IamIDP Posted March 8, 2013 Report Share Posted March 8, 2013 I was wondering if taking 27,26, and 23 credits in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd year respectively effect my chances of getting into UofT med? However, the GPA is 3.97, 3.98, and 3.95 in those 3 years. Thankyou in advance. Edit: This is not my GPA, i'm just asking on behalf of a friend who doesn't want to sign up and post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fugacity Posted March 8, 2013 Report Share Posted March 8, 2013 You have a great GPA, but I don't think 27 credits (if it is 9 courses per year) counts as rigorous. I believe you will need 30 credits to even take advantage of the weighed GPA formula for U of T. Of course if you took 9 courses per semester and pulled out a 3.9x GPA, that is considered VERY rigorous and I don't think any school can overlook that, even if they don't claim that they care. If on the other hand you think that those are too "few", I don't think it will play a big factor since your GPA is high enough. You most likely do not need weighing to get yourself an interview invite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savac Posted March 8, 2013 Report Share Posted March 8, 2013 I just want to add one thing to what fugacity said. It's actually 28 credits per year to be considered full-time by UofT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
souljaboy Posted March 8, 2013 Report Share Posted March 8, 2013 Unless you can give them a good valid reason then Toronto would definitely hold it against you. They want to see you handle a full course load through undergrad, so it doesn't matter when you pull off a high GPA with fewer than normal courses. It's very alarming that you don't have a full course load every year and that you're credit count decreases as you go up. Toronto's also one of those ones that look at your course load more closely than other schools. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fugacity Posted March 8, 2013 Report Share Posted March 8, 2013 By no means do I intend to crash OP's thread, but I'd like to thank you for correcting me Savac. I have seen a lot of your posts on pm101 and find myself in agreement with the vast majority of your posts. I hope you get a U of T invite, all the best! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shady Posted March 8, 2013 Report Share Posted March 8, 2013 From the website "4) Do I have to carry a full-course load every year to be eligible to apply? No. Carrying a full course load is only relevant to the weighting formula. Applicants are eligible to apply if they are completing 15 credits by the end of the third year, or 20 credits by the end of the fourth year. Applicants who fulfill these requirements despite not taking a full course load in the regular academic session are not penalized in the evaluation process." Since you don't need to weighing formula (GPA is high as it is), this won't affect your (or your friend's) chances in anyway shape or form. They will just use cGPA instead of wGPA, but that's it. Unless you want to believe that the adcom lied on their website ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IamIDP Posted March 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2013 From the website "4) Do I have to carry a full-course load every year to be eligible to apply? No. Carrying a full course load is only relevant to the weighting formula. Applicants are eligible to apply if they are completing 15 credits by the end of the third year, or 20 credits by the end of the fourth year. Applicants who fulfill these requirements despite not taking a full course load in the regular academic session are not penalized in the evaluation process." Since you don't need to weighing formula (GPA is high as it is), this won't affect your (or your friend's) chances in anyway shape or form. They will just use cGPA instead of wGPA, but that's it. Unless you want to believe that the adcom lied on their website ... Yes but on the UofT med admission blog or somewhere, Leslie or the previous Lady that Leslie replaced mentioned that UofT looks at EACH individuals' courses they took and the difficulty of the courseload. I'm assuming they don't penalize for taking less than a full courseload but if your courses are soft or taking significantly less courses, it should hurt you. To further backup this claim, the website directly says they want to ENCOURAGE students to take a rigerous courseload hence they have a weighting formula. If you are not eligible for the weighting formula, It still doesn't mean that you take 18-24 credits per year. It just shows that you are not that competitive (they also want competitive students). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamham Posted March 9, 2013 Report Share Posted March 9, 2013 I think courseload consideration is post-interview. During the interview (if you get one), they will ask why you did not take full courseload every year. Then you will have a chance to explain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shady Posted March 9, 2013 Report Share Posted March 9, 2013 Yes but on the UofT med admission blog or somewhere, Leslie or the previous Lady that Leslie replaced mentioned that UofT looks at EACH individuals' courses they took and the difficulty of the courseload. I'm assuming they don't penalize for taking less than a full courseload but if your courses are soft or taking significantly less courses, it should hurt you. To further backup this claim, the website directly says they want to ENCOURAGE students to take a rigerous courseload hence they have a weighting formula. If you are not eligible for the weighting formula, It still doesn't mean that you take 18-24 credits per year. It just shows that you are not that competitive (they also want competitive students). In the past when we asked that question the reply was the difficulty of courses is assessed as the level of the course. They want 200 courses in 2nd year, 300 in third year and 300&400 in fourth year. They don't actually care about the number of courses or the content in them, just that you don't do 5 credits of 100 level courses in fourth year. Actually, a good rule of thumb in my opinion is to follow Western's 3/5 rule. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
souljaboy Posted March 9, 2013 Report Share Posted March 9, 2013 Following the Western 3/5 rule implies you're taking a full courseload of 30 credits though. If 60% of your courses are at current year level but you're taking 3 less courses than other people, how is that better than someone who's taking 3 more courses, even if they are first year courses. Every school except maybe McMaster wants to see you follow the proper full time 5 full year courses/30 credits way. It shows you can handle a proper workload. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IamIDP Posted March 13, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 13, 2013 I think courseload consideration is post-interview. During the interview (if you get one), they will ask why you did not take full courseload every year. Then you will have a chance to explain. Yea that's true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmorelan Posted March 27, 2013 Report Share Posted March 27, 2013 I have a psychology minor and at my school, it's very difficult for psych minors to get into 4th year psych courses - I only need 2 more full year psyc courses to get my minor. If I took the following:1. full year 4th level course 2. full year 4th level course 3. full year 3rd level psychology course 4. full year 2nd level psychology course 5. full year 1st level English Would this still satisfy the 3/5 rule in Ontario schools? I know at Western, as long as you have 3/5 as 3rd and above, that's fine. But what about the others? Thanks for the help! The other schools don't have official rules (You do hit Westerns) - I don't think there is any issues with that year - even for TOs rules either. I always got the impression that was more of safety check to make sure no one is pulling off some silly all stupidly easy courses year just to boost the GPA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rawrr Posted March 27, 2013 Report Share Posted March 27, 2013 Of course if you took 9 courses per semester and pulled out a 3.9x GPA, that is considered VERY rigorous What is 9 courses per semester, 9 0.5 credits? I took 6.5 courses (over 3 credits) per semester and achieved 3.9x over the last 3 years and schools did not care. I really don't think any schools care about your course load unless it was actually 9 courses but I've never heard of anyone doing that. 7 is pushing the unbearable, unless none of them have labs (practically all of my courses had labs, and I very rarely took first or second year courses past those years). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IamIDP Posted April 11, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2013 What is 9 courses per semester, 9 0.5 credits? I took 6.5 courses (over 3 credits) per semester and achieved 3.9x over the last 3 years and schools did not care. I really don't think any schools care about your course load unless it was actually 9 courses but I've never heard of anyone doing that. 7 is pushing the unbearable, unless none of them have labs (practically all of my courses had labs, and I very rarely took first or second year courses past those years). Depends on the school. Some do care, but most of you guys assume they dont care because they don't post it on their sites. If they don't care, wouldn't you think everyone would be taking 3 courses/ term instead of 5? These guys aren't idiots and by taking less than person Y, your just making yourself less competitive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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