coops1115 Posted May 25, 2019 Report Share Posted May 25, 2019 Hey everyone, I'm having a huge dilemma! I'm in grade 12 in Ontario atm, and need to decide where to go next year very soon! I was accepted to both Western Med Sci and Waterloo Life Sci (majoring in biochemistry, with coop). I was originally leaning towards med sci at UWO, however without coop, I feel like I'll be missing out on valuable work experience that I would have if med school doesn't work out for me. However, med sci has a great rep and UWO felt like home to me and is supposedly a feeder to med, but has been known to be unnecessarily difficult to maintain a competitive GPA in. On the other hand, Waterloo would give me 2 years of work experience by the time I graduate, is an easier program than med sci and is about an hour closer to home (UWO is approx. 2hrs). The social scene and atmosphere however did not appeal to me as I am heavily affected by my environment and I definitely don't want to be on a campus where everyone is too competitive to be genuine friends and enjoy at least some of their time at uni outside of studying. So....on top of that, Laurier health sci! I didn't apply to this program but I contacted admissions and they told me I would still be considered a competitive applicant, the program has coop, has a really nice atmosphere, offers most of the courses required for the MCAT and med school admissions and is easier to achieve higher marks in than med sci. It's a good mix between med sci and life sci. I'm considering applying, but I don't know. I'd really appreciate some kind of guidance and advice -- I'm completely lost and have no idea what decision to make anymore. Should I just stick to med sci? I know there's no right answer but I'm just looking for some insight because there's not many people I know that can help. Thanks so much in advance and sorry if this is kinda long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edict Posted May 25, 2019 Report Share Posted May 25, 2019 You know if you did have decent grades, but decided against medicine, you could also join the Ivey program at Western after 2 yrs of med sci. It'll be an internal app so you wouldn't even have to transfer schools. Personally, i'd choose Western. The extra hr away from home is nothing and you'd probably want to be further away from home if you can. I found people who left home for uni changed more than people who stayed at home and the further you go the less you'll visit home. I wouldn't be too worried about the competition at either school. University is huge, you'll find friends who are similar to you and this isn't high school where people judge you by your group or interests. You can easily skate through university with a few good friends or many good friends under the radar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coops1115 Posted May 25, 2019 Author Report Share Posted May 25, 2019 @Edict True, I could switch into Ivey, but I didn't apply for their AEO thing so it would be tough to get in, plus I'm not too interested in business. I'd prefer to be a little closer to home. What do you think of coop? I think that's my biggest concern, not having something to fall back on and having a solid resume if I decide against or can't get into medicine. The program's difficulty also concerns me - I know how competitive it is in Canada to get into med school so I'm just concerned about being able to do really well in such a tough program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edict Posted May 25, 2019 Report Share Posted May 25, 2019 8 minutes ago, coops1115 said: @Edict True, I could switch into Ivey, but I didn't apply for their AEO thing so it would be tough to get in, plus I'm not too interested in business. I'd prefer to be a little closer to home. What do you think of coop? I think that's my biggest concern, not having something to fall back on and having a solid resume if I decide against or can't get into medicine. The program's difficulty also concerns me - I know how competitive it is in Canada to get into med school so I'm just concerned about being able to do really well in such a tough program. The issue with co-op, is that it makes it harder to get into medical school in the first place because you don't have free time to bolster your resume. All you will have is co-op. Only a few people (1-5) in my class came from co-op programs and probably 15-20 people came from Western Med Sci. I think you should really think about how interested in medicine you are. If you think theres a good chance you will want to bail on medicine, co-op at Waterloo might be better, but if you think you're pretty committed and the only way you'd stop being interested is if your grades weren't there, then choose Western Med Sci. Its a tough choice, sacrifices on both ends really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inquirer007 Posted May 26, 2019 Report Share Posted May 26, 2019 Waterloo Life sci (ESPICALLY biochem) is not easier than Western Med sci, not by any stretch. Also, coop is not as good as it used to be. I went to UW life sci (bio major w/coop) and I'm in medicine now, if you're set on medicine for sure, go to western Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apple94 Posted May 26, 2019 Report Share Posted May 26, 2019 Go to Western but fair warning it isn't a "feeder program". Theres only one of those and it's at a university in Hamilton. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avocado851 Posted May 27, 2019 Report Share Posted May 27, 2019 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coops1115 Posted May 28, 2019 Author Report Share Posted May 28, 2019 @avocado851 Wow, congratulations!! If you don't mind me asking, which module/specialization did you start in 3rd year? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avocado851 Posted May 28, 2019 Report Share Posted May 28, 2019 On 5/27/2019 at 9:40 PM, coops1115 said: @avocado851 Wow, congratulations!! If you don't mind me asking, which module/specialization did you start in 3rd year? Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
APP2019 Posted May 28, 2019 Report Share Posted May 28, 2019 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coops1115 Posted May 28, 2019 Author Report Share Posted May 28, 2019 @APP2019 Hey, congratulations! I was wondering what kind of jobs you were able to get with co-op. I know they differ between faculties(AHS and Life sci) but from what I know you can apply to any of them? I haven't had much luck finding good info on what the jobs were like. How difficult was it to get relevant/interesting jobs? What were they like? Having relevant/any job experience is pretty much why I'm interested in coop because yeah, not everyone makes it to med. Thanks for your response! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
APP2019 Posted May 29, 2019 Report Share Posted May 29, 2019 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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