Im going to grade 12 this year then want to go to ubc to med

[Guest rappa619]

I am going to grade 12 this year, I want to go to UBC after grade 12 and then hopefully into med school. I found out from a counselor at our school, that you can go into either the Faculty of Science or the Faculty of Arts at UBC as long as you take the right courses for med school. He said that the minimum for arts was 86% avg in grade 12 and for science it is 88% avg. Right now the courses I am taking in grade 12 are going to be: chem 12, bio 12, phys 12, math 12, eng 12, calculus 12, and I have to take 2 courses as electives because it is required in our school district for graduation (photography and management and innovation 12). I was wondering if these would be good choices for courses. In grade 12 if I get an average of about 90-95%, how much harder do the first year science courses in University get to? I am also taking a leadership/government class at school for a extra-curricular activity. If I also join the basketball team, would this help a lot for admissions? And I might volunteer at the candystripers program, funny name lol. Thanks.

[Guest wab8611]

well i dont know the difficulty level of BC highschools or universities, but in ontario the difficulty of highschool and university are completely different.

[Guest kaymcee]

Hi rappa619! Such enthusiasm!

 

Regardless of which faculty to which you apply, you will need English 12, so you must take this. If you apply to the faculty of arts, you will need at least three additional provincially examinable courses. If science is your goal– and it looks like it is, based on the courses you're taking– you will need Principles of Mathematics 12 and two additional provincially examinable courses. Keep this in mind.

 

I'll tell you what I took in high school and my experiences and then what I recommend. In high school, I took the bare minimum of provincially examinable courses: EN12, CH12, BI12, MA12. I did well in all four, and it got me an entrance scholarship. However, having a minimum of courses and quite a few spare blocks allowed me to slack off pretty hardcore in high school, making the transition to university quite difficult in terms of work load. My first year at UVic was definitely sub-par.

 

That being said, I think you should definitely take the courses I did: EN12, CH12, BI12, MA12. English is required, chemistry is required for first year chemistry, biology will help you bypass university courses at UBC, and math is also required. PH12 is optional. If you end up doing biological sciences, the physics requirements for these programs is pretty much equivalent to what you would learn in high school. So, taking PH12 would put you at an advantage simply because you've seen the material before, making the university course easier (which is ALWAYS a good thing). Calculus is also optional, but the advantage to taking it are the same as physics: most of the first year calculus you will see will be covered in this course. If you are particularly strong in MA12, go ahead and take calculus. Don't worry about it bringing your average down too much, because the UBC admissions average is based only on EN12 plus three provincially examinable courses.

 

I'm always careful when I compare the difficulty of high school to university. It's not that much harder, but you have to put in more work and discipline yourself to study as constantly as you can. In university, most first year science courses will have a lab component worth about 40% of your mark, one midterm worth about 20%, and a final exam worth about 40%. There are fewer assignments/tests/labs that determine your grade, making everything you do more important. In high school, most courses would have a test every 2-3 weeks, with each one worth about 5-10% of your mark. The material covered on these tests is pretty limited. In university, the midterm is exactly that: about seven weeks of material from the lectures. Thus, the last-minute, night before studying effort won't work as well. Many people, such as myself, find this out the hard way.

 

What I'm trying to convey is university is what you make of it. You must work harder than in high school, but the material doesn't jump from easy to impossibly difficult when you get into first year. (Also, keep doing at least some of the extra-curriculars you did in high school and/or try something new in university. It will keep you happy and balanced. Remember: All work and no play makes rappa619 a dull boy.)

 

Regarding extra-curriculars, these will help you in terms of scholarships for entering first year, not admission. If you start stuff now that is medically-related, such as candystriping, this will help you for your future medical school admissions.