Bois de Boulogne or Vanier

[gr4v1ty]

As you know, the 1st of march approaches really fast and I need to choose, but I have 2 choices that embarrass me.

 

I don't know whether to go at Vanier or at Bois de Boulogne. You guys must know that at B de B, people told me the life there isn't as fun as elsewhere. What I mean by that, is that you won't get animation, and alot of people had complained about this CEGEP. But, on the other side, they are one of the best in Natural Science...

 

But now I read a little about the Cote R thing, and the Cegep doesn't really count anymore. Where you guys will suggest me to go? Considering i'm more french than English, but I speak Enligh very well, this is not the problem.

 

Please tell me some reasons. Thank you. Help appreciated.

 

PS: Mom, who is a doctor, tells me that there aren't a lot of people she knows that studied at Vanier and that is now working as medic...

[Nick_P]

Why not Marianopolis? They have decent programs there, and the competitive atmosphere will definitely improve a student's performance. Just my 2cents thought.

[gr4v1ty]

Transportation, I live in Blainville and Marianopolis is too far. THe problem is between these 2

 

But thanks

 

PS: I'd like to get as much reviews please. SInce this is the only site I found talking about Cegeps. Thanks you

[r201]

Personally, I go to BdeB and I can tell you it's a great cegep. teachers are really good and devoted to what they do, and IFG (indice de force du groupe) is not low; that doesn't mean it's easy to have a high r-score, but at least you know you’re not going to a place where 95% can’t give you more than 33. In addition to that, a lot of bdeb’s students get accepted in medicine each year (especially UdeM) and it prepares you really well to university.

[gr4v1ty]

I heard people complain about the fact that there's not really a CEGEP life there... :S

Can someone confirm? Infirm?

[C2MD]

I can't confirm if this is true or not for B de B, but one thing I learned about my experience in Cegep (which also had a reputation of being boring) is that no matter where you go, it's the friends you have/ make and the CEGEP life you create together that makes the 2 years really fun.

 

Then again, it all depends on what you mean by CEGEP life and what exactly you are looking for.

 

C

 

I heard people complain about the fact that there's not really a CEGEP life there... :S

Can someone confirm? Infirm?

[gr4v1ty]

What I mean by CEGEP life, is that if ever you have a break of 4 hours one day a week, well, I don't want to stay 4 hours doing nothing. I want animation, nice people to talk with, not people who will just study. I Know I'm exageration a bit.

 

When I went to high school, each lunch time we had nothing interesting to do, except sec 1-3 were we were kids and went outside play with snow. But sec 4 - 5, just chilling with friends, talking every damn break. There were sports we could play, but it wasn't entertaining, no one was going there. It was...boring.

 

I know it's just 2 years, but I don't want to make the wrong choice.

Going to Vanier, than having less chance to go at McGill's

Or goin at B de B and then regretting the choice.

[r201]

Vanier is an awesome college too, I have a lot of friends who went there and had excellent grades and wonderful experiences. But since I’ve never experienced Vanier “cegep life” myself, I can’t say what it’s like. But what I can tell you about BdeB is that it is completely untrue that there is no life there. I had the chance and the opportunity to know a lot of amazing people and to make a lot of friends. I’ve heard a lot of things about bdeb before getting in, but once you’re in, you will realize soon enough, like I did, that it’s a very normal cegep, full of smart and helpful students. Well, I have to admit that it’s not easy and maybe harder than some other cegeps, but you will get used to it soon enough and it will prepare you wonderfully for university. But I assure you, if you’re willing to work hard (something you will have to do in any other cegep), you will have a great time at bdeb (I personally found BdeB experience better than my high school experience).

[C2MD]

I guess you need to weigh what's more important to you:

- R score to get into med right out of CEGEP (I might be wrong be the IFG for B de B is better than Vanier? Don't know Dawson vs. Vanier, but is Dawson not an option because of distance?)

- Having a CEGEP life (which isn't assured no matter where you go... it all depends on the people around you + some moments will always be boring)

 

Have you gone through the websites of both schools? Visited both or talked with the schools to find out what type of activities they offer?

 

If McGill is your goal it doesn't matter if you go to a French or English CEGEP. What matters are your grades (i.e. R score), EC's, life experience you gain, etc. (don't forget that for now ULaval, UdeM and U de Sherbrooke first only look at your R score to see if you qualify for admission)...

 

C

 

What I mean by CEGEP life, is that if ever you have a break of 4 hours one day a week, well, I don't want to stay 4 hours doing nothing. I want animation, nice people to talk with, not people who will just study. I Know I'm exageration a bit.

 

When I went to high school, each lunch time we had nothing interesting to do, except sec 1-3 were we were kids and went outside play with snow. But sec 4 - 5, just chilling with friends, talking every damn break. There were sports we could play, but it wasn't entertaining, no one was going there. It was...boring.

 

I know it's just 2 years, but I don't want to make the wrong choice.

Going to Vanier, than having less chance to go at McGill's

Or goin at B de B and then regretting the choice.

[gr4v1ty]

But wasn't the R score not based on the Cegep anymore?

 

Correct me if i'm wrong. It's harder to get a high R-score in a good class (80% average) rather than a class where the average is around (75%)

[Maxvail]

But wasn't the R score not based on the Cegep anymore?

 

Correct me if i'm wrong. It's harder to get a high R-score in a good class (80% average) rather than a class where the average is around (75%)

 

No, harder group is better because of IFG(group strength)! Well thats what they all say at least... All I have to say is that it is very difficult to get a respectable R-score at Vanier in your general studies class. For example: an 86% on a complemantry gave me an R-score of 25.75, all my other non-science grades were 93-95% and I got 33.4-34.3 in them. The group strength in science seems average.

[r201]

But wasn't the R score not based on the Cegep anymore?

 

Correct me if i'm wrong. It's harder to get a high R-score in a good class (80% average) rather than a class where the average is around (75%)

 

Well, I can tell you that at BdeB, it’s possible to have a good r-score in your “non-science” classes. I know at least 15 people who have an overall r-score of 35, more than 20 with 34, and some people with 36, and I can assure you that it’s not impossible to have a good r-score in your complementary courses (with 85 in psychology, I was able to have 35, with a class average of 73), so averages are not really high but IFG is pretty good, but you should know that you should study really hard, it’s not easy to have good grades at BdeB.

[MedPen]

Go to Bois de Boulogne. The quality of education is better, classes are smaller, there are more people who are serious about their studies as opposed to just taking a lot of random cegep classes for the fun of it. I wouldn't worry about the social life: no matter where you go, you'll meet people who you get along with. You control the social aspect of cegep whereas the academic aspect is controlled by where you go.

[gr4v1ty]

No, harder group is better because of IFG(group strength)! Well thats what they all say at least... All I have to say is that it is very difficult to get a respectable R-score at Vanier in your general studies class. For example: an 86% on a complemantry gave me an R-score of 25.75, all my other non-science grades were 93-95% and I got 33.4-34.3 in them. The group strength in science seems average.

 

But this is because of the group you were in? OR just becasue you had 86?

Becasue I don't want to shoot myself (penalize) by going to vanier...

[Maxvail]

A complementary is a course you take which is outside your program of studies, in my case this was a sociology course. The course was EXTREMELY easy, it was a real joke, I didn't take it seriously at all and that is what ended up killing me. The class average was 79, I got 86% with a 25.75 R score. This is particularly bad and unusual, even at Vanier and is due to the low group strength at Vanier. If you do decide to go to Vanier, I recommend you always take the complementary/humanity courses which seem to be the hardest, as courses filled with unmotivated social science kids tend to give horrible R-scores. I am currently considering a transfer to BdeB or Champlain because Vanier courses are too easy (again to suit the weaker students in social) and therefore don't allow me to exploit my potential. I am in Honours Health Sci at Vanier (you get an invite if you have 85%-90% in sec5 chem. phys and math), I assure there is no advantage/disadvantage in terms of R-score in that program, the mood is pretty cool though as we take all of our science courses together.

 

Best of luck!

See you maybe Vanier or BdeB, I dont know where either of us will be next year...

[gr4v1ty]

The fact of changing doesn't affect your student file. I mean, won't they be asking themselves (At university) why did he change of CEGEP. Wasn't there a thing that said you need to do everything at the same CEGEP in order to go in medicine. Do the courses in 2 years straight, no break?

[CREA.tive]

The fact of changing doesn't affect your student file. I mean, won't they be asking themselves (At university) why did he change of CEGEP. Wasn't there a thing that said you need to do everything at the same CEGEP in order to go in medicine. Do the courses in 2 years straight, no break?

 

I am pretty sure that you can switch CEGEP if you want, as long as you complete your DEC in 2 years with a normal courseload. If they ask you why you changed, you can simply say that you did not feel good at Vanier, which is kind of true.

[Maxvail]

I am pretty sure that you can switch CEGEP if you want, as long as you complete your DEC in 2 years with a normal courseload. If they ask you why you changed, you can simply say that you did not feel good at Vanier, which is kind of true.

 

pretty much, yep!

[gr4v1ty]

Thanks really much of your help. I have finally chosen Boid de Boulogne since it's easier for the transport and I have a lot of friend going there. ANd I will see how lif'Es going on there.

 

But what about the R-Score, I'm sure there's a topic about that, Bu since we are discussing it. Can someone explain me what is exactly the W(score). Becasue I was claculating what would be the influence If I go to Vanier.

 

And what Cegep are you guys going to? What are you doing to enter medicine after? What kind of "Community" services and all that? I'm really interested. Better getting started sooner

[paul1993willy]

I know that it is an old post, but I wanted to tell you how to calculate your R score. Some terms will be in French since I learned it at school. To calculate your R score, you will need to get the arithmetic mean (moyenne arithmetique) of all the students that had 50% or more at the end of the session. With that, calculate the standard deviation (l'ecart type) which is the sum of the absolute values of the difference between the students grades and the mean divided by the number of students -- ((|x1 - mean| + |x2 - mean| + |xn - mean|) / number of students). You will need it to calculate the z score which is your grade minus the mean divided by the standard deviation -- ((your_grade - mean)/standard_deviation). At last, you add the ISG (Indice de force du groupe) which is (Average grade results of Secondary IV and V of all the group's students - 75 ) ÷ 14) -- this part is hard to calculate because it is not given on omnivox -- and a constant of 5. The z score, alone, should be a good indicator.