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Need guidence, narrow down my path to becoming a superhuman doctor with x-ray vision


Juicebox

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I feel like I just found a treasure. This is one great site, I feel like I am going to spend countless hours reading 100s of posts.

 

In the meantime, I'm in gr.12, with marks ranging from 80s to 90s. My avg should be mid to high 80s when I finish. (I got advanced func, calc, bio, chem, just going to be missing physics...) I want to eventually get to medschool, because I think its about the most interesting thing you one can do with his/her life.

 

Now the options are overwhelming. I seriously can't even start to decide what school to go. Ive been told that I should do my undergrad in the same university that I will apply for a graduate program eventually. I've also read things to the contrary.

 

With my marks, I can get into most life-science programs, a few health science. And pretty much any arts program.

 

I understand that it is wise to get into a life-science type program in order to have the skills needed for MCATS and medschool. The problem is, what if I can't get into medschool after I'm done, what I do with life sciences?

 

I found an interesting program, and I would like your take on it

It's medical radiation sciences at McMaster. Gives you a degree and a diploma. Gets you experience dealing with doctors and patients at hospitals. Seems pretty great really because I know medschool needs lots of ECs, and it seems hard to get a lot of ECs when you are doing a hell of a lot of studying in health-science type classes, so this program will give you some hands on experience in the healthfield guaranteed.

 

Also, if I dont get into medschool, atleast the demand for the graduates from this program is spectacular.

 

http://registrar.mcmaster.ca/future/programs/medical-radiation.html

 

Here is the program, I like how level 1 courses give you intro to pathology and professional practice right away. I understand I'm going to need to take some bio/chem as electives too right? As well as that physics course that I'm missing.

 

What do you guys think of this program?

Should I aim for life-sciences instead?

What are the possible job opportunities if you get a degree in life science?

 

Thanks a lot for your time, I know its valuable, so I would really appreciate any suggestions.

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I'd be all over that Radiation Science program if I didn't live in Winnipeg. It sounds awesome. That's certainly got better career outlooks then a general life sciences program. Go for it! But only if you actually want to do it, of course. The beauty of med is that you can apply with any undergrad degree, so you might as well pick something you like, right?

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get OUT of Ontario

go Alberta, BC, Maritimes (Dal is nice), etc

you want to go to somewhere where you can apply as in-province because the cutoffs in ON are ridiculous and unless you're in Northern ON or SW ON, you're out of luck.

Secondly, don't worry too much about it right now. That one-minded, tunnel vision of med school will make you a jaded individual if you don't get in. Go into something you enjoy, work hard, play hard and, most of all (I say this with emphasis)... GROW. Uni is far more than a few marks on a transcript.

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Juicebox,

 

What you should do is delete your browsing history, your account, and forget you ever found a website called PM101. The undergrad experience is too valuable to have it framed as just 'another step' towards medical school.

 

You are in high school. Enjoy your time and by 3rd year if you're still serious about medicine, then come back to the forums. In the meantime, just do what you like and let your life lead you from there.

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What you should do is delete your browsing history, your account, and forget you ever found a website called PM101. The undergrad experience is too valuable to have it framed as just 'another step' towards medical school.

 

Eh, if it saves him/her from taking some "fun" courses that will ruin his or her GPA and result in having to take like 3 victory laps and reapplying a million times all while being miserable after graduation, unable to work FT, and getting buried in debt, then I'm all for browsing p101.

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I understand that it is wise to get into a life-science type program in order to have the skills needed for MCATS and medschool. The problem is, what if I can't get into medschool after I'm done, what I do with life sciences?

 

From what I am told, statistically, people with degrees in chemistry do the best on the MCAT. But you shouldn't choose a program based solely on that. Choose something you find interesting.

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Eh, if it saves him/her from taking some "fun" courses that will ruin his or her GPA and result in having to take like 3 victory laps and reapplying a million times all while being miserable after graduation, unable to work FT, and getting buried in debt, then I'm all for browsing p101.

 

Err no. Frequenting PM101 won't save anyone from ruining their GPA, taking victory laps, and all those other things. No one needs any of the information here until maybe 3rd year at the earliest when you figure it's the right time to write the MCAT.

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People with degrees in philosophy also do extremely well on the MCAT. :D

 

For the OP, I'd suggest just looking through the brochures all the different universities make for grade 12 students to get an idea of which programs / schools sound appealing. Most high schools also have guidance counsellors who can help you with these types of choices, though their information is a bit suspect sometimes. The radiation science idea sounds like a great choice if you're interested in it!

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Yes, go for medical radiation science program at McMaster.

I wanted to get into that program during my years at UT, but McMaster decided not to accept me because my marks were not competitive enough.

You get to treat people with cancer.

I think you use physics/calculation to determine how to reduce/eliminate the cancer using radiation beam.

 

I also had an interview at Laurentian for radiation therapy program, but I was rejected.

600-1000 people apply, 54 get interview, then 18 people get accepted.

 

According to the admission officer, a lot of university students who got accepted were those with A grade (3.7/4.0 GPA) .

It's much easier for high school students because you get to apply using your high school mark (extremely easy to get high mark).

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You get to treat people with cancer.

I think you use physics/calculation to determine how to reduce/eliminate the cancer using radiation beam.

 

Directly out of this program, one goes into the MRT field of careers. So basically you are the technician who screens people.

 

Cancer-curing is only done by Interventional Radiologists I think, which requires you to go into med school and learn to become a radiologist anyway.

 

If one wants to be a cancer-fighting radiologist, he's better off taking normal life science and having a better chance in getting into med school, then learn about radiation.

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I think you use physics/calculation to determine how to reduce/eliminate the cancer using radiation beam.

 

Sounds excruciatingly hard. I took an MRI class once, but dropped out because it was starting to get over my head. I'm sure I could've finished with a B+ or smth, but that ain't really med GPA material.

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Note that you don't get to make decisions about treating people with cancer - that'll be the team of medical, radiation, and surgical oncologists.

 

Precisely, you(the OP, if he decides to go this path)'re just the tech who takes the shots of normal patients.

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I guarantee people with degrees in Laboratory medicine and pathobiology do the best on the MCAT.

 

There are like 6 people (that I know of) out of 30 in 3rd year right now that have 40Q or higher.

 

 

:rolleyes:

 

No but seriously: saying to not visit these forums or not be concerned with these things is junk. It's important to be as knowledgeable as possible. Knowing about volunteering opportunities, summer research, getting to know profs for reference letters, how screwing up year 1 can come back to mess you up later, et cetera can all be useful later on. 3rd year is much too late to start thinking about med school. I'd say the average non pre-professional/grad student doesn't get anywhere near involved enough to get into med school without trying.

 

Regarding this program: I think it looks good and is definitely something you should pursue if you're interested...

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Precisely, you(the OP, if he decides to go this path)'re just the tech who takes the shots of normal patients.

 

That's radiation technologist (and not a technician... it's different).

 

Radiation therapist work with the physicians (and under their supervision I think) to plan and carry out the cancer treatment.

It's a team based work.

There's a whole bunch of things you get to do as a radiation therapist.

I know that there is also a lot of patient interaction.

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So I went to McMaster for the fall preview day, was a bit unimpressed.

First, their presentation on Life Science was very dull, poor speakers and their microphones were barely loud enough. And they were using a powerpoint that was probably made up during the cool WordArt era of 1998.

 

I was feeling the whole "we dont really care if you apply here, we got tons of students" attitude. Atleast try to make your program seem exciting.

 

I also attended the Medical Radiation Science presentation, it was much more interesting, but after I got to ask some questions, I kind of realized it wasn't for me. The "hands on" experience that I was excited about is not included in the tuition and it is an additional fee, plus you need to pay for all your living expenses once they tell you which hospital to go to. Not to mention, it takes place in the summer. So I'd work up quite the debt by the end of the 10 semester term. And, there are simply not enough relevant electives to even consider applying for medschool.

 

I've been reading around all the university booklets, and Waterloo caught my attention. Their applied health science program is interesting as there is co-op available. So I'd be able to make 44-77 thousand dollars by the end of the program, as well as earn some nice resume references. Plus it allows you to minor in pre-med. Another good thing is that English isnt a pre-requisite, which is great because it is my lowest mark at 81, this allows me to apply with my 90s and high eighties without bringing my mark down.

 

Does anyone know if this is a good program? Can anyone tell me real difference between Waterloo's applied health sciences and life sciences?

I will try to attend their fall preview on Nov 1st, but I want to know as much as I can before going in so that I can ask some good questions.

 

Thanks a lot guys, you have been really helpful so far. Even that guy in the beginning, that kinda made me question my existence for a moment :P

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Juicebox,

 

What you should do is delete your browsing history, your account, and forget you ever found a website called PM101. The undergrad experience is too valuable to have it framed as just 'another step' towards medical school.

 

You are in high school. Enjoy your time and by 3rd year if you're still serious about medicine, then come back to the forums. In the meantime, just do what you like and let your life lead you from there.

 

Best advice so far. Medicine is great but one step at a time.

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So I went to McMaster for the fall preview day, was a bit unimpressed.

First, their presentation on Life Science was very dull, poor speakers and their microphones were barely loud enough. And they were using a powerpoint that was probably made up during the cool WordArt era of 1998.

 

Hahah good to know, I'm also gonna be applying for undergrad in a few months, and that was one of these programs that I read nothing about because it is overshadowed completely by a stronger program (in this case Mac healthsci). Now I know one choice I won't have to worry about.

 

But yeah, in terms of average "quality", from what little I've known so far either, the various lifesci or biomed programs of different universities are probably similar, with only a few oddities (which are either hard, or hard to get into, or both). The waterloo one you just mentioned seems rather unique with the co-op part, which could likely give you some hard-to-find medical/healthcare experience.

 

I'll be watching this thread for a while too. lol.

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Watch out about filling out their survey regarding the speaking experience at Mac....... I had someone actually email me to ask me why I wrote such negative comments on my survey and they sounded pretty nasty, not actually interested in why I was unimpressed with their presentations :rolleyes:

 

PS: Jerr, nice Death Note icon :D

 

Thanks, it's a very downsized portion of a past drawing I did lol.

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Waterloo was nice, the campus looked a bit dull compared to McMaster, but the city looked better.

 

I'm really digging their Psychology program within life science. Also like their applied health studies program.

 

Waterloo is really high up on my list now, you can't beat their co-op opportunities.

 

I never took physics in highschool. Is that going to bring my mark down significantly in year 1 physics in university (even tho apparently its supposed to be an introductory course)?

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Waterloo was nice, the campus looked a bit dull compared to McMaster, but the city looked better.

 

I'm really digging their Psychology program within life science. Also like their applied health studies program.

 

Waterloo is really high up on my list now, you can't beat their co-op opportunities.

 

I never took physics in highschool. Is that going to bring my mark down significantly in year 1 physics in university (even tho apparently its supposed to be an introductory course)?

 

No one can tell you. It depends on the school, course, and your skill level.

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