Guest dandy456 Posted April 11, 2006 Report Share Posted April 11, 2006 hello, i'm currently in University of Waterloo, 2nd year biomedical science. The thing is that i am so fed up with schools and everything right now, and i'm thinking of taking a year off, and volunteer at the hospital for a year while i work for my dad. My GPA is not that good(i'm barely hanging in there ... too much personal problems for last two years..), and therefore, i'm thinking of re-entring the university in the fall of 2007. I am not sure where i would go, but i think it will be either UT or York. MY friend suggested that it would be better to stick with what i have right now and pull off 3rd and 4th year to get into the master's program and apply for the dental schools in US & Canada, but i am not sure whether I can bring all the marks up in the 3rd and 4th year of my school. Also, if I start fresh at UT or York, I am willing to start fresh and 100% motivated to get better marks throughout, and in a long shot, taking a year off and possibly wasting 2 years of my life would be worth the risk. I'm not sure if UT or York would accept me as a first year student when i already finished half of my undergrad, but i think i can explain my situation and they might understand. My question is that if I get into UT or York, would my low GPA in UW take place in any parts when I apply for the dental schools in the future regardless of how well i do in UT or York in the next 4 years(excluding the 1 year break) ? another question is that how forgiving would they be if they take them to the consideration? should I just listen to my friend and study my ass off at UW and finish it strong to get into the graduate study and apply? At this point, I have taken school non stop since 2004, and i am so exhausted.... I am so regretful for what i have done for last two years, i was very immature, and i was too busy partying. now i'm taking a break, and i will be very motivated and experienced by next year(hopefully) and i'm so freaked out that my chances are already gone! with the bad first two years of my university. thank you for reading this and any suggestions will be appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest uoft Chemistry Posted April 11, 2006 Report Share Posted April 11, 2006 Hi Dandy456 First of all, I have to say is that its really "GOOD" that you are able to reflcet upon your career and have nbotice that you made mistakes. You are definitely heading in th eright direction by exploring your options with the new fresh start. As to the question "Is it to late?" ....I would say OFCOURSE NOT!!!!, it's never too late, especially it's only your first 2 years. We all have problems, some of us much greater than others, and the severeity varies between individuals. Admission committes KNOW this WELL. Sure you had a few bad years BUT as LONG as you can explain WHAT HAPPENED during those years it will definietly be taken into account. So you had 2 bad years, so what?...... if you start again and can show them the next 2-3 years being absolutely productive and have a rising trend in your academic career, it will clearly show them that your competent and can get down to business when all EXOGENOUS factors have left you alone and allowed for you to study in peace. A story personal to me is that my cousin had a similar situation to yours, there was a major problem in his family and he could not focus....1st year GPA was 2.4....2nd year was 2.5.....But then he was able to pull 3 years of 3.9+ , and he wrote to the Faculty of Dentistry and explained his situation, he was accepted to DENTs at UT class of 2008. So there is light at the end of the tunnel, Keep FOCUS, EXPLAIN yourself and give it your best!!!.... With regards to the school, I would say.....attend YORK U....(this is nothing personal) but students seem to do better in terms of GPA at York. Thats my 3 mins of things....Good luck and let us know how it goes.... Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tamkhan1 Posted April 11, 2006 Report Share Posted April 11, 2006 there are two things to consider here. 1) if youre absolutely positive about dentistry and are willing to apply over and over again cuz its the only thing you wanna fo for, then York is the place to go. Its easier than uoft, and you'll be able to pull off 85-90% gpas, hopefully. 2) if youre not too sure about dentistry and think you might want to change to something else, then chose uoft. an undergrad degree from uoft will get u almost anywhere whereas an undergrad science degree from york is not that valuable. iver personally come across many people who've managed to practically fail high school and end up with 75's-80's at york. no offence to yorku students, though, but thats just the way things work:b Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dandy456 Posted April 11, 2006 Report Share Posted April 11, 2006 ok.. thank u for the responses... that was really really helpful.. i'm sorry.. but if u guys could answer this.. that would save my life. let's say that i got into York.... what should I do about the transfer credits? Do I have rights to dump them all and start from the scratch? is it possible? would dental schools look at my both transcripts from Waterloo and York and penalize me for what i would repeat in york? (ex: UWO wouldn't let me repeat any courses during the years that they would count as my GPA ) any other options? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hugo69 Posted April 11, 2006 Report Share Posted April 11, 2006 Another thing you must consider is that as time goes by the competition increases. At the moment UWO only uses the best 2 yrs of undergrad. In the future it may change. Who knows, maybe they'll change it to best 3 yrs or 4 yrs or something similar to UofT's criteria. If that happens, then you will be in school for a longer period of time. Also, you mentioned that you were in school since 2004 nonstop, guess what, dental school will be just the same and just as exhausting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest whitestrip Posted April 11, 2006 Report Share Posted April 11, 2006 dandy456, i personally believe that if you're not capable or have not invested enough to score high GPA at school X , then no matter where you switch, chances of bumping up u're grades are remote. Maybe i'm wrong...okay lets assume that you transfer just to get better grades and make it through. What happens after you get into a dental school ?? Ask someone who's already in one, and they'll tell you how much work goes in so basically, if u haven't worked hard enough to get the needed GPA, then what makes u think that u'll pass out to become a dentist ?? In my opinion looking for an easy way out is a bad bad idea. I say u put in your best and then self-evaluate to check if u've got what it takes to be a dentist ! good luck ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest predentalguy Posted April 11, 2006 Report Share Posted April 11, 2006 whitestrip.. I completely disagree with what you are saying... sometimes people havent found the right focus in there first couple of years. Like the example uoftchemistry gave.. i think it depends on the person... For example some people do really well in their first year and look like they are on top of things but then lose focus... while others are the opposite. Others need a different setting to start a fresh slate.. and i can keep going on and on.. so it really depends Sure dentistry is demanding.. but i also think people need to make choices that are efficient.. so if one feels comfortable changing scenery to start a clean slate.. that may just do the trick...So its not about looking for easy way out... its about finding your niche.. and being the best at it... Having said all that.. I do think dentistry is a tough career and is difficult to get into... but if someone really is determined they can create there own options... DANDy about choosing a university to go to .. its best that you do your homework on that one for urself... people have preference... uoft is a difficult school.. but because it is so academic there not that many distractions... while york.. well everyone knows that its easy to get distracted there hahaha... So again its ur preference... For mysle.f.. all in all i think if i were to do undergrad again it would be at MAC... like uoftchem said... it is not impossible to get 3.9s after doing badly... but you have to seriously assess that for urself... and no one will know that other than urself. You might want to check with the dental schools that you are interested in whether or not they take into consideration starting a new degree. Some schools i know for a fact ask for all ur academic records from all post secondary institutions for applications... so best to ask them urself.. hope this helped... Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest whitestrip Posted April 12, 2006 Report Share Posted April 12, 2006 fair enough..but i dont encourage someone looking out for schools where they think its a peice of cake to get a 3.9 etc etc i dont think there is such thing as an EASY school , these are just inchoherent myths u are more to welcome to join any school, be it York or UT. but at the end of the day if u manage to produce all A's on u're transcript, its because of your hard work and not the institution Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest uoft2005 Posted April 12, 2006 Report Share Posted April 12, 2006 whitestrip... do/did you got to u of t? b/c your posts are quite funny. I mean I've taken courses both at U of T and York, and it was quite obvious to me and my friends that it was hella easier to get better marks @ York. This is the fact my friend. Just accept it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest whitestrip Posted April 12, 2006 Report Share Posted April 12, 2006 did u end up doing the exact same course at both the schools ??? if not then u have "absolutely" no facts to defend u're argument u can't make assumptions on a few courses you took, there are several other factors involved i could be wrong too, but all i'm trying to say is that if u're willing to give in a 100% then there is no reason why you wouldn't excel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest uoft2005 Posted April 12, 2006 Report Share Posted April 12, 2006 yes, i have taken two exact same courses at uot and york (don't ask me why though lol) They both covered the same info but the level of difficulty of the tests was drastically different... I mean it seems like you are pretty oblivious to these factors but yes your rite.. putting 100% effort is the way to go:hat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest whitestrip Posted April 12, 2006 Report Share Posted April 12, 2006 cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tamkhan1 Posted April 12, 2006 Report Share Posted April 12, 2006 (This message was left blank) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hugo69 Posted April 12, 2006 Report Share Posted April 12, 2006 haha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dentin09 Posted April 12, 2006 Report Share Posted April 12, 2006 Dandy 456, I was personally faced with the same dilemma 4 years ago. My first year marks were horrible (C's, D's and the occasional B!) and I took almost all my pre-requisites that year. My second year was only slightly better, thanks in large part to a good second semester (still only had B's and C's). Eventhough I had taken all these science courses to apply for dentistry, I never really thought about GPA or cared for that matter. In third year I had finally realized the hole I dug for myself. With only Biochem left to take and clearly no way of being accepted anywhere, I was trying to decide what my major should be as I desperately needed to bring my GPA up. Before I declared my major, I decided to take some 'easy' GPA boosting courses and get some good marks just to prove to myself it was plausible. On the verge of declaring Chemistry as my major, I overheard my roomates talking about Kinesiology (THANK GOD)... declaring Kin as my major was the best decision I ever made. Not only was it the most interesting area for me to learn about, but there was a minimum GPA I needed to obtain to be accepted in the Faculty. A much needed stepping stone for me. I finished my third year with an A- average and was accepted. Now I needed two more years to complete all the credits for my BSc in Kin... which was actually a lifesaver, as it enabled me to counteract all the previous bad grades with great ones. I rocked out my final two years with straight A's for two reasons: one, I was actually trying at school and; two, I was enjoying the material I was learning! Wrote the DAT in my final year of school... did well enough to be competitive. I actually took the year off after graduating and was then accepted into dentistry. If I can pull it off... anybody can. Don't worry about first and second year marks... schools understand why these things happen (partying, adjusting to new city, personal/family problems). They don't just look at consistency but TREND as well. I had no consistency, except for the fact that my trend was 'consistent' improvement each year. I improved every year at university. Now I am not saying this is easy to do... you have to absolutely 'tear it' at school for the next couple years. You have dug a hole and have to continually fill it back in. And for the record... anytime you apply to dental schools you must submit all Transcripts from all institutions attended. There is no way to remove those grades from your application BUT if you apply to the right schools, they won't be heavily weighted. Schools like UWO (best two years) and UBC (drop your worst year, as long as it's not your last) are two off the top of my head that might benefit you. Don't worry about anything else for the next couple years except marks... once you have pulled up your GPA, then see what your options are in terms of schools, etc. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest zohaibab Posted April 13, 2006 Report Share Posted April 13, 2006 Tamkhan, No immuno and no Pharma? Go check the course listings and come back to this thread. I'm taking an introductory Med chem course (Course titled "Pharmaceutical discovery") and immunobiology this semester, so I really don't know where you got your information from. The "cheat sheets" you are talking about, you must have heard it "from friends at York", right :lol ? The professor teaching that course is a bonehead and had to actually bring the marks down one particular year because of the high grades. The idiocy of one professor does not in any way reflect the general level of challenge in biology courses at York (Just for your info, I didn't even need to use the cheat sheet during the exam). And can you please kindly inform me of the science course awarding 15% for attendance, I shall enrol into it the first chance I get. Makeups are never repeats, in fact they are much harder than the actual midterm, as in any other university. Your FACTS, are not facts at all. Please look up the word "fact" in the dictionary and refrain from using it in a context which would make you look ridiculous later on. Best regards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest whitestrip Posted April 13, 2006 Report Share Posted April 13, 2006 tamkhan1, do your research before you comment i appreciate u're postings at times, but here u're just trying to be a joiner like the others Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hugo69 Posted April 13, 2006 Report Share Posted April 13, 2006 can i join in too? This is the way i see it. if you dug yourself a hole first 2 yrs and don't dig yourself out by 3rd and 4th year, things are looking bleak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tamkhan1 Posted April 13, 2006 Report Share Posted April 13, 2006 wow, everyones ganging up on me:rollin alrite, i shall take back what i said..it was fun, though..hehe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tamkhan1 Posted April 13, 2006 Report Share Posted April 13, 2006 but cmon, man..york is def. a lot easier than other places..so many high school failures end up at york, doing better than A graders who made the worst decision of joining other places:b Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tamkhan1 Posted April 13, 2006 Report Share Posted April 13, 2006 and the above is a FACT!! lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest zohaibab Posted April 13, 2006 Report Share Posted April 13, 2006 Tamkhan1, Giving out so-called "facts" based on unverified hearsay is something a 12 year old would do, not an undergraduate university student. Anyways, good luck with whatever you wish to pursue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest uoft Chemistry Posted April 13, 2006 Report Share Posted April 13, 2006 Hey guys.... Let's skip the york and uft thingy....the thread is intended for advice to help Dandy 456..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tamkhan1 Posted April 13, 2006 Report Share Posted April 13, 2006 gluck to you, too, man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BeEasyy Posted April 13, 2006 Report Share Posted April 13, 2006 Dandy, You don't HAVE TO tell York or the dental school that you are applying that you have gone to waterloo. Just send york your transcript from highschool when applying to york, unless you want to transfer credits. They do NOT check whether you are telling the truth or not. No school does. So, you can basically start a new life my friend. But make sure not to bump it this time. I have a couple of friends who were barely passing (GPA close to 2) in the first two years of UT engineering and suddenly they realized that they wanna do grad studies for which they require much higher GPA (around 3.7). They both were rocking the third and forth year and they both got into masters in U of T. So it is never too late to start strong and do well. However, Dent schools don't work like engineering. In engineering your 3rd and 4th year are inproportionally weighted higher that the first two, so doing well in those years is crucial. But dent schools (except western) and med schools usually look at all of your cumulative GPA and may drop the worst year or so. So it is necessary to get high grades from the beginning. So overall I would recommend you switching to York, since I am sure you can hold a fork! :lol and start strong. Best of luck 2u. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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