Guest begaster Posted July 23, 2008 Report Share Posted July 23, 2008 Being honest to his parents, if he suspects they may kick him out, is not in his best interests right now. He needs to find his footing first. Sleeping outside isn't going to help him do that. Lining up a job will. That should be his first step. When he can be reasonably financially independent, he should come clean. Until then, he needs to keep up with the facade lest he create a thousand new problems he simply cannot cope with right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StellarRay Posted July 23, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 23, 2008 Neglect 1: It's been discussed ad nauseum and telling my parents without the concrete plan is just suicidal. I'm not neglecting that option, since I can't run from this forever as much as I'd like to or have tried. It's all coming to a crashing halt. Tears and a sob story aren't going to get very far with my parents. And I need this calm before the storm to figure out my life for the next 10 yrs. It's hard to plan things when my parents are screaming, throwing objects around, slamming doors, unplugging modems and such. Heck, living on the streets or blowing money at the motels with no computer or internet access and no vehicle for transportation makes things alot harder... I know most people at my age are set and in some cases starting families of their own so it's hard to believe just how sheltered and immature I've been. Neglect 2: Yeah... my lack of confidence is really a dampener. For all of life's endeavours. I'm trying to fix that though. I really am. Anyways, thanks. Sorry if I got a little defensive. When people accuse me of ignoring all of these supposed options then I just wonder if I'm missing something. Out of curiousity, how do online courses at say Athabasca work? How do you do the labs (in my garage?? o.O)? Is the GPA I earn worth or recognized anywhere (ie UofT?) or are they just counted as credits? Are there exams? Finals? =S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbene085 Posted July 23, 2008 Report Share Posted July 23, 2008 Neglect 2: Yeah... my lack of confidence is really a dampener. For all of life's endeavours. I'm trying to fix that though. I really am. Complete non sequitur: "Hi, I'm Troy McClure. You might remember me from such motivational films as Smoke Yourself Thin and Get Confident, Stupid!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boodog Posted July 23, 2008 Report Share Posted July 23, 2008 hey stellar, Athabasca is definitely recognized internationally. many of the lab courses unfortunately have to be done at a campus associated with athabasca university....there are no "free labs" so to speak. But basically you sign up for a course: if you don't live in Alberta you have to make sure it is "distance only". but if you live in alberta then you can choose "Blended learning courses" the labs which are offered at the AU campus in calgary or at mount royal college usually. hope that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msiwoski Posted July 23, 2008 Report Share Posted July 23, 2008 Alright! So, as of now, this thread has gone for two weeks. You have received a ton of advice and numerous different routes to choose from. What have you done in these past two weeks and what have you decided thus far? List the options you want to do on order of preference from highest to lowest. Your time is running out for this year, so get cracking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ballofnerves Posted July 23, 2008 Report Share Posted July 23, 2008 Out of curiousity, how do online courses at say Athabasca work? How do you do the labs (in my garage?? o.O)? Is the GPA I earn worth or recognized anywhere (ie UofT?) or are they just counted as credits? Are there exams? Finals? =S I only took one course (Intro to Stats) through Athabasca, but I got an A+ from Athabasca and was able to get that transferred to my current university. So on my transcript, it actually is recognized as an A+, along with the credits. I had assignments (which I sent to my tutor for marking), a midterm, and a final. The midterm and final were very similar to the assignments and were both open book! Keep in mind that this was only intro to stats, so I have no idea if upper level courses would be more difficult (i.e., no open book exams). I would assume they would be more challenging Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StellarRay Posted July 23, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 23, 2008 boodog: That certainly does help! I guess it would be convenient if I took Dr.Cave's route of going EMR training as a first responder and move to Alberta to work full-time. Then I could possibly have access to the labs in Athabasca and other courses. But yeah, I'd have to live awfully close... ballofnerves: Awesome! What school do you go to if you don't mind me asking? Also, how is coursework and exams handled? Do you mail your assignments in? Would we have to go to some rented out location to write exams I presume? Just to get this straight though, Athabasca accepts suspended students like me? =\ I still have to see my academic advisor again this week to discuss how likely UofT and my programme advisor (oh god, I have to possibly pick a new program/degree) would accept these credits and possibly the GPA obtained. Edit: Also something that crossed my mind... if I run away to Alberta, would I no longer be considered an Ontario resident for med school application and thus Out Of Province..? =| Too bad the UofC med school looks at the entire GPA... their cutoff was 71% for Albertans. Think if I started a new degree would it matter? Or does "entire" GPA just screw me over for pretty much ever with these schools? Does anyone know of any American med schools that offer the "best 2 yrs/last 2 yrs" 2nd chance that Queen's, Western, and Dalhousie offer? Seems like if I stay in Canada I'm limited to those 3 options. Kinda scary, I can just imagine how many people apply to those 3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr.Cave Posted July 23, 2008 Report Share Posted July 23, 2008 after only 12 months you will be considered in province in alberta. Depending on where you lived/ went to high school you could be considered in prov for Ont too. Eg. I went to highschool in Northern Ont so was considered in prov at NOSM (didn't apply because my dog is a pit bull rottweiler cross = illegal in ON) but also was considered in Prov in BC where i had lived for 10 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevinkwon84 Posted July 24, 2008 Report Share Posted July 24, 2008 Yes, I think majority of medical/dental schools accept courses taken at Athabasca. My friend who was almost exactly in your shoes (1 year suspension at UofT) took few courses (organic chem, english, math, and can't remember the rest) at AU. For him, it was a "test try" to learn about courses they offer. He just loved them. After completing his first year at AU, he decided to leave UofT for good and pursue a degree program with them. He maitained his mid-80's average, and was accepted to several dental schools (UWO, UBC, and UAlberta) with average of 80% (2 best years 92%, I think). I know UBC med school accepts Athabascan credits and pretty much sure other schools will too. I, too, took CHEM218 at Athabasca to fulfil UBC chem requirements (wanted to avoid taking CHM220 at UofT but I still ended up taking it for degree requirement). Exam seemed to be fair (not very difficult compared to UofT)and my tutor was fair. When I took CHEM218, I had to travel to Hamilton once to finish lab components in 2 consecutive days. I ended up with 94% on CHEM217. The best thing about AU is its flexibility. No lectures to attend, so you can make up schedule anyway you like (beneficial especially when you have to work). So if you actually look for whats out there, there is a way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ballofnerves Posted July 24, 2008 Report Share Posted July 24, 2008 ballofnerves: Awesome! What school do you go to if you don't mind me asking? Also, how is coursework and exams handled? Do you mail your assignments in? Would we have to go to some rented out location to write exams I presume? Just to get this straight though, Athabasca accepts suspended students like me? =\ I still have to see my academic advisor again this week to discuss how likely UofT and my programme advisor (oh god, I have to possibly pick a new program/degree) would accept these credits and possibly the GPA obtained. Hey, I go to Brandon U and had no problem getting the grade transferred. I am not sure if they accept suspended students. I have a feeling that they would. In my experience, they seem to accept anybody to take courses. I didn't even have my high school diploma yet, but I had no problem registering. For coursework, I had a big textbook with all the material I needed to know. I also had an assignment book with 6 assignments that I needed to complete. I think assignments were worth 30% or something. There were no deadlines, I just mailed my assignments to my designated tutor. I usually sent them by registered mail. My tutor marked them fairly quickly so I got my results back without a big wait. I could also phone my tutor during designated times or e-mail him whenever I wanted. For the exams, there was a designated proctor at my university, so I simply called her to arrange a time to write and she would put me in a classroom for a few hours. She wouldn't be in the room with me or anything, but would check to see if I needed anything from time to time. The one big downside to Athabasca is the cost. I remember the cost for one course was around $700. This did include all the course materials (text book and assignment book), but I did have to pay out of my pocket to mail the assignments. It is a big cost, but as the above poster noted, you pay for the flexibility. Hope this was helpful, let me know if you need more details! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jochi1543 Posted April 27, 2009 Report Share Posted April 27, 2009 Bump....for epicness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xylem29 Posted April 27, 2009 Report Share Posted April 27, 2009 LOL - so where is ol Ray now? You must be really bored to bring this thread back! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmorelan Posted April 27, 2009 Report Share Posted April 27, 2009 Bump....for epicness. wow, can't believe this was from last summer - time flies! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jochi1543 Posted April 27, 2009 Report Share Posted April 27, 2009 You must be really bored to bring this thread back! LOL, someone in the chat brought it up and we had a ball going through it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbene085 Posted April 27, 2009 Report Share Posted April 27, 2009 Wow, talk about a necro-post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
w8kg6 Posted April 27, 2009 Report Share Posted April 27, 2009 Jesus, 342 posts later... This was a good read. Dr. Cave..... Amen brother. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonoJZ Posted August 12, 2009 Report Share Posted August 12, 2009 Hey StellarRay, First off, I don't think alot of people said this but I think it takes alot for a person to talk about such issues publicly, even if it is to strangers in a forum. I understand that you may be feeling hopeless, but look on the bright side, you, even if you may not realize it or feel like it in a school full of 18 year olds, are still relatively young. Many of my friends in Medical School have classmates well in their 30s, as a matter of fact, one of my colleagues in my clinical sciences lab applied for 8 straight years until he was finally accepted this year at the age of 31. So there is time for you. Secondly, as yourself this, what is your REAL motivation for entering medicine? You mentioned earning back the respect of your parents and peers, and you said you've considered investment banking because of the money? I do not want to be quick to judge you but it does sound like you have interests other than medicine. Take a moment to really consider what the medical profession embodies and why doctors/nurses/paramedics(regardless of what you believe) recieve so much respect in society. They are responsible for many peoples lives, usually the young or those in old age. I myself did not consider medicine EVER as a career option for 3/4 of my life, although both my parents are very successful Paediatricians. My parents always had to be at the hospital and rarely had time to spend with me growing up, and I resented that and because of it, but as I grew older, I realized my parents loved me more than anything in the world and time spent with me was their sacrifice because they truly believed in what they did, and I realized how much they change the world just by giving someone who is sick another chance, not only for them to live, but their families to spend more time with them. Many of the accepted Medical Students believe as I do, and that is why they are where they are today, they made personal sacrifices to be where they are. I myself, I am now entering 2nd year at UofT and I hope to one day join these people I look up to now. As for your situation, if you truly love the medical profession, you should want to be there because you DESERVE to, and even in your situation, you may still have a chance no matter how small. If not, then sadly you are just wasting your time on what you do not truly want, if so, even upon completing med school, you may not find true fullfillment because you did not do what you truly wanted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PastaInhaler Posted August 12, 2009 Report Share Posted August 12, 2009 I'm just so angry with myself. I just want to give up and end it sometimes. Being told that your dreams were achievable at one point because you are smart but now that you've ****ed up that your dreams are probably too distant.. just makes me want to breakdown and cry. It makes me want to breakdown and cry. All the best to you and I wish you much success, and hopes that your med school dreams come true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
infinic Posted August 12, 2009 Report Share Posted August 12, 2009 I’m really sorry to heard that man and really wish u the best, It definitely takes a great person to even dream of becoming a doctor and surely a lot of effort and hard work to actually become one- study hard, do some extracurriculars (u might even find some other interests that u would enjoy), and… wow… wt%#% ... ive just notice that I’m the 345th poster … only read the first page and thought that my comment was still relevant… Anyhow, don’t give up hope; it’s never to late to go back on ur dreams… cheers EDIT: 346th... and a year off too:( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
w8kg6 Posted August 12, 2009 Report Share Posted August 12, 2009 For anyone who's interested in what happened after this all went down... here's the followup thread. http://www.premed101.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29092 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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