How does medical school weigh the first yr of uni?

[Guest Cornerstone]

Hi,

 

I'm currently attending UfT and well admitedly it's not that bad of a school, the courses are challenging but I think with sufficient work it should not be hard to achieve fairly decent marks. The unfortunate part of this is I came into realization of this a bit late into the year (ie. before my second set of midterms) Let's just say I'm glad I passed:) I'm well aware of what I did wrong, so all I need now is to try harder in the second term, although I want to know how much will this cost me? I heard that med school do not look at first year with equal weighing, that is they take into consideration the transition period for some students. Is that true? and is that applicable to all med school or only certain one? I appreciate any comments you may have. Thanx.

[Guest JD]

It depends both on the school and on when you apply. I don't know how it works at out of province schools, but here's what is currently done in Ontario... If you apply during your third year, U of T, Queen's, and Mac count first and second year equally. Western counts your best year and current year, and Ottawa counts second year for two thirds and first year for one third.

 

If you apply during fourth year, U of T will count your worst year for just half as much (as long as you have a full course load EVERY year). Queen's will count either your past two years or all your years (depending on which is better), Western still counts just your best and current years, and Ottawa counts third year for 50%, second year for 33%, and first year for 16%. Finally, Mac counts all years equally (including summer courses).

 

Hope this helps, and best of luck.

[Guest Ian Wong]

It would vary between each medical school. For example, here at UBC, they look at all of your grades from all post-secondary institutions you have attended. Dr. Bates has said publically that UBC looks at trends in your marks as they understand that first year is often a difficult transition year out of high school, but I've not seen any concrete formulas released by UBC med (as opposed to what JD has told you for the Ontario schools) that describe exactly how UBC evaluates these "trends".

 

Ian

UBC, Med 3