ECE with Bioengineering minor

[vetmode]

Hi,

 

I'm currently a 2nd year ECE student at University of Toronto. I'm currently planning out my 3rd and 4th year courses with a bioengineering minor. I've looked at some admission prerequisites of the medical faculties of some universities. I'm particularly confused at what kind of prerequisites I need to take.

 

For instance, U of T med's requirements is as follows:

 

* two full-course equivalents (FCE) in any life science

* one FCE in any of social sciences, humanities, or a language

 

I am not sure whether the bioeng courses can cover the life science requirement.

 

I have looked around through some threads, particularly posters who graduated with engineering degrees; but I couldn't find any posts that pointed out what kind of courses an engineer needed to take to get into medical school.

 

I hope there would be some clarifications.

 

Here are my current choices for 3rd and 4th year:

 

I'd like to point out that I am aiming to take PEY between 3rd and 4th year.

[cary_fan]

I don't have transcripts of my own experience, but I recall the UofT admissions folks saying something to the effect of "the course material must be primarily focused on biological science" ... or something to that effect.

 

I didn't do my engineering undergrad at UofT, but I had a bioengineering course at Waterloo and that did not count as a life science course. It'll be a bit of a stretch to have it approved, and it'll be even harder to convince other schools as well.

 

Just from looking at your course list, some of the CHE courses might count. You may need to provide copies of your course syllabus for review by individual admission offices if there's a question about the validity of your prereqs.

 

You should ask them directly for an answer, with the syllabus attached.

[vetmode]

Thanks, I've emailed them for clarification.

 

Were you able to convince U of T admissions to count it as a life science course?

[vetmode]

Cool thanks.

[Andie]

I'd email any specific programs that you are interested in, but I'd bet that most of your courses wouldn't have enough biological sciences to count.

 

Why not pick up BIO150Y (or whatever they changed it to) in the summer? It would be good to show your interest in medically related sciences, confirm that you actually enjoy studying this, and it will help for the MCAT.

[dreamer]

I'd email any specific programs that you are interested in, but I'd bet that most of your courses wouldn't have enough biological sciences to count.

 

Why not pick up BIO150Y (or whatever they changed it to) in the summer? It would be good to show your interest in medically related sciences, confirm that you actually enjoy studying this, and it will help for the MCAT.

 

I'd say he can pull at least 1.5 credits, with those cell and molecular biology and engineering biology courses. CHE123 ( I think was the course code, engineering biology) which was offered way back could be used as a 0.5 credit.

 

Also, BIO150, I don't think would be a good option for the summer. The course is way too heavily focused on ecology / evolution. If the poster can get away without taking any biology pre-reqs for all schools in Canada (I doubt it though) that would be good. I don't think taking a first year course in this case would help a lot for the MCAT.

[vetmode]

I'm not planning on taking BIO150Y1 in the summer. Would research related to biological sciences be more valuable than taking extra courses?

[naspec]

A lot of schools out west (and Memorial, I think) require 1.0 credits of English, if you're looking to cover all your bases.

[vetmode]

For those, I'd have to switch my humanities and social science courses around.