I Need Help with information on Pre-med and highschool

[Guest foxyleadragon]

Hi my name is Ashlea and I am currently in grade twelve at an ontario highschool. Throughout highschool I have been taking courses to enter into an undergraduate program which would lead me to a career in law, and therefore eliminated my sciences. Now I find myself in a predicament, because of a series of events which recently happened, I have really been considering going into medicine, but I have no scientific background. I can do science, and I did get good grades when I took it. I have thought of upgrading my courses, but I have a problem in that they have change the curriculum in Ontario highschools, and I am on the old curriculum where as the year under is on the new curriculum, and there is no cross curriculum allowed. Does anyone have any advice, or know of any ways that I can get my sciences so that I can still go into pre med.

 

thanks for your time

ashlea

[Guest Ian Wong]

Med schools don't care which courses you've taken in high school; in fact, they won't even ask which you ended up taking.

 

As long as your university courses match the required courses, you'll therefore be okay, which means that you don't even need to do a science undergraduate degree to get into med school. You might want to visit the websites of the med schools that you might be interested in attending (premed101.com/medschools.html), and see what sorts of sciences courses they might require.

 

There's some additional information in the Premed101.com FAQ, which is located at the top message of this forum.

 

Ian

UBC, Med 3

[Guest Liana]

While universities would prefer you to have completed high school courses in science, most offer science courses for students with no high school background. Medical schools in Canada don't care what your major is in university, as long as you have completed the prerequisite courses (usually a year of chemistry, biology, physics, organic chemistry, and sometimes english).

 

The only area you might run into a problem with is going to a school that won't allow you to register in science courses. Many schools compensate for the fact that high schools vary in the depth they teach their courses, so first year is used as a time to "catch up". However, you might want to take this into consideration when you're choosing a school next year: you should ask the admissions officers if they will let you into their first year science courses without OAC science. If you have grade 11 chemistry or physics, that would help, but is not essential. The one thing I would be wary of, is that admissions officers don't always know everything that goes on at their school. They may tell you that it is possible to take science courses, and it would be unfortunate if they were inaccurate. Most admissions officers try to be accurate to the point where they will underestimate the offerings of their school. Your best bet, if you can afford the time to do some research, would be to go to the science webpages of the universities you are interested in. Usually there is an email address or phone number for a Program Advisor, or any individual who may be able to forward your question to the most appropriate individual. Another good resource is to ask current students.

 

For instance, at Guelph, I know that you can't gain admission to a science program unless you have OAC calculus, and 3 of the sciences or algebra & geometry. However, you could register at Guelph in a BA program (for instance, psychology or possibly even the Bachelor of Arts & Sciences) and then take the necessary OAC equivalent courses in your first year. I'm sure many of the other schools offer something like this, or will even let you into first year science courses without prior preparation, so you should certainly look into this.

 

Hope that gives you some help!

[Guest heyheyhey]

ya you probably wont have the requirements to enter a science stream but that doesnt really matter. You can take the OAC equivalents in first year university. Then you can take the neccesary science pre reqs. I wouldn't worry about not having the knowledge either since grade 10-Oac is pretty basic stuff that you can learn quickly if you apply yourself. For everyone reading this in high school....dont get in the same situation take diversified courses its good to have broad interests and it serves a purpose if you change your plans :0 ( I like happy faces)

[Guest aneliz]

I would have to agree with what has been posted. It is possible to make up missing science credits at university BUT I believe (at Guelph anyway) that you can only count one of the OAC equivalent courses for credit in any degree program. Some of the OAC equivalent courses also have a reputation for being harder than the OAC and it also sucks to have to pay to learn what you could have learned for free in high school. So, high school students, try to keep your options open, you never know when you might need an extra science (or arts course, or language, etc) course. Extras can never hurt you!

 

Liana- Good to see another Guelph girl here. What program/year are you in?

[Guest Liana]

3rd year bio.

And you?

[Guest aneliz]

4th year Biomed.