focus

[Guest boogsie]

What is the focus for the Waterloo Honours Health studies programme and what is the difference between this and the Mcmaster life sciences programme? Which would you recommend in order to pursue medicine (med skool)?

[Guest aneliz]

Either...pick the one that interests you more...or pick something completely different...from fine art to industrial engineering...undergrad is for you to study something that you are interested in...not to study something you think an admission committee is looking for...because there is no program in particular that they are looking for. There are people with chemical engineering degrees, music performance, fine arts, comparative religion and philosophy, english lit, neuroscience, mechanical engineering, physics and math, etc all in my class.

[Guest blinknoodle]

To determine the focus of each program, grab the course calendar from each school. See what are the required courses (is it biology, chemistry, genetics, ecology, population health, mental health, psychology, etc?). Can you only take electives from a certain list (ie. choose 2 of these chemistry courses)? How many open electives do you have (where you can take anything the university offers)? This, combined with reading their websites and talking with the admin and students from the programs, will definitely tell you what's the focus of the program. Now just tailor it to whatever interests you most (you want to study those courses; you like the freedom to choose your own courses, etc)... or to the teaching style... or the atmosphere of the campus/city.... or to the cost of living (distance from home, tuition, co-op to make money while studying). None are better for med school, but one will probably suit you better.

 

-bn