Ajsuliman Posted March 30, 2008 Report Share Posted March 30, 2008 Hi, A little about me. I've graduated from High School(North Toronto) with a 93% average. I'm new to the boards and found it to be pretty helpful on a career path. I know it's pretty early to guess but I'm 99.9% certain this is the career I want. Anyways for my main question. Which University do you go to? Reason I ask this is because I was warned not to go to UofT because of there weird grading system. A friend of mine says an 85% mark in UofT is comparable to a 95% in other schools, so, she was having a pretty hard time getting into Medical school. Now I would first like to know, what do you all think? I'm pretty much planning on going to Mcmasters at some point because a friend of mine was able to average out a 4.0 GPA her first and second year. This might sound rather silly, but I could always use the suggestions as I have no one IRL to guide me.(yes, first one in my family to even graduate high school). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyleh Posted March 30, 2008 Report Share Posted March 30, 2008 Visit each university for a campus tour. You will know which one feels right. I will be heading out to Western in the fall. For life science programs they're pretty much all similar, but it was the campus and atmosphere that sold me on Western. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
futuredoc Posted March 30, 2008 Report Share Posted March 30, 2008 Hi, A little about me. I've graduated from High School(North Toronto) with a 93% average. I'm new to the boards and found it to be pretty helpful on a career path. I know it's pretty early to guess but I'm 99.9% certain this is the career I want. Anyways for my main question. Which University do you go to? Reason I ask this is because I was warned not to go to UofT because of there weird grading system. A friend of mine says an 85% mark in UofT is comparable to a 95% in other schools, so, she was having a pretty hard time getting into Medical school. Now I would first like to know, what do you all think? I'm pretty much planning on going to Mcmasters at some point because a friend of mine was able to average out a 4.0 GPA her first and second year. This might sound rather silly, but I could always use the suggestions as I have no one IRL to guide me.(yes, first one in my family to even graduate high school). Firstly, congratulations on being the first in your family to graduate. That in itself is a good sign that you have what it takes. As for your question, there are two things to consider. First, think about where YOU will get the highest GPA you can. I would search for a small school (say 15000 students total) that does not use scaled grades. This will reduce the competition to get the marks you need, and will probably reduce your overall stress a little (you're going to need it ). Secondly, you should review each schools requirements in terms of academic/non-academic and more importantly residence. If you are from north Ontario, Northern may be your best shot at medical school, but the rest of Ontario is pretty good too. You may want to check the definition of residency (according to each school) with the universities because where you are may have an effect on your residency status (and hence your chances of getting in at certain places). THE MOST IMPORTANT THING HOWEVER, is to play it cool and enjoy university life (you only do it once) ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maria Posted March 30, 2008 Report Share Posted March 30, 2008 Remember that it is not just marks that matter when it comes to getting into med school. I have known people with a 4.0 undergrad GPA who got rejected. You should look at each university that you are potentially interested in and decide which seems like the best for you based on the location, programs, etc-not for your friends. Each person is different and in the end, you want your 4 years of undergrad to be about more than just marks. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THX Posted March 30, 2008 Report Share Posted March 30, 2008 I'm pretty much planning on going to Mcmasters at some point because a friend of mine was able to average out a 4.0 GPA her first and second year. This isn't a good reason to choose what school you want to attend. Four years at a university because someone you know did well there...? Anyways, check the campuses out and see which you think you would feel the most comfortable attending. Regardless of where you attend, you will have to put in the time to get the grades you want. The only school that, according the folks on the board, you don't always get the grade you deserve is UofT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
futuredoc Posted March 30, 2008 Report Share Posted March 30, 2008 Remember that it is not just marks that matter when it comes to getting into med school. I have known people with a 4.0 undergrad GPA who got rejected. You should look at each university that you are potentially interested in and decide which seems like the best for you based on the location, programs, etc-not for your friends. Each person is different and in the end, you want your 4 years of undergrad to be about more than just marks. Good luck! That goes without saying, but you don't see many people getting in with 3.5 . Maria is right though, you make the final decision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest begaster Posted March 31, 2008 Report Share Posted March 31, 2008 I go to York, so if you have any questions, feel free to ask. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avenir001 Posted March 31, 2008 Report Share Posted March 31, 2008 MissMilitary...what a cute username <33 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ajsuliman Posted March 31, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2008 I appreciate all of your replies, I will conduct my search based on your suggestions! Thanks everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skvangs Posted March 31, 2008 Report Share Posted March 31, 2008 Firstly crongrats man! Secondly though your marks are very good, you must understand that they don't matter for med school. I have seen people wit h 96% averages get 3.60 gpas at university. Secondly what program are you looking to go into, remember it doesn't matter what program as long as you complete the prereqs for meds. Have a good balance of ecs and gpa. WORK hard! Your high school marks tell me that you have the potential of getting good marks in university, but you must work very hard to keep them up! I am not so sure if agree with previous posters to go to small universities, as I was told by a doctor I know who is on adcom for uwo meds, "as a rule, go to a university where there is a med school". I don't know to what extent this is true, but it will give you more exposure to volunteering, research and other premeds like us who all have a common goal and try to focus our efforts on this so we all stay on track and don't go astray in university ( ). Good luck! Just my $0.02. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tooty Posted March 31, 2008 Report Share Posted March 31, 2008 go to schools in which it's easier to earn high grades. stay away from UT like your friend suggested. I would advise going to mcmaster for health science because you can get a super high gpa without an overwhelming amount of work. you can invest your free time in strong extracurriculars. and bam you're in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
futuredoc Posted March 31, 2008 Report Share Posted March 31, 2008 Firstly crongrats man! Secondly though your marks are very good, you must understand that they don't matter for med school. I have seen people wit h 96% averages get 3.60 gpas at university. Secondly what program are you looking to go into, remember it doesn't matter what program as long as you complete the prereqs for meds. Have a good balance of ecs and gpa. WORK hard! Your high school marks tell me that you have the potential of getting good marks in university, but you must work very hard to keep them up! I am not so sure if agree with previous posters to go to small universities, as I was told by a doctor I know who is on adcom for uwo meds, "as a rule, go to a university where there is a med school". I don't know to what extent this is true, but it will give you more exposure to volunteering, research and other premeds like us who all have a common goal and try to focus our efforts on this so we all stay on track and don't go astray in university ( ). Good luck! Just my $0.02. Dal has a medical school! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DD87 Posted March 31, 2008 Report Share Posted March 31, 2008 Queen's is great! come here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drock411 Posted March 31, 2008 Report Share Posted March 31, 2008 In my experience it is easier to get high marks at smaller universities because: 1) The profs are more personable with smaller class sizes and therefore actually care if what they are saying is getting through to the students. 2) It is much easier to access the profs for simple questions about how to do things or about material 3) There is a MUCH larger chance that in upper-year courses the prof is marking at least some of your work. Now this can be bad or good depending on the prof I guess. All i know is TA's are meeeannnn.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChicoMaki Posted March 31, 2008 Report Share Posted March 31, 2008 Queen's is great! come here McMaster is better Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ajsuliman Posted March 31, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2008 That's great, guys(and gals I think). I was looking at Mcmaster's Health and Science as a possibility, but, I don't think they cover all of the pre-req? Correct me if I'm wrong. Oh and as far as a program that I'm looking to get into. I really don't know, as far as I understand, to be a pre-med student it would consist in a lot of courses where I wouldn't have enough time to do anything else. If anything, I'd love to do something in Business or Engineering..if I could, though, but if you were asking in general then..definitely Medicine as a major priority. On a side note; which are the small schools in Ontario? I would assume some of the larger schools are: Mcmasters, UofT, Ryerson. Tooty; how could I find out what school is easiest to earn high grades? If you could comment on this, it'll help significantly. Thanks once again for all of your replies, greatly appreciated and I wish you all the best of luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMmd Posted March 31, 2008 Report Share Posted March 31, 2008 That's great, guys(and gals I think). I was looking at Mcmaster's Health and Science as a possibility, but, I don't think they cover all of the pre-req? Correct me if I'm wrong. Oh and as far as a program that I'm looking to get into. I really don't know, as far as I understand, to be a pre-med student it would consist in a lot of courses where I wouldn't have enough time to do anything else. If anything, I'd love to do something in Business or Engineering..if I could, though. On a side note; which are the small schools in Ontario? I would assume some of the larger schools are: Mcmasters, UofT, Ryerson. Tooty; how could I find out what school is easiest to earn high grades? If you could comment on this, it'll help significantly. Thanks once again for all of your replies, greatly appreciated and I wish you all the best of luck! from what ive heard the easiest way to earn high grades is to work hard to earn a good grade Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChicoMaki Posted March 31, 2008 Report Share Posted March 31, 2008 That's great, guys(and gals I think). I was looking at Mcmaster's Health and Science as a possibility, but, I don't think they cover all of the pre-req? Correct me if I'm wrong. Oh and as far as a program that I'm looking to get into. I really don't know, as far as I understand, to be a pre-med student it would consist in a lot of courses where I wouldn't have enough time to do anything else. If anything, I'd love to do something in Business or Engineering..if I could, though, but if you were asking in general then..definitely Medicine as a major priority. What pre-reqs do you speak of??? In 1st and 2nd year (which I'm in), you don't have much wiggle room in terms of electves (3 half-year courses in both). However, in 3rd and 4th year, over half of your courses are electives in which you could take these so called pre-reqs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ajsuliman Posted March 31, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2008 That's the thing..I don't exactly know all of the pre-req for Medical School(though, I'm hoping to contact my guidance counselor sometime this week). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
webshy Posted March 31, 2008 Report Share Posted March 31, 2008 On a side note; which are the small schools in Ontario? I would assume some of the larger schools are: Mcmasters, UofT, Ryerson. I would consider Ryerson one of the smaller universities. You won't find classes of 2000 there! My biggest class had 40 students; my smallest class had 8. Best wishes with your decision! Elaine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skvangs Posted April 1, 2008 Report Share Posted April 1, 2008 That's the thing..I don't exactly know all of the pre-req for Medical School(though, I'm hoping to contact my guidance counselor sometime this week). It is a good idea that you are making an appointment, however you should really be taking the initiative to check the websites of the various medical schools or even omsas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMmd Posted April 1, 2008 Report Share Posted April 1, 2008 i would have to say that a small university is great because you really get to know your profs and vice versa, so when it comes time to get a ref letter. you have a plethora of choice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamP Posted April 1, 2008 Report Share Posted April 1, 2008 I would agree with one of the first suggestions, check out the campuses. Go to the place where you are the most happy and confortable. If you are happy you will be more motivated to do your work, and get involved in all the things going on. See you at Western in September my wee little frosh! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A-Stark Posted April 1, 2008 Report Share Posted April 1, 2008 Firstly crongrats man! Secondly though your marks are very good, you must understand that they don't matter for med school. I have seen people wit h 96% averages get 3.60 gpas at university. Secondly what program are you looking to go into, remember it doesn't matter what program as long as you complete the prereqs for meds. Have a good balance of ecs and gpa. WORK hard! Your high school marks tell me that you have the potential of getting good marks in university, but you must work very hard to keep them up! I am not so sure if agree with previous posters to go to small universities, as I was told by a doctor I know who is on adcom for uwo meds, "as a rule, go to a university where there is a med school". I don't know to what extent this is true, but it will give you more exposure to volunteering, research and other premeds like us who all have a common goal and try to focus our efforts on this so we all stay on track and don't go astray in university ( ). Good luck! Just my $0.02. I don't think that doctor on the adcom has any idea what he's talking about. Volunteer opportunities are available everywhere, and research opportunities are much easier to get into at smaller schools. I currently go to Waterloo, but I went to Acadia for my undergrad (see, there are schools outside of Ontario!). I know many people who have gone to med at Dal, Mac, UofO, and elsewere - just take a look at what this prof's students have been up to since graduating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ajsuliman Posted April 1, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2008 Interesting.. once again, thanks for all the replies. I keep checking back for the newer posts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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