Is it possible to be accepted into an Ontario Med School from Queen's Online Bsc?

[returnofthecmac]

Queen's Online Bachelor Of Science / Life Science Degree. I hear differing opinions. Some say that online structure is not favourable, and others say it holds exactly the same weight. I am highly self motivated and run a business, so I would like to do my learning online, given I am not ousted the potential to apply to med school. Does anyone have experience with this program who can provide some additional remarks on whether TAs are marking honestly? Additional experience or advice?

 

Thanks, 

 

Cassandra

[medicallyricalmiracle]

i know uOttawa has a strict limit on how much of your courseload can be online, so I think they'd be out of the running. depending on where you live, NOSM is most likely out of the running as well.

It seems like your choices are Toronto, Western, and Mac. McMaster almost certainly doesn't care, since they have virtually no limitations on what your undergrad major/courses/courseload are. Western and Toronto I'm not sure about.

[returnofthecmac]

9 minutes ago, supadupafly said:

i know uOttawa has a strict limit on how much of your courseload can be online, so I think they'd be out of the running. depending on where you live, NOSM is most likely out of the running as well.

It seems like your choices are Toronto, Western, and Mac. McMaster almost certainly doesn't care, since they have virtually no limitations on what your undergrad major/courses/courseload are. Western and Toronto I'm not sure about.

Thank you for your response. I just emailed u of t... I live in toronto and run a business in the fitness industry ( I keep it functional, not gimmicky or instagram model type). Online learning really makes the most sense for me until it comes time to jump into med school. I really hope Toronto is open to it. I train a few doctors who took the program, which really helped to solidify my need to challenge my career depth and impact as a 'helping or service' professional.

[medicallyricalmiracle]

23 hours ago, returnofthecmac said:

Thank you for your response. I just emailed u of t... I live in toronto and run a business in the fitness industry ( I keep it functional, not gimmicky or instagram model type). Online learning really makes the most sense for me until it comes time to jump into med school. I really hope Toronto is open to it. I train a few doctors who took the program, which really helped to solidify my need to challenge my career depth and impact as a 'helping or service' professional.

Toronto should be okay with it from my understanding, so long as the prerequisite courses are fulfilled.

A general word of advice for med schools, though, is to be open to attend any that you apply to. They each accept less than 10% of applicants, and as such, virtually everyone needs to be ready to move cities to attend. Also, I don't think continuing to run your business would be an option during your medical studies to be completely frank.

[returnofthecmac]

Yeah that's a good point. My aim is 100% toronto but I can keep an open mind. Regarding my business, yeah I will be willing to pass it on once I hit med school. Its efficiently run though, so I foresee myself still running during undergrad.

[Butterfly_]

3 hours ago, supadupafly said:

Toronto should be okay with it from my understand, so long as the prerequisite courses are fulfilled.

A general word of advice for med schools, though, is to be open to attend any that you apply to. They each accept less than 10% of applicants, and as such, virtually everyone needs to be ready to move cities to attend. Also, I don't think continuing to run your business would be an option during your medical studies to be completely frank.

Totally agree with the above advice.

Many people spend years applying to medical school. The average is 3 cycles to get into a Canadian medical school. You also need to have solid MCAT scores and a high GPA. 

You should definitely apply as broadly as you can to maximize your chances. 
 

Furthermore, don’t underestimate the workload of medical school. 
 

Good Luck.

[hbmed]

So yes- I took Life Science at Queen's which is more towards the biomedical science side of the spectrum, while the online healthsci program is more of a blend of biomedical and social science. We end up taking a lot of the same courses, and I took several official healthsci courses. I happen to also know a lot about the program from working at open houses etc.

While I don't know of anyone specifically getting into medical school after the program (it's still a relatively new program- not too sure how many grads the online program has, and the on campus blended version is still two years out from graduating its first class), they do market it as a stepping stone program to other degrees, especially the health professional degrees like med, dentistry, and pharm. People above also responded already about school's, and Ottawa is definitely a question since they're pretty clear about online, but otherwise it shouldn't be an issue. I'll add that at Queen's, an online course shows up exactly like a "regular" course on transcripts, and for the BHSc program, there's nothing on the degree or anything that says it was done online. 

Re grades/grading- people in the program generally do very very well. A lot of lifesci's will take healthsci courses as electives because they tend to be easier than some of the pure science courses. TA marking can be "hit and miss" but I didn't find it was bad enough to really affect grades much (nor have I heard of it being a significant issue for the program- it's about the same or better than other programs). I had to double check things were marked correctly now and then, but if there was a mistake, it was easily resolved. Otherwise, assignments were easy enough to do and to do well on, provided some normal level of effort was put in. 

A lot of people do the online program part time, and many of them are not the usual 18-22 year olds- many do have other jobs, or families to take care of, and they all still do very well in the course. They also seem to have a pretty good community, despite being online, and any group work is generally very well done, given that most people have a real purpose in being there for their future beyond just getting an undergrad degree (like the attitude of some more traditional students).

Hope this helps!

[DadMed]

On 6/2/2020 at 11:56 AM, returnofthecmac said:

Thank you for your response. I just emailed u of t... I live in toronto and run a business in the fitness industry ( I keep it functional, not gimmicky or instagram model type). Online learning really makes the most sense for me until it comes time to jump into med school. I really hope Toronto is open to it. I train a few doctors who took the program, which really helped to solidify my need to challenge my career depth and impact as a 'helping or service' professional.

Hi! I was wondering if you got any response from U of T regarding how they view Queen's online BSc (or even their online BHSc)? I'm considering an online undergrad too and I want to understand what avenues to Med School will be closed to me if I pursue this track. Thanks in advance!