Stay at SFU or switch to UBC?

[hsgarcia]

Hey everyone! I have a couple of questions to ask.

 

First of all I go to SFU, I am currently in my first year in the general science program...I was wondering if it is a good idea to switch to UBC in the next year or to stay right where I am...

I find sfu quite easy/manageable so far so I am afraid that if I switch to UBC I will have a harder time making the grades (since I heard it is harder).

 

However, by being at sfu... will this affect my chances getting into UBC medical school? Do they take my institution into account and do they generally accept students more from UBC (or is it because UBC is a larger school and there are more premeds there?)

 

Second, what happens if your grades aren't competitive enough and you have taken all the courses for your degree/prereqs? I assume you just retake the courses and try to improve your mark? Does UBC take into account any repetitions and will this lower your chance to get in? If they do...wouldn't it be a waste of time to retake a course since even though you get a better grade it balances out with the fact that you repeated it?

 

Third, what happens if you already have your degree and graduated and applied to UBC medical school to find out that you got rejected? I reviewed the flow chart on the website and I assume you just retake courses...? So basically do I just reapply to SFU (or the institution I graduated from) and retake some courses to improve my average? (or would you suggest that I retake courses and ENSURE my gpa is competitive enough BEFORE graduating?)

 

Fourth, is there a limited amount of times you can reapply to UBC medical school? I heard that for some professional schools, if you get rejected once, you are no longer allowed to try again?? (pretty scary... ><)

 

Lastly, I understand that your major/minor isn't that important when applying to UBC medical school AS LONG AS YOU MEET THE PREREQUISITES! So would you recommend majoring/minoring in something easy to get better grades? Or would you recommend majoring/minoring in something taht is harder and science based?

 

Thanks everyone! I really appreciate your help! Sorry for the long post ><" I'm just really stressed and confused about medical school right now...

[iwh333]

1) it might affect your chances of getting into UBC medicine (see how i'm specifically referring to UBC), as it is known that UBC will convert each % to the lowest % within that grade bracket when you are applying from SFU. For ie. if you get a 89% at SFU, it will be converted down to 85%. 98% will be converted to 90%.

 

2) If your grades aren't competitive enough, you simply won't get in. UBC doesn't take re-do courses unless you have failed them. They will not balance your make if you re-take it. You will be wasting your time. All marks will stick with you. (until after 10 years)

 

3) Nothing happens. You can do whatever you like, take more courses to up your GPA, do more volunteering, whatever you want to do that will make you more competitive. Perhaps do some traveling and even start your back-up career.

 

4) No.

 

5) Major doesn't matter, do something you like.

[hsgarcia]

THANKS A LOT FOR THE RESPONSE IWH333!!~ ^^

 

Okay, so I actually really plan to transfer to UBC in the next year or so. I searched this forum about what you said Iwh333 (how sfu grades are scaled down) and it is kind of scaring me...haha.

 

So I have a couple of questions to ask about transferring from sfu to ubc (if anyone can provide any information)

 

1) I am currently in first year, I started university in sfu in september 2009... I missed the application deadline already for the next UBC 2010 term So I was wondering...If I apply during late 2010 -- early 2011 (to meet the deadline of february 28 2011--for the 2011 term) Does this mean I am entering UBC 2nd year science? or would it be considered 3rd year? I checked the application and it asks:

 

If you are starting or transferring to a degree, certificate or diploma program at UBC from another college or university, what year level do you think you will be entering? Admissions will review your year level at the time of evaluation.

 

Year 1 (less than one full-time year of post-secondary study completed prior to May)

Year 2 (one full-time year of post-secondary study completed prior to May (24+ semester credits))

Year 3 (two or more full-time years of post-secondary study completed prior to May)

Year 4 (I have completed an undergraduate degree and would like to pursue a second degree)

Year 5 Unclassified (have completed an undergraduate degree and will not be pursuing a degree at UBC)

 

and I am a little confused what to pick... I assume i choose year 3 since by may I will have finished second year...and it will be finishing my second year of post secondary.

 

 

2) How does transferring work? I plan to see an advisor in UBC AND SFU to get information, although I would really like it if people here can offer me some help to save me some time

---> Do all of my credits transfer with me? I know some credits are NON-TRANSFERABLE but I "THINK" my courses are since they are the sfu equivalents for UBC medical school prerequisites:

 

BISC 101 AND 102, MATH 154 AND 155, CHEM 121, 122, 126

I also have taken ENG 101W AND ENG 103W --which I hope qualifies as first year english in UBC (if it does, does this mean I no longer have to take first year English at UBC? Since this qualifies as 6 credits of first year english.)

 

I have also taken physics 101 at sfu (I also assume this should be transferrable since it is first year physics?)

 

Other courses that I might be taking are kin 140 (not sure if this is transferrable though, but i need it for WQB at sfu )

 

---> Does my GPA transfer along with me? I heard that when you transfer, your courses transfer with you but you restart your gpa all over again...Does this mean If i apply for ubc medical school, they will no longer look at my sfu gpa since it does not transfer with me?

 

--> I heard sfu has a higher credit for each course compared to ubc.. is this true? ex: bisc 101 in sfu is 4 credits (i think this is the max amount for sfu) while in UBC i heard BIOL is 3 credits (max credits for ubc). Does this mean that UBC looks over my credits and scales it down? For example, If i have 8 credits total, which is composed of 2 biology classes (4 credits each)... will it be counted as 6 credits only?

 

--> What is the current gpa to transfer to UBC Science/biochem? I saw online it is around 2.8-3.4? This is still true?

 

--> Also, if any of you has had experience transferring from SFU to UBC, I would really appreciate which courses you took (science of course) that transferred, and how your process of transferring went.

 

3) If my major is molecular biology and biochemistry (mbb) at sfu... would I keep this major when i transfer to UBC (which i believe is biochem major equivalent?) OR does it depend on what faculty I transfer to AT UBC? Also, I can't seem to find bsc in biochem in the degree selection drop down menu...would it be bachelor of applied science perhaps? (or maybe I'm blind and I missed it..)

 

Once again, I apologize for the extremely long post... ><" I really appreciate your help everyone! THANKS SO MUCH FOR TAKING THE TIME TO HELP ME!!!!

[iwh333]

dude, we're students not academic advisers on here! go and check with SFU/UBC advisors about this stuff and talk to them about transfer credits regarding med school pre-reqs and the like.

 

If you meet all the credits for UBC first year, you should probably be able to transfer to 2nd year. Not sure why you would think you would automatically go to 3rd year though.

 

Grades will stick with you wherever you go. Don't count on your SFU gpa dissapearing when you apply for med.

 

there is definitely a department of biochemistry at UBC which is under the fac. of medicine. you can major in biochem if you like. i would advise you not to unless you really want to do some lab tech job as a backup or grad school later on (or are really interested in that stuff). From what I remember, biochem was you need at least 75% or something? Not the highest GPA, but it's a hard major.