as I already have a degree. Are you working full time while taking these courses?

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They assign a letter based on %-age performance in the course it seems..

 

At the moment I have planned my upcoming Sept - Apr around two short TRU-OL programs but haven't checked AU yet. Maybe they have more interesting programs I'm not sure. I'm looking at taking one/two TRU-OL course this summer to meet a pre-req for another program (just in case) as well.

Are you going to take random classes or a program? I've never done this online, it's quite different.

 

I took a couple TRU-OL Chem courses, so I can confirm -- they assign a letter grade based on percentage, but only give letter grades and GPA on the transcript. So it can be to your advantage if you get at the bottom end of a letter scale -- e.g. a 90% (A+) at TRU transfers to a 95% at UBC.

 

I thought both TRU courses were manageable, but one had a much more effective and helpful instructor than the other. Generally I found them to be easier exam / assignment wise than in-person science courses that I've taken at other BC universities.

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I see. Sounds like your hours are variable. Anyone know if it is reasonable to take 3 OL courses over 4 months while working FT ?

It seems a bit ambitious, but it depends on on how much time you can dedicate and on the difficulty of the class. My experience with TRU-OL is that it worked out to roughly the same amount of time / effort as in-person classes. Maybe a little less if you find you can absorb things faster reading on your own than you do via lecture, or if they're things you think you'll find easy. But maybe more if you aren't used to self-directed learning.

 

So if you're doing 9 credits via distance ed, I would say it's not unreasonable to expect that it could take about as much time and effort as 9 credits in-person. Something you could do is work out how many hours you've typically needed to spend on a typical 3-credit, 4-month course per week to get a grade you were happy with. And then see if you have enough time in your schedule to do that x three?

 

I've done 6 credits in-person while working full time, and it was doable but tough - I had to study most evenings and at least one day every weekend. I don't think I could have done 9 credits and had any semblance of a life at all.

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It seems a bit ambitious, but it depends on on how much time you can dedicate and on the difficulty of the class. My experience with TRU-OL is that it worked out to roughly the same amount of time / effort as in-person classes. Maybe a little less if you find you can absorb things faster reading on your own than you do via lecture, or if they're things you think you'll find easy. But maybe more if you aren't used to self-directed learning.

So if you're doing 9 credits via distance ed, I would say it's not unreasonable to expect that it could take about as much time and effort as 9 credits in-person. Something you could do is work out how many hours you've typically needed to spend on a typical 3-credit, 4-month course per week to get a grade you were happy with. And then see if you have enough time in your schedule to do that x three?

I've done 6 credits in-person while working full time, and it was doable but tough - I had to study most evenings and at least one day every weekend. I don't think I could have done 9 credits and had any semblance of a life at all.

Hmm sounds like 2 may be more reasonable. Although I was thinking of taking some easy courses like medical terminology. Do you know if all the TRU OL courses count toward the UBC GPA calculation per chance?

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Hmm sounds like 2 may be more reasonable. Although I was thinking of taking some easy courses like medical terminology. Do you know if all the TRU OL courses count toward the UBC GPA calculation per chance?

I'm not sure about all the courses. Anything that's 'university transferable' counts for the GPA calculation -- so things that are university level and could be included as credits toward a 4-year degree, including as electives, would count. But I know some types of courses don't count; for example, many of the types of more practical skills courses that are often included in diploma and certificate programs.

 

I would start by checking the courses you're interested in against the BC transfer guide: http://www.bctransferguide.ca

Anything that transfers as general university credits, even if not as a specific course, should count towards your GPA.

 

And if you can't figure out if a particular course is university transferable from that site, you can always email UBC med admissions to confirm.

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I'm not sure about all the courses. Anything that's 'university transferable' counts for the GPA calculation -- so things that are university level and could be included as credits toward a 4-year degree, including as electives, would count. But I know some types of courses don't count; for example, many of the types of more practical skills courses that are often included in diploma and certificate programs.

I would start by checking the courses you're interested in against the BC transfer guide: http://www.bctransferguide.ca

Anything that transfers as general university credits, even if not as a specific course, should count towards your GPA.

And if you can't figure out if a particular course is university transferable from that site, you can always email UBC med admissions to confirm.

Yeah, I have checked the BC transfer guide and some of the ones say they transfer to UBCO but not UBCV. Not sure if that makes a difference? (I have no experience with other institutions and transfer credits)

 

In any case, I will email UBC and hopefully they will get back to me.

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