In a dilema - Manitoba to BC

[Xzero-]

Hello!

 

I am currently in Manitoba and have completed one year of post-secondary. My father moved to Vancouver in September 2009 and now my mother has decided the it would be best for the whole family to move to Vancouver (Will be in BC mid July). Because of this short notice, I never applied to UBC or SFU. Both universities are no longer accepting applications and are not making any exceptions.

 

UBC suggestion: Go to a local college, or wait till May 2011 (Summer Session)

SFU suggestion: Register in Winter 2011 (Jan-Apr)

 

Most likely I am going to have to register to a local college for semester 1 and then going to SFU in semester 2. After that year, I will transfer to UBC to finish my degree and/or write the MCAT. I am not entirely sure what I should do, but that is my current plan.

 

My current transcript:

 

University of Winnipeg (taken in High School):

CHEM 	1300 	STRUCTUR MODEL 	A+
CHEM 	1310 	INTRO PHYS CHEM 	A
MATH 	1500 	INTRO CALCULUS 		A
MATH 	1700 	CALCULUS 2 		A

Total: 12 Credit Hours

 

Advanced Placement (taken in High School):

 

PSYC 	1200 	INTRODUCTION 	A+

Total: 6 Credit Hours

 

University of Manitoba:

BIOL 	1020 	UG 	Biology 1: Principles and Themes 	A
BIOL 	1030 	UG 	Biology 2: Biological Diversity, Function and Interactions 	A
PHIL 	1290 	UG 	Critical Thinking 	A+
PHYS 	1020 	UG 	General Physics 1	A
PHYS 	1030 	UG 	General Physics 2 	A
MBIO 	1220 	UG 	Essentials of Microbiology 	B+

Total: 18 Credit Hours

 

I was going to re-take MBIO (Introductory 3 credit-hour course) during the August Summer Session, but can no longer because I will be moving.

 

Currently in (Summer Session - ends June 22):

ENGL 	1300 	UG 	Literature since 1900 (6 Credit Hours)

 

Current GPA: 4.13 (It may or may not change after I complete my English course)

I will have a total of: 42 Credit Hours

 

 

Should I stick with a local college for the full year instead?

 

What is the "best"/good college to attend?

 

Are there equivalent courses in BC to my MBIO 3 credit hour one? I wish to retake it to improve my grade.

-Also, will all my courses be able to transfer easily?

 

What courses should I be taking in BC? - College/SFU/UBC (I'm planning on a degree for General Science - and bump it up to a Major if I don't make the Med School)

- Would anyone be able to provide course numbers as well so I can check if they can transfer between institutions?

 

 

Thanks in advance!

[AndreaM]

Should I stick with a local college for the full year instead?

 

It depends on whether you want to go to UBC or SFU. Make that decision first and then go from there.

 

What is the "best"/good college to attend?

 

Since you have already done quite a few first year courses I would not suggest a community college for your semester off. Most colleges in BC have a good selection of first year courses that transfer well to university, but not very many second year ones. There are a couple of colleges in the Vancouver area including Douglas College (http://www.douglas.bc.ca) and Vancouver Community College (http://www.vcc.ca). The University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) is in Abbotsford (an hour drive from Vancouver) and could be an option for you - http://www.ufv.ca or you could do distance education through TRU for the semester (http://www.tru.ca/distance).

 

Regardless of what school you choose you can see if your courses will transfer to UBC or SFU using the BC Transfer Guide (http://www.bctransferguide.ca). All of the post-secondary institutions in BC have agreements about course transfers and you can search course transferability by sending or receiving institution. I would suggest looking at either SFU or UBC courses that you would like credit for and then using the transfer guide to see which school has the most courses that will transfer and then going with that school.

 

In order to get transfer credits from your courses in Manitoba you will need the outlines from each of the courses and to submit those to the university that you will be going to and then they will assess the outlines on a course by course basis to give you transfer credit.

 

Are there equivalent courses in BC to my MBIO 3 credit hour one? I wish to retake it to improve my grade.

 

I'm sure there are equivalent courses here in BC, but retaking a course will not remove the previous attempt from your transcript, so you might as well take a new course rather than repeating microbiology.

 

What courses should I be taking in BC? - College/SFU/UBC (I'm planning on a degree for General Science - and bump it up to a Major if I don't make the Med School)

 

I think there must be a difference in terminology between Manitoba and BC here. All bachelor's degrees in BC are four years long, and a degree in General Science is the same thing as a Major in General Science - it just means that you decided not to specialize in a specific science like biochemistry or physics and instead did courses from all the sciences. If you want to do general science then read through SFU and UBC's calendars to see what courses are required for a degree in general sciences and then choose from those lists.

 

I would not however suggest a degree in General Science, because the job prospects and possibilities for graduate work are much less than choosing a major in almost anything else. Which courses have you liked the best so far? Answer that question and then look at majors related to those courses.

[NicMB]

B+ in Essentials of Microbiology is not that bad. But if you plan on retaking a Micro course, make sure to take one that will count for pre-req's (if the schools you plan on applying to haven them). Essentials of Micro is not recognized as the pre-req micro course at U of M, as it is a 1st year nursing course. You would have to take Microbiology A & B (I can't remember the course numbers) at U of M, or the equivalent 2nd-year-ish course at another university. Or just apply to schools without pre-reqs.

[Xzero-]

It depends on whether you want to go to UBC or SFU. Make that decision first and then go from there.

 

UBC, then UBC Med.

 

Since you have already done quite a few first year courses I would not suggest a community college for your semester off. Most colleges in BC have a good selection of first year courses that transfer well to university, but not very many second year ones. There are a couple of colleges in the Vancouver area including Douglas College (http://www.douglas.bc.ca) and Vancouver Community College (http://www.vcc.ca). The University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) is in Abbotsford (an hour drive from Vancouver) and could be an option for you - http://www.ufv.ca or you could do distance education through TRU for the semester (http://www.tru.ca/distance).

 

So your suggestion is to take a full year off? I don't really want to fall behind though. My friend suggested Capilano or Langara too. Are those good ones to attend?

 

Anyone able to provide course numbers so I can use http://www.bctransferguide.ca to see which colleges have the most courses I can transfer?

 

I'm sure there are equivalent courses here in BC, but retaking a course will not remove the previous attempt from your transcript, so you might as well take a new course rather than repeating microbiology.

 

By not re-taking that, wouldn't it lower my GPA? Relating back to NicMB's reply, I guess it makes sense to just take a second-year MBIO because it's a pre-req.

 

I think there must be a difference in terminology between Manitoba and BC here. All bachelor's degrees in BC are four years long, and a degree in General Science is the same thing as a Major in General Science - it just means that you decided not to specialize in a specific science like biochemistry or physics and instead did courses from all the sciences. If you want to do general science then read through SFU and UBC's calendars to see what courses are required for a degree in general sciences and then choose from those lists.

 

Sorry, I was a little ambigious when I said that. What I meant was go from that General Science degree a Major in a specific field, not a "Major in General Science". Over here, 90 credit hours to get a degree (30 hours a year, so 3 years for a degree) and another full year to specialize it into a Major.

 

I took Chemistry in high school and didn't take a second year Chemistry in my first year of actual university because I didn't think I was ready to take it as a first-year student. So I guess so far I have "enjoyed" Biology the most (even though the plant biodiversity section in Bio 2 was soooo boring). My friend told me that there aren't that many options with a Major in just Biology, and told me to go into Micro or cellular biology instead. Unless of course I am misunderstanding you and shouldn't be aiming for a General Science Degree at all and go right into a specific Major.

 

My "planned" course list for next year:

 

Organic Chemistry

Biochemistry

Genetics

Microbiology

Human Physiology/Anatomy

(Maybe a Psychology course)

 

I'm thinking of taking 24 credit hours during the year and putting one in Summer Session. So that would be 12 credit hours in a local college, 12 credit hours at SFU and 6 credit hours at UBC. Or should I do something else?

[AndreaM]

UBC, then UBC Med. So your suggestion is to take a full year off? I don't really want to fall behind though.

 

If you plan to go to UBC I would pick one institutions and stick with it for the year - you aren't really taking a full year off, because you will be going to school full time and the extra transfer to SFU in between would just be an uneeded hassle.

 

Anyone able to provide course numbers so I can use http://www.bctransferguide.ca to see which colleges have the most courses I can transfer?

 

Unless you have decided on a program at UBC it's hard to give specific courses you should take.

 

By not re-taking that, wouldn't it lower my GPA? Relating back to NicMB's reply, I guess it makes sense to just take a second-year MBIO because it's a pre-req.

 

Retaking it will not change your GPA. UBC and most schools will count both courses into your overall GPA equally. Don't retake courses just to get a better grade. The only time you should retake a course is if you failed it and need the credit to graduate or as a medical pre-requisite.

 

Sorry, I was a little ambigious when I said that. What I meant was go from that General Science degree a Major in a specific field, not a "Major in General Science". Over here, 90 credit hours to get a degree (30 hours a year, so 3 years for a degree) and another full year to specialize it into a Major.

 

90 credit hours does not get you a bachelor's degree in BC. 90 credits gets you through the 3rd year of a 4 year program. You choose your major, usually in second year or sometimes in 1st year. Each major has different course requirements for graduation for each year of study. I would suggest you look through the options in UBC's calendar, choose a major and then choose courses from there.

 

I would suggest looking through the specializations listed in the faculty of biology (http://www.calendar.ubc.ca/vancouver/index.cfm?tree=12,215,410,418) before making any further decisions.