Guest Ian Wong Posted March 24, 2001 Report Share Posted March 24, 2001 Author:*Dave Date:***12/13/2000 10:19 pm*PST * Hey this site is awesome and helpful thanx for putting up such a great site! So...I have a question here...I am now 1st year in UBC (yeah I know it's kinda early to worry about applying Med school) and I struggled through BIOL 121 this term...it was really tough...so i am just wondering, if I get like a 60% on this course, would it be considered "over" for me in terms of applying med schools because as far as I know it is one of the prerequisite course and is calculated in the prerequisite average... Or, would it still be possible if I ace all other required courses that are also counted for the average? BTW also you cannot take a course again if you passed it right? If somebody can please answer me! Thanx! *_* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Wong Posted March 24, 2001 Report Share Posted March 24, 2001 Author:*Jase Date:***12/13/2000 10:42 pm*PST * Dude... Here's my advice. Try and do the best you can for every course. It is true that a bad mark WILL pull your average down. This year, I applied to ontario medical schools and UBC. I found that for the ontario schools... any mark below an 80 will kill you. Luckily, I only had 2 of these. Let me illustrate to you a point. A person may have a 90 average with a mix of 90s, 80s, and 70s. In reality, a person with all 80's will end up with a HIGHER CONVERTED OMSAS AVERAGE. In other words, the person with all 80's will have something like 3.86 whereas the person with the mix of grades will have 3.75. This will mean the difference between getting an interview at UofT or Ottawa. Conclusion: try not to get anything below 80... This will kill your app. But what is done is done. Don't look back and study hard. The road to medicine is tough, but if you're really committed to it, you'll pull through. Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Wong Posted March 24, 2001 Report Share Posted March 24, 2001 Author:*Dave-UG4 Date:***12/16/2000 1:23 am*PST * i wouldn't worry too much about the biol 121 mark... i did crappy in it too!!! but i ended up pulling it up in my second year (in Organic chem... can you believe it?) anyhow, biol 121 mark really depends on which prof you have, and the lab portion is a pain in the a**. The labs in undergrad can only get better, so keep your hopes up! Good luck in the future! dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Wong Posted March 24, 2001 Report Share Posted March 24, 2001 Author:*Jase Date:***12/16/2000 12:19 am*PST * Exactly. It's really the standard you set for yourself. Perhaps I'm simplifying things a little too much, but I know several of my classmates who, after getting a bad mark in one course, lowered their standards entirely and didn't care if they had B's and C's. In reality, don't let bad marks discourage you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Wong Posted March 24, 2001 Report Share Posted March 24, 2001 Author:*Dave Date:***12/17/2000 10:59 pm*PST * Thanks guys...you make me feel so much better! I've promised myself to work really hard next term and years to pull my average back up...although it would seem really hard now coz I screwed up on my MATH 100 final as well~~ Oh well I know I did good on CHEM 121 and PHYS 101~~ so I'll probably still have 2 marks in at least the 80's~~ And, yeah, I just want to agree with Dave~~ Now that they made the BIOL 140 (Lab) totally separate from the BIOL 121...I assume it is worse now. It was the worst class for me...(and, as far as I knew, for everyone else) because it was a LOT of work in 12 weeks...1st years need room to BREATHE! But I did well in that class (around a low A-) so...at least I survived! I mean CHEM and PHYS labs were so much better than the BIOL lab...everyday you had to think about that bio lab and do something about it at least once...it was pretty sick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Wong Posted March 24, 2001 Report Share Posted March 24, 2001 Author:*Ian Wong, MS2 Date:***12/15/2000 2:41 pm*PST * Hey there, I just finished a nasty anatomy/histology lab exam not two hours ago, so I can understand how discouraging it is to want to do well in a course, and then just not get the job done. Unfortunately, you can't afford to do this on a regular basis without putting your application hopes into serious jeopardy. In general, like Jase mentioned above, one bad mark won't kill your chances. However, the important question is: "Why am I worried that I'm going to get a 60%?" You really need to be honest to yourself and open to self-examination. Did you do poorly because you didn't put enough work in? That's correctable: work harder. On the other hand, if there are concepts that you just aren't understanding, then you really have to examine what methods help you learn best and use them to your advantage. For example, in cramming for my anatomy test, I'm a big fan of laying stuff out in tables. It works for me, and helps keep me organized. Some of my class-mates swear by flash-cards and use those a great deal. Other classmates are visual learners, and spend their time drawing diagrams. Some people like listening to lecturers and never miss a lecture or skip a class. Other people love reading the textbooks and checking literature out of the library, so they rarely attend class, and spend their time in Woodward Biomedical Library instead. Find out what works for you and use it. If you were to get a bad mark in this course, you'd probably still be in the running for medical school. UBC realises that first year is a difficult period as it requires a lot of re-adjustment from high school. Still, if you continue to get poor marks, especially in your pre-requisites, it really damages your chances. Also, if you keep all your marks around the same level, then one course with a worse mark (say one letter grade) doesn't affect your GPA very much. However, it's very, very, difficult to pull up a GPA if you've got already previously received 1 or 2 atrocious marks. Ian Can, MS2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Wong Posted March 24, 2001 Report Share Posted March 24, 2001 Author:*Ian Wong, MS2 Date:***12/18/2000 0:13 am*PST * Sounds good. Work hard, but don't forget to have some fun as well. Ian Can, MS2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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