Don't go to an easy school for GPA

[iraqattaq]

I go to Windsor and for all the students currently considering Windsor, York, Brock, etc. for an easy road to an excellent GPA think again! Windsor has many of their classes taught by people still in their Masters (not so much in the science dept.) The PhD profs you do get are only using their time at Windsor to stand out and hopefully get a tenure track position at a more prestigious school. Also Windsor is a huge party school and you will have to become an expert at ignoring the people around you. Last year Windsor put 18 students into medical school, 9 of which went to Schulich (chances are due to SWOMEN status) Just for comparison Western put 54 students into Schulich alone! Windsor is a lot of fun but you need to be surrounded by professors who are here for the long haul and that are interested in what they teach. It is also better to be surrounded by serious students not people who just want a degree!

[bj89]

i completely disagree. i also go to windsor and after comparing content material with friends from western and waterloo, the classes at windsor are a bit lighter in content, thus making it easier. Plus, the main classes aren't too difficult - especially organic chem (incredibly easy to get an A in)

 

you have to consider that windsor put 18 people in med school (out of a population of ~15,000), and western put 54 people into med school (out of a population of 30,000+?)

 

i've never had a class taught to me by a master's student (im a science major), the only thing remotely close is a summer course taught by a pHD student (most summer courses are taught by graduate students)

[Prothrombin]

I may not be tackling your specific issue here, but it does NOT matter what university you do your undergrad in, speaking specifically in terms of that med schools could care less if you go to Carleton, McGill, Toronto or Brock. As long as you have the grades, the EC's and the personality, you'll get in to med school. However, there are a lot of other factors that you can account for that would make some universities better than others to attend. Obviously going to uni in a big city means more opportunities for employment in a health related field. Big universities usually have a bit more researchers and may mean you have more options for doing research work. Obviously you have an advantage in a big city like Toronto or Vancouver or Montreal as opposed to a small city in terms of volunteer opportunities too. That aside, you can get into med school as a UG from any university. It all depends on your determination.

[touchthesky]

I may not be tackling your specific issue here, but it does NOT matter what university you do your undergrad in, speaking specifically in terms of that med schools could care less if you go to Carleton, McGill, Toronto or Brock. As long as you have the grades, the EC's and the personality, you'll get in to med school. However, there are a lot of other factors that you can account for that would make some universities better than others to attend. Obviously going to uni in a big city means more opportunities for employment in a health related field. Big universities usually have a bit more researchers and may mean you have more options for doing research work. Obviously you have an advantage in a big city like Toronto or Vancouver or Montreal as opposed to a small city in terms of volunteer opportunities too. That aside, you can get into med school as a UG from any university. It all depends on your determination.

 

I completely agree. I am so glad I chose U of T. I am going into my 4th yr in the Life Sciences and while it was BRUTAL in first year (my marks dropped SIGNIFICANTLY), it was well worth it at the end; I was able to get my grades higher in second and third, and get a ton of research experience and amazing job opportunities that I wouldn't even have known about elsewhere (we have a lot of guest speakers come in from the research institutes and they hire students from my program specifically).

 

As such, going to an 'easy' school for GPA is only wise if you can still manage to get yourself out there and into the city for these major opportunities. Granted, some students will be more favoured for certain job opportunities than others depending on the undergrad program, but for general volunteer opportunities (e.g. hospital volunteering), it doesn't matter where you go. All in all, it only matters for competitive job placements that look amazing on your CV and help you stand out among other applicants.

[trymeover]

Doesn't this University of Windsor come in last place in Macleans rankings every year? Haha. That isn't the best way to judge the university, but you've gotta have some pretty low stuff to come in last place consecutive years. Furthermore, the few kids from windsor that I've met make fun of their university themselves.

[tooty]

I go to Windsor and for all the students currently considering Windsor, York, Brock, etc. for an easy road to an excellent GPA think again! Windsor has many of their classes taught by people still in their Masters (not so much in the science dept.) The PhD profs you do get are only using their time at Windsor to stand out and hopefully get a tenure track position at a more prestigious school. Also Windsor is a huge party school and you will have to become an expert at ignoring the people around you. Last year Windsor put 18 students into medical school, 9 of which went to Schulich (chances are due to SWOMEN status) Just for comparison Western put 54 students into Schulich alone! Windsor is a lot of fun but you need to be surrounded by professors who are here for the long haul and that are interested in what they teach. It is also better to be surrounded by serious students not people who just want a degree!

 

i veto this piece of advice. western is a huge party school too. the reason that western pumps out more med students is that 1) it is a bigger school and 2) it has a medical school.

[iraqattaq]

i've never had a class taught to me by a master's student (im a science major), the only thing remotely close is a summer course taught by a pHD student (most summer courses are taught by graduate students)

 

I meant excluding science courses, I had my psych, comp sci and english courses all taught by masters students.

 

I wanted to point out that you shouldn't pick these schools because they are easier. I am not saying Windsor is a difficult school I am saying it's environment isn't conducive to learning. Just my opinion though.

[tooty]

I meant excluding science courses, I had my psych, comp sci and english courses all taught by masters students.

 

I wanted to point out that you shouldn't pick these schools because they are easier. I am not saying Windsor is a difficult school I am saying it's environment isn't conducive to learning. Just my opinion though.

 

then warn everyone about windsor, not all 'easy' schools.

[bj89]

I meant excluding science courses, I had my psych, comp sci and english courses all taught by masters students.

 

I wanted to point out that you shouldn't pick these schools because they are easier. I am not saying Windsor is a difficult school I am saying it's environment isn't conducive to learning. Just my opinion though.

 

but the classes are definately easier, and its not like there are people out there working to specifically hinder your chances at doing well in a class. how conductive a student is depends MOSTLY on the student themselves, not their environment or students around them. anyways a 3.8 at windsor vs 3.8 at toronto will have the same value, and the only thing different will be that the 3.8 at toronto was more likely harder to achieve

[iraqattaq]

but the classes are definately easier, and its not like there are people out there working to specifically hinder your chances at doing well in a class. how conductive a student is depends MOSTLY on the student themselves, not their environment or students around them. anyways a 3.8 at windsor vs 3.8 at toronto will have the same value, and the only thing different will be that the 3.8 at toronto was more likely harder to achieve

 

True...now if only a 3.8 was enough these days!

[bj89]

Doesn't this University of Windsor come in last place in Macleans rankings every year? Haha. That isn't the best way to judge the university, but you've gotta have some pretty low stuff to come in last place consecutive years. Furthermore, the few kids from windsor that I've met make fun of their university themselves.

 

windsor is a bad school in terms of administration (secretaries are grumpy and unhelpful, slow in responding to e-mails), but there are some pretty sick profs for sure.

 

the campus is incredibly small compared to other universities which i don't mind because i wouldn't want a 10-15 minute walk between 2 classes if they were on opposite ends of campus

[Prothrombin]

I meant excluding science courses, I had my psych, comp sci and english courses all taught by masters students.

 

I wanted to point out that you shouldn't pick these schools because they are easier. I am not saying Windsor is a difficult school I am saying it's environment isn't conducive to learning. Just my opinion though.

 

It depends if you live on or off campus, if you live in the city or not. There may be a big party scene at Windsor but there is a big party scene at every school. There's pretty much a party every day at Carleton as well as any other university. The big issue is how you deal with the temptations. I live at home so I don't have to worry about loud music at night or really annoying roommates, but there's hundreds of different ways to get by that.