made_for_med Posted August 13, 2009 Report Share Posted August 13, 2009 Hi everyone, first i want to thank EVERYONE who is trying to help others through this website. I recently discovered this site. Ok so i am UBC phsyiology honours student, going into my second year this fall. I am planning on applying for med school in the 2010/2011 application cycle (i know its too early to worry but i wanna prepare for it as early as i can) and would NOT have finished my degree yet. I wanted to know if anyone else got in without a degree (stats show that about 12 to 18 get in) and how their average and NAQ scores were? Currently i have overall average of 88% (based on 37 first year credits) average, i work part time as a cashier at save on foods, i volunteer at BC Cancer Agency and Canadian Liver Foundation. WHAT SHOULD I BE DOING AT THIS STAGE, SPECIFICALLY IN ECs and OTHER DIVERSE NA EXPERIENCES? I really am serious about getting in on my first attempt and any guidance would be deeply appreciated. btw i have been in canada only since 2007. I immigrated here from Pakistan and spent all of my previous lfe in Pakistan. Back there, med is all about grades but here NAQ is more than a big chunk of it so please help me out!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
made_for_med Posted August 13, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2009 whats a just add water answer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rla_z Posted August 13, 2009 Report Share Posted August 13, 2009 If you want to apply and get in after your third year, I recommend not majoring in honours physiology. The professors don't look too favourably on students who decide to just leave in the middle of their degree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imhotep Posted August 13, 2009 Report Share Posted August 13, 2009 ...I recommend not majoring in honours physiology. The professors don't look too favourably ... Think of the fallacies in this statement. Your professors will not know your intentions to drop the degree if you get in and what can they possibly do if that should occur? Really, who cares what they think! The above statement is true for every discipline and yet, students routinely apply before completing an undergraduate degree. Why? Likely to be true to thy self. If I were to make an assumption, I would think that the poster’s issues are with asking for an academic reference letter. In reality, a med candidate should only ask those professors that know them extremely well. A professor, who believes that you are a prime candidate for medicine, will write strongly in your favor, regardless of your major and your progress therein, (ie. He/she is convinced that you were destined to be a doctor, can provide specific examples which show that you can thrive in an academic setting, contribute to enhance learning to yourself and peers in meaningful ways, etc). In essence, the professor acknowledges that you would be a great scientist, but you are better suited for medicine – so why hold you back now? To offer my recommendations to counter the above opinion, I suggest pursuing an avenue that (a) you enjoy and show a particular aptitude for, and ( will serve as a back-up in case you do not get in to med school. If for you this means an honours physiology degree, then so be it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recycledepot Posted August 13, 2009 Report Share Posted August 13, 2009 Wrong. As an Honours Physiology grad, I can say with a 100% certainty that obtaining a favourable letter of reference from a physiology professor is darn near impossible. If I were looking for a solid med back-up, I would be picking pharmacology. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VitaminC Posted August 13, 2009 Report Share Posted August 13, 2009 I've heard that the Pharmacology professors don't look too favourably on using their program as merely a step towards medicine, either. Yet interestingly enough, most of the people in the Pharmacology/Physiology programs are indeed med-bound! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imhotep Posted August 14, 2009 Report Share Posted August 14, 2009 An academic letter need not be from the professor that taught you a course but may also be a prof that supervised you in the lab - or better yet, both. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
made_for_med Posted August 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 14, 2009 the reason i picked physiology was that i thought this is probably most closely related to med, not because i want to be a "physiologist." i didnt have an interview or soemthing where i confessed that i wanted to be a physiologist. then why would the profs be against it if i wanted to go to med? i was torn between pharmacology and physiology and idk which one is more close to med. idk if i have even made the correct decision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neisseria Posted August 15, 2009 Report Share Posted August 15, 2009 Pharmacology 'makes' you agree not to drop the BSc program and go to med after 3rd year, but if even if you do there's nothing they can do to stop you (because such an 'agreement' is technically invalid in the first place). Just don't expect to get a fantastic LOR from them. Every year there are 3rd year physiology students entering med and the faculty aren't really against it (maybe they got used to it?) It's not really their loss if you don't finish their program since they'll most likely still be teaching you when you attend med classes. And btw, realistically, they probably don't expect many students to do grad school and become physiologists (there hasn't been anyone from Physiol Hon. entering grad school for at least 3 years and counting). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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