2nd undergrad via distance education

[Guest positively4thstreet]

hey

 

just looking for feedback on some plans...

 

basically my first undergrad was less than impressive and i've decided to do a 2nd undergrad to boost my applications. my newest plan is to complete a business degree by distance education and continue working fulltime so i wont drown in debt. i have two questions:

 

1) how do med schools look upon degrees completed by distance education?

 

2) how do med schools look upon business degrees?

 

the other option under consideration is biochemistry but it is not available by distance education. i already have a neuroscience degree and thought the business degree might be an interesting change from sciences...

 

really i'm just looking for the route that will lead to the highest chance of admission. any comments?

[Guest jgray2]

hi positive,

 

if you want to boost up your marks, then doing a business degree is a great plan as it serves as a viable back-up plan should you not get in. there are numerous threads on this board which all agree that your undergrad major doesn't matter. you will want to be able to justify your choice in essays or during interviews if/when they ask.

 

distance education is not a problem. most schools treat your gpa as solely a number (but a very important number indeed) provided that it is an accredited university in canada. they probably do not include other factors, such as major or institution in their gpa calculating formula.

 

just make sure that your online institution prints out your start and end dates for each course. this way, this will be counted for schools such as western, queens, sask. also try to fit 10 courses within each sept-apr for maximum benefit.

[Guest Jochi1543]

If I were you, I would cut down on your working hours - full courseload and a challenging full-time job is hard. I'm taking 3 courses on top of a pretty stressful full-time gig, and it's draining all the life out of me - I can't imagine doing 5 courses.

[Guest turtle]

just to highlight what both of the above posters alluded to...

 

keep in mind that most (or all?!) of the med schools require you to have been studying full time in order to count the grades from a particular year/course toward your overall gpa...

[Guest positively4thstreet]

thanks for the replies... exactly what i expected and hoped to hear...

 

i am going to enroll fulltime by distance ed. and see if i can handle it with a fulltime job. if not, i'll switch to part-time work and think about getting some sort of loan.

 

thanks again