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The Second Degree Crew

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NutritionRunner Rookie

NutritionRunner

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First: Maybe I have missed it but I haven't seen or heard of anyone doing their second undergrad from the same institute as their first one. Why is that? I understand that if you do a second major from the same institute, the marks of your second undergrad just gets added to your cGPA (along with the first one) as opposed to having a complete fresh start on your transcript. But to my knowledge, most of the medschools look at your best 2 (or three) undergrad years and it shouldn't really matter how bad your cGPA is. (other than mac who will look at my previous undergrad marks too)

 

Both my first and second degrees are from Guelph. I love the school, love the city, love the whole atmosphere in Guelph. I'm only doing a second degree because although I did very well in my first degree (graduated at the top of my engineering class), I still only had a 89.7% average (yes, I was the top of my graduating class among all the engineers with that average). Plus, I had a lot of semesters without a full courseload, due to health issues during my first degree (which is what got me interested in medicine in the first place). Also, I want a good backup in case I don't make it into medicine (in my case, that backup is nutrition/dietetics).

 

Guelph only stipulates that your second degree cannot be of the same type as your first degree (which is fine for me - my first degree was a B.Sc.(Eng.) and my second degree is a B.A.Sc.) and you can't have more than 50% course overlap between the two degrees (also fine, because although things like chemistry, biochemistry, etc. are the same between the two degrees, biological engineering and nutrition are sufficiently different that I meet their requirements).

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Dr. Jan Intor Newbie

Dr. Jan Intor

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As an addendum to Western: they will only look at your first degree provided you have not completed or will not complete by the time of matriculation your second degree. Then they will only consider your second degree. Just want to make sure no one is confused by what was written.

 

Yes, sorry I should have clarified what I said as well, I emailed western to follow up the information i received over the phone and they gave me the same information as Der Kaiser (franz beckenbauer reference?) said above.

 

How do you determine if degrees are honours as per western's standards?

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Der Kaiser Newbie

Der Kaiser

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Yes, sorry I should have clarified what I said as well, I emailed western to follow up the information i received over the phone and they gave me the same information as Der Kaiser (franz beckenbauer reference?) said above.

 

How do you determine if degrees are honours as per western's standards?

 

Not a Franz Beckenbauer reference. Given that I have no idea who he is I am intrigued!*

 

Degrees are honours if they normally would take 4 years (20 credits). It does not matter if you do an honours thesis or not and all that jazz. As long as it is 4 years (and can thus let you apply to grad school) it is good.

 

*Looks like someone beat me to the name. I do not know anything about soccer, so I had no idea.

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Dr. Jan Intor Newbie

Dr. Jan Intor

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If only I knew a little less about soccer and focused more on school, i wouldnt be in this mess to begin with lol.

 

So if I can get a bunch of transfer credits from my first degree to finish the second one in 2 years, then that degree cant be considered honours? even though the program itself is a 4 year program?

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nosuperman Newbie

nosuperman

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If only I knew a little less about soccer and focused more on school, i wouldnt be in this mess to begin with lol.

 

So if I can get a bunch of transfer credits from my first degree to finish the second one in 2 years, then that degree cant be considered honours? even though the program itself is a 4 year program?

 

Just a heads up - at Western they made me do a double major in order to get an honors in 2 years, i.e. if I just did a regular or honors major, even with all my transfer credits, it would take 3+ years. I think this may just be a Western thing though. Just make sure when you're signing up (regardless of school) that you'll be getting an honors in two years and probably get that in writing (email).

 

Edit: I'll clarify - this was only the undergrad department, meaning Western Med School doesn't care if its 2 years (I ended up doing a double major in 2 years), just the undergrad department essentially said, "The only way we'll give you an honors in 2 years is if its a double major." So make sure you clarify that you're planning on finishing in 2 years with an honors before you officially sign up, particularly at Western but really at any school.

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torontohopeful Newbie

torontohopeful

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Thinking about possibly doing a second degree. I called western today and they said they only look at the first degree??:confused:

 

This might be stupid, but say u did you second UG at the different university, can't u just not tell the schools that u did the first UG such that it doesnt bring down your cGPA?

 

Not a good idea.

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Belle_MD Newbie

Belle_MD

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Hey fellow non-trads!!

 

I love these threads, such great motivation and support! Hope everyone got through midterms ok! :)

 

Just throwing in my story, I'm back in school as well full time and working as a nurse - so busy and so stressful but will hopefully be worth it! Like some of you this is technically my third degree - first degree was in psych but most years were not full time and only my last two years were well done. I also did an exchange program so that messed up my chances as well. After that I did the two years nursing program and got a 3.96 GPA unfortunately many schools do not consider it full time :( so here I am I made the decision to go back full time and get the grades and hopefully apply in a couple of years! I'm currently taking Honours Sociology with minor in gerontology... I was taking womens studies but all the talk of oppression was just not interesting to me so I moved on to sociology and it's a much better fit!

 

Wishing everyone good luck! Look forward to sharing our success stories!

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