All of you in MED school, what were your HS averages?

[dil123]

I know this is a stupid question, but if you guys remember and could share your top 6 grade 12 marks, that would give me a rough idea of what my chances are of surviving university and making it to MED school. I'm anticipating a 92% average, maybe 94 if I'm lucky, but just to be safe 92 at least I'm pretty sure. I realize some people would have lower ave in HS but would do well in university and vice versa. I'm mostly concerned with how much of it comes down to intelligence vs hard work in university because I'm prepared to do hard work, but I'm not sure if I'm intelligent enough in comparison to freak Chinese students who get perfect on math tests!

 

In UofT, I hear like 50-60% Life Science class is just Chinese students, so how do they fare in their courses? Do most of them go onto become doctors or very few do unlike in HS where they do really well. And if a good proportion of them do become doctors, is it because they're strong in math, and hence smarter overall??

[avenir001]

lol, i'm not sure if anyone can really answer that...chinese students tend to be smart AND hard-working...so it's the combination that helps them...i'd say if u're smart enough to get into uni, u're smart enough to do well...u just have to find the right program for you (ppl have different strengths) and the right learning style for you..and then just work hard.

 

http://www.premed101.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18616

 

http://www.premed101.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24737

[The Law]

Your relative marks in high school do not strongly correlate with your marks in university.

 

ETA: Also, what's with singling out Chinese students?

[dil123]

@ Avenir001, thanks for the links, just finished reading the threads, and I guess I have no more questions anymore. It's a lot of factors, HS probably a lot different to university, so I'll see how it goes for me when I get there.

 

@redribbon and The Law: The reason I mentioned Chinese students I guess is because the school I go to has a lot of Chinese students. And they're all smart in math(probably because they have done all this stuff before they immigrated to Canada), so sitting with them in my math classes for some reason always makes me nervous, and that's why I don't wanna go to UoT. I'm rather strong in chem and biology, and I appreciate the fact they're smart and hard-working, but I don't like it how 95% of them want to be either doctors or engineers.

[The Law]

I believe it was good ol' smurfette who once posted on the forums something kinda like the following:

 

People who get admitted to most universities generally have solid aptitude for academics (generally get an 80+ average). University is a lot about being able to balance your time, and not everyone has the proper time management skills. Someone with a lower average in high school may do tremendously well in university, and someone with an extremely high average may find themselves doing miserably! It depends on so many factors!

 

You will be able to do well, regardless of your HS average, as long as you properly apply yourself! Obviously, you may have some courses you will struggle with - but, for the most part, I would not be concerned with your high school average. My high school average wasn't extremely high, but going into university... I haven't even dropped 5% from where I was, and almost even went up! haha

 

Of course, there is some correlation with high school averages and success in university... but not as much as you'd think. The two environments are (often) drastically different.

 

Hope that calms you down a bit.

 

Finally, just wanted to say, not all Chinese people are good at math! Of course, some Chinese students have tremendous math abilities, but so do people of many other backgrounds (obviously!). I just wanted to caution you to be weary of stereotyping, even it doesn't seem as though you're intentionally doing that.

 

Also, you have to realize - it is competitive to get into medical school. But don't worry about it! Believe in yourself (if this is what you decide you want), and don't worry about the others... just be yourself, do what you feel you have to do, and hope for the best. So many people get lost in the competition, and I find, really lose themselves. Who cares that it's competitive, there's nothing you can do about it... so just focus on yourself!

 

Anyway, those are my 2 cents at 3am

[dil123]

Thanks, your post did calm me a lot and that's why I think I'm gonna bookmark this page because I have a habit of getting nervous etc. lol

 

@Redribbon, I'm not from Earl Haig lol .

[Madz25]

LOL. I don't think HS averages have anything to do with university or being able to get into med school. But, to answer your question, at my HS, I did 10 courses in gr. 12 and my average was 97.7%. If you take the top 6, it would probably be somewhere between 98-99%. My university grades were not even close to that.

 

Edited to add: I'm not chinese. I went to UofT for undergrad and it's possible to do well there.

[The Law]

LOL. I don't think HS averages have anything to do with university or being able to get into med school. But, to answer your question, at my HS, I did 10 courses in gr. 12 and my average was 97.7%. If you take the top 6, it would probably be somewhere between 98-99%. My university grades were not even close to that.

 

Edited to add: I'm not chinese. I went to UofT for undergrad and it's possible to do well there.

 

Madz is a super genius, ignore her. just kiddinnnnnnnngggggggggggggg (about the super genius part) loool

[thefan]

out of curiousity, do you go to earl haig?

 

 

haigers represent! =)

 

to reiterate the previous posts, your hs performance is in no way an indication of how well you'll fare in university. i actually found grade 12 significantly more difficult than first year.

 

to each their own.

[crackers]

I think the more important thing isn't getting good marks... it's can you get good marks and still do other stuff besides! I had about a 91 in HS but I did a ton of other things (swimming, badminton, choir, drama) etc and that's what made it fun. But it also taught me how to manage my time, and THAT'S the big key to being successful at university and in med school (and as a resident!). If you have the brains to do well. Great. But can you do well with a million things on your plate at the same time, because that's what medical school, residency and practice will be like. I would rather have a doc without the highest GPA, who's well-rounded, well-read, and can talk about golf, bridge, Sudoku, music or bungee jumping.

 

Good luck, and have fun! You're only young once.

 

A rapidly aging resident (PGY-3 Internal)