Too heavy courseload?

[cdawso23]

Ok so I'm sorry I'm posting so much here but I just can't decide what to do next year and course registration is creeping up!

 

I am torn between doing Physiology, Phys/Pharm or Pathology. I was thinking I could take the following courses next year and decide based off which courses I like best, which module to apply for in 4th. I'm currently going into 3rd year MedSci. Here I'm trying to cover all the prereq's for the 3 modules I'm deciding between:

 

Cell Phys 3140a, Phys 3120, Phys 3130y, Anatomy 3319, Pharm 3620, Path 3240a, and Path 3245b.

 

Now this is based off someone telling me that I could defer Pharm 3580y until 4th year if needed though I'm not entirely sure that that is even true because it's included in the calculation for getting into 4th. I mean to ask the Bmsc ladies about this.

 

Would this be too heavy a courseload do you think? Would I be better off to just choose now and take a couple social sci courses (which I still need to graduate)? The thing too about Path is that I don't know for sure I would get in so it might be a better idea to just take a couple easier courses and try for Phys. According to the bmsc website the minimum average for 4th year path was 88.25% If I got a 91% average next year I could make that, but that's fairly high still...

 

Any thoughts on what I should do? I'm so torn.

[CharmingHedgehog]

I am not in the BMSc program, so no advice from me there.

Is your ultimate goal medicine? Or are you open to other professional schools as well?

If you want med, it seems that you are picking some mighty difficult courses! The bottom line I guess would be, will you have enough time to study, do your ECs, and pick your courses so that even if you don't get into med, you can graduate with a degree that will lead you into something else, or let you try again/be more competitive.

If you already have the GPA to apply for med, then pick whatever you want lol

[obi]

Would this be too heavy a courseload do you think?

 

This will be a killer courseload. Come exam time you will literally cry.

[bopo]

Is your goal to simply try and get an average or are you looking to take courses you have an interest in?

 

I really dislike the idea that you need to load up your schedule with bird courses to get the almighty Med School GPA. If you are interested in the material you should want to work hard and learn it. Those are some really good courses, that yes, will require work and lot of memorization but if you like the stuff, it's worth it. And with that, you do not need a 4.0 GPA to get into med school so getting an 85 average versus a 95% average is not going to make or break your application.

 

Also, I would advise anyone who wants to go to Med School, to look beyond it. Ask yourself what you would like to do if you didn't get into Med School. Take stuff that fits in with a back-up plan too. If you like pathology, take more courses in it. If you like the physiology/cell biology angle better, focus on that. Don't worry about the difficulty of courses because the reality is that there are very few courses where you *CAN'T* get a high mark. It might take more work but it is always possible.

[ws11]

Is your goal to simply try and get an average or are you looking to take courses you have an interest in?

 

I really dislike the idea that you need to load up your schedule with bird courses to get the almighty Med School GPA. If you are interested in the material you should want to work hard and learn it. Those are some really good courses, that yes, will require work and lot of memorization but if you like the stuff, it's worth it. And with that, you do not need a 4.0 GPA to get into med school so getting an 85 average versus a 95% average is not going to make or break your application.

 

Also, I would advise anyone who wants to go to Med School, to look beyond it. Ask yourself what you would like to do if you didn't get into Med School. Take stuff that fits in with a back-up plan too. If you like pathology, take more courses in it. If you like the physiology/cell biology angle better, focus on that. Don't worry about the difficulty of courses because the reality is that there are very few courses where you *CAN'T* get a high mark. It might take more work but it is always possible.

 

I completely agree with all of this, and I think that a lot of people lose sight of one of the purposes of university (to have an opportunity learn about topics you are interested in in great detail, with professors who are experts in that field) in favour of just getting a high GPA. However, at the same time, GPA IS very important for med school, and no one wants to have to do a 5th year of undergrad to make up for marks that weren't good enough, if it's possible to avoid it. Having taken most of those courses myself I can say that if I had done all of those courses at once, I probably wouldn't have ended up doing well. Also, even if they are of interest to you, if you took all those courses at once, with no "easy" ones to balance them out, the intense workload may make you unnecessarily unhappy with your life at several points during the year. They are all interesting courses, especially for someone who is interested in medicine, but if you are unhappy and burnt out, they may cease to have their appeal lol.

 

That is what would be true for me, and you may be different. But my opinion would be that taking all those high-level science courses at once would cause much undue stress to you.

[preppy038]

But you know what?

 

If you take courses in subjects that you're interested in and like, you will do well in them (unless you're lazy).

 

I agree with everyone above. I think the courses that you are interested in essentially become "easy" courses to you since you will enjoy studying them.

[cdawso23]

I completely agree with all of this, and I think that a lot of people lose sight of one of the purposes of university (to have an opportunity learn about topics you are interested in in great detail, with professors who are experts in that field) in favour of just getting a high GPA. However, at the same time, GPA IS very important for med school, and no one wants to have to do a 5th year of undergrad to make up for marks that weren't good enough, if it's possible to avoid it. Having taken most of those courses myself I can say that if I had done all of those courses at once, I probably wouldn't have ended up doing well. Also, even if they are of interest to you, if you took all those courses at once, with no "easy" ones to balance them out, the intense workload may make you unnecessarily unhappy with your life at several points during the year. They are all interesting courses, especially for someone who is interested in medicine, but if you are unhappy and burnt out, they may cease to have their appeal lol.

 

That is what would be true for me, and you may be different. But my opinion would be that taking all those high-level science courses at once would cause much undue stress to you.

 

Thanks everyone for the responses! I think I would enjoy all of these courses but that's my really my problem. I think I would definitely enjoy all phys, pharm and path courses and I can't decide between.

 

I think to those saying that all science 3rd year would be too much are correct - I want to take courses I enjoy but not at the sacrifice of my GPA. I had a bad first year so I really need to shine in the subsequent years. I think I'll do HSP phys and just take the path courses as electives. I wish there was some way I could still get into the 4th year path courses though.

 

Do people like the 4th year thesis? Would sticking with MedSci be a better idea? I've heard mixed things about the thesis project.