Jump to content
Premed 101 Forums

Master's Degree For On Dent?


Recommended Posts

I spoke to a friend who's a dent student in UWO, and she told me Master's degree doesn't really help with admission for UWO.

Anyone know if that's a different story with UofT? I currently have 3.67 cGPA (4 years). The whole drop your lowest year still valid for Grad students? Then it would be 3.7 cGPA undergrad for me.

 

Thanks! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I spoke to a friend who's a dent student in UWO, and she told me Master's degree doesn't really help with admission for UWO.

Anyone know if that's a different story with UofT? I currently have 3.67 cGPA (4 years). The whole drop your lowest year still valid for Grad students? Then it would be 3.7 cGPA undergrad for me.

 

Thanks! 

 

Although I can't comment much on Western's policy on Master's degree, I do kind of remember hearing how having a master's doesn't help much. They take 56 students each year and if you look at the statistics only a minority portion has completed masters degree. U of T, on the other hand, does give you quite an advantage if you have a master's.

 

What is your wGPA with the lowest year dropped? Remember that for U of T, your final year GPA is ALWAYS included, so the lowest year would be dropped from your year 1 to year 3 of UG.

Based on monitoring this forum for a long period of time and talking to many people in person, I think you have a decent shot with a master's if your UG GPA is 3.75ish but not lower (doesn't mean impossible though). But to be honest, this number is increasing every year...

 

If your wGPA is lower than 3.75, I would personally not waste time doing a master's. Instead, you can either apply to the US schools or you can do a second degree (normally, you can finish in 2-3 years depending on schools)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How could you spend 2 years of second UG and get in?

Western needs 4 year degree.

 

And I agree. the GPA is increasing every year.. it's insane. Sigh, only if dentistry was an option for me 2 years ago. I would have had a shot at Western since my best 2 were 87%.

 

My undergrad is 3.56 3.57 3.85 and 3.73 

Although I can't comment much on Western's policy on Master's degree, I do kind of remember hearing how having a master's doesn't help much. They take 56 students each year and if you look at the statistics only a minority portion has completed masters degree. U of T, on the other hand, does give you quite an advantage if you have a master's.

 

What is your wGPA with the lowest year dropped? Remember that for U of T, your final year GPA is ALWAYS included, so the lowest year would be dropped from your year 1 to year 3 of UG.

Based on monitoring this forum for a long period of time and talking to many people in person, I think you have a decent shot with a master's if your UG GPA is 3.75ish but not lower (doesn't mean impossible though). But to be honest, this number is increasing every year...

 

If your wGPA is lower than 3.75, I would personally not waste time doing a master's. Instead, you can either apply to the US schools or you can do a second degree (normally, you can finish in 2-3 years depending on schools)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How could you spend 2 years of second UG and get in?

Western needs 4 year degree.

 

And I agree. the GPA is increasing every year.. it's insane. Sigh, only if dentistry was an option for me 2 years ago. I would have had a shot at Western since my best 2 were 87%.

 

My undergrad is 3.56 3.57 3.85 and 3.73 

 

Western needs a 4-year degree, but they do not have any restriction on how fast you finish that degree (I confirmed this with Trish Ashbury in person) as long as you apply in the final year of that second UG degree.

So for example, if you did your first UG in Biology and your second degree university allows you to do the same degree (B. Sc.) in a very similar 4-year program, like Life Sciences, then you can definitely finish it in 2-3 years and Western will only look at those 2 year GPA. So it all comes down to which school and program you select for the second degree.

Even if you do a second degree in a different program, I'm sure you'd still get some credits transferred over so you can still finish in 3 years.

 

Honestly, doing a master's takes 2 years and doing a second UG takes 2-3 years, so it doesn't hurt much to do a second degree if you're absolutely sure that you can get > 3.90.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks so much for the valuable information.

I did think about 2nd UG. However, I believe a 2nd UG can't be similar to your 1st UG. 

 

Lastly, does it matter where you do your 2nd UG? I did my UG at Queen's and omg, I don't want to live there for another 3 years. I live very close to Downtown and might as well just go to Ryerson or York 

 

 

Western needs a 4-year degree, but they do not have any restriction on how fast you finish that degree (I confirmed this with Trish Ashbury in person) as long as you apply in the final year of that second UG degree.

So for example, if you did your first UG in Biology and your second degree university allows you to do the same degree (B. Sc.) in a very similar 4-year program, like Life Sciences, then you can definitely finish it in 2-3 years and Western will only look at those 2 year GPA. So it all comes down to which school and program you select for the second degree.

Even if you do a second degree in a different program, I'm sure you'd still get some credits transferred over so you can still finish in 3 years.

 

Honestly, doing a master's takes 2 years and doing a second UG takes 2-3 years, so it doesn't hurt much to do a second degree if you're absolutely sure that you can get > 3.90.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks so much for the valuable information.

I did think about 2nd UG. However, I believe a 2nd UG can't be similar to your 1st UG. 

 

Lastly, does it matter where you do your 2nd UG? I did my UG at Queen's and omg, I don't want to live there for another 3 years. I live very close to Downtown and might as well just go to Ryerson or York 

 

There is a certain number of 'acceptable overlaps' between your 1st and 2nd UG degree, and this is highly school-dependent. If you can get a special permission from your school, then you can work around the system to get enough transfer credits to finish your second UG in 2 years. But anyways, it's going to be 3 years in most cases.

It does not matter at all where you do your second UG.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Did you have experience in doing a 2nd UG?

Again, Thanks! 

I already have wasted 2 years of just volunteering, travelling and want to go back to school so badly. 

There is a certain number of 'acceptable overlaps' between your 1st and 2nd UG degree, and this is highly school-dependent. If you can get a special permission from your school, then you can work around the system to get enough transfer credits to finish your second UG in 2 years. But anyways, it's going to be 3 years in most cases.

It does not matter at all where you do your second UG.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Did you have experience in doing a 2nd UG?

Again, Thanks! 

I already have wasted 2 years of just volunteering, travelling and want to go back to school so badly. 

 

No problem!

I am actually doing a 2nd UG right now. I'm in second year and I'm applying next year :)

I definitely feel ya.. I also wasted my time doing an extra year in my first UG, which was really stupid given my low GPA.

 

It took me a year to fully understand how second degrees work in Canada lol I can't even remember how many counsellors I have met. It seemed really simple at first because I thought it was pretty much the same as the first UG where pretty much everything is done for you automatically, but honestly, it's a mess... There are so many things to keep up with, such as getting special permissions from your counsellors, course evaluations, etc. etc. Basically, nothing is automatic like your first UG and counsellors are going to be your best friends for a year at least.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

thank you for sharimg your experience!

I know a couple of people doing 2nd UG for med but not for dent. med admissions are less strict in acceptinf 2nd UG, but im not so sure about dent. Are you applying to uOft as well?

If I do decide to do a 2nd UG, ill start in Jan.

No problem!

I am actually doing a 2nd UG right now. I'm in second year and I'm applying next year :)

I definitely feel ya.. I also wasted my time doing an extra year in my first UG, which was really stupid given my low GPA.

 

It took me a year to fully understand how second degrees work in Canada lol I can't even remember how many counsellors I have met. It seemed really simple at first because I thought it was pretty much the same as the first UG where pretty much everything is done for you automatically, but honestly, it's a mess... There are so many things to keep up with, such as getting special permissions from your counsellors, course evaluations, etc. etc. Basically, nothing is automatic like your first UG and counsellors are going to be your best friends for a year at least.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

thank you for sharimg your experience!

I know a couple of people doing 2nd UG for med but not for dent. med admissions are less strict in acceptinf 2nd UG, but im not so sure about dent. Are you applying to uOft as well?

If I do decide to do a 2nd UG, ill start in Jan.

 

Yup, I'm applying to both U of T and Western. Canadian dental schools aren't that strict about doing a second degree. I wish you best of luck :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

thanks!

Is it okay which institution you did your second UG?

I dont want to have to move to queen's again,lol.

 

Actually, I don't think you are allowed to do your second degree at the same institute (I may be wrong about this). But since you don't want to go back to Queen's, you have nothing to worry about :)

 

It doesn't matter where you do your second UG.

 

Which program did you do at Queen's?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

life science. I also understand you cant take courses similiar to your 1st degree. but ... life sci is so general and I want to take sci coursez! and how about prerequisites? I completed them in 1st degree do I retakd in 2nd degree? Im so far away from my academic counsellor that I dont know who to reach out to.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

life science. I also understand you cant take courses similiar to your 1st degree. but ... life sci is so general and I want to take sci coursez! and how about prerequisites? I completed them in 1st degree do I retakd in 2nd degree? Im so far away from my academic counsellor that I dont know who to reach out to.

 

Haha this is kinda funny. I have a friend who also attended Queen's and did Life Sciences around the same time (I'm 24 this year btw).

 

You can't take similar courses indeed and this is why it's very important to do the course evaluations when you begin your second UG. Nobody ever told me this.. so I had a very difficult time selecting courses. So basically, you have to contact the counsellor and provide them with the course syllabi for the courses that you took in your first UG. Then the counsellor will give you the special permissions for those courses so you can take other courses that require prerequisites.

 

As for the program requirement, if your second degree program originally requires 15.0 credits (0.5 being half-year course) for you to graduate, then they start deducting this number based on how many equivalent courses that you took in your first UG, which is why you can graduate in 2-3 years.

 

For me, I also did life sciences in my first UG so I am currently doing psychology to avoid having too much overlaps. If you did Life Sciences, then you don't have to worry about taking those course requirements for U of T or Western dentistry because they also consider those courses that you did in your first degree (but they don't look at your grades from first degree).

 

There's really no point in contacting your academic counsellor at Queen's. Just choose a university you want to attend and contact their academic counsellor directly, because second degree policy is all school dependent.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...