Honors Degree?

[3mikee_]

I understand that Western requires you to have an honors degree in order to apply to their med school. I was wondering if this applied to any other med schools in Canada? If so, what exactly is an honors degree? Is it simply a 4 year degree? Or is it completion of a degree with a minimum GPA?

 

At Western, I believe an honors degree depends on whether you complete all the pre-reqs for that specific honors specialization degree or w.e. Correct me if I'm wrong, I'm really confused about this whole honors degree thing.

 

Thanks!

[ellorie]

Western has a weird concept of "honors". I am at McGill, and according to McGill I did not do an honors degree, but Western still accepted my BSc. I think it just has to be a four year program. Western is the only program that specifically requires "honors" to my knowledge, but what they mean by "honors" is a bit wacky.

[rmorelan]

Western has a weird concept of "honors". I am at McGill, and according to McGill I did not do an honors degree, but Western still accepted my BSc. I think it just has to be a four year program. Western is the only program that specifically requires "honors" to my knowledge, but what they mean by "honors" is a bit wacky.

 

well they say honours or equivalent - in general terms they just want you to have a 4 year degree that would allow you to then go do a masters - which to be honest is pretty much every standard degree

[MarathonRunner]

I think the whole "honours" thing at Western dates back to when you still had grade 13/OAC in Ontario. Back then, once you got to university in Ontario, you could choose to do a 3-year general BA or BSc, or a 4-year honours BA or BSc.

 

Nowadays, the 3-year general degrees have pretty much disappeared, since grade 13 is gone. So the standard 4-year degree is what used to be called an honours degree.

 

The problem is, of course, that other universities across Canada use "honours" to distinguish between a degree that includes a 4th year thesis as part of the program and those that don't. Either one of those is acceptable to Western, as long as it is a 4-year program that would allow you to go on to pursue graduate studies.

 

But yeah, the term "honours" dates back to when we still had grade 13 in Ontario, and it was possible to do a 3-year bachelor's degree that was a general degree as opposed to an honours degree.

[rmorelan]

I think the whole "honours" thing at Western dates back to when you still had grade 13/OAC in Ontario. Back then, once you got to university in Ontario, you could choose to do a 3-year general BA or BSc, or a 4-year honours BA or BSc.

 

Nowadays, the 3-year general degrees have pretty much disappeared, since grade 13 is gone. So the standard 4-year degree is what used to be called an honours degree.

 

The problem is, of course, that other universities across Canada use "honours" to distinguish between a degree that includes a 4th year thesis as part of the program and those that don't. Either one of those is acceptable to Western, as long as it is a 4-year program that would allow you to go on to pursue graduate studies.

 

But yeah, the term "honours" dates back to when we still had grade 13 in Ontario, and it was possible to do a 3-year bachelor's degree that was a general degree as opposed to an honours degree.

 

and those degrees do still exist and people still do them. I know at least 3 big schools still churning them out. Actually not sure if it is OAC thing or just around that same time they started cutting general degrees down but the end effect is the same

[3mikee_]

Well... I'm currently doing a non honors 4 year major here at UWO... Just wondering if that is okay for med schools across Ontario and Canada...also I'm guessing that it won't prohibit me from completing a masters as well?

[MarathonRunner]

and those degrees do still exist and people still do them. I know at least 3 big schools still churning them out. Actually not sure if it is OAC thing or just around that same time they started cutting general degrees down but the end effect is the same

 

The universities that I am familiar with in Ontario (which, granted, are only a small portion of the total universities in this province), all eliminated their 3-year general degree programs the same year that OAC was eliminated. So it seems, at least for smaller universities, there was a direct correlation - the elimination of grade 13 resulted in the elimination of the 3-year general programs at these institutions.

 

I'm showing my age here, but I remember when students from provinces outside of Ontario, who came to Ontario for university, had to do a year of pre-university credits to be admitted to an honours program, or certain programs that were always honours programs (ie. engineering, which was always a four-year program - you could never do it in 3).

 

But if larger schools are still offering 3-year degree programs then obviously my hypothesis falls short of explaining why Western still uses the "honours" terminology. Based on my (limited) experience I thought it was tied to the elimination of grade 13 and thus the (or so I thought) elimination of 3-year general degree programs.

[animo_acid]

So the 'honours' requirement in Western just means that you need a 4 year degree? I almost thought I couldn't apply when I read their requirement!

[preppy038]

Western has a weird concept of "honors". I am at McGill, and according to McGill I did not do an honors degree, but Western still accepted my BSc. I think it just has to be a four year program. Western is the only program that specifically requires "honors" to my knowledge, but what they mean by "honors" is a bit wacky.

 

Yep.

 

McGill degree is equivalent to Ontario's honors degree (whether u did the honours program or not)

[obi]

Western offers "Honours" degrees though. So i wonder if you came out of Western having not done an honours degree whether or not they would count it? Anyone have any experiences with this?

[3mikee_]

I just spoke to one of the academic counsellors at UWO and she told me that for Schulich (western's med school) you need a "Honors" degree if you studied undergrad at UWO. As for other schools, I'm pretty sure the honors concept simply means a 4 year undergrad. But if you are applying as a UWO undergrad you will need to have done a honors degree.

[Tacrolimus]

Would this make Western the only school where, technically, you could be in your 4th year of undergrad, but not be eligible to apply because those years are not under "one" degree? (i.e. somebody in a professional program cannot apply here?)

[nauru]

This is an interesting policy. What about people who did their undergraduate degree in England, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, etc where 3 year degrees are the norm, require a bachelor's thesis, and allow you to go on to a masters degree (or PhD in the United States)?

 

Or someone who does a 3 year degree and then also has a masters degree at a top place, implying that the 3 year degree was sufficient for admission to graduate school?

[rmorelan]

This is an interesting policy. What about people who did their undergraduate degree in England, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, etc where 3 year degrees are the norm, require a bachelor's thesis, and allow you to go on to a masters degree (or PhD in the United States)?

 

Or someone who does a 3 year degree and then also has a masters degree at a top place, implying that the 3 year degree was sufficient for admission to graduate school?

 

Unusual cases like that of course you have to go through the admissions office and ask on an individual basis. Obviously the Canadian system is not particularly adapt at handling other countries' degree programs. They never had to be with all the competition here. Schools often simply ignore exception cases because they can and there is no easy way to integrate them fairly into the system. They post their rules - they expect you to follow them.

 

(also as a general rule that Masters degree has to be in the same field as the UG degree - but again that is just a general rule).

[future_doc]

It is an Honours degree "or equivalent", and in Quebec (because of Cegep) our bachelors degree is 3 years. UWO has no problem with this. Moreover, my understanding of "equivalent" is that you can get into a Masters degree program following your undergrad degree.

[rmorelan]

It is an Honours degree "or equivalent", and in Quebec (because of Cegep) our bachelors degree is 3 years. UWO has no problem with this. Moreover, my understanding of "equivalent" is that you can get into a Masters degree program following your undergrad degree.

 

(one that is in the same discipline - I have to keep putting that out there because many masters degrees - MBAs immediately spring to mind - would not count. Often something like a MEd wouldn't either.)

[Head Squeeze]

I believe Ottawa requires a BSc honours for MD/PhD program. http://www.med.uottawa.ca/md-phd/eng/

[future_doc]

(one that is in the same discipline - I have to keep putting that out there because many masters degrees - MBAs immediately spring to mind - would not count. Often something like a MEd wouldn't either.)

 

Yes, clarification appreciated.

[rmorelan]

I believe Ottawa requires a BSc honours for MD/PhD program. http://www.med.uottawa.ca/md-phd/eng/

 

True - although I guess it is fairer to say the phd part of that is actually what is driving that requirement (the phd awarded is in a science)