Jump to content
Premed 101 Forums

Experience with 29 credit load? Just under 30


Recommended Posts

I just finished my 3rd year, and had a relatively strong year compared  to my others that would make me competitive for Western. However, I took 29 credits (I'm at UBC for reference, 5 and 5 for the year), where one of my required lab courses for my degree had only 2 credits leaving me with a total of 29. All of the other requirements are met, but I was wondering if anyone else was in this situation that successfully applied to Western or if I'm just SOL? I heard that OMSAS converts credits for a course differently but I haven't been able to find it. 

I'm trying to plan if I need to take a 5th year or not so any help would be appreciated! And I did contact Western but they gave me what seems like an automated response so I can't tell since my situation seems a little bit more nuanced than just not reaching the 30 credit limit. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Learned the hard way that 29 credits is an absolute bar for Western. Your two best years must each have at least 30 undergraduate credits taken between September and May, and you need to make sure you satisfy the 3/5 Rule (at least 3/5 of your credits in each year must be at the level you are in, or above). If you do not have any years with 30 credits and at least a 3.7, GPA, you will need to take a fourth year (to graduate) with 30 credits AND a "special year" thereafter, but it must be an undergraduate special year (with some specific requirements as to which courses you can and can not take to qualify) in order to qualify for a Western interview. And, of course, you need to meet the MCAT cut offs. Super complicated, but apparently very very strict on these requirements.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

I'm sorry to say, the credit number is a hard cutoff. I had the same issue as you for my first year undergrad marks, just one credit short because of the way credits were distributed for that year's required courses. That was my best year GPA-wise, and would've qualified as a full course load year for other schools like Toronto, but didn't count as a year at Western (I know because my 2nd year met the cut off, 3rd year didn't; since my offer was conditional upon my 4th year meeting the 3.7 in order to fulfil the 2 years >3.7 requirement, means they didn't count the 1st).

Are you still able to meet the cut off with your other, full load years?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...