pat15 Posted April 6, 2011 Report Share Posted April 6, 2011 I'm not sure if I should do summer school at U of T if its med school does not include the mark into the GPA calculation. I was thinking of taking second year biochem (im in first year), since I heard its a challenging course that is harder to do well in during the year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scissortail Posted April 6, 2011 Report Share Posted April 6, 2011 Just so you know, your academic score for U of T is not directly proportional to your GPA. A large part of it is how rigorous and cohesive your course load is. This is why many engineers/grad students with lower than average GPA get in and many people with >3.9 don't even get interview. Don't make a habit of taking the easy way out by taking hard courses in the summer. They'll still see those courses on your transcript and this may actually decrease your academic score. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GGGSaint Posted April 6, 2011 Report Share Posted April 6, 2011 I'm not sure if I should do summer school at U of T if its med school does not include the mark into the GPA calculation. I was thinking of taking second year biochem (im in first year), since I heard its a challenging course that is harder to do well in during the year. Not necessarily true. If you ever take summer courses, don't base things on perceived level of difficulty (or lack thereof)...do it to make your schedule during the year (gap time between lectures etc.) bearable. Imho, nothing worse than 2+ hour gaps between classes. Finally, work your butt off in every course you take and try to take courses you're deeply interested in. This should result in a courseload that is sufficiently challenging, gets you a good learning experience as well as (hopefully) a 3.8+ GPA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neuronix Posted April 6, 2011 Report Share Posted April 6, 2011 Just so you know, your academic score for U of T is not directly proportional to your GPA. A large part of it is how rigorous and cohesive your course load is. This is why many engineers/grad students with lower than average GPA get in and many people with >3.9 don't even get interview. Don't make a habit of taking the easy way out by taking hard courses in the summer. They'll still see those courses on your transcript and this may actually decrease your academic score. they way that you are defining rigorous is probably wrong. It's not that biochem is harder the political science - not to the admissions committee. What they are talking about mostly has to do with year level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
repede Posted April 6, 2011 Report Share Posted April 6, 2011 Is this BCH210? I actually don't think it has that much of a reputation of being challenging. Perhaps it's different now, but it's not something you need to worry a whole lot about. Something like PSL302 (Physiology) or ANA300 (Anatomy), though, those are courses I'd recommend you take in the summer. (After 2nd year; it's too early if you've only completed 1st year.) Rather than basing your decision on whether or not it'll raise/lower your GPA, I'd recommend asking yourself... do you want to take the course over the summer? Or would you rather do something else with that time? Would it benefit your schedule, so you can take another course that interests you? As for this whole "course rigour/difficulty" thing, you're going to hear something different from everyone because I don't think anyone here ACTUALLY knows what's involved in the calculation of the academic score. My hunch is that, if it's obvious that you're grouping harder courses in the summer and taking "easier" courses during the year to raise your wGPA, it's not a good thing for UofT Med. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scissortail Posted April 6, 2011 Report Share Posted April 6, 2011 they way that you are defining rigorous is probably wrong. It's not that biochem is harder the political science - not to the admissions committee. What they are talking about mostly has to do with year level. It definitely involves more than just course levels. If you read Deborah's blog you'll get a sense of it (including reading her reply to people's specific cases). Either way this has been discussed before in other threads. Let's just say it's unpredictable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shikimate Posted April 6, 2011 Report Share Posted April 6, 2011 I took BCH210 in the summer. Good decision in retro. Had lots of time to study, definitely recommend it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lado1234 Posted April 7, 2011 Report Share Posted April 7, 2011 I'm not sure if I should do summer school at U of T if its med school does not include the mark into the GPA calculation. I was thinking of taking second year biochem (im in first year), since I heard its a challenging course that is harder to do well in during the year. If you enjoy problem-solving (not the ridiculous type - the one where you know you can actually solve it based on info given in class) you will really like biochem210. The profs who taught were amazing, especially baker! It wasn't that easy or that difficult, but majority of my friends who were hard workers did well in the course because they were so interested in the material and wanted to study for this class more than their other classes. PS: It was my first 90+ mark at UofT, so you never know, it might just be your GPA booster. Just dont take PSL302 in second year Lol, althought I ended up doing good int hat class somehow, it was really hard taking courses like BCH210 along with it because of the amount of memorization and close exam dates!. If your second year schedule is average in intensity, id take BCH210 in the year. If not, consider the summer one then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeliciousMelon Posted April 8, 2011 Report Share Posted April 8, 2011 I would say BCH210 is definitely manageable during the year. Compared to other courses I had, it was actually one of the easier/more interesting courses. And Dr. Baker was really really good! Just make sure you attend tutorial (VERY helpful) and do past tests. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
takashi Posted April 8, 2011 Report Share Posted April 8, 2011 Ironically its probably one of my top 5 courses in terms of how much material you had to memorize yet it was my best grade in 2nd year. I think its definitely doable during the year. If you put a decent amount of work into the course I think you can achieve a good mark. What I would recommend taking in the summer are the chemistry courses (CHM247 and CHM220). Those can be fairly difficult and most of my life sci friends struggled with one or both of those courses. I did well in organic (high 80s) but I got ****ed in physical chem (low 70s). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catalina Posted April 16, 2011 Report Share Posted April 16, 2011 It definitely involves more than just course levels. If you read Deborah's blog you'll get a sense of it (including reading her reply to people's specific cases). Either way this has been discussed before in other threads. Let's just say it's unpredictable. What's the link to Deborah's blog? thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thatonekid Posted April 18, 2011 Report Share Posted April 18, 2011 What's the link to Deborah's blog? thanks http://utmedadmissions.wordpress.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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