Undergrad @ Queen's

[Guest Christopher]

Hey there,

 

How is the undergraduate experience at Queen's University? Good? Bad? Are the science classes okay? Good class sizes?

 

Any feedback would be very appreciated.

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Christopher

[Guest bad hombre]

Well, I guess christopher is already headed to U of T, but we might as well use this thread for other purposes.

 

For those of you who are contemplating a career in medicine and are thinking about coming to Queen's, be warned! Queen's is extremely competitive, and i'd say more than half of the people in the sciences here are thinking about going into medicine. The profs have to keep the class average at aound 65-70, so that means that a lot of people get low marks. A lot of people who come here had stellar marks coming in from high school. Example, my housemate had a 90+ average from high school and in now on academic probation (i.e. <60).

Don't get me wrong, if you are up for a challenge, and think you can compete with the best, come here. Rising above the masses gives you a deep sense of satisfaction, and who knows, maybe med-admissions people DO secretly recognize that some programs are tougher than others.

 

Even if one considers the toughness of the academic programs, Queen's offers the best overall undergrad experience in canada. Despite the "competitiveness", everyone gets along just fine and you meet great people here. I'm from a big city, but Kingston has been great to me.

 

I'm going into second year biology at Queen's, though in first year I was in lifesci. eventhough i managed a decent GPA (3.74) i think bio will let me achieve a higher GPA next year. Any Queen's undergrad kids out there who are interested in med school or dentistry? Any reccomendations as to what courses one should take in order to get high marks?

[Guest strider2004]

I'll reply according to what I've experience with my first year class. LifeSci majors tend to have an advantage in the first term of medicine at Queens. This term(Phase I) is meant to teach everyone the basic sciences required for a better understanding of the background for the clinical lectures. LifeSci students are basically doing pre-med. In fact, the material is so close that they have used the EXACT same handouts. This only applies if you get into Queens medicine, however. It also doesn't give you an advantage later on in the curriculum. It just lets you slack off a bit more and still get that honours mark.