Guest s sadry Posted July 11, 2004 Report Share Posted July 11, 2004 hi i intend on pursuign a double major in life sci and psych at u of t. i'm just planning out my schedule now. it appears that i won't be able to fit in all my 200 levels into second year, or 300 levels into 3rd etc. there are so many psych half credits in 2nd year! would med schools frown on course levels that dont always correlate with the year of study? it looks like id only have two 4th year courses in total..is that reasonable? any advice is appreciated. thanks, sharon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest thecod Posted July 11, 2004 Report Share Posted July 11, 2004 it would be nice to take all courses corresponding to the year you are in. but usually if you take 60% of the course load corresponding to your year level, ie. 3/5 courses 3rd year or above in 3rd year, it should be fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest s sadry Posted July 11, 2004 Report Share Posted July 11, 2004 is this a set in stone rule? i never saw it on any of the school's websites. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest thecod Posted July 11, 2004 Report Share Posted July 11, 2004 for mcmaster, it's a rule. i don't know about the other universities. probably for them too it's a rule. why would they want you taking 5, 200 levels courses in 3rd year? wouldn't that be a little too easy? you can take 1 or 2 - in fact, you can take as many as you want - but the medical schools won't look at you very nicely. and in my opinion, taking only 2, 400 level courses in fourth year doesn't look good. :rolleyes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest s sadry Posted July 11, 2004 Report Share Posted July 11, 2004 lol ya i agree that it definately doenst look so good...but having to take those 2nd year psych courses in 3rd year will be inevitable for me. any other premed/meds who were in that situation? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peachy Posted July 11, 2004 Report Share Posted July 11, 2004 Can you really get a 4-year degree with only 2 full courses of 4th year level courses? Doesn't it normally require more like 4 full courses? In any case, I did a four year degree over five years, because I switched majors a few times, and as a result the courses I took were all over the place and didn't correspond to my year very well. It didn't seem to be a problem. Personally, I think that as long as you're following a reasonable program and have a good reason for what you are doing, it is unlikely to be a problem. You can always email or otherwise contact the schools you are interested in applying to and ask them what they think! If you do so, let us know what they say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Teemster Posted July 11, 2004 Report Share Posted July 11, 2004 Hey, I asked the UofT admissions officer the same question last year, and she was very clear that UofT would only consider applicants who had 60% of their courseload composed of courses corresponding to their year of study. T Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest thecod Posted July 11, 2004 Report Share Posted July 11, 2004 i did here that, at mcmaster, if you have to take courses that are prerequisites for your program, it's ok to take them whenever you need to. but i don't know if this is part of the 60% rule. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest s sadry Posted July 11, 2004 Report Share Posted July 11, 2004 hey peachy reading the degree requirements ..it doesnt say you need a certain number of 4th year. just 1) no more than 6 first year 2) at least 6 300+ 3) no more than 15 courses can have the same letter designator (ANT etc) yea. next year (2nd year) .. all my courses will be 200s, and the following year 60%...and the last year... 80% hopefully. i hope this will be sufficient for the schools. i don't want having 60% correlating in 3rd year to put me at a disadvantage in anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest CTU24 Posted July 12, 2004 Report Share Posted July 12, 2004 Hi S Sadry, This 60% debate seems to be a popular worry of many and was a topic on the Toronto forum a few weeks ago...so you can look for some more advice there. As for my input (which is purely speculation based upon my experience), I believe the 60% rule is in place to ensure you are taking courses in a structured program towards a degree. In other words, there is room for flexibility. To sum up, Peachy said it best... Personally, I think that as long as you're following a reasonable program and have a good reason for what you are doing, it is unlikely to be a problem. Of course, to be on the safe side I would contact admissions and explain to them your situation. Keep us posted. CTU24 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sparkle Posted July 12, 2004 Report Share Posted July 12, 2004 Hi S Sadry, I actually have a very similar situation to you but it never really occured to me that it would be a problem?? My courses never seem to correspond to the year I'm in because of the requirements for my double major program. For example, similar to what you mentioned, I'm graduating with only 3 fourth year courses but enough 3rd year courses to compensate for both 3rd and 4th year. Every single course I ever took was required for my program (there's no room for electives) so I couldn't really control anything (i.e. I took 200 levels in my first year and 100 level in my 3rd year etc. etc. just as long as I somehow fit all the requirements in) I applied UBC last year and didn't get any negative comments about my academic studies when I asked. However, I didn't apply anywhere else so I wouldn't know how strict the "rule" is elsewhere. Definitely keep us posted and I will too after I make a few phone calls to some schools Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest s sadry Posted July 12, 2004 Report Share Posted July 12, 2004 (This message was left blank) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jixe Posted July 12, 2004 Report Share Posted July 12, 2004 Slightly off-topic, but, are admission questions gladly answered over the phone (especially at this time of the year)? I'd like to make some inquiries re: the 60% rule, as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest aneliz Posted July 12, 2004 Report Share Posted July 12, 2004 Admissions questions can generally be answered over the phone. Make sure that you have your questions organised before you call though to speed up the process. As for the 60% rule...it is designed to make sure that people are taking things that roughly correspond to what they should be taking...(ie are following a 'usual' course of study) and are not just taking easy courses to pad their GPA. If you are less than 60% at your year level but you are taking what has been suggested to you by a program counsellor/course calendar as necessary to satisfy your program requirements, you should be okay. If you are taking random lower level courses because you think they will be easier, you will be in trouble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest s sadry Posted July 12, 2004 Report Share Posted July 12, 2004 hi aneliz... i'll definately have the 60% but my concern is whether or not this is a MINIMUM (and hence those with 100% correspondence would have some sort of advantage over me?) or whether this value is a THRESHOLD (and it wouldnt' matter once you ahve 60%).. my 1st, 2nd years will all be 100% related to my year of study..and 4th i'm shooting for 80% with one 3rd year course.. and my 3rd will be 60% . i thought this was more than reasonable..but having the bear minimum of 60% puts me at some sort of disadvantage, then i can plan accordingly now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest studentz Posted July 12, 2004 Report Share Posted July 12, 2004 You should also consider the fact that it is highly unlikely that you will actually get all of your 300 level courses in 3rd year because they fill up so quickly (the 4th years get the first crack at course selection). I had to take 3 psych 300 levels in my fourth year to finish my minor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest s sadry Posted July 12, 2004 Report Share Posted July 12, 2004 haha..i never thought of that..4th years getting dibbs. well. this is turning a little messy..just looking different prereqs this afternoon...for ottawa it looks like i can't get away with just biochem..i guess i'll have to take another half year course in organic. and where is aneliz? why does the OSMAS still give prereqs for UWO?? you said they were getting rid of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest s sadry Posted July 12, 2004 Report Share Posted July 12, 2004 www.med.uwo.ca/Admissions...ndex.shtml its okay aneliz i foudn it right here...2006/2007 no prereqs. this is good news considering i was starting to think i'd have to pull a 3rd non-scienc ecourse out of somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mitchie41 Posted July 12, 2004 Report Share Posted July 12, 2004 If anyone finds out whether or not these 60% rules are enforced, could you please post them here?? I've tried emailing a few schools and nobody has got back to me yet. As long as you stick to a regular programme leading to a bachelor's degree, I think it'll be fine. The rule is in place so that people aren't taking tons of easier 100 or 200-level courses throughout their degree. And yeah, some of us can't really help the fact that our programs don't have that many 4th year courses we can take. I mean, in my programme, there's only two 400-level programs that can be taken by non-honours students('cause the majors wont have the 300-level pre-reqs) and those two courses are offered in alternating years. Someone in an earlier post said that they wont even considering your application if you don't have 60% of your courses corresponding to your year, but I think that would be REALLY harsh, considering that people who don't even have full courseloads are considered for admission(although they may not have all the advantages such as being able to drop your worst marks, etc...). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jixe Posted July 13, 2004 Report Share Posted July 13, 2004 I'm going try and make a round of calls (to the Ontario med schools) sometime this week and let you know what I hear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest CTU24 Posted July 13, 2004 Report Share Posted July 13, 2004 Hi S sadry, i'll definately have the 60% but my concern is whether or not this is a MINIMUM (and hence those with 100% correspondence would have some sort of advantage over me?) This is completely untrue...as has been said a number of times, the rule is in place to ensure a coherent program that leads to a degree. You could take 100 300-level courses in third year or 3, and it wouldn't make a difference to the adcom. Hope that cleared up an ugly rumor, CTU24 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 007 Posted July 13, 2004 Report Share Posted July 13, 2004 A friend of mine went and asked UofT at the admissions office last week and they told her that with respect to 3rd and 4th year, they'd like you to have mostly upper year courses...so I know that for at least 4th year, it's ok if you don't have three full 400-level courses as long as you have at least 60% of your courses as upper year courses. 007 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest s sadry Posted July 13, 2004 Report Share Posted July 13, 2004 007 and CTU24 thank you for clearing this up. I feel more confident in my course selection now...in the mean time I'll wait for Leslie to reply and share what she says. Sharon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest s sadry Posted July 13, 2004 Report Share Posted July 13, 2004 Here is the information I received. ----------------------------------------------------------- Applicants should know that part of the evaluation process is looking at the choices made in the course selection. We are looking for applicants who have continued to challenge themselves in their academic career. Between otherwise equal candidates, the fact that one may have consistently chosen upper level courses and the other may have consistently chosen lower level courses may be significant to their overall rank, however there is no quantifiable advantage to having greater than 60% of the course load at the the year of study. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sparkle Posted July 14, 2004 Report Share Posted July 14, 2004 Hi s sadry, Is the information you received for the Ontario schools only? Sparkle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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