Freaking out re: grad stream

[Nasket]

I posted this on the Dalhousie Medicine thread (IP candidate), but also thought I would ask here.

 

I will be applying to all Canadian schools this upcoming cycle as a graduate student (MPH - class of 2013 - course based). However, I just spoke to our program admin staff and she mentioned that one of the required courses for our program will not be offered until Fall of 2013 (online-basis)!!!!

 

You think any medical schools will be understanding of my situation? I know that most schools say that all course requirements must be finished before starting the medical program, but do you think any schools would be willing to see my grad-track record (currently 4.0 GPA) and let me take this course online concurrently?

 

I have also thought of asking the admin office of the med schools now, but I know that they will outright say no at this stage. Would they be more sympathetic if I get in and then explain the situation?

 

UGH...I am hyperventilating.

Any help/advice will be much appreciated. Thanks guys.

[dreamsneverdie]

I posted this on the Dalhousie Medicine thread (IP candidate), but also thought I would ask here.

 

I will be applying to all Canadian schools this upcoming cycle as a graduate student (MPH - class of 2013 - course based). However, I just spoke to our program admin staff and she mentioned that one of the required courses for our program will not be offered until Fall of 2013 (online-basis)!!!!

 

You think any medical schools will be understanding of my situation? I know that most schools say that all course requirements must be finished before starting the medical program, but do you think any schools would be willing to see my grad-track record (currently 4.0 GPA) and let me take this course online concurrently?

 

I have also thought of asking the admin office of the med schools now, but I know that they will outright say no at this stage. Would they be more sympathetic if I get in and then explain the situation?

 

UGH...I am hyperventilating.

Any help/advice will be much appreciated. Thanks guys.

 

Sorry to hear that you are so stressed! Is this course an absolute requirement for your degree?

 

There are some med schools which don't require you to have finished your masters before you start med (like mcmaster)...so for them I think they wouldn't really care. But others like UT are very strict with the whole finishing grad school business.

 

I would actually try to fight this out with your grad department and say you cannot wait till fall of 2013. Find out if you can take a similar course through another department within your university and have it count instead, or if something else can be done.....stress how important it is for you to be done. Good luck!

[Nasket]

Sorry to hear that you are so stressed! Is this course an absolute requirement for your degree?

 

There are some med schools which don't require you to have finished your masters before you start med (like mcmaster)...so for them I think they wouldn't really care. But others like UT are very strict with the whole finishing grad school business.

 

I would actually try to fight this out with your grad department and say you cannot wait till fall of 2013......stress how important it is for you to be done.

 

Thanks so much for your reply. It unfortunately is an absolute requirement - it's called a "capstone course", which is very specific to the program.

 

I know UofT is very strict about it, and worst case scenario that is one school that may not budge, but I hope my admission (if I get in) won't be invalidated at Queen's, Western and Dal, which I think are my best shots. Oh wow, I did not know McMaster didn't care.

 

I was really shocked when I heard this news on the phone today, so I didn't react immediately. I did send an email to my program office which expressed my concerns though. I hope something works out.

 

Thanks again.

[deewok7]

For Dalhousie, I think you need to finish every requirement for the degree program you are in. I am not confident they allow exceptions to this either.

The following is a excerpt from my acceptance letter from this year.

 

"This offer is conditional, of course, on the successful completion of the work for your graduate degree. All work related to your graduate program must be completed prior to your entrance to medical school. To ensure this is the case, we will be contacting your supervisor for a status report on your studies. Should you be unable to complete the requirements of your studies within the time frame, we will unfortunately be required to withdraw our offer of admission."

 

So when I talked to them on the phone, they said it didn't matter when, as long as I was finished before August 27th which is the start date for O-week. I don't think the situation looks good for you, but they might be sympathetic with you since you only found out recently. I would call admissions asap. I think you might have a better shot working something out with your current school and try to get that course done earlier. Best of luck!

[Nasket]

For Dalhousie, I think you need to finish every requirement for the degree program you are in. I am not confident they allow exceptions to this either.

 

"This offer is conditional, of course, on the successful completion of the work for your graduate degree. All work related to your graduate program must be completed prior to your entrance to medical school. To ensure this is the case, we will be contacting your supervisor for a status report on your studies. Should you be unable to complete the requirements of your studies within the time frame, we will unfortunately be required to withdraw our offer of admission."

 

I don't think the situation looks good for you, but they might be sympathetic with you since you only found out recently.

 

*sigh* I thought as much.

 

I really hope my program will be understanding. I don't know how to work around it and in my program's perspective, they'll probably think that this is none of their business even though they had told us that they would offer it in the summer.

 

I just found this on my program website:

 

"Students will be required to take two core courses — Foundations of Public Health and the Interdisciplinary Public Health Practice (the course I am talking about) — on campus at the U of S (Saskatoon, SK) during an intensive two-week summer school at the beginning and end of their program respectively. "

 

Will it be a b*tch move to bring this posting up with my program?

 

I unfortunately cannot take that course earlier because the prerequisite for it can only be done next summer (practicum). The prereq for the summer practicum can only be done this fall and winter. It's all a loop.

 

I will definitely take on your suggestion and walk into the Dal office this week and ask the admin staff. As you said, if I explain my individual case, there is a slight chance they could make an exception (possibly because it is an online course, so I will still be coming to every single med class).

 

Thank you for your support.

[deewok7]

I would definitely bring that up with your program. You started a program and were told you could finish at a specific time, they shouldn't be able to change that on you now. Surely a MPH program knows some of their students will be interested in applying to medicine and need to finish the MPH program in the summer so they can attend med school.

 

I think you have a very legitimate point here. To be honest, I would be pretty surprised if your MPH program is not willing to accomodate you. I would also talk to Dal, but I think you'll have more pull within your current program.

[Nasket]

Thank you so much, deewok. I really appreciate it. I will definitely pursue this.

 

TBH, the program has been very understanding till now, so I will have to wait and see if they can help me out this time. *fingers crossed*

[simtim]

UBC I know is also very strict about finishing grad programs before starting med school in the fall, and U of T as well as someone already mentioned. But there are other schools that will allow you to start even if you haven't completed a graduate program, I believe Queens is one of them (or so I heard, I'm not a 100% sure though) and Mac too but you are definitely not completely out of luck for applying to med this upcoming cycle, you may just have to strike out a few schools off your list. Don't lose hope, something will work out!

[Nasket]

you are definitely not completely out of luck for applying to med this upcoming cycle, you may just have to strike out a few schools off your list. Don't lose hope, something will work out!

 

Thanks. I have hope in the system. If it's just UBC and UofT that won't work out (UofT requires to grad students to be done by the end of June), that's fine.

 

I will battle it out for the rest of the schools.