osmosis Posted November 16, 2007 Report Share Posted November 16, 2007 hey all, well, i got into a heated discussion with a classmate at school today. i made the comment that i felt sorry for students who had saved all their hard courses for their last year, as opposed to taking them earlier on. i argued that your last few years in undegrad should ideally be your best in terms of gpa, because med and dent schools would want to admit students who are on a upswing, as opposed to tanking. my "colleague", was of another view. he said that you would want to take the harder classes later on, because medical school's would not have your grades for those courses??? this does not make any sense. you can't even write your mcat or apply to some school's w/o physics and o-chem, and either way, you will eventually have to submit your marks in these courses to the respective school's. i think it basically came down to a differenec of opinion, and i should have reamined calm. whatever. i'm still of the view that your gpa should be going up when you apply, as opposed to going down. and everyone knows that it's harder to get a good mark in a course like o-chem, then it is psyc 201. what does everyone else think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jochi1543 Posted November 16, 2007 Report Share Posted November 16, 2007 I'd side with your opponent. Even though you send those grades to schools later, it's generally just a matter of obtaining a passing grade (unless we're talking about a conditional acceptance, such as at UWO) once you've secured an acceptance. However, excessive slacking must of course be discouraged, because you might not get in on your first try, and then poor grades in your senior year will be subject to scrutiny during the next application cycle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Genuine Posted November 16, 2007 Report Share Posted November 16, 2007 I agree with what the opponent said, as well as Jochi. For example, in an open-file interview the admissions people can see how you distributed your courses and whether or not they were 3rd/4th year classes etc. It would be better, to be on the safe side, that if you were tanking in your 3rd and 4th year of undergrad because you can then cope with how much work there is in medical school realistically. It would better prepare you in the sense of learning how to deal with 'tanking' and how to manage your time than for someone who dealt with 'bird courses' in his/her 3rd and 4th year. Personally, I WANT harder classes as I move on progressively one year after the other, not easier... Just my opinion. Edit: If you wanted to take the harder courses first in your early years, I am against it. Firstly, if you have done that, you would start slacking and you wouldn't have the feel of being pushed and pressured in the next 2 years. Rather, you'd relax and chill and forget about what needs to be done. -- Same with Jochi's idea. -- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vip_138 Posted November 17, 2007 Report Share Posted November 17, 2007 lol, not to beat a dead horse but i agree with your opponent too... obviously you'ld have to take g-chem and o-chem for the MCAT but as far as 'hard' courses go, a course is only hard if you have trouble with it. If there's a course you need to take to graduate but you know you'll suck at it, it would be smart to take it in your last year since medschools won't see these grades when their deciding whether to accept you ie. if you suck at english but need it, take that in your last year (tho taking it before could help with the MCAT). just a note, i'm specifically talking about your last year, not last couple of years. Adcoms don't wanna see a bad 3rd but they're not gonna care about your 4th year (assuming you're applying in 4th year) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dante Posted November 17, 2007 Report Share Posted November 17, 2007 ok so i agree with YOU osmosis... i think most of the above posters have misunderstood your argument to be that you should take increasingly birdy courses in your upper years to make marks look like they're increasing. I've read your argument to be that you should take the hard courses when it's time for them, not save all of the difficult courses required for your degree till the last year in the hopes that your gpa will be relatively high in third year, and that you will get accepted without needing to even take the hard courses, or you will apply in 4th year and all the low marks from your hard courses will be glossed over (if they are even looked at) by the adcom. It may just boil down to the type of person you are vs. your 'opponent'. Some people need to play their cards properly in order to stand a chance at getting in... meaning they save all the difficult things till the end in hopes that they can minimize the impact of these courses. I see it as a bit of a deception on their behalf, and therefore side with you but maybe I have misunderstood what you're saying, and you are in fact saying that you should manipulate your courses so that your upper years are actually of less difficulty so as to increase your chances of getting higher marks and looking like you've been improving, when in fact you are just taking more and more easier courses... that's deceptive as well... and if that's what you're saying... then i disagree with you BOTH!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tooty Posted November 17, 2007 Report Share Posted November 17, 2007 I agree with you Osmosis. By saving all the hard courses for the last year, you're pretty much banking on getting an acceptance on your first try. In the event that you don't get in, which is the overwhelming majority, you are now stuck with another year of difficult courses while having to keep up with your extracurriculars. You also risk losing that upward trend that some schools like UC and States schools look for in your academic record. Last but not least, with a bad 4th year, you risk lowering your weighted GPA significantly in Ottawa's GPA calculation (last year multiplied by 3). edit: Let's not forget Queen's, who will look at your last two years of GPA if your cGPA doesn't cut it. Altogether, if you absolutely have to take those difficult courses, which stand to harm your GPA, I think it's potentially more harmful to save them all until your last year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Law Posted November 17, 2007 Report Share Posted November 17, 2007 How does one save up the "hard courses" lol... I thought you had to take all your courses to advance in your program, and even if not all of them - then at least a large number of them. lol, why would you even argue about this... haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kgmed23 Posted November 17, 2007 Report Share Posted November 17, 2007 i got your back osmosis lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
osmosis Posted November 17, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 17, 2007 I agree with you Osmosis. By saving all the hard courses for the last year, you're pretty much banking on getting an acceptance on your first try. In the event that you don't get in, which is the overwhelming majority, you are now stuck with another year of difficult courses while having to keep up with your extracurriculars. You also risk losing that upward trend that some schools like UC and States schools look for in your academic record. Last but not least, with a bad 4th year, you risk lowering your weighted GPA significantly in Ottawa's GPA calculation (last year multiplied by 3). edit: Let's not forget Queen's, who will look at your last two years of GPA if your cGPA doesn't cut it. Altogether, if you absolutely have to take those difficult courses, which stand to harm your GPA, I think it's potentially more harmful to save them all until your last year. thankyou tooty. this is more closely what i meant. for a person who is going to apply to med school after their degree is finished, and to a school like U of C or Queen's i think it's a bad idea to save all the tougher courses to the end where you risk doing poorly and losing the upward gpa trend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a41 Posted November 17, 2007 Report Share Posted November 17, 2007 Just take all hard courses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dante Posted November 17, 2007 Report Share Posted November 17, 2007 Just take all hard courses. finally someone who agrees with me!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tooty Posted November 17, 2007 Report Share Posted November 17, 2007 Just take all hard courses. Genius. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vallinar Posted November 17, 2007 Report Share Posted November 17, 2007 i'm making my fourth eyar as easy as possible b/c i am limping to finish line. Sorry if this didn't contribute to thread at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Genuine Posted November 17, 2007 Report Share Posted November 17, 2007 ^^ At least you said something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
osmosis Posted November 17, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 17, 2007 i'm making my fourth eyar as easy as possible b/c i am limping to finish line. Sorry if this didn't contribute to thread at all. yeah, thanks for atleast saying something. your comment also adds another dynamic to my argument. kudos! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Medhopeful Posted November 17, 2007 Report Share Posted November 17, 2007 Hey, thought I would throw this in. I saved one of my really hard 2nd year chem courses till my last year, not because of med school, but because it was really hard, I didn't need it as a pre-req for any of the other courses I had planned on taking and I had heard that taking it in your last year, it would be more managable since you would have had 3 years of undergrad experience by then. So in that sense, I was smart to save it for my last year because since I was much more prepared to take the course and as such was able to get an A in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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