Canadian MED Posted December 13, 2019 Report Share Posted December 13, 2019 Hi y'all First time poster on the forum here! I've recently developed a passion for medicine from working with a buddy at my local hospital for a few months and am looking to give the career a shot. I'm currently in my first year of studying agriculture (B.Sc) which has a lot of biology and chemistry courses that I throughly enjoy. Since I am looking to go down this path, I've decided to switch programs (and university for a non-related reason). I understand that "traditional" undergraduate study is a 4 year degree; but how will the process be different for someone like me looking to switch programs in their first (or maybe second) year? Will medical schools look at my first (or maybe second) year or only focus on my new 4 year degree? Also, I'm a little confused on how transfer credits work and how they will contribute to my new degree. My marks aren't stellar since I was not planning to attend graduate school, but it's not terrible and is enough for me to transfer into my desired program. Any advice or input is greatly appreciated Thanks in advance guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bearded frog Posted December 14, 2019 Report Share Posted December 14, 2019 Med schools don't care if you transfer during undergrad. You will have to talk to your destination school and see how your current credits transfer, and how they contribute towards a degree. You can still apply after 3 total years, you will submit a transcript from both institutions. Unless you qualify for the schools that only look at specific recent years, most schools will look at all undergraduate marks from all institutions (and you are required to submit marks from all institutions). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canadian MED Posted December 14, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 14, 2019 12 hours ago, bearded frog said: Med schools don't care if you transfer during undergrad. You will have to talk to your destination school and see how your current credits transfer, and how they contribute towards a degree. You can still apply after 3 total years, you will submit a transcript from both institutions. Does that mean I can apply after 3 years even if I'm not even close to completing a single degree? Given the time frame, in three year's time I will have finished 1 year of agriculture and 2 years of Life Science. Most people get an undergraduate degree before they enter medical school right? Add-on question I've heard some people say that you need to take a full course load each academic year. Does that mean I should fill up my first year at the new university with random electives? Given that I should have a really light load due to my transfer credits... Appreciate it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meridian Posted December 14, 2019 Report Share Posted December 14, 2019 Medical schools are all slightly different in nuances. In general they require you to be studying undergrad in a 4 year degree. Most candidates will apply in the fall of their 4th year so will be showing their year 1-3 grades. They would complete their undergrad and commence Med school the next fall. Some schools accept applications a year earlier when a student is starting 3rd year. If accepted to Medicine, you likely would not complete your undergrad degree. Be aware you do not need to give up on your agriculture degree to apply to medicine. It really does not matter what your undergrad is as long as you can get +3.9 GPA, do well on the MCAT, and have excellent ECs. Consider staying where you are if you can achieve good grades. You want full course load in every year as some schools require it for applications. In other cases full course load allows you to use weighted wGPA. U of T for example will let you drop 3 or 4 full credits from your GPA if you do full course load in all years. Without that, you can still apply, but they will use your cumulative cGPA. Other schools look at best 2 years (Western) or last 2 years (Queens) or weighted approach (Ottawa). MAC uses cumulative GPA from all courses. Also be careful about repeating courses. So you could transfer to life science at another school and theoretically apply in your 3rd University year if you get high grades in year 1 and year 2 of life sciences. You may find you need to wait until 3rd year life science to open up more schools. Canadian MED 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canadian MED Posted December 14, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 14, 2019 1 hour ago, Meridian said: Be aware you do not need to give up on your agriculture degree to apply to medicine. It really does not matter what your undergrad is as long as you can get +3.9 GPA, do well on the MCAT, and have excellent ECs. Consider staying where you are if you can achieve good grades. You want full course load in every year as some schools require it for applications. In other cases full course load allows you to use weighted wGPA. U of T for example will let you drop 3 or 4 full credits from your GPA if you do full course load in all years. Without that, you can still apply, but they will use your cumulative cGPA. Other schools look at best 2 years (Western) or last 2 years (Queens) or weighted approach (Ottawa). MAC uses cumulative GPA from all courses. Also be careful about repeating courses. So you could transfer to life science at another school and theoretically apply in your 3rd University year if you get high grades in year 1 and year 2 of life sciences. You may find you need to wait until 3rd year life science to open up more schools. Awesome thanks for the detailed response. I have heard of the fact that you don't necessarily need a life science or related degree to go into medicine but it's always been a little confusing to me. Wouldn't it look odd on my application that my degree has nothing to do with medicine? Plus, if that's the case why on earth would any "premed" student suffer through something like BioMedical Science and take difficult science courses (which are hard to get high marks in) ... I'd rather take something I enjoy haha Anyways, I have made some friends who are going into (or are in) the the medical field and they're all taking BioMedical Science, Life Science, Kinesiology, etc. So even though I don't need to take one of those...it seems like a more streamlined and "safer" option given almost everyone is taking it. Am I wrong in this respect? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bearded frog Posted December 14, 2019 Report Share Posted December 14, 2019 Until recently most schools had certain course prerequisites, such as first year sciences, organic chem, biochem, english, etc. You could always do any degree you wanted, but most chose pre-med/biochem/kenesiology etc as, while considered "harder", it set you up for doing well on the required courses instead of having to take them as electives and split your focus, and taught the content on the MCAT. You still have to do ok on the MCAT for most schools, and now that there's a biochem section, most are moving away from having course prerequisites, assuming if you can do ok on the MCAT, that it counts. Some schools, like McMaster, don't care about prerequisites or the non-verbal comprehension section of the MCAT, and there have been recent successful applicants with degrees in things like music performance. Note that the US for the most part still has strict prerequisites, if you're considering that option. Canadian MED 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canadian MED Posted December 14, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 14, 2019 49 minutes ago, bearded frog said: Until recently most schools had certain course prerequisites, such as first year sciences, organic chem, biochem, english, etc. You could always do any degree you wanted, but most chose pre-med/biochem/kenesiology etc as, while considered "harder", it set you up for doing well on the required courses instead of having to take them as electives and split your focus, and taught the content on the MCAT. You still have to do ok on the MCAT for most schools, and now that there's a biochem section, most are moving away from having course prerequisites, assuming if you can do ok on the MCAT, that it counts. The more I research the application process the more unstructured and confusing it is; feels like tossing my name in a hat and hoping for the best haha. As per your recommendations, I think I'll dig a little deeper into what program I really want to study and weight out the pros and cons to see if it is worth switching programs. Guess I better start studying for the MCAT now given that it is a pretty big part of the application along with extracurriculars. If I decide to transfer, will my first year of study at the new university be "at or above the year of study" as stated by some weight GPA requirements? Am I be considered in my second year retaking first year courses because of non-transferrable credits or first year taking first year credits (disregarding my past year at the last university)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bearded frog Posted December 15, 2019 Report Share Posted December 15, 2019 If your first year at your destination school is all 100 level courses because you didn't get credit, then the weight requirements would not qualify as you would be considered retaking first year. Each school is a bit different so hard to say generally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erhiayfvhd05789 Posted December 15, 2019 Report Share Posted December 15, 2019 Most people that want to go to medical school also tend to be interested in the life sciences, they're not necessarily doing those degrees as a prerequisite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canadian MED Posted December 15, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2019 6 hours ago, tyler1 said: Most people that want to go to medical school also tend to be interested in the life sciences, they're not necessarily doing those degrees as a prerequisite. I thoroughly enjoy most biology (or related) courses. It's just the organic chemistry and physics courses I'm not too fond of. I guess it will get better in upper years because some of those topics sound awesome, but the first and second year courses are horrific (especially to get high marks in) haha. I'm getting consistent 90s in all my agri-food systems, physiology, and general biology courses; but I doubt those marks would be too stellar in second year organic chemistry or physics. Anyone else hate physics and calculus here? Never liked them and probably never will lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonlight2 Posted December 15, 2019 Report Share Posted December 15, 2019 1 hour ago, Canadian MED said: I thoroughly enjoy most biology (or related) courses. It's just the organic chemistry and physics courses I'm not too fond of. I guess it will get better in upper years because some of those topics sound awesome, but the first and second year courses are horrific (especially to get high marks in) haha. I'm getting consistent 90s in all my agri-food systems, physiology, and general biology courses; but I doubt those marks would be too stellar in second year organic chemistry or physics. Anyone else hate physics and calculus here? Never liked them and probably never will lol If you like your current program and you gain a descent exposure to basic sciences (which basic physics is part of unfortunately! but not too much of it), Do Not change programs! You need to really excel at whatever program you're applying with, and that is hugely facilitated by actually liking the subject matter. If you're doing well in agriculture, stay in agriculture, it IS the safest option for you! And btw, you do not need Organic chem 2 for most schools I know, or higher level science courses, or even biochem (except for some American schools which either want Biochem or Org 2). All this is certainly true for Ontario schools, but if you're in Quebec by any chance I'll be able to give you more info if you want! Also, for the MCAT, knowing basic sciences and using the popular prep books should suffice, you certainly don't need a science-intensive program to nail that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canadian MED Posted December 15, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2019 58 minutes ago, Moonlight2 said: If you like your current program and you gain a descent exposure to basic sciences (which basic physics is part of unfortunately! but not too much of it), Do Not change programs! You need to really excel at whatever program you're applying with, and that is hugely facilitated by actually liking the subject matter. If you're doing well in agriculture, stay in agriculture, it IS the safest option for you! Great, thanks for the information! I have a lot to think about but staying in my current program is looking like a good option given what you guys have been saying. If by some miracle I do get into graduate school I'll just be the weirdo with an agriculture degree haha. Still haven't dismissed transferring though as Western seems pretty good and I have received an offer from them. No matter the difficulty I do feel like the profession is worth pursuing ... guess I just have to give'r all I got and hope I get in! Moonlight2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonlight2 Posted December 15, 2019 Report Share Posted December 15, 2019 5 minutes ago, Canadian MED said: Great, thanks for the information! I have a lot to think about but staying in my current program is looking like a good option given what you guys have been saying. If by some miracle I do get into graduate school I'll just be the weirdo with an agriculture degree haha. Still haven't dismissed transferring though as Western seems pretty good and I have received an offer from them. No matter the difficulty I do feel like the profession is worth pursuing ... guess I just have to give'r all I got and hope I get in! There will be plenty of weirdos with programs far more irrelevant than agriculture haha! Good Luck Canadian MED 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redroses Posted December 15, 2019 Report Share Posted December 15, 2019 53 minutes ago, Moonlight2 said: There will be plenty of weirdos with programs far more irrelevant than agriculture haha! Good Luck very true. I have a BFA in film production and i am applying to medical schools this year... on some level, totally irrelevant, but it was good for me personally... learned a new skill, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canadian MED Posted December 15, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2019 2 hours ago, Redroses said: very true. I have a BFA in film production and i am applying to medical schools this year... on some level, totally irrelevant, but it was good for me personally... learned a new skill, etc. Nice, good luck! How did you find the MCAT without too much of a science background? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redroses Posted December 15, 2019 Report Share Posted December 15, 2019 1 hour ago, Canadian MED said: Nice, good luck! How did you find the MCAT without too much of a science background? don't know yet.. this year I am only applying to non-MCAT places like Mcgill and U Ottawa. but I have taken all the prerequisites and thoroughly enjoyed them. I will take the Mcat this summer if I don't get in. I have some MCAT practice books and it seems the test itself would not so hard but the pacing would be a challenge for me as I am generally slow and like to take my time to do things... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canadian MED Posted December 15, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2019 30 minutes ago, Redroses said: don't know yet.. this year I am only applying to non-MCAT places like Mcgill and U Ottawa. but I have taken all the prerequisites and thoroughly enjoyed them. I will take the Mcat this summer if I don't get in. I have some MCAT practice books and it seems the test itself would not so hard but the pacing would be a challenge for me as I am generally slow and like to take my time to do things... Don't we all ... it really hurts when you know all the information but just don't have the time to finish. Guess this is the sport of studying where you need endurance and speed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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