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Special Student Status and 3/5 Rule


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Hi, 

I had made a thread previously about attending uwo as a special student in a 5th year or not graduating and taking the 5th year. A couple people had mentioned the 3/5 rule saying that 3.0 courses I take in this year must be 3rd year and above while the other 2.0 can be 2nd year and up. Is this still a requirement if I am in a Special year? Or is that only a rule for 5th years who have not graduated.

Thanks!
 

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30 minutes ago, BipolarBearr said:

Hi, 

I had made a thread previously about attending uwo as a special student in a 5th year or not graduating and taking the 5th year. A couple people had mentioned the 3/5 rule saying that 3.0 courses I take in this year must be 3rd year and above while the other 2.0 can be 2nd year and up. Is this still a requirement if I am in a Special year? Or is that only a rule for 5th years who have not graduated.

Thanks!
 

Course requirements get more strict after graduating and taking a special year:

"A special year will only be considered if it contains five full or equivalent courses (30 credit hours) taken between September and April. First‑year courses, repeat/antirequisite courses, pass/fail courses and second‑year courses that do not require a first‑year prerequisite are not acceptable in the special year."

https://www.schulich.uwo.ca/medicine/undergraduate/future_students/admission/application_process.html

Otherwise it's the 3/5 rule before graduating :)

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46 minutes ago, caramilk said:

Course requirements get more strict after graduating and taking a special year:

"A special year will only be considered if it contains five full or equivalent courses (30 credit hours) taken between September and April. First‑year courses, repeat/antirequisite courses, pass/fail courses and second‑year courses that do not require a first‑year prerequisite are not acceptable in the special year."

https://www.schulich.uwo.ca/medicine/undergraduate/future_students/admission/application_process.html

Otherwise it's the 3/5 rule before graduating :)

yeah it is kind of interesting - I mean they don't actually way anything about the 3/5 rule being applied in that 5th year (although I have had some people say they believed the office said it did (notice the very long string of 3rd party information there ha). In theory that means if you pick the right 2nd year courses you could end up with no senior courses in a special year at all. 

However like any special or usual stats for any of the schools I would go over the plan with them prior to doing anything - you don't want to waste your one and only special year etc :)

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1 hour ago, caramilk said:

Otherwise it's the 3/5 rule before graduating :)

Thanks for the reply, so as long as I follow those rules the 3/5 rule won't apply after graduating? The only one that I can see being tricky to follow is the 2nd year without 1st year prereqs.

Also is this rule the same at every Canadian med school? Sadly with my GPA and MCAT Im thinking Western might be a little out of reach.

Yeah, it seems like this information isn't very easy to access and many people say different things. Maybe it is worth contacting each school individually over. Thanks!

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1 hour ago, BipolarBearr said:

Thanks for the reply, so as long as I follow those rules the 3/5 rule won't apply after graduating? The only one that I can see being tricky to follow is the 2nd year without 1st year prereqs.

Also is this rule the same at every Canadian med school? Sadly with my GPA and MCAT Im thinking Western might be a little out of reach.

Yeah, it seems like this information isn't very easy to access and many people say different things. Maybe it is worth contacting each school individually over. Thanks!

Correct. From their FAQ section:

"If you do a 5th year of study prior to graduating, 3 of 5 full course equivalents must be at the 3rd year-level or above (as for the fourth year)" https://www.schulich.uwo.ca/medicine/undergraduate/future_students/faq.html
 

Because of their rules for a special year, you will be in essence doing mostly upper year courses (so probably around the 3/5 rule anyways). As you said, the 2nd year courses without a pre-req might pose a challenge.  I'd suggest trying to do a 5th year prior to graduating instead because you also have a worse shot of enrolling in the courses you want as a special student (you register after degree students, in courses that are specifically open to special students and have spots left). I had a friend who was a special student for a year for a different reason who only managed to register in 3 courses for the year (and she didn't want them). The university we attend has very few courses open to special students, especially in science, and after everyone else enrolls those spots are pretty much non-existent. I'm pretty sure because of that my friend had to take all of her 3 courses in first-year English courses. So if you are going down the special student route, I'd definitely check with an academic advisor at your university to see what your course options are and whether they meet UWO's requirements.

This rule does NOT apply at every Canadian medical school. Check out the websites for each school you are looking to apply to. Some other med schools strongly suggest that your courses be at the appropriate year level. Others do not post on their websites that they care about that. They also have varying course load requirements. Definitely contact each school to see if you are eligible to apply if you are unsure based on what you have completed.

If you are looking for another medical school with a 2-year wGPA policy, your best bet would be Queens. Their course load requirement is very different from UWO's. You can find this on their website.

goodluck :)

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