metukah Posted April 6, 2010 Report Share Posted April 6, 2010 I am in my first year of a 2 year MSc. program and looking to apply to med in the next cycle. I took a full course load in every year of my HBSc. and no summer courses. I am missing a few pre-requisities to some schools (ie. physics, english, 2nd part of Ochem) and I was thinking to maybe take them online this summer to increase the schools I can apply to. My question is: will taking these pre-reqs on their own, not in a full course load, and outside of undergrad hurt me? I am counting on my last two year's GPA (3.85) and weighting formulas...so will these extra pre-reqs look bad? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slashsev01 Posted April 6, 2010 Report Share Posted April 6, 2010 no, but i found i difficult to study with a masters (lots of time on research, reading, taing, courses, presentations, volunteering)... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MicroMo Posted April 14, 2010 Report Share Posted April 14, 2010 Agreed. I tried doing English upgrading while writing my MSc thesis and it was brutal. Also, don't count on weighting too much because some schools are dropping that. I know U of A has and only looks at your cGPA and the average for those who got interviews this year was a 3.78! I wouldn't try to cram them all in the one summer. Your supervisor will notice the lower productivity (no matter how awesome he is...and I know he is) and could set your research back as well (no longer a 2yr MSc, which btw, good luck with that!). Maybe get the OChem and Phys done this summer and do english over the next year. Also consider going to Mount Royal for these courses...not AU...you will likely need more face to face support in these courses then you will for Engl. Also, nice seeing you on the forum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slashsev01 Posted April 16, 2010 Report Share Posted April 16, 2010 yea..my prof looks over my shoulder if im nhl.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lychee Posted April 16, 2010 Report Share Posted April 16, 2010 Hey, sorry to bump this thread after it was answered, but I have a question related to the OP's....is it worth bunching pre-req's together? By that I mean, would it be feasible to take the biochem courses at the same time as the organic courses? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supafield Posted April 18, 2010 Report Share Posted April 18, 2010 I've been taking a bunch in a very condensed timeframe... pm me if you have any athabasca logistical questions.... like timelines and the such. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tickytacky23 Posted June 8, 2010 Report Share Posted June 8, 2010 I've been taking a bunch in a very condensed timeframe... pm me if you have any athabasca logistical questions.... like timelines and the such. Can anybody tell me anything about which Chem and Orgo Athabasca courses will meet the prereq's for Ottawa? Also, does anyone know if both are possible to complete during the summer, and what the shortest possible amount of time is that I could get them done in? How much background in chem do you need to take them? I haven't taken it since about grade 10 high school (2002ish). I hope that's not being too ambitious:p, but I can't apply to Ottawa unless I get these! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supafield Posted June 8, 2010 Report Share Posted June 8, 2010 I did first year chem and the first half of orgo in 3 months.... and it was a lot of work. One of the things that helped me do well was I had learned MCAT chem and orgo already for a few attempts at the MCAT.... So while there is a lot of new stuff still, having the basics down made it a lot easier. I had work/volunteering and med interviews going on while I did them. So if your summer was free and clear you may be able to go faster. A key component is getting the scheduling procedures down. You need 20 days in advance to request an midterm/exam... so you need to plan way ahead of time. Also, to start a course on the first of a month, you need to have registered for the courses by the 10th of the month before it. Despite them saying you can't take chem II until you write the final of Chem I.... I was signed up for Chem I, II and Orgo I all at once at one point lol. This is because I didn't want to have to wait to the next month after finishing a course. No one seemed to mind. They do count for Ottawa but keeping in mind if you do Chem 217... (Chem I) it has a home lab. The home lab won't count for ottawa, you have to request to do the lab in a supervised setting. All 4 courses have a lab component that needs to be done on site. I had to stay in Edmonton for 8 days. They do, do labs at McMaster in July.... and you can also try to arrange to do it with your home university, but it costs more. I didn't try to do that so I don't know too much about how feasible it is to take the lab with another university. If you're trying to do it by the end of the summer, it might not be possible. Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kylamonkey Posted June 9, 2010 Report Share Posted June 9, 2010 The ORGO is not too bad. I was very happy to have done ORGO 1 at Athabasca, because I too had learned it for the MCAT and I would have been really bored sitting in classes all term learning stuff I already (mostly) knew. The ORGO 1 and 2 labs for this summer- there are none offered in July. The June ones you won't be able to sign up for them (they are on the last weekend of June) because your course start date, even if you signed up today, would be July 1st. They won't let you. The "tentative" labs for July have been cancelled (I confirmed that last week). That leaves the August 13-15 Orgo1 lab and Aug 16-18 Orgo2 labs at McMaster. Those will be the only ORGO summer labs available to you. Getting everything graded and marks submitted by the end of the summer might be too difficult. Oh, and if you sign up for he ORGO2 lab at McMaster, I'll see you there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tickytacky23 Posted June 10, 2010 Report Share Posted June 10, 2010 The ORGO is not too bad. I was very happy to have done ORGO 1 at Athabasca, because I too had learned it for the MCAT and I would have been really bored sitting in classes all term learning stuff I already (mostly) knew. The ORGO 1 and 2 labs for this summer- there are none offered in July. The June ones you won't be able to sign up for them (they are on the last weekend of June) because your course start date, even if you signed up today, would be July 1st. They won't let you. The "tentative" labs for July have been cancelled (I confirmed that last week). That leaves the August 13-15 Orgo1 lab and Aug 16-18 Orgo2 labs at McMaster. Those will be the only ORGO summer labs available to you. Getting everything graded and marks submitted by the end of the summer might be too difficult. Oh, and if you sign up for he ORGO2 lab at McMaster, I'll see you there! Do you think it would be possible to do the general chem and/or the orgo chem without having done a course in them OR studied for the MCAT yet? I don't really have a background in chem so I was thinking if I did them through Athabasca, if I for whatever reason didn't do that well, it wouldn't effect my gpa. I don't know what the best thing here is to do. I want to write the MCAT next summer and take the chem prereq's for Ottawa, but I have zero background in chem, and need to self-study for the MCAT. I can't do any of that this year b/c I'm doing 4 courses catching up from being off for a year due to illness. Am I being too ambitious? Can I study for the MCAT during the year starting in September while doing a full course load and EC's (and have a life)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kylamonkey Posted June 13, 2010 Report Share Posted June 13, 2010 It sounds like you aren't desparate to start taking the courses right away... so why don't you start studying for chem on your own first? I didn't ever do very well in chem, but I decided to really go for it when I was studying for the MCAT. I wound up getting a 13 in the PS section (which includes inorganic chem) and I was well set-up for doing my 2nd-yr chem courses. I used the Examkrackers books. They'll give you a great background in chem, and you'll be confident starting chem through Athabasca when you're ready. The Athabasca courses ARE counted by most, but not all, schools, depending how they calculate. Seriously, pick up the examkracers chem book, or another chem book, and do some self-study first. That way you'll have some background before you start, AND you'll know if you have the self-discipline to do a correspondance course or if it will be a struggle for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GLO Posted June 13, 2010 Report Share Posted June 13, 2010 Which schools don't accept online or distance courses? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sibaloma Posted July 9, 2010 Report Share Posted July 9, 2010 don't take cell biology in that school.. Reading 700 pgs of textbook is not pleasant at all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astrogirl Posted July 27, 2010 Report Share Posted July 27, 2010 Dreamer - it all depends on the school and I don't know about UofT specifically, but at some schools it doesn't count towards full course load requirements if it's during the summer and it doesn't count towards your GPA, but they will count it as having fulfilled the pre-req. But some other schools like McMaster count every course you've ever taken towards your GPA. So you're probably going to have to email each school you want to apply to just to be sure, since they're all so different and this is kind of an unusual situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slashsev01 Posted August 6, 2010 Report Share Posted August 6, 2010 that seems quite excessive.. mcat, several pre-reqs, masters research (incl all the classes, seminar classes, taing, presentations)...(and iam sure ECs for med) goodluck... id recommend holding something off..ie the masters...completing everything else mcat, classes....and having the "masters year" as a application process you have lots of free time doing an msc but the time is usually unproductive.. a 4 hr incubation seems nice but after working form 7am-11..u kinda want that break..... if u can do it all the power but iam sure something will suffer grads, research, etc you can only manage so much time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benge88 Posted August 8, 2010 Report Share Posted August 8, 2010 Dreamer - I am in a very similar position, except my masters is research based. I need 2 english courses, 1 physics and 1 inorganic chem. I wanted to know how the home labs were looked at - particularly for the american schools. Can you not spread the athabasca courses out over a long period of time, which might make them a little more feasible? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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