Guest CD Posted June 8, 2002 Report Share Posted June 8, 2002 A poster made a question in the premed forum and it was a pretty good question... Have any of you taken English courses? If so, which university? Ive heard that English is damn near impossible to get an 80% let alone 85%! My GPA is 3.87 and I dont want it to fall any lower (which it will if I get 77% in English eek!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Wong Posted June 8, 2002 Report Share Posted June 8, 2002 Since this sounds like a General Premed question, it's also getting moved to the Premed forum out of the UWO forum. Ian UBC, Med 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest QG Posted June 8, 2002 Report Share Posted June 8, 2002 I took English 110 (survey English course) at Queen's University in first year. I worked hard on it and got 81%. Having said that though, I did score in the 1% percentile back in my home province in both my high school English Lit and English courses. It can be done, and I think the trick is to show that you've learned your material by using a lot of quotes from passages (ie. memorize these quotes when you write your answers on tests). This will differentiate you from those who write vague statements to support their answers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest yoyo11 Posted June 8, 2002 Report Share Posted June 8, 2002 1st year English in university is BRUTAL. My friends at UBC told me that it's ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE to get an 80 in English 112(strat. for university writing). They also said that most class averages are at 60%. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest princejr13 Posted June 8, 2002 Report Share Posted June 8, 2002 Hi, I took English 110 here at the University of Saskatchewan and got an 80%, while I got only around 76% in O.A.C (grade 13 in ontario). This may suggest that U of S english is easy, but let me explain to you the reasons for this anomoly. In high school I was a total slacker, during my last year of high school (grade 13) I was holding down a job in which I had to work every day and goofing off with friends was a much higher priority to me than anything else. But once I got to university I made a 180 degree (not a 360 degree !!) turnaround and got my act together. Also, I took the course during summer after second year, this way it wouldn't count in my GPA for most med schools (some do count summer courses) and I could give it my full attention. The course was not easy, I believe the class average on essays (we had to write 6) was around 55-60% and had it not been for the easy "participation" marks, lots of people would have probably failed. I don't know of anyone who had a higher mark than mine but there might have been one person with an 85 or something. The moral of the story is .... take it during summer and try you best to get atleast 80%. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BlueWooster Posted June 9, 2002 Report Share Posted June 9, 2002 I did an English minor for my undergrad. Marks were difficult to obtain in the first year classes and my average did drop. However, my marks did improve in the higher level courses. As well, an upper level course on essay writing can do wonders for your performance in ALL university classes (not to mention the MCAT). I think it's pretty typical for younger students to become frustrated with their intro English courses. The really motivated students write significantly better than their peers and have trouble understanding why the prof is sticking them with 78%. (at least I remember feeling this frustration). Yet, when I look back on those first-year essays I wrote (about 9 years ago!) - I really have to shudder. Sometimes, only time can reveal how bad at something we really are! My point is that trying to dominate expository writing the same way you might master the material in BIOL 101 may be impossible. Smart or not, most undergrad students are not Johnathan Swift and don't deserve a 98% in the class! Perhaps through careful screening of profs and programs, you may find the secret path to getting a high mark in English 110, but is it really worth it? You'll get more out of the class by just doing your work and "taking your lumps". Everyone has to! Blue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BC guy Posted June 9, 2002 Report Share Posted June 9, 2002 My advice is to take the English courses where you will actually learn to write well rather than just to get an easy mark. Often, this depends on the prof rather than the course itself. Believe me, you will work hard but you will also be that much better off when it comes to med application time. It worked for me, I am in and I attributed it to my prof who taught me to be meticulous. He criticized everything in my first essay and it was scary! He graded my first essay B and I worked myself up to an A+. Today I have to thank him and am so glad not to have taken the easy way out as some of my friends did who registered in the class with the easy-marker prof. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest candybits Posted June 10, 2002 Report Share Posted June 10, 2002 I agree with BC guy... a lot of your mark depends on which prof you get, more so than which school you take the courses at. I personally took 2 English courses during the summer at McGill, which was the summer after I graduated. It was definitely the last minute type of thing, taking the courses while I was in the process of submitting my applications to some schools in the U.S. One course was an American lit, the other a Canadian lit. I guess because they were both offered during the summer, it was rather fast-paced and quite hard to keep up, unless you do your readings on time (which can sometimes mean finishing the entire novel in 3 days!!). But then because it was so fast-paced, it motivated/pressured me to work harder big time, and I think I retained the materials better in my memory. I also felt that the profs themselves didn't really expect us to delve into the texts too deeply due to the time constraints. I did pretty well in both courses (both above 85%) and it was the first time taking any kind of English courses for me, so I was quite nervous about the whole thing. But I really had some great profs to work with, who gave me some honest yet constructive criticism. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest from ottawa Posted June 10, 2002 Report Share Posted June 10, 2002 I took English litt II at McGill which was a very easy second year course. I had a 77% and I missed half of all my classes because I was registered in a another course (organic chemistry) that took place at the same time (not the smartest move). At U of O I took the Arthurian Traditions. While not easy very possible to do well. I ended up with a 90% My first language is not English so if you put in the work in some second year courses you can probably get really good grades. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Oz10 Posted June 10, 2002 Report Share Posted June 10, 2002 Don't you guys HAVE to take english as a degree requirement? I did at UBC and think everyone should take at least one english course. Even if you are in sciences, you need to be able to write and analyze text, journals or otherwise. It is possible to get above 80% in courses but it depends on the course and your abilities. For UBC, the techinal writing course, ENG 112, it is very possible to do well in that course, especially because you are not interpreting text. The mark is based solely on your writing ability of different styles. Good luck and remember, a few marks in the 70's will not screw you for medicine! (trust me, I had a few marks in the 60s and a 55 in first year, and it didn't affect my chances) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest candybits Posted June 12, 2002 Report Share Posted June 12, 2002 Not a lot of of schools require you to take English as a requirement. In fact, I think UBC is probably the only school I know that requires its students to do so. Luckily enough, in McGill, there were no such thing, so I got away with it during my undergrad years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Varsity Blue Posted June 12, 2002 Report Share Posted June 12, 2002 Warning: English at UofT is Brutal with a capital B. But then again all courses are hard at UofT (after all we are the cream of the crop, the Harvard of the North if you will ) So watch out. What I did was take it as a transfer credit from Guelph in the summer, it was a total joke, but that's comparing it to UofT's calibre of students. If you make the trek to Guelph you will easily pull a 90%. I had a 68 in OAC English and at Guelph I got a 94%!!! So dont screw around at UofT with English you will get burned, they actually expect alot from you. Guelph was a joke of school and I got a sweet mark,its great except the smell of cow dung on the really hot days is totally disgusting. Chow fer now Diane Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JD Posted June 12, 2002 Report Share Posted June 12, 2002 The above poster is probably a troll. 68% in OAC = cream of the crop? :lol I know that here at U of T we do have some nasty English courses, but there are some pretty manageable ones as well, so just be careful what you take. I'm sure the same goes for other schools. There are some courses where you don't have to be some English lit major to get a decent mark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guelph Grad Posted June 12, 2002 Report Share Posted June 12, 2002 Might want to watch whose school you go insulting...you never know where they might show up... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UWOMED2005 Posted June 12, 2002 Report Share Posted June 12, 2002 Yeah, my Dad was a Guelph grad and was in charge of hiring summer students for a couple of years for one of Canada's largest corporations. (BTW - he was really disappointed when I didn't choose Guelph!!) And we have a number of guelph grads in medical school. . . there's a fair amount in the medical community, and making an ill-informed joke at the wrong time could easily cost one the residency of one's choice. Too bad Diane was probably not using her real name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ska Band Posted June 12, 2002 Report Share Posted June 12, 2002 There seems to be a lotta university-dissing on this fourm... And MOST of it seems to be coming from UToronto students! ha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tooty Posted June 12, 2002 Report Share Posted June 12, 2002 Hey Uwomeds2005: What is your Dad's job, what is his function and title in the company? My Dad, also works (ed) in Canada's largest corporation as a financial controller and was recently laid off But no fear he has decided on an early retirement to enjoy life with Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tooty Posted June 13, 2002 Report Share Posted June 13, 2002 see above question? take care UWOmeds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.