Pre-req Athabasca (COVID-19) - MD 2024

[MedSchoolHope101]

Hi everyone,

I applied to uOttawa this year and thankfully got an interview. However, IF I get accepted , I will need to have completed a pre-req from Athabasca University before June 30th to send my transcript to OMSAS. I was planning on doing my midterm and final exams in the upcoming months, but since all universities in my province have closed due to COVID-19 I will not be able to be invigilated (aka take my exams). Depending on how Athabasca deals witht the situation, I am unsure if I will be able to finish my pre-req before the OMSAS deadline. 

I know that everything is extremely uncertain at the moment, but does anyone have any idea of how pre-reqs will be handled by med schools in the event that unforeseeable circumstances like this one make it impossible for us to finish them before the deadline or, even worse, entering med school in the fall?

Hope everyone is safe!

[clever_smart_boy_like_me]

I would advise emailing uOttawa about your situation. Also, if you have any professor contacts, email them and ask if they would be willing to invigilate for you and maintain social distancing - if you can get a yes from them you should be able to submit forms to Athabasca for that. Confirm with Athabasca first, obviously.

[KitKatCo]

I'm in the same situation as you, taking a Stats course with Athabasca. All exams were paper, but those have been cancelled for the foreseeable future... I got an email from the math department yesterday saying that they're working on transitioning the exams to a new format. They're asking students who need to graduate or use it as a prereq to email them in order to put them on a priority list. 

All schools are aware of the situation, and will probably be a little more lenient when it comes to deadlines. For example, It's gonna be hard for everyone to get their immunizations updated if the healthcare system currently has its hands full. Definitely email UOttawa to let them know.

 

[hiheyhi]

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[KitKatCo]

Math department exams are all paper based written exams. They have not made digital exams available to us yet, so I can't use ProctorU to do it. They've said they're working on alternatives, but no idea on the timeline.

[hiheyhi]

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[MedSchoolHope101]

Thank you for your responses, everyone! 

I am taking CHEM301 and the exams are also all paper-based, so I don't know if ProctorU is gonna be an option. I emailed Athabasca a few days ago, I am waiting on their response before emailing uOttawa.

@ABCD13 Glad to see everything is working out well for you!

 

Does anyone know, in the past few years, what happened to students accepted to uOttawa but who did not finish their pre-reqs before June?

[hiheyhi]

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[MedSchoolHope101]

Thank you for your advice! I emailed them right now, so I will be waiting for a response next week. It is indeed such a unique situation, everything is uncertain. I am even wondering if students who start med school next year will need to do solely online classes or if everything will be back to normal(-ish) by then...

[wannabemdplease]

Has anyone received a response from Ottawa regarding these situations for pre-reqs?

[rusty714]

I am also in a very similar situation - taking a course at Athabasca that does not have online exams (I inquired about an online exam and they said we cannot write the midterm and final online, although I'm not sure if that means they are working on developing an online format or not...)

I'm hoping this all works out for us! I think uOttawa will be very understanding though and I'm not too worried about it. 

[wannabemdplease]

11 hours ago, rusty714 said:

I am also in a very similar situation - taking a course at Athabasca that does not have online exams (I inquired about an online exam and they said we cannot write the midterm and final online, although I'm not sure if that means they are working on developing an online format or not...)

I'm hoping this all works out for us! I think uOttawa will be very understanding though and I'm not too worried about it. 

Did you email Ottawa?

[coffeeandmed]

On 3/28/2020 at 9:07 AM, ABCD13 said:

Hey! I'm in the same position. Got an interview and need to finish my final exam with Athabasca. 

I'm not sure why Athabasca hasn't told you this but they specifically told me (Exams Unit and my professor / TA)  to finish the course and all my exams through ProctorU - virtual invigilator (which is actually much cheaper than booking an in-person exam). I have my exam booked in a few weeks and they have a very flexible schedule! You can also change the exam date as many times free of charge!

Make sure you double check because if ProctorU is an option then I don't think Ottawa will make any exceptions whatsoever. I have booked all my exams ASAP with ProctorU and hopefully will be doing them in the next few weeks

If you have any questions let me know. I was lucky that I dealt with this ASAP when everyone was still answering their phones at Athabasca. 

I second ProctorU! I just wrote my Biomedical Ethics final through Athabasca/ProctorU last night.

[KitKatCo]

45 minutes ago, coffeeandmed said:

I second ProctorU! I just wrote my Biomedical Ethics final through Athabasca/ProctorU last night.

It really depends on the course. The course I'm taking right now is a stats course. All exams are normally written exams where you need to show calculations, sometimes draw graphs, etc... They haven't offered any online invigilation options because there is no easy transition to an online exam through ProctorU. They wouldn't be able to make you type it like an essay without it being a nightmare to type any equation. My best guess is they're working on making a multiple choice type exam, but the content isn't really easy to make it into a mc exam. 

Right now it's pretty up in the air. We'll see what they end up doing. 

[Premed050]

In the same boat as all of you for UOttawa. Taking CHEM350 with Athabasca and got the labs and tests both postponed so not entirely sure what is going to be happening. If any of you have contacted Uottawa directly, what have they said? 
 

[MedSchoolHope101]

I emailed uOttawa! They told me that they are monitoring the situation and they will revise their policies as needed. However, they advised us to continue as if the current guidelines were still in place (aka try to finish the pre-reqs by the deadline). Hope this helps  

[Premed050]

16 hours ago, MedSchoolHope101 said:

I emailed uOttawa! They told me that they are monitoring the situation and they will revise their policies as needed. However, they advised us to continue as if the current guidelines were still in place (aka try to finish the pre-reqs by the deadline). Hope this helps  

Oh perfect! Thank you. Ya i'd imagine schools will be more lenient with deadlines and academic criteria this year especially since there are so many of us in a similar situation.

[wannabemdplease]

2 hours ago, Premed050 said:

Oh perfect! Thank you. Ya i'd imagine schools will be more lenient with deadlines and academic criteria this year especially since there are so many of us in a similar situation.

Wondering why they haven't released any official statements regarding this though, given there are many in the same situation. Right now we're all anxious trying to figure out what to do. 

[petitmonstre111]

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[theinbetween]

If anyone could help me I would really appreciate it. I'm a bit freaking out.

 

This is specifically about Ottawa.. when is the deadline to actually finish a prepreq? Is it June or end of April? I am taking the course through Athabasca and everything got pushed so far from when I wanted to write my final.

Any help would be appreciated  

[anhydrouswater]

I believe your transcript needs to be sent to them for the beginning of June. Can you make a request through the student success centre thing? I told them I needed an official transcript by June and they were able to make alternative arrangements for my course when the exams were originally paper only. 

[petitmonstre111]

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[MedSchoolHope101]

I believe someone in another thread mentioned that the exams actually have to be finished by the end of May, and then the final transcripts sent in to OMSAS before June 30th. I am in the same situation, I need to finish a pre-req from Athabasca... I am just trying to hurry up and do the final exam before May 30th
 

Good luck tonight everyone!

[BigHoss]

so does this mean that you can get interviewed/accepted at a Canadian Med School even if you haven't completed the pre-req yet? Meaning, a pre-req does not need to be 100% complete prior to applying?

[KitKatCo]

12 hours ago, BigHoss said:

so does this mean that you can get interviewed/accepted at a Canadian Med School even if you haven't completed the pre-req yet? Meaning, a pre-req does not need to be 100% complete prior to applying?

Yeah for prereqs, you need to proof that you plan to take them (ie 'In Progress' on a transcript) and you need to complete them before med school starts. I was (and still am RIP) completing a stats course with Athabasca for UOttawa from Sept-April, and I interviewed with Ottawa. 

 Some schools place a maximum number of prereqs you can have 'In Progress' and a deadline by which you need to have them done ex: McGill says you can need to have completed 5/7 prereqs before applying, but you can do 2 during the Fall semester. 

That being said, double check on each university's website.