re:undergraduate degrees in kinesiology

[Kiel]

Do you know anybody in medical school that has a degree in kinesiology? Are the programs good preparation for the MCAT?

 

Feel free to add any other information.

[Smurfette]

Do you know anybody in medical school that has a degree in kinesiology? Are the programs good preparation for the MCAT?

 

Feel free to add any other information.

 

Some people certainly get into medical school from kinesiology. But then again, some people from every program imaginable (music, English, engineering, etc.) get into medicine. I guess it depends on the focus of the particular program - some kinesiology programs are very physical education based others are very science based. The ones with lots of science courses (OChem, Biology, GChem) will be good prep for the MCAT. I wouldn't choose your program based on how good they'll prepare you for the MCAT. It's more important that it's something you enjoy and that you're good at (usually the two criteria come hand in hand).

[Kiel]

I am definately choosing a degree that I am interested in but it would be nice if I didn't have to take say organic chem for an elective.

[Kiel]

Some people certainly get into medical school from kinesiology. But then again, some people from every program imaginable (music, English, engineering, etc.) get into medicine. I guess it depends on the focus of the particular program - some kinesiology programs are very physical education based others are very science based. The ones with lots of science courses (OChem, Biology, GChem) will be good prep for the MCAT. I wouldn't choose your program based on how good they'll prepare you for the MCAT. It's more important that it's something you enjoy and that you're good at (usually the two criteria come hand in hand).

 

 

Sorry to double post but what universities over a more science based kinesiology program? I'm an Ontario resident and hope to stay in Ontario.

[a41]

Don't sweat about organic chem too much. Trust me, it's by far the easiest of the (non-first year) chemistry courses.

[mac_attack]

Well, my best friend is currently in kin at western and my brother is in kin at McMaster, here is what they have to say on the issue:

 

If you're hoping to take a science based kin program that offers the pre-req courses for the MCAT, then you should probably forget about kin because no programs do that.

 

If you decide to take kin you will have to take the bio,chem,physics prereqs with the rest of the science people. Kin programs are not centered around those general sciences and don't offer things like organic chem or molecular biology. Kin is about human physiology, movement, rehabilitation. Think of it as kind of a pre - physio or occupational therapy progarm. Although it is also excellent preparation for med. But you will be taking science courses with sci people to meet requirements. So sciences will be your electives.

 

So basically it's a challenging combination. If you are prepared to work very hard and make some sacrifices (ie. less partying/social life ), then you will find it is an excellent choice. Most kin students succeed in physio, med, chiro etc. You just have to know what you're getting into though.

 

Typically you will have courses such as anatomy, physiology, biomechanics, exercise physiology, nutrition, sport psych and then for electives you will be taking bios, physics, chems, easier things if you have room. Keep in mind that kin programs also have some easier courses such as holistic medicine, history of sport, gender in sport etc, which will decrease the load a bit.

 

Overall, the workload I would say is probably one of the most demanding ones. However, from what I have heard it is well worth it. I have taken a couple open kin courses as electives (although these open ones were less science based), I found the profs to be amazing and the material was very interesting. I sort of wish I would have gone into kin instead of science. After 4 years, sci courses can become very very dry and repetitive. Kin offers you something a little bit different and yet still extremely interesting and probably a bit more applicable.

 

Lol, that was my commercial for kin. If you have any questions let me know and I'll ask my brothers.

[Kiel]

Thanks mac_attack for the detailed commercial(LOL:) I pmd you with a lot of questions that hopefully you can answer. You said that kinesiology is very heavy on the work load, but the courses you listed seem some what equivalent to that of a health science or science student. I'm curious, what years are your brothers in and approximately how many hours of classes/labs do they have each week? I don't want to go into a program where I can't have a life outside of studying. By the time I'm in university I would like to volunteer/belong to clubs/play on a varsity team/etc.

 

 

thanks again!

[Smurfette]

I think the kinesiology program at Simon Fraser University (SFU) is more or less science-based. But I guess that doesn't pertain to you if you want to stay in Ontario. You should call/email the coordinators of the programs that you're interested in.

 

Re Kiel: I don't want to be discouraging, but i think you might want to ease yourself into your goal to "volunteer/being on clubs/play a varsity sport, etc" - that's a lot of stuff on top of ANY university program (especially the varsity sport if it's at a competitive university). You can do it, but I would kind of progressively add stuff to your plate - otherwise you'll burn out or you'll be horrified by your midterm/final exam marks in first year. A number of my closest friends were keener high school students (it's usually the ones with the huge scholarships) who thought they could do everything. They joined everything imaginable, committed to student government, sports, volunteering, clubs, and social groups and then they learn the hard way that they can't do everything. University courses move a lot quicker than high school courses - suddenly you're writing midterms before you've even cracked open a book. After a while they learn to balance everything, but it takes some adjusting. Take first-year lightly with one or two major extracurricular committment and then progressively add more on as you figure things out.

[Kiel]

I think the kinesiology program at Simon Fraser University (SFU) is more or less science-based. But I guess that doesn't pertain to you if you want to stay in Ontario. You should call/email the coordinators of the programs that you're interested in.

 

Re Kiel: I don't want to be discouraging, but i think you might want to ease yourself into your goal to "volunteer/being on clubs/play a varsity sport, etc" - that's a lot of stuff on top of ANY university program (especially the varsity sport if it's at a competitive university). You can do it, but I would kind of progressively add stuff to your plate - otherwise you'll burn out or you'll be horrified by your midterm/final exam marks in first year. A number of my closest friends were keener high school students (it's usually the ones with the huge scholarships) who thought they could do everything. They joined everything imaginable, committed to student government, sports, volunteering, clubs, and social groups and then they learn the hard way that they can't do everything. University courses move a lot quicker than high school courses - suddenly you're writing midterms before you've even cracked open a book. After a while they learn to balance everything, but it takes some adjusting. Take first-year lightly with one or two major extracurricular committment and then progressively add more on as you figure things out.

 

Thanks for the advice Smurfette. I intend to just take on one volunteer position at the beginning of school. Over time we will see if I can handle more! My main concern is marks first then ecs.

 

thanks again:)

[Slapshot786]

Hi Kiel,

 

I am a second year student at the U of A in kines right now. What I can tell you is that it is an excellent program in terms of preparation for medicine and partially toward the mcats. While you need things like general and organic chem as well as bio, kines prepares you well for physiology, anatomy and physics (called biomechanics in kines).

 

IMO the program itself is increasingly popular amongst premeds especially in Alberta and there is also a great deal of funding being pumped into the faculty. The program can be rigourous especially in terms of memorization, but then again that is what medicine what be like as well. I also find the student body in the program to be less competitive compared to general science programs (I was in bio.sci before) and this helps in terms of sharing notes, tips, etc. and also helps with the GPA factor especially for universities on the curve.

 

One thing I must say though is that you have to enjoy things like sport, physical activity, leisure, etc as you prolly won't do as well if you don't and you are expected to have a basic knowledge of the field (i.e. sports).

Anyways, I hope this answers a few questions...lemme know if there is anything else.

[Kiel]

Thanks slapshot.

 

Have you heard anything about the kinesiology programs in Ontario???

[Diabetes dude]

Thanks slapshot.

 

Have you heard anything about the kinesiology programs in Ontario???

 

I did the Kinesiology and Health Science program at York University and enjoyed every minute of it.

It is a very science-based program with many courses that would serve well as pre-med preparation. Some of the courses I took in the program are anatomy, nutrition, exercise physiology, biomechanics, and health psychology, most of which were "core requirements" for the program thus reflecting the curriculum's focus on science. There are other interesting science courses you can take such as sports medicine, athletic injuries, endocrinology, exercise and chronic disease, etc..There are also some good researchers in the department who offer research opportunities during the academic year and summer (NSERC, independent project course, work-study, etc).

Feel free to PM me if you want to find out more about the program.

[Talon01]

I did kinesiology at UWO and it was great! It's one of the few programs that have 'gym class' courses which is great if you're into sports! If you go into the arts stream you have a lot more freedom to take a variety of elective courses (o-chem, physics, astronomy, whatever!). The science stream has many more mandatory kinesiology science courses which leaves you with less elective course options you'd need to complete your med school course prereqs.

 

However, I feel you should take an undergrad program based on what you think you would enjoy most.

 

Good luck!

[Kiel]

Thanks so much everybody:)

[peachy]

Are the programs good preparation for the MCAT?

Imho, premeds put far too much emphasis on the importance of the MCATs. Any science program combined with a prep course will prepare you very well for the MCATs; most non-science programs combined with a prep course will also prepare you adequately for the MCATs. If you're interested in attending medical school in Ontario, getting an amazing MCAT mark won't really help you anyways - you just need to make the cutoffs.

 

Which is to say - worry about programs where you will be interested in the material, where you can get good marks, where you'll get involved. Don't worry about the MCATs yet because they'll work out fine no matter what you pick.

[Kiel]

Imho, premeds put far too much emphasis on the importance of the MCATs. Any science program combined with a prep course will prepare you very well for the MCATs; most non-science programs combined with a prep course will also prepare you adequately for the MCATs. If you're interested in attending medical school in Ontario, getting an amazing MCAT mark won't really help you anyways - you just need to make the cutoffs.

 

Which is to say - worry about programs where you will be interested in the material, where you can get good marks, where you'll get involved. Don't worry about the MCATs yet because they'll work out fine no matter what you pick.

Thanks for the words of wisdom:)

[muchdutch]

slapshot - I sent you a pm (just in case you don't notice it at the top right of the page)

[MACKIN]

Hi Kiel

I'm currently in my final (4th) year of McMaster's kinesiology program.

The program is going through some changes now but it is currently set up like this:

Students are required to take certain kinesiology courses (anatomy, physiology, exercise physiology, health psychology, biomechanics, psychomotor etc.) in first and second year. After that, they can take choose what types of kin courses they want to take - this allows you to get into the areas that interest you the most.

 

Also, you have the choice of pursuing either the 'science' or 'social-science' stream of kinesiology. All that means is that if you choose the science stream you have to take a certain number of courses from the faculty of science (these would be your med pre-req's: bio, chem, biochem, orgo, etc.) If you choose the 'science' stream, you graduate with a 'BSc in Kinesiology'.

 

The 'social science stream' basically gives you options to take any courese you want (you can still take courses from the faculty of science as well as from other faculties). If you choose this option you graduate with a "Bachelor of Kinesiology"

 

I am probably biased, but i love Mac's program. The professors are super and especially in upper year classes the class sizes get pretty small so you get to know the professors really well.

[Kiel]

Thanks so much. Mac is one of my top university choices. My question to you is, is kinesiology heavily physics based? I notice courses such as biomechanics and physiology? Is this more the biology of how things work in the human body or is this like highschool physics?

 

:)thanks so much

 

ps. can I pm you if I have any further questions about macs kin program?? thanks so much!

[MACKIN]

Kin at Mac isn't physics heavy at all. The biomechanics course is taken in second year and is pretty basic physics ( you can choose to take more biomechanic courses later if you want)- it is really just questions about how different forces are applied to and by the body (the concepts are pretty straightforward. I didn't take any physics past gr 11 and got along just fine in the course.)

The physiology is not physics based at all. Basically, the courses looks at human anatomy and then discusses how things work together and what the benefit of the structures may be. For example, in exercise physiology you first discuss the structure of a muscle and then learn how all the parts work together to help you move. You also talk about glycolysis, the citric acid cycle and oxidative phosphorylation (how you make and use ATP) ... etc.

 

Feel free to pm me with any other questions...

[Kiel]

Kin at Mac isn't physics heavy at all. The biomechanics course is taken in second year and is pretty basic physics ( you can choose to take more biomechanic courses later if you want)- it is really just questions about how different forces are applied to and by the body (the concepts are pretty straightforward. I didn't take any physics past gr 11 and got along just fine in the course.)

The physiology is not physics based at all. Basically, the courses looks at human anatomy and then discusses how things work together and what the benefit of the structures may be. For example, in exercise physiology you first discuss the structure of a muscle and then learn how all the parts work together to help you move. You also talk about glycolysis, the citric acid cycle and oxidative phosphorylation (how you make and use ATP) ... etc.

 

Feel free to pm me with any other questions...

Great thanks so much:)