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Are you a Yorkie Premed? (York Premed Discussion)


charmer08

Are you a Yorkie?  

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  1. 1. Are you a Yorkie?

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For those of you who have taken Advanced Biochemistry (3050), is it really as hard as everyone says it is?

 

Thanks in advance :)

 

Prof = Derek Wilson

 

Hi Cloverleaf12, I took that course with Dr. Audette.  It was a good course, but lots of memorizing.  I wouldn't say it was too hard though.  Hope this helps! Happy Holidays!

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  • 2 weeks later...

psyc 2130 with Phillips is so bad. I dont know why people recommend it. She apparently made new tests last semester as her old ones from test banks and they were not easy. You basically had to read the textbook like 50 times to get a good mark. The lectures she gives are pretty useless as they do not correlate with textbook. ended with a 79 which feelsbadman.

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psyc 2130 with Phillips is so bad. I dont know why people recommend it. She apparently made new tests last semester as her old ones from test banks and they were not easy. You basically had to read the textbook like 50 times to get a good mark. The lectures she gives are pretty useless as they do not correlate with textbook. ended with a 79 which feelsbadman.

 

My sympathies. I took the class with her a few years ago, and apparently she's gotten much more difficult. It's really annoying when they do that, and I'm sorry it happened to you. Unfortunately, a lot of Psychology professors are trying to make their classes harder this year. Must be because of the Test Bank Craze, and their averages were too high. Lots of classes are adding more assignments and S/A or essay questions to their exams. (In classes that didn't have them previously).

 

( USELESS RANT****** {Skip to next paragraph if you don't want to hear the ravings of a disgruntled Psych student just glad to be finishing soon} Who knows? Maybe in a few years, a York Psychology degree will be more like Psychology degrees elsewhere. A lot of family members took psychology at other schools in different countries. They had much fewer MC exams, and far more essays. I think for a subjective Social Science, writing assignments and essays are probably a better method of evaluation, considering in graduate school for Psychology, much more emphasis will be placed on writing than remembering facts.) 

 

Unfortunately, this does not help your situation. Is there no curve? When I took the course, there was a slight curve, if I remember correctly. That might push you into the A range. If not, it's a 3 credit course. While it is really annoying to get a B+ in any course, it's not the end of the world. With weighting formulas, it may not even factor into the equation. Don't stress too much about one course. I hope the rest of your first semester went well!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Managed to pull an A+ out of my ass in computers.

 

However I'm more concerned about my non A+ marks. Having an A sucks and basically means I'm not competitive enough to get into Med School :(

Nope. Not to be blunt, but this is not true. Not a single medical school has a 4.0 average. Most of the students I know who got into medical school had multiple A's on their transcripts. Many schools have weighting formulas, and the ones that do not have significantly lower averages, see McMaster as an example. Average last year was a 3.84. There are reasons to not apply to Medical school, but don't give up because of a few A's. If more people did this, we'd lose many excellent, competent physicians.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Nope. Not to be blunt, but this is not true. Not a single medical school has a 4.0 average. Most of the students I know who got into medical school had multiple A's on their transcripts. Many schools have weighting formulas, and the ones that do not have significantly lower averages, see McMaster as an example. Average last year was a 3.84. There are reasons to not apply to Medical school, but don't give up because of a few A's. If more people did this, we'd lose many excellent, competent physicians.

 

*phew* Thanks for telling me that. I only got one A+ last semester and the rest were A's so I was kinda disappointed about that. I mean I know that it was only my first semester at york University, but I felt as though I was making excuses for not having a 4.0. It really bummed me out over the Christmas break.

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Managed to pull an A+ out of my ass in computers.

 

However I'm more concerned about my non A+ marks. Having an A sucks and basically means I'm not competitive enough to get into Med School :(

 

Congratulations on your A+ and accomplishing your goal. I'm interested in doing some basic programming. Do you think that it would be possible for me to get some help from the computer department or would they not be willing to help me since I'm in the Arts faculty? 

 

Also, for the rest of you guys. I'm transferring to OCAD in September but I'm considering doing my prerequisites during the summer at york university since it's closer to my home. Would this affect my chances of getting into Medical school, or do I need to take my prerequisites during the school year?

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*phew* Thanks for telling me that. I only got one A+ last semester and the rest were A's so I was kinda disappointed about that. I mean I know that it was only my first semester at york University, but I felt as though I was making excuses for not having a 4.0. It really bummed me out over the Christmas break.

Hey! Sounds like you did really well last semester. My first year at York was a difficult adjustment as well! So, you got 4 A's last semester. That means you still have the opportunity to get a 3.92 this year! WHICH IS AMAZING! That's an excellent GPA that you should be proud of! Even further, the fact that you got A's is nothing to sneeze at either. Despite what the premed gunner said in the hall, an A is a perfectly good mark. 

It's too bad it kind of ruined your break, but you did really well regardless! You're in Visual Arts? That will for sure help you stand out when you apply to medical school! You won't be a standard boring premed like the rest of us. (Not dumping on the average premed!)

 

In response to your later post, when you do your prerequisites is not a big deal. The only difference is, those grades will not be counted by some schools, for example UofT, so if you get high marks in them, UofT won't care.

 

Nice! OCAD is a great choice! I have a few friends who go there, but you'll be the first premed! I doubt it will matter. Most schools don't really care about what you majored in or where you went, despite the rumors that spread throughout the forum! (See how many York disadvantage threads there are!)

 

How's the semester going so far?

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So is anyone here thinking of doing medicine in the states? How would you feel about doing US med with Trump as president? 

Well, as a non-US citizen, getting into medicine in the US is already fairly difficult. The required MCAT and GPA are significantly higher for us than US citizens. In addition, Trump has made worrisome comments about the H1B visa program, which would affect our abilities to gain acceptance to a competitive residency. For now, I think the best course of action is to wait and see. We'll probably get a better sense of what he intends to do as time progresses. He may decide to leave the visa program alone! In addition, the astronomical cost of medicine in the US is obviously a barrier to some. (It's a significant factor in why I didn't apply to the US this year.)

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Well, as a non-US citizen, getting into medicine in the US is already fairly difficult. The required MCAT and GPA are significantly higher for us than US citizens. In addition, Trump has made worrisome comments about the H1B visa program, which would affect our abilities to gain acceptance to a competitive residency. For now, I think the best course of action is to wait and see. We'll probably get a better sense of what he intends to do as time progresses. He may decide to leave the visa program alone! In addition, the astronomical cost of medicine in the US is obviously a barrier to some. (It's a significant factor in why I didn't apply to the US this year.)

 

Our GPA is higher in the state technically but we compete for less spots so the cutoff for interviews is higher. Also there is no weight scale so its all cumulative and ECs matter a lot more. The Canadian Dollar is so bad that even the regular costs of US MD is elevated to astronomical amounts due to the dollar difference. Honestly, Trudeau is making no normal premeds comfortable enough to apply to the US. Premeds are aware of the debt they incur but now its getting ridiculous. 

 

Every time I see a SDN post with a guy that has a 3.5 GPA getting 3 acceptances to MD schools at tropical locations, I look back here where having a 4.0 means nothing is guaranteed. Sigh. 

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Our GPA is higher in the state technically but we compete for less spots so the cutoff for interviews is higher. Also there is no weight scale so its all cumulative and ECs matter a lot more. The Canadian Dollar is so bad that even the regular costs of US MD is elevated to astronomical amounts due to the dollar difference. Honestly, Trudeau is making no normal premeds comfortable enough to apply to the US. Premeds are aware of the debt they incur but now its getting ridiculous. 

 

Every time I see a SDN post with a guy that has a 3.5 GPA getting 3 acceptances to MD schools at tropical locations, I look back here where having a 4.0 means nothing is guaranteed. Sigh. 

Remember, some of these US schools actually have very different grading scales. I have friends at a US institution where for some classes, to get an A in the course requires a 97! So a 3.5 over there may mean something completely different than what we have here. For reference, in that aforementioned class, an 85 in the class was a B or 3.0. Here, that 85 could be a 3.8 or 3.9 depending on the school. So the 3.5 guy may have had a significantly higher GPA here, and that's why schools likely take this into account.

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Remember, some of these US schools actually have very different grading scales. I have friends at a US institution where for some classes, to get an A in the course requires a 97! So a 3.5 over there may mean something completely different than what we have here. For reference, in that aforementioned class, an 85 in the class was a B or 3.0. Here, that 85 could be a 3.8 or 3.9 depending on the school. So the 3.5 guy may have had a significantly higher GPA here, and that's why schools likely take this into account.

 

Canadian schools have a variety of grading scales as well so I find it hard to believe that the disparity between country GPA conversion is that huge. We are talking about from 0.3-0.5 deviation here from the Canadian competitive GPA and the US competitive GPA. That too is a big generalization as the US disparity and medicine opportunities allow for people with 3.0 GPAs to get an acceptance. 

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Canadian schools have a variety of grading scales as well so I find it hard to believe that the disparity between country GPA conversion is that huge. We are talking about from 0.3-0.5 deviation here from the Canadian competitive GPA and the US competitive GPA. That too is a big generalization as the US disparity and medicine opportunities allow for people with 3.0 GPAs to get an acceptance. 

Granted Canadian schools have a variety of grading scales, and my example only refers to one school. I would agree with you that GPA conversion disparity is unlikely to be THAT large in all cases. Also, remember how many medical school spots there are in the Unites states. Last I checked on MSAR, there were 140+ medical schools in the US including its territories, and that's MD only, excluding DO. The number of applicants, per the AAMC was around 50,000, and there were ~21,000 ,matriculants, a roughly 40% acceptance rate. Our acceptance rate in Canada is closer to 10%. They have significantly more spots, and as a result, can afford to take students with lower GPAs. However, I do think that at some schools, due to the conversion rate, their grades are slightly deflated at the least, compared to ours.

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Granted Canadian schools have a variety of grading scales, and my example only refers to one school. I would agree with you that GPA conversion disparity is unlikely to be THAT large in all cases. Also, remember how many medical school spots there are in the Unites states. Last I checked on MSAR, there were 140+ medical schools in the US including its territories, and that's MD only, excluding DO. The number of applicants, per the AAMC was around 50,000, and there were ~21,000 ,matriculants, a roughly 40% acceptance rate. Our acceptance rate in Canada is closer to 10%. They have significantly more spots, and as a result, can afford to take students with lower GPAs. However, I do think that at some schools, due to the conversion rate, their grades are slightly deflated at the least, compared to ours.

This being said, I can totally sympathize with you, having personally seen the acceptances for friends in medical schools in the US with significantly lower grades.

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This being said, I can totally sympathize with you, having personally seen the acceptances for friends in medical schools in the US with significantly lower grades.

I am conflicted about my experience here in Canada versus what it would have been like in the US. I think I would statistically have a better chance at getting in but the strict regiment in Canada in terms of GPA really accelerates intellectual and personal growth. That growth may come at a cost but I am ok with it. I would like to see the merit of Canadian doctors versus US ones because of how strict our requirements are up here. People on SDN and **DELETED** denounce CASPR was some arbitrary, fake intellectual money black hole for applicants but we see it as something that has worth in considering who should be a doctor or not. I'm not really sure what statistics I'd look up to confirm or deny the ability of doctors across borders but my gut says that its about the same since you do the same procedures anyways (when we match up specialties) and distinction is acquired through pioneer research. 

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This question has been kind of beaten to death (from what I've tried to find), but I'm curious to know what might be a good idea to use my time in the summer? I initially wanted to work as a lab unpaid intern at a prof's lab (probably a research practicum) and take Physics concurrently?

 

So here were some ideas I had:

 

1. Unpaid research lab grunt at York + Physics (specifically PHYS 1410 according to the timetable that just came out)

2. Start applying now and hope that I have a research position downtown

3. Take the summer off and study for MCAT

4. Get a job (dad's advice)

 

Ideally, I would want to get some research experience for my ECs and also prep for the MCAT by taking Physics. I've heard of really scary stories about PHYS 1410 at York, and perhaps taking PHYS 1420 would be a better idea during 2nd year. Note that I'm a mature student, so I haven't taken physics in at least 10 years.

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This question has been kind of beaten to death (from what I've tried to find), but I'm curious to know what might be a good idea to use my time in the summer? I initially wanted to work as a lab unpaid intern at a prof's lab (probably a research practicum) and take Physics concurrently?

 

So here were some ideas I had:

 

1. Unpaid research lab grunt at York + Physics (specifically PHYS 1410 according to the timetable that just came out)

2. Start applying now and hope that I have a research position downtown

3. Take the summer off and study for MCAT

4. Get a job (dad's advice)

 

Ideally, I would want to get some research experience for my ECs and also prep for the MCAT by taking Physics. I've heard of really scary stories about PHYS 1410 at York, and perhaps taking PHYS 1420 would be a better idea during 2nd year. Note that I'm a mature student, so I haven't taken physics in at least 10 years.

 

So, I would definitely recommend applying now to try to get a position at a lab downtown, if you are interested in doing that. These labs fill up fast, so if this is an option, apply now. Unpaid research grunt still looks good for medical school, so if you can't get the position downtown, this will still be a valuable summer experience. I know of people who took 1410 and found it doable, so you could likely do that in conjunction with your lab position. Just a note, the amount of physics on a given MCAT varies, but it can't be more than 25% of the CHEM/PHYS section, at least according the the AAMC official documents (I may be misremembering this, it may be 30% but still similar). Take Physics as a prerequisite course for US schools if you are so inclined, but if you are just taking physics for the MCAT, self study may be a better option. I know for a fact that most of the questions found in PHYS1420 at least are significantly more calculation heavy than anything you will see on an MCAT test. In addition, studying for the MCAT over the summer, especially if you intend on writing at the end of the summer may be a better option instead of taking physics. Really, it comes down to what you think you will enjoy more and what would appear to be most beneficial. If I were in your position, I would take a lab gig, be it downtown or at York, and MCAT study. This is what I did last summer, and it led to both a positive experience at the lab, and a decent MCAT score. Good luck!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hey everyone,

 

I got an offer for Biomedical Science at York and am considering taking it but was just wondering if anyone had an idea what the average time table looks like and if there is any sort of research opportunities which I may gain from going to York

 

Thanks 

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Hey everyone,

 

I got an offer for Biomedical Science at York and am considering taking it but was just wondering if anyone had an idea what the average time table looks like and if there is any sort of research opportunities which I may gain from going to York

 

Thanks 

 

biomed is decent program although it's more restricted compared to just doing biology especially in your 3rd and 4th year. Typical first year, first semester(per week) will be 3 hours of math 1013 - calculus 1, 3 hours of biol 1001 + 3 hours of lab every 2 weeks - biology 1, 3 hours of psychology or physics (depending of which you take/like better as either fulfills degree requirements; both are full year course), 3 hours of EECS 1520 - computer use fundamentals and 3 hours of  chem 1000 + 3 hours of lab every 2 weeks + 1 hour of tutorial every week - general chemistry 1. So per week you have around 15 hours of lecture + 1 hour tutorial and every other week you will have 6 hours of lab. You can take different course other than eecs 1520 too.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi everyone, 

 

I am currently in Biomed first year and I was considering doing some courses in summer school. I was thinking of doing BIOL 2020 and BIOL 2070 or BIOL 2020 & 2021 in the summer. Which combination do you think I should choose. Btw the prof for 2021 in the summer is crap, so I was leaning more towards BIOL 2020 and BIOL 2070. Can someone who has done these courses provide me like a breakdown of each course, so I can get a better idea. 

 

Thanks.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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