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Undergraduate degree problem


Sing

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Hi

I am 22 years old canadian resident and my goal is to be a physician. I went to college for for a technical diploma(odd reson to do this please don't ask why). I am planning to go to ubc for engineering degree this fall. I am aware this is not a good pathway to med school but i feel that if I am spending  so much money on an undergrad degree, I want it to be something I enjoy and also should be a bit more valuable than premed, in case I fail to get into med school. I know I shouldn't be thinking about failing but I am practical person and I am not financially that strong so weighing in my options. What do you guys suggest. Is it very difficult to get into med school with this type of major. Please suggest

 

I have already posted this on non conventional section but am not sure if thats the right one so reposting it here. Please let me know if I am not allowed to do that. 

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There were Engineering grads in our Med class, but not many.  The few I remember came back after working a few years as they had ambitions in bio-medical fields which their Engineering training was perfect for.

As wjl123 mentions, it is considered a difficult path as the course workload tends to make high GPAs more difficult in the first 2 years.  People still do get +3.9 GPA in Engineering so it can be done. You should talk to current UBC Eng students to see what the GPA spread is like at the school .  You may need to do some self learning for the bio/chem portions of MCAT but that is also doable.

If you are strong at time management and believe you can achieve a +3.9 GPA then go for it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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13 hours ago, Sing said:

Hi

I am 22 years old canadian resident and my goal is to be a physician. I went to college for for a technical diploma(odd reson to do this please don't ask why). I am planning to go to ubc for engineering degree this fall. I am aware this is not a good pathway to med school but i feel that if I am spending  so much money on an undergrad degree, I want it to be something I enjoy and also should be a bit more valuable than premed, in case I fail to get into med school. I know I shouldn't be thinking about failing but I am practical person and I am not financially that strong so weighing in my options. What do you guys suggest. Is it very difficult to get into med school with this type of major. Please suggest

 

I have already posted this on non conventional section but am not sure if thats the right one so reposting it here. Please let me know if I am not allowed to do that. 

I think its a good idea. I have friends in med who did engineering, it isn't easy, but at the same time it is a good career on its own. If you would be happy as an engineer, its the way to go. 

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It's always a good idea to have a back up plan, but I don't think your back up plan should be something that greatly hinders you from achieving your main goal.  I picked a difficult program that had co-op, but it was so challenging that I was not even competitive to study in Canada.  In hindsight, i would have been better off in another (easier) program, and not focused so much on "what if I don't get in?".

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Thanks for the guidance. My technical diploma was in chem so I am pretty good in that department. Biochem is going to be a bit hard though. I am pretty okay with heavy courseload but it will be hard to dedicate time towards ECs as I will be working part time to support my living expenses. I was planning to go for computer engineering but now I am also considering computer science with a minor in biology. I have seen people quote high gpa on this form but UBC's requirements say 75% is the minimum requirement. Although that is minimum so cannot comment on the admission average. What do you guys think about computer science degree. 

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You will be applying to as many Canadian Medical schools as you can unlock - not just UBC.   You will want to strive for a +3.9 GPA which will give you better success at landing interviews.

Computer science works.  Choose something that you are interested in foremost as you will likely be able to achieve higher grades if you like what you are doing.

Don't discount Engineering.  Seek out someone in the UBC program to understand likely-hood of a high GPA

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