McMaster Health Sciences as a premed program

[The Law]

lol, I love your sig.

 

LOL, jochi I love your sig.... and I love wisdom_tooth's sig....

[sbrugby]

Thanks for clearing it up. I just checked the GPA conversion table, 89% at UofT would be 3.9(85-89%). Anyway, it sucks though how 80-89 is samething because the difference is huge so someone getting high 80s is usually working harder than someone low 80s, so it's kind of stupid how they are credited the same mark/reward. And I was thinking how I would usually get 85+ and occasionally 90+ so ending up with GPA around 3.9, but now it looks like it would be more like 3.8-3.85(cuz 90% is always hard), which is still really good, but it won't give me that extra edge when it comes to med school that someone with 3.9-4.0 would get.

 

Yup, you got it now.

 

And yes, thats one of the problems with York's grading system in terms of getting a 3.9+ type GPA. At the same time tho, the fact that 80-89 = 3.8 means that an 82 at York (3.8) is better than say a UofT 82 (3.7). So if you think you're more likely to get low 80's than high 80's, York is actually better.

 

At the same time though, I don't know how much easier, if it all, it is to get an 82 at York for science compared to UofT and other universities.

 

My suggestion would be that if you do think you are capable of getting 90's or are aiming for 90's, it's better to go to York. If you're aiming for 80's, it may not really matter where you go - but this depends a lot on things I can't answer for.

 

Also, I just remembered this... only 10 students out of 900+ got 90 or higher for first year biology last year... so no, our courses are not that much easier I wouldnt think, I dunno.

[dil123]

lol only 10 out of 900+, that is like 1%, I wonder if that's exagerating how bad it is, but if it's true, I'm sure it must be harder than UofT easily( which is hard to believe). Anyway, I hope 3.8 is competitive provided everything else(MCAT, extracurricular acts) is good enough also.

[sbrugby]

That was only one class though, and it's definitely not the norm here I don't think.

 

A 3.8 and a 10 10 10 Q on the MCAT will give you automatic interviews at Western and Queen's, so I would definitely aim for that as a baseline. But definitely the higher the GPA the better!

[longwaytogo]

another potential future yorkie here......thanks a lot for the info sbrugby. It's really nice to know from someone in the program as opposed to websites and brochures.

 

i have a question for you, how competeitive are the NSERC awards and can you get them for your first summer?

[longwaytogo]

also, is there a forum or something like that where york students post

[Guest begaster]

another potential future yorkie here......thanks a lot for the info sbrugby. It's really nice to know from someone in the program as opposed to websites and brochures.

 

i have a question for you, how competeitive are the NSERC awards and can you get them for your first summer?

 

 

Very competitive. Last year's cutoff was around 8.4/9 cumulative. It's a very stupid system, actually. Biology majors compete with physics majors compete with psychology majors.

 

Forum, sort of - http://community.livejournal.com/yorku/

[sbrugby]

another potential future yorkie here......thanks a lot for the info sbrugby. It's really nice to know from someone in the program as opposed to websites and brochures.

 

i have a question for you, how competeitive are the NSERC awards and can you get them for your first summer?

 

No problem! As for the NSERC awards, I don't think it would be possible to do an NSERC after 1st year unless given special permission, because of the following York criteria:

 

"Applicants must be Canadian citizens or permanent residents and must be registered as full-time students in an eligible bachelor degree program in the natural sciences or engineering and must have successfully completed 18 credits of their degree program by December 31, 2007. "

 

In your first semester (if you are a biomedical sciences major), you would be taking 3.0 credits of chemistry, 6.0 credits (full year) of biology, 6.0 credits of physics/pscyhology, and then 6 credits of electives. Since bio at the very least is a full year course and would not be completed by Dec. 31, the maximum # of credits you could have completed is 12. So I find it unlikely and near impossible for a 1st year student to get a NSERC simply because of the criteria.

 

However, it is def. possible to volunteer in a prof's lab after 1st year, provided you locate a prof willing to help you. I volunteerd in a prof's bio lab for 3 days a week this past summer while studying for the MCAT.

 

As for competitiveness, getting a NSERC all comes down to finding a prof willing to work with you, and having a strong GPA.

[Guest begaster]

Sbrug, I don't know how it worked in other departments, but in CSE and Physics, they streamlined the prof-finding for you. They had a list of eligible profs, you filled out your information and preferences, and they set you up with someone. Then you just had to have the GPA.

[sbrugby]

Hey Begaster

 

Hmmm... It doesn't seem like that for biology. Everyone I know who has done a NSERC in biology has had to approach a prof first and get their support.

[ChicoMaki]

Sbrugby, did you by any chance, attend Shad Valley at McMaster?