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Please advise - Second Undergrad Degree


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The only thing I can tell you is to be careful with online classes. Outside the pandemic, online classes are not accepted by all med schools (eg. uOttawa). 
 

As for evening and weekend classes, I can only speak for uOttawa that has a lot of them in all kind of programs. Université du Québec en Outaouais too (if you understand French). It helps to be in a city full of federal public servants looking to pursue undergrads while working in the government during daytime.

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Check out Athabasca University. In my opinion, as they’ve always been a distance education university, they’ve got their courses down and running like a well oiled-machine. I don’t “need” a second degree, but it will certainly help me to be more competitive in the future if I don’t get in successfully with my current stats so I chose Athabasca for flexibility. I’m working on a Bachelor’s of Health Administration.

Do check and see that your school of choice doesn’t have any limitations, but IMO, the GPA is what matters. I don’t think many medical schools have a preference for institution, so if you’re looking for flexibility, check them out. Of course, these are distance courses, so I have not found an actual community because everyone is at different stages in their courses. 
 

Good luck!

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Thanks @Violetvernon35 I am glad to know that someone else is also taking a second-degree route. I have both Athabasca and TRU on my list, but I am more inclined towards the former. I have looked at Bachelor of General Studies, Bachelor of Science, & Bachelor of Health Administration degrees at Athabasca. Would you say it is easier to maintain a high GPA in the courses within Health Administration degree a compared to the other two?

To be on the safer side, I also emailed med schools in Ontario to confirm whether they accept degree from these Universities. McMaster responded that they do, and I am hoping that other Ontario schools do as well (still waiting to hear back).

Cheers!

 

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I’m just starting so I can’t comment for sure on how easy it is to maintain a higher GPA. The thing to remember is that the material is similar, regardless of where you are taking the courses, so if you’ve thrived in a social-science based program, then you’ll probably do well in the Health Administration program. I have a background in Social Sciences so I felt comfortable going into this program. Since my school of choice has no preference for major, I decided to take a program that I knew would be easier. I’m taking biology as an elective right now, and I’m learning everything from the ground up. So this course is “difficult” in that it requires a lot of my time to do well because I’m focused and I don’t want to miss ANYTHING. So you have to decide if memorizing and understanding processes is easier for you, or are you better at writing essays and synthesizing research data. I am much better at the latter so I didn’t want to overwhelm myself in a science degree. I’m doing much better fully soaking in that information one course at a time so I can retain the information and draw on it in medical school when needed.
 

 

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Thanks @Violetvernon35 for sharing your perspective. I don't have a science background so I am going to have to put in that extra time and effort for all science courses I take. This makes me think that I should go for a fast track undergraduate degree in Ontario (where I currently reside). I was wondering if you have any recommendations for a full-time 2 years degree? I looked at Ryerson's Two-Year Public Health Program but it would make me ineligible for Western.

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4 hours ago, nat_premed said:

Thanks @Violetvernon35 for sharing your perspective. I don't have a science background so I am going to have to put in that extra time and effort for all science courses I take. This makes me think that I should go for a fast track undergraduate degree in Ontario (where I currently reside). I was wondering if you have any recommendations for a full-time 2 years degree? I looked at Ryerson's Two-Year Public Health Program but it would make me ineligible for Western.

Honestly, I’m not sure of any 2 year degrees. You could potentially find a three year program and see if you can get transfer credit, but I’m not entirely sure. I’m also in Ontario, and Athabasca was my best option.

 

I wish you luck going forward! It’s really interesting and challenging to start with science-based material after being enveloped in a different discipline for so long. I actually feel like I’m learning and not just trying to obtain a credit.

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