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A few questions about the medical route


La Vie

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Hey everyone! I'm not sure where to post this, but this seems like the right place. Please let me know if I'm wrong and where I should post it if this is the wrong place!

 

I'm a student about to go into grade 11 of high school, and I'm exploring my options for post-secondary education. I'm looking into obstetrics, because I found I have a lot of basic knowledge about pregnancy and childbirth, and have begun looking into Ontario medical schools.

 

I have a couple of questions based on what's involved. First of all, how many years are involved in becoming an obstetrician? And how do the years break down? I know there's pre-med, then med school, but I don't know how long either of those lasts nor do I know what comes after that.

 

What courses would you reccomend I take for my remaining two years of high school? Besides the basics-- biology, chemistry, physics and the maths?

 

What kinds of things should I do to prepare for applying to universities? And which universities do you reccomend?

 

And finally, is it worth it, in your opinion? My GPA was, as of the end of grade ten, 4.0, so right now my focus is to keep that up. Also I was wondering, what were your average GPAs going into pre-med?

 

Thank you so much in advance, I'm really hoping to get some information about this field because it holds a really deep interest for me. :)

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Hey there,

 

It is great that you are considering medicine, but it is a long way until you can apply to medical school as in Canada save Quebec, you can only be admitted after 3 years of undergrad. You need to finish high school, do at least 3 yerars of undergrad (some people take longer), then do 3-4 years of medical school (Calgary and Mac have 3 year programs that go through the summers) then it is a 5 year residency in obstetrics and gynecology. If you want to specialize in obstetrics at a large academic centre, you will likely need to do a fellowship in high-risk obstetrics which is 1-2 years (can't remember).

 

Remember that there are whole slew of professionals involved in labour and delivery, so your options aren't limited to an obstetrician. There are nurses, midwives, doulas, family doctors, etc who are actively involved as well. For those interested in the science behind it, there are also people who work in research.

 

Search the forum for your general questions. In general, it does not matter which university you go to, just that you enjoy the program/classes and involve yourself inside and outside of school. There are certain courses you will need to apply to medical schools, so I would make sure you keep up all your sciences in high school, including physics.

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Hey everyone! I'm not sure where to post this, but this seems like the right place. Please let me know if I'm wrong and where I should post it if this is the wrong place!

 

I'm a student about to go into grade 11 of high school, and I'm exploring my options for post-secondary education. I'm looking into obstetrics, because I found I have a lot of basic knowledge about pregnancy and childbirth, and have begun looking into Ontario medical schools.

 

I have a couple of questions based on what's involved. First of all, how many years are involved in becoming an obstetrician? And how do the years break down? I know there's pre-med, then med school, but I don't know how long either of those lasts nor do I know what comes after that.

 

What courses would you reccomend I take for my remaining two years of high school? Besides the basics-- biology, chemistry, physics and the maths?

 

What kinds of things should I do to prepare for applying to universities? And which universities do you reccomend?

 

And finally, is it worth it, in your opinion? My GPA was, as of the end of grade ten, 4.0, so right now my focus is to keep that up. Also I was wondering, what were your average GPAs going into pre-med?

 

Thank you so much in advance, I'm really hoping to get some information about this field because it holds a really deep interest for me. :)

 

Hi guy (you sound like a guy), keep up the work ethic and take in h.s., in addition to the basics you mentioned, whatever you would enjoy! More importantly, note that med schools look at anything in ECs done from age 16, so if Student Council is your thing, go for it, if public speaking, go for it, or working at a food bank or anything that shows compassion and service to others. They also want your employment record, so generally, you want to begin creating one step at a time, solid history of work and of service.

Med school won't care about how you did in your grades in h.s.

 

Be advised that there is a serious transition from h.s. to UG and it is normal for your grades to sink, so when you get into university, you will need to know to work harder than you think if you intend to keep up your grades. A high GPA in UG is desirable b/c getting into med school is highly comeptitve, there are so many acceptable candidates, the supply outstrips the no. of seats available - so, top candidates apply repreatedly until they get accepted, and luck plays a critical role.

 

Its a long road, a marathon not a sprint, so welcome to the marathon.

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Hey everyone! I'm not sure where to post this, but this seems like the right place. Please let me know if I'm wrong and where I should post it if this is the wrong place!

 

I'm a student about to go into grade 11 of high school, and I'm exploring my options for post-secondary education. I'm looking into obstetrics, because I found I have a lot of basic knowledge about pregnancy and childbirth, and have begun looking into Ontario medical schools.

 

I have a couple of questions based on what's involved. First of all, how many years are involved in becoming an obstetrician? And how do the years break down? I know there's pre-med, then med school, but I don't know how long either of those lasts nor do I know what comes after that.

 

What courses would you reccomend I take for my remaining two years of high school? Besides the basics-- biology, chemistry, physics and the maths?

 

What kinds of things should I do to prepare for applying to universities? And which universities do you reccomend?

 

And finally, is it worth it, in your opinion? My GPA was, as of the end of grade ten, 4.0, so right now my focus is to keep that up. Also I was wondering, what were your average GPAs going into pre-med?

 

Thank you so much in advance, I'm really hoping to get some information about this field because it holds a really deep interest for me. :)

 

It's great that you're thinking about med school right now. I was about in grade 9-10 that I knew I wanted to go to med school but unfortunately was ill-informed about the requirements and dedication it takes to get in. It was only until the 1st year of university that it really struck me in the face.

 

You're in high school still, and aren't going to be graduating for another 2 years so you have a long way to go. I wouldn't necessarily think about courses you need to take because it's not university and prerequisites won't come back to bite you, but take courses that are different and interesting like philosophy and maybe an advanced english course.

 

The GPA's of people going into pre-med are WIDE. Some schools will accept anybody and everybody into their pre-med program while others like to have students with a fairly good average like an B+ or A-average.

 

In terms of universities, it depends where you live and where you want to go. There's up and downs about every university, ones in bigger cities have more opportunities for volunteering and research. Also, take into consideration the scholarship amount for each school. Ottawa U offered me a $1500 yearly scholarship whereas Carleton offered me $2500. I could have price matched with Ottawa U but I like Carleton more because I wouldn't get too distracted with friends and being so close to downtown. When it all comes down to it though, you can get into med school from any university as long as you have the right marks, Extra Curricular's and personality. Speaking of extra curricular activities, now's a pretty good time to start volunteering at hospitals. It's good to start early because:

1) you get to develop good relationships with the people you work with (i.e nurses, managers, coordinators)

2) if you volunteer long enough with a hospital/clinic/health care area, are friendly, and get lucky or ask, you can get a paid job at the same place.

3) Commitment is huge on med school applications. They want to see people who are committed to an organization for a long time.

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I'm actually a girl. :)

Thank you all for your responses! I know I have a long way to go before I can apply, but I'm really interested in knowing what I have to look forward to for after I graduate. I know the courseload/difficulty is going to change, I'm expecting that I think more than anything. I really appreciate the information you've given me.

 

Also, what kind of volunteering could I do at hospitals?

 

And for the record, I passed my written G1 test just last week. So I'm well on my way to getting my driver's license. :)

 

 

don't feed the troll!!!!!!

 

I'm not sure what you mean by that.

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Hi girl (I'm a girl too), hospitals have a range of volunteering opportunities and you should skeap to the volunteering dept of a local hospital or other healthcare facility. For example, you could be giving information to visitors when they enter the hospital telling them where to go, and you work your way up the food chain. I joined the "humour program" of one hopsital and they had me lugging TVs in and out of patients' rooms. It was a worthless exercise and I soon quit. I was involved in the recreational therapy program at one hospitaland it was fascinating, just as few hours a week, I got know may patients b/c of repeat visits and learned so much, there was one young man who was terminally ill and he looked forwarded to these occasions. Some hospitals have special programs designed for pre-meds where specialists in different fields give discussions during lunch. You want to aim for contact with patients. Kids hospitals would be great too. You will find you way. Ignore bj89.

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future_doc, thank you for your suggestions! The only issue is I live in a really small town, and it's about an hour to any major hospitals. We do have our little health centre though, so I will definitely be checking that out. Thank you again.

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In a small town, you can be of service to the community in an organized or unorganized fashion. Helping out those in need will benefit you and them. You don't need to volunteer in a hospital right away, consider being of service and check o ut your little health centre, even i f you do volunteering reception, it all begins somewhere. See my PM in the upper r.h.c. of the page.

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You might be interested to know that OB/Gyn is a 4 year residency in the US.

 

Also, when I was in grade 10 I was interested in girls and computer games.

 

true, I still am :) . Well just wanna let u know high school marks don't matter at all for med schools so relax and as Future_doc said, they start looking at your experience at the age of 16 so your EC, volunteering etc are much more important at this stage than your h.s. marks. Focus on those if u r determined to go to med school.

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