Clarification On 2/3 Year Positions (Newbie)

[Mellow Pharaoh]

Gonna go straight to the point here.

 

I am planning on graduating University in 3 years (applying to UoA (med) during my 3rd year). If I get accepted, does that mean once I graduate from my University, I will be heading to UoA (med) the following year? Or is there a certain amount of time I have to wait out (like a year to accommodate the 4 year cycle)? Can somebody explain to me the exactly how a 2/3 year student gets into the program? 

 

I assume that if you get accepted, you're off to med school the following year, but I could be wrong.

 

Sincerely,

Mellow Pharaoh 

[Alphalima]

Let's say you send your application on October 1st of 2017, if you get an interview it will take place in March of 2018. If you are then lucky and accepted, you will start school in September of 2018. That is the way it works at the UofA. I am pretty sure you always start medical school in September of the year that you received your acceptance letter. 

 

Btw what program are you in that you can graduate in 3 years? I wish I had known about such a program. 

[GH0ST]

Gonna go straight to the point here.

 

I am planning on graduating University in 3 years (applying to UoA (med) during my 3rd year). If I get accepted, does that mean once I graduate from my University, I will be heading to UoA (med) the following year? Or is there a certain amount of time I have to wait out (like a year to accommodate the 4 year cycle)? Can somebody explain to me the exactly how a 2/3 year student gets into the program? 

 

I assume that if you get accepted, you're off to med school the following year, but I could be wrong.

 

Sincerely,

Mellow Pharaoh 

 

With the new requirements by the time you get to that point UofA requires a 4 yr degree. No point really explaining this since it'll all change. 

 

- G

[hohoho]

With the new requirements by the time you get to that point UofA requires a 4 yr degree. No point really explaining this since it'll all change. 

 

- G

 

Occasionally people complete a 4-year degree program in three years.

[Mellow Pharaoh]

Let's say you send your application on October 1st of 2017, if you get an interview it will take place in March of 2018. If you are then lucky and accepted, you will start school in September of 2018. That is the way it works at the UofA. I am pretty sure you always start medical school in September of the year that you received your acceptance letter. 

 

Btw what program are you in that you can graduate in 3 years? I wish I had known about such a program. 

Thanks for replying. I though the same thing as well, but I didn't know if there was a between the lines statement or rule that explicitly states some specific tangible  .

 

As for the program, it wasn't really a program, but more so due to increasing the rigor of my course load. Instead of the typical 15/15, I went with 20/20 (semester grading system). It took some work to get around the typical schedule but with the help of my adviser, we set up the schedule to provide me with a multitude of options if things go south. 

 

If I don't get into the program as a third year candidate, I can go into my fourth year doing a double major in Biochem. and ChemE. I would have finished my biochem. degree and pretty much 2/3's of a ChemE degree since the requirements are similar up till the upper advanced classes (fluids/thermo/design/advanced electives  ). I will have to take 2-3 Engineering intro classes possibly along fluids as my electives/courses in my upcoming 3rd year but that's the only conflict I face as of right now.

 

In the end, I can go to med after my 3rd year if accepted (grad. w/biochem. degree), or after my 4th year (grad w/Biochem./ChemE), or after a few years of work (with the double major that I have, I'm planning on going into tissue engineering, 3D-bioprinting research, something like that, for a few years if all else fails and reapply again).

 

It's tough as hell though. Just got my results back from my previous semester and it dropped my GPA a little bit below the avg. for 2/3 applicants. Nonetheless, use your resources and possibilities to the fullest is what I will end with. 

 

***Keep in mind by saying typical 15/15 or doing 20/20, I'm referring to variations around that number, like a semester with 14 credits followed by 16 credits, or in my case for my first year, a 21 credit semester followed by a 19 credit semester. 20/20 just keeps it simple . I wrote this because I know someone will say but you can't have a perfect 20/20 semester split and I'll probably have to say what I mentioned above to that person, sadly.***

[Exergy]

I've only taken one 20 credit semester, and it wasn't fun. If you pulled it off in first year, but had a slightly below average GPA, I would strongly caution you from taking 20 credits worth of upper year biochem/chemE courses. ChemE at my school had classes with C averages and people praying to pass. It would be better for you to take a little longer (5 years, even) to finish courses without overloading yourself. Coming from an engineering background where I took 17/18 credits per semester, it really doesn't leave you much time to do ECs, which are becoming more and more important. You don't want to burnout because of this. 

 

I like your plan of going into tissue engineering and chemE is a great back up option. Just make sure you don't underestimate the amount of work it takes. 

[Mellow Pharaoh]

I've only taken one 20 credit semester, and it wasn't fun. If you pulled it off in first year, but had a slightly below average GPA, I would strongly caution you from taking 20 credits worth of upper year biochem/chemE courses. ChemE at my school had classes with C averages and people praying to pass. It would be better for you to take a little longer (5 years, even) to finish courses without overloading yourself. Coming from an engineering background where I took 17/18 credits per semester, it really doesn't leave you much time to do ECs, which are becoming more and more important. You don't want to burnout because of this. 

 

I like your plan of going into tissue engineering and chemE is a great back up option. Just make sure you don't underestimate the amount of work it takes. 

1st year - 3.89 cGPA

2nd year - 3.82 cGPA

3rd year - ??? cGPA

 

By below average, Im referring to UoA's posted stats for 2/3 year applicants (september 2016) which is a ridiculous 3.95. My hit on the GPA came from Ochem 2 (horrible score on my 1st test - 54/100). Nonetheless, I'm hoping that the amount of coursework makes up for that. As for the people with C avg's and stuff like that, I don't pay attention to that to be honest. Most classes in University will be centered around a C+ avg if you're attending a rigorous University program. If you are smart, you don't compare yourself with the bottom of the barrel. You wanna be the top dog, that's how you push yourself and make new limits (that and using ratemyprofessor ). University is 60% hardwork and 40% brains, from experience. Most people skip or skim past that 60% faster than a heartbeat, then they complain about "just passing."

 

As for EC's, I've allocated time mainly during the weekends and summers. Surprisingly, I've found a suitable timeslot for hospital volunteering (cardiopulmonary division - ultimate goal is to become a CardioVASCULAR surgeon [suck it thoracic plebs]) and research on articular cartilage in correlation with arthritis. Been doing both for about 8 months now, along with 4+ years of being a digital artist/GFX designer, something I picked up since HS. I also help with my family business (ever since I turned 14, I've been working part-time where I have an actual job within the company and get paid for it). I have other small things I can include like scholarships and awards, trilingual, and a few other things, but the above listed are my main EC's. So as for EC's, I think I have it nailed down to be honest, I just took A LOT of time during HS to plan my University career and so far, it has been a tough challenge, as anticipated, but successfull!   One thing I would say is that it is so tough to study for the MCAT with how much time is allotted for everything else.

 

But thanks for the last comment. I think tissue engineering will be booming very soon, if not already, with how fast tech is moving, along with the surge of the importance and possibilities of tissue pathways/modifications/research/(the list goes ON and ON ) in engineering, etc. A degree in Biochem/ChemE opens many doors of possibilities, but more so within that recent field of study.

 

And I'll keep your comment about not underestimating the work needed to be put in memorized in my brain. That's gonna be crucial going into the final stages.

[Mellow Pharaoh]

On 5/16/2017 at 11:00 PM, Mellow Pharaoh said:

 

Oh, how time flies lol. 

I backed out of the ChemE thing (my University crushes students with regards to GPA in engineering) along with talking to a few ChemE majors I knew and how they said it focused a lot on reactors and industrial more so than biological. Therefore I went on with a Tissue Engineering focus for my major (took/taking a few tissue engineering based classes).

Regardless, it has definitely been a great experience. Done a lot of interesting EC's through the years (especially a few Internships that should help me stand out). Currently, I am doing continually doing what I wanted with regards to research  .

 

 

[sw604]

 

[citrus8]

On 17/05/2017 at 1:12 AM, Mellow Pharaoh said:

1st year - 3.89 cGPA

2nd year - 3.82 cGPA

3rd year - ??? cGPA

 

By below average, Im referring to UoA's posted stats for 2/3 year applicants (september 2016) which is a ridiculous 3.95. My hit on the GPA came from Ochem 2 (horrible score on my 1st test - 54/100). Nonetheless, I'm hoping that the amount of coursework makes up for that. As for the people with C avg's and stuff like that, I don't pay attention to that to be honest. Most classes in University will be centered around a C+ avg if you're attending a rigorous University program. If you are smart, you don't compare yourself with the bottom of the barrel. You wanna be the top dog, that's how you push yourself and make new limits (that and using ratemyprofessor ). University is 60% hardwork and 40% brains, from experience. Most people skip or skim past that 60% faster than a heartbeat, then they complain about "just passing."

 

As for EC's, I've allocated time mainly during the weekends and summers. Surprisingly, I've found a suitable timeslot for hospital volunteering (cardiopulmonary division - ultimate goal is to become a CardioVASCULAR surgeon [suck it thoracic plebs]) and research on articular cartilage in correlation with arthritis. Been doing both for about 8 months now, along with 4+ years of being a digital artist/GFX designer, something I picked up since HS. I also help with my family business (ever since I turned 14, I've been working part-time where I have an actual job within the company and get paid for it). I have other small things I can include like scholarships and awards, trilingual, and a few other things, but the above listed are my main EC's. So as for EC's, I think I have it nailed down to be honest, I just took A LOT of time during HS to plan my University career and so far, it has been a tough challenge, as anticipated, but successfull!   One thing I would say is that it is so tough to study for the MCAT with how much time is allotted for everything else.

 

But thanks for the last comment. I think tissue engineering will be booming very soon, if not already, with how fast tech is moving, along with the surge of the importance and possibilities of tissue pathways/modifications/research/(the list goes ON and ON ) in engineering, etc. A degree in Biochem/ChemE opens many doors of possibilities, but more so within that recent field of study.

 

And I'll keep your comment about not underestimating the work needed to be put in memorized in my brain. That's gonna be crucial going into the final stages.

I would strongly advise against doing 20/20 with the 400-level Biochemistry courses. The volume of information you have to take in is tough on a regular courseload, as you'll be studying modern research for the most part, which isn't always concretely well-understood and takes longer to understand. 

Out of curiosity, do you have a portfolio for your digital work and GFX work?

[Mellow Pharaoh]

6 hours ago, citrus8 said:

I would strongly advise against doing 20/20 with the 400-level Biochemistry courses. The volume of information you have to take in is tough on a regular courseload, as you'll be studying modern research for the most part, which isn't always concretely well-understood and takes longer to understand. 

Out of curiosity, do you have a portfolio for your digital work and GFX work?

I did a load of 19 credit hours of that in my first semester during the 3rd year (ahead due to AP credits) and it went great. I love Biochemistry and the stuff we are learning about clicks in my head relatively quickly (thankfully). The research as you mentioned isn't well understood, but I try to grasp at tangents and expand from there (really loving epigenetics and the latest research on that... I've had to do 2 presentations/projects on it so far and its a pretty cool topic, especially in correlation to tissue engineering).

My GFX/digital art portfolio: https://www.behance.net/DynamicallyDivergent

Some of my work isn't on there (especially websites and logos for small businesses) since they were previously on my mediafire account lol (back when I was a noobie and thought that was a good place for storage and transferring files to clients...) and I haven't really focused on transferring those files, better do that now than never I guess). You'll find most of my custom YT banner and logo work, etc in my portfolio atm.

[citrus8]

4 hours ago, Mellow Pharaoh said:

I did a load of 19 credit hours of that in my first semester during the 3rd year (ahead due to AP credits) and it went great. I love Biochemistry and the stuff we are learning about clicks in my head relatively quickly (thankfully). The research as you mentioned isn't well understood, but I try to grasp at tangents and expand from there (really loving epigenetics and the latest research on that... I've had to do 2 presentations/projects on it so far and its a pretty cool topic, especially in correlation to tissue engineering).

My GFX/digital art portfolio: https://www.behance.net/DynamicallyDivergent

Some of my work isn't on there (especially websites and logos for small businesses) since they were previously on my mediafire account lol (back when I was a noobie and thought that was a good place for storage and transferring files to clients...) and I haven't really focused on transferring those files, better do that now than never I guess). You'll find most of my custom YT banner and logo work, etc in my portfolio atm.

You may enjoy Abduzeedo as a source of inspiration:
http://abduzeedo.com/collections

Good luck on the 400 level courses, I hope they go well for you. They are in general very interesting and there are some good profs here.

[Mellow Pharaoh]

58 minutes ago, citrus8 said:

You may enjoy Abduzeedo as a source of inspiration:
http://abduzeedo.com/collections

Good luck on the 400 level courses, I hope they go well for you. They are in general very interesting and there are some good profs here.

Thanks for the link (looks like they got some pretty neat content that ranges over a broad spectrum), and thanks in general!