did you make it?

[Guest neetche]

Is there anyone out there who actually made it to interview or got into meds taking 6 yrs to complete their degree? Official word from UofT, is that as long as you are a full time student, you can apply for an exception to the "full course load" rule in the year which you are getting your degree. You will still be eligable.

Are there any "mature" students doing this? My situation is that my work and family responsibilities only allow me to take 3.5 credits per school year, (maybe an elective in the summer). Any insight with regards to UofT or Mac would be appreciated. thanks.

[Guest macdaddyeh]

Neetche,

 

Your situation sounds very similar to mine in that I have had to balance work and family along with studies and thus my med school choices are very slim pickins (because of the full course load regulation).

 

I have always taken four every year and one in the summer and I'm just finishing up, but nearly all med schools require 5 courses (which is totally contradictory seeing that most schools for nearly every other undergrad program except medicine regard 3.5 or 4 courses as full time). I think ADCOMS just want to pile on the stress and create competitive advantage and weed out those who have insane exterior responsibilities outside the classroom...like you and I and many other posters here.

 

This is why I chose Mac (and Mac only) because they are the most flexible in terms of understanding outside responsibilities and fitting them into the application process. They also don't care (at least not to the same extent as others) as to when, where, why, how long it took you to take your degree.

 

Soooooooooooooooooo, the bottom line is that Mac is your best option. That said, I too have investigated (unoficially) the U of T position that they will take into account your whole undergrad record if you've taken "less than a full course load" so technically we should be able to apply there; just talking to U of T med students/friends however really seems to make it look like in practice they never accept people with less than a full course load or *mature* students either.

 

Hope this helps, but its pretty much stuff we already know.

 

Alternatively, you could look into Calgary and Memorial (which are really tough to get into period, let alone being out of province). I say those two because they have no prereqs and are a little vague, but not outrightly discriminatory about accepting "less than full time/mature" students.

[Guest neetche]

thanks for your advice. i didn't realize the number of road blocks there are out there for people like us. I know that it's still possible, but it seems like if you didn't persue meds right off the bat(after high school), they're not really that interested, just my opinion, maybe I'm wrong.