UT courses first year undergrade

[grapz]

With med school in mind, do ppl in UofT studying Life science usually take all three sciences, bio chem and phy, in theif first yr? did u guys take 5 credits in your first year?

 

What would a common 5 course life science year be like?

[Kyleh]

A common course load is usually...

 

biology

chemistry(2 half courses)

physics

calculus

 

+ elective(ie: psych, anthro, sociology)

 

But remember.. psych is considered a science at U of T so this will not fulfill the social science/ humanities requirement on your medical school application.

[cary_fan]

Also keep in mind that keeping a 5-credit course load is important to meet GPA weighting criteria, or to even have that year counted at all by many schools.

[groobs]

Just focus on taking courses that get you the pre-req's for the specialist/major program(s) you want to get into in 2nd year.

 

Still, if you're not sure what you want to get into yet (I sure wasn't before enrolling), but you're sure you want to do one of the Life Science programs, then the generic/safe bet would be BIO150 + PHY138 + CHM138, 139 + MAT135 + elective.

[grapz]

i see.

 

thanks for the information.

 

i have another question, for the elective course.

 

is it wise to take english at uoft first year? Is it hard to get a high mark in english class? or should i just take sumthing else

[Dante]

my suggestion would be to look to the future with the elective course you choose. I took psych and loved it... but like was said above, it's a science... and you need a social sci. credit to graduate... and if you're like me and aren't interested in taking 1st year credits in 2nd year, or 2nd year credits in 3rd year etc... you're going to have a problem finding social science courses without 1st/2nd year prerequisites. That's about the only advice i'd give... make sure you meet your program/degree requirements, and look for something you're interested in and will enjoy.

[degoo_]

I think taking english in first year is tough with the life sci pre reqs.. but that's just me. To be honest, I only went to one english lecture and then dropped it after seeing all the books we had to read. I instead took other courses for humanities.

English isn't required for all medical schools. Take it if you think you'll like it, but if you are planning to go to an Ontario school it isn't required.

[grapz]

do you think taking english first year would help on the MCAT and future writting assessments or assignments? I feel like i need to brush up on my writting.

 

Should i take eng 1st yr or 2nd yr?

[Medhopeful]

1st year can be hard enough without even considering your course load. English is hard, but for me, physics is even harder ! I took two 200 level courses in my last year (both 0.5 credits), and got into Queens, so I don't think there is any problem with taking lower level courses, as long as it's just one or two courses. As far as English courses helping you, it won't help for the MCAT (doesn't matter how bad your writing skills are, it's all about fulfilling the 3 elements of the WS), and unless it's an English course about how to write at the University level, it won't help you much with your science courses as most of the scientific writing is a lot different than regular essay/paper writing. But if you want to take a course, I would take English in your first year and do Physics in your 2nd or even 3rd year, unless you need it as a pre-req for your program.

 

p.s. don't forget about the summer semesters. You can take courses in the summer months, the courses will cover the pre-req requirements and for some schools, won't apply to your GPA calculation. I wish I had done that myself.