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Finished 4 years of McMaster Health Science: best premed


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Just finished my four years at McMaster Health Sciences and just wanted to say that this program is undoubtedly one of the best 'premed' programs in canada. I also know of friends who have transferred from other programs (e.g. UWO biomed) to Mac Health Science in second year and they also agree with my sentiment. I just wanted to post here to encourage any future premed students to apply to this program since I have grown so much academically, emotionally and socially. Statistically 60% of the ppl in our program got into med school this year but over 90% of the ppl I know in my program who were set on medicine got in.

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Just finished my four years at McMaster Health Sciences and just wanted to say that this program is undoubtedly one of the best 'premed' programs in canada. I also know of friends who have transferred from other programs (e.g. UWO biomed) to Mac Health Science in second year and they also agree with my sentiment. I just wanted to post here to encourage any future premed students to apply to this program since I have grown so much academically, emotionally and socially. Statistically 60% of the ppl in our program got into med school this year but over 90% of the ppl I know in my program who were set on medicine got in.

 

What is the point of this post? People are already applying to Health sciences like mad. I think almost all high school premeds would apply to this program if they are qualified even if you didn't post. You don't have to brag about people in your program getting into medicine, everyone knows (that is why it is popular). This post just discourages people who are not in health scis or who failed to get into health scis feel bad since a lot of hard working people in other programs do not get in medicine despite putting in more effort than health scis.

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I wouldn't say 90% of people who are set on med get in, There are people who don't get in from Health Sci, but its obviously the best pre-med program. I heard that the average GPA is something around 3.9 so most students in the program have the GPA needed to apply.

 

A lot of people who are in med did pre-med in health sciences.

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What is the point of this post? People are already applying to Health sciences like mad. I think almost all high school premeds would apply to this program if they are qualified even if you didn't post. You don't have to brag about people in your program getting into medicine, everyone knows (that is why it is popular). This post just discourages people who are not in health scis or who failed to get into health scis feel bad since a lot of hard working people in other programs do not get in medicine despite putting in more effort than health scis.

 

I don't think thats what this post does. I think this person just got accepted to medical school and wants to inform people that its largely because of this program at McMaster. Love > Hate

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Guest qwertyy
Just finished my four years at McMaster Health Sciences and just wanted to say that this program is undoubtedly one of the best 'premed' programs in canada. I also know of friends who have transferred from other programs (e.g. UWO biomed) to Mac Health Science in second year and they also agree with my sentiment. I just wanted to post here to encourage any future premed students to apply to this program since I have grown so much academically, emotionally and socially. Statistically 60% of the ppl in our program got into med school this year but over 90% of the ppl I know in my program who were set on medicine got in.

 

Mac health sci gives you the grades you need with relatively lower effort. Ofc it's a great program..

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The program follows a lot of the USA driven elitist university programs -- a huge component of ivy leaguers. They have small schools, give all of their students high grades, and they subsequently become high level professionals.

 

Just like the US, these programs are very competitive at the high school level but become major feeders into professional programs.

 

In Canada, grades are the only concern , so the health sci program puts them at a greater advantage

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The program follows a lot of the USA driven elitist university programs -- a huge component of ivy leaguers. They have small schools, give all of their students high grades, and they subsequently become high level professionals.

 

Just like the US, these programs are very competitive at the high school level but become major feeders into top programs.

 

In Canada, grades are the only concern , so the health sci program puts them at a greater advantage

 

Lol its funny that everyone bashes this program despite the fact that they'd love to be in it. They're all in med and the rest of you ain't so keep whining while they cash checks.

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What is the point of this post? People are already applying to Health sciences like mad. I think almost all high school premeds would apply to this program if they are qualified even if you didn't post. You don't have to brag about people in your program getting into medicine, everyone knows (that is why it is popular). This post just discourages people who are not in health scis or who failed to get into health scis feel bad since a lot of hard working people in other programs do not get in medicine despite putting in more effort than health scis.

 

Sorry it came off this way. By no means am I implying that non-health sci students can not be admitted into medical school. I know of many students outside of my class (life science, and otherwise) who were also recently admitted. Just wanted to spread the message that the Mac health science program helps to foster an environment that is conducive to medicine.

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I almost want to call this a troll post knowing the history of these threads here. Let the Health Sci hate begin...

 

For future reference, most high schoolers can be found here:

http://www.studentawards.com/Forum.aspx?g=topics&f=20

Where a lot more support is required as the health sci discussion has decreased 66% this year compared to previous years now that faculty banned the discussion of supp apps.

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Mac health sci gives you the grades you need with relatively lower effort. Ofc it's a great program..

 

I will be honest and say that students in Mac health sci do not have to worry about marks/grades as much as students from other programs. There are some courses such as second year cell bio, peer tutoring, communications class where you are almost guaranteed to get a 11 or 12 as long as put in a decent effort. With that being said, there are also many difficult courses such as third year immuno, pathophys, critical appraisal, stats, anatomy and physiology (many of which are mandatory) where it is difficult to do well in, so I think it really balances out.

 

In all honesty, the reason why so many health science students excel is because of the environment that we are put in. We collaborate with one another for literally everything (sharing resources, info). This type of collaborative environment is simply unmatched (by any other undergrad program in Canada). Also the support systems are amazing (which def helps you out during stressful times). To give you an example, when we were prepping for interviews, most ppl in our year formed groups with one another to rehearse and practice. For students outside of this program, it's very hard for you to attain these opportunities.

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I almost want to call this a troll post knowing the history of these threads here. Let the Health Sci hate begin...

 

For future reference, most high schoolers can be found here:

http://www.studentawards.com/Forum.aspx?g=topics&f=20

Where a lot more support is required as the health sci discussion has decreased 66% this year compared to previous years now that faculty banned the discussion of supp apps.

 

nope, wouldnt waste my time trolling.

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Considering people coming in had averages in the high 90s, I don't think it's the program but rather student quality. Those same students would succeed anywhere.

 

From what I understand, after 90%, it all depends on supplementary. Schools like McGill have higher cutoffs than health scis and also recently, most of the major/popular life science related programs have very high or near ~90% cutoffs (Mac and Western). In all these programs, there are a lot of people with high 90s. Remember, those that got rejected from health scis have decent averages too and they are now in other life science programs.

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Considering people coming in had averages in the high 90s, I don't think it's the program but rather student quality. Those same students would succeed anywhere.

 

Student quality is definitely important, but I think the program is just as important if not even more important. Different programs provides differnet opportunities (social, academic, and otherwise). For example, in health sci, you are almost guaranteed a ref letter from one of your profs (either Margaret or Del - who knows you on a first name basis- who writes hundreds of letters every year). It is so unfortunate that no other program in canada provides similar opportunities. Personally, I think other undergrad programs should follow suit.

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No doubt about that. Whenever a highschooler asks me about which undergrad program is "best" to get into med, I recommend health sci. We love to hate it, but numbers don't lie, and health sci grads have the best odds of getting into medicine in this country.

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i already explained why health sci is the easiest and best program to get a high gpa/do ECs in many weeks ago. everyone knows that, but it is a failure of a program in terms of what you learn compared to others. guaranteed med school which is all that matters tho.

 

dont agree with the last statement. If anything I think we learn much more than students from other programs. For e.g. in communications class in third year, we have the opportunity to interview standardized patients (you learn alot about asking open-ended questions, conveying empathy, reflective questioning.etc). Most med school interviews have at least one acting station, so most health sci students excel at these stations. We also learn a lot about conflict resolution and group work n peer tutoring class(which is also really helpful; e.g. at one of my interviews this year, they asked me about what kind of problems I may run into working in groups; I gave them a really detailed answer, and they were impressed).

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dont agree with the last statement. If anything I think we learn much more than students from other programs. For e.g. in communications class in third year, we have the opportunity to interview standardized patients (you learn alot about asking open-ended questions, conveying empathy, reflective questioning.etc). Most med school interviews have at least one acting station, so most health sci students excel at these stations. We also learn a lot about conflict resolution and group work n peer tutoring class(which is also really helpful; e.g. at one of my interviews this year, they asked me about what kind of problems I may run into working in groups; I gave them a really detailed answer, and they were impressed).

 

very inappropriate to get patient interaction in an undergrad program, but that is another topic.

 

you learn how to beat the system and get into med school by getting interview prep in an undergrad program. you guys dont really learn science. in terms of actual knowledge, health sci doesnt learn much. it makes your communication skills/people skills better and helps you with interview prep and stuff, but i was speaking in terms of actual scientific knowledge/lab work.

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very inappropriate to get patient interaction in an undergrad program, but that is another topic.

 

you learn how to beat the system and get into med school by getting interview prep in an undergrad program. you guys dont really learn science. in terms of actual knowledge, health sci doesnt learn much. it makes your communication skills/people skills better and helps you with interview prep and stuff, but i was speaking in terms of actual scientific knowledge/lab work.

 

we didnt interview 'real-patients'; we interviewed standardized patients (i.e. paid actors, just like the ones they use in med school interviews).

I also dont agree that we dont learn actual scientific knowledge; in second year anatomy and physiology (arguably one ofthe most time-consuming and challenging courses) we learned pretty mcuh everything about the body and worked with cadavers (we had biweekly labs; and in studying for the bellringer exam, I spent over 30hours in the lab over the span of a week);

 

We also learn a lot of scientific knowledge in critical appraisal class (i.e. lit/systematic review; good vs bad methodology in scientific journals.etc);

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very inappropriate to get patient interaction in an undergrad program, but that is another topic.

 

you learn how to beat the system and get into med school by getting interview prep in an undergrad program. you guys dont really learn science. in terms of actual knowledge, health sci doesnt learn much. it makes your communication skills/people skills better and helps you with interview prep and stuff, but i was speaking in terms of actual scientific knowledge/lab work.

 

Lol their simulated patients. This is why people outside of health sci shouldn't talk about it. Moron. Also listening to all this whinning through my brand new stethoscope is giving me a migraine

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we didnt interview 'real-patients'; we interviewed standardized patients (i.e. paid actors, just like the ones they use in med school interviews).

I also dont agree that we dont learn actual scientific knowledge; in second year anatomy and physiology (arguably one ofthe most time-consuming and challenging courses) we learned pretty mcuh everything about the body and worked with cadavers (we had biweekly labs; and in studying for the bellringer exam, I spent over 30hours in the lab over the span of a week);

 

We also learn a lot of scientific knowledge in critical appraisal class (i.e. lit/systematic review; good vs bad methodology in scientific journals.etc);

 

still a lot less than legit programs. anatomy is nothing compared to many of the science programs at mac in terms of difficulty lol.

 

everything you said is stuff to help you with the med school process. dont worry. i understand that its the best program for med school. i recommend it to everyone who aspires to be a doctor of any sort since it is difficult to get below 3.7 gpa in it.

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Lol their simulated patients. This is why people outside of health sci shouldn't talk about it. Moron. Also listening to all this whinning through my brand new stethoscope is giving me a migraine

 

still pretty funny. and cool.... my first stethoscope has gotten very dirty over the past few months. been playing doctor doctor with a fellow classmate of mine LOL

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still a lot less than legit programs. anatomy is nothing compared to many of the science programs at mac in terms of difficulty lol.

 

everything you said is stuff to help you with the med school process. dont worry. i understand that its the best program for med school. i recommend it to everyone who aspires to be a doctor of any sort since it is difficult to get below 3.7 gpa in it.

 

true, I guess, though I think the grade inflation hypocrisy is overhyped. Honestly, it shouldnt be difficult for anyone to get a 3.7 gpa if they put in a reasonable effort at any undergrad program in canada (maybe with the exception of uoft life sci).

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