Guest Shawndx Posted January 11, 2004 Report Share Posted January 11, 2004 Well, This Forum is Great and Informative! I have a lot of questions and no answers so I hope you people can help me find answers... 1) Do Med Schools take into consideration what university you go to? I want to go to York University due to financial reasons 2) When doing the undergrad is taking Coop useful? Like Coop in UofT Life Science Coop ( Neuroscience) 3) I heard it does not matter what major u take, so if I took a major in accounting or something else like kinesiology will that play in impact on medschools. As oppose to majoring in Biology 4) Speaking of Majors, I am so confused about what a Major really is. My Guidence Councellor is totally clueless and does not help at all. This is what I wanted cleared up. Say there are 2 students, Student A and B. A majors in Biology and takes some other courses of interests. Student B choses his major in Religion or some other discipline but also takes Biology to meet the pre reqs. What is the difference between the 2 students? They both took biology, so what does the major really do? I know it muse be stupid question for you people, but I rather ask it and get the answers. 5) If one took kinesiology what types of jobs are there if med school did not work out? 6) Should one take English in their first year and how about Calculus and chemistry? It is not required to take in medschools is it? I dont think it is, but I may be wrong... Anyways, does one have to take these courses or take some and not others? What advise would u give someone trying to make it into medschool but applying to university. What would u do the same and different? Easier courses for better GPA? I dunno, just too confused, but thanks in advance for any help that you guys might give... 7) What are ur back up plans? You do not have to answer all the questions if u do not have the patience, as I know I asked a lot any answers would be appreciated Thanks a Lot! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kirsteen Posted January 11, 2004 Report Share Posted January 11, 2004 Hi there, There are a few other folks around here who are currently in high school who have asked similar questions in the recent past. Spencer is one knowledgeable person who comes to mind. You might want to perform a search for posts by him. Ian: would it be a good idea to establish a separate forum around here for high school students who have their sights set on medicine? I understand that you often direct students to your "premed 101" site, but it might be handy, given that a good amount of information has accumulated here, to collect all that information in one area here too. Cheers, Kirsteen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest codloghorn Posted January 11, 2004 Report Share Posted January 11, 2004 1. No. 2. I don't think so. 3. You are correct. No difference. 4. A major is your course of study. For example, if you major in biology, there are certain courses you must take. In some universities, you can major in Biology and not be part of the Faculty of Science. Your major is not that important. You can still take Biology and not major in Biology at most universities - York included. 5. Physical Education teacher, and other jobs in the health care field. 6. Calc. is not a prerequisite for Canadian Med. School. It is for some U.S. Med. Schools. Chem. is a prerequisite for most Canadian Med. Schools - not U. of T., McMaster, or Calgary - and most U.S. Med Schools. I don't believe English is a prerequisite for Canadian Med. Schools, but it can be for U.S. Med. Schools. 7. It depends what your major is and which faculty you are part of. There are other jobs, though. Good Luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Shawndx Posted January 12, 2004 Report Share Posted January 12, 2004 THanks so Much for the Help! Really insightful! One question though, what major would u recommend taking? something not too hard or easy, but has good job potential Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Lactic Folly Posted January 12, 2004 Report Share Posted January 12, 2004 English is a prereq for some Canadian medical schools.. each of them has their own admission requirements, so it's best to check with each individually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest codloghorn Posted January 12, 2004 Report Share Posted January 12, 2004 I don't know about the rest of Canada, but in Ontario, no Med. School has an English prerequisite. Psychology, Anthropology, Biology, etc. are all good majors. At York, if you major in Biology you must also take 1st year Chem - keep that in mind - also keep in mind that 1st year Chem. is difficult, in my opinion, particularly at York. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest aneliz Posted January 12, 2004 Report Share Posted January 12, 2004 Keep in mind that 1st year chem is a pre-req for some med schools (like UWO) and will definitely help you out come MCAT time...don't be afraid to take 'hard' courses if they will benefit you later... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UWOMED2005 Posted January 12, 2004 Report Share Posted January 12, 2004 Good answers, I'd like to add my own editorials 4) You can totally major in something not related to medicine and then use your electives to pick up the prereqs for medicine. Your major is the subject/department where the bulk of your courses will come from, and theoretically you should get to the most advanced courses in your major whereas in electives you might only be taking first and second year level courses. 5) Very few undergrad degrees lead to a specific job. I once heard someone refer to a BA as a "begin again" degree. I'd say the same holds true for most B Sc degrees. . . great starting points, but not career makers. I remember having the same question applying to undergrad programs. . . heck, the first message on the OSAP website stresses the idea of doing a degree that will lead to a job. But try and get a career (not just a low paying lab assistant job) in biochemistry with a biochem undergrad. . . almost impossible in Canada, and even in the US you really need a Master's or PhD to a lot. From what I as a non-Kin grad can see, kinesiology is a very practical degree as it leads very well into careers in medicine, physiotherapy, fitness training, or research. 6) Last I checked, UBC has an english prereq. UWO just wants three non-science courses, but when I applied they required first year english if you didn't take the old Ontario OAC English. But most of the others just want to see that you can do well in an arts courses, and haven't just been hiding out in the science courses where it's often easier to get GPA inflating 90%+ marks. Chem is required for most med schools. Calc is not, but is often required if you want the B Sc. 7) My first backup plan was to get a job in biochem because all of my biology and chemistry teachers were raving about the human genome project and molecular biology revolution and how there would be tons of jobs galore in biochem. When I got to 3rd/4th year, Ventner sequenced the genome entirely on his own, and I realized those jobs were somewhat of a myth based on drawing non-existant parallels to the computer science field and explosion in jobs in the early 1990s (which by this point had itself collapsed with a lot of my friends laid off.) I then began looking at optometry, high school teaching, selling my soul to sell pharmaceuticals and then do an MBA, or doing a PhD and getting into academia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest calvindog Posted January 12, 2004 Report Share Posted January 12, 2004 I'd like to add my $0.02 also: Choosing your major- I chose my major solely on the basis of what I am interested/talented in. Are you a humanities person interested in the arts like History, English, or Psychology? Or are you more analytical and may enjoy sciences like Bio or Math? Choosing a major you are interested in will ultimately prove to make you successful in that field. Example: I am a Math major, I enjoy math and therefore do well at it. If I take an course that is considered "easy" but not in my field of interest, I have to work much harder to obtain a respectable mark. STICK WITH WHAT YOU LIKE- success will follow. Aside from that, I would agree with UWOMED2005 with regards to an undergrad degree getting you a job as a backup plan-very difficult to do so don't worry about that too much. Most people will undergo additional education beyond an undergrad to obtain a job in their chosen field. This is also why you must stick to a major that interests you. Good Luck! Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest moo Posted January 12, 2004 Report Share Posted January 12, 2004 Calvindog, nice to see a fellow math major on the board. The only bachelors degrees that are really "professional" type degrees are probably Nursing and Engineering. Everything else has pretty much equivalent weight in terms of job hunting. The craze at UBC (and I'm sure most other schools) when I went through there was Commerce (and I'm sure it still is). It was extremely competitive to get into that faculty. But you know what? Those commerce people aren't trained for anything specific. Even those who specialized in accounting weren't qualified to be an accountant. To get really high up in business you need an MBA (or some professional certification like a CA, CGA or CPA), which is the professional equivalent of an MD in the world of business. Doing a bio degree is great if you enjoy it. But just to warn you, if you expect that you will be learning about things related to medicine you will be sorely disappointed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kirsteen Posted January 13, 2004 Report Share Posted January 13, 2004 Hi there, There are often exceptions, and commerce degrees are no exception. There are some who complete their commerce degrees, opt out of the MBA experience and do exceptionally well. To wit, a high school pal of mine completed her commerce degree at UofT. She did well and investigated completing an MBA; however, looking at the curriculum she decided against it due to the huge amount of course redundancy. Simply, she didn't feel that she would gain too much new knowledge. Instead, she took her commerce degree out to the finance world and applied herself. She became a broker, then, in a few years, an analyst. During these years, she made a very good living. She then decided to specialize a little more, passed her three CFA levels, made an even better living, and decided to see if the United States would be receptive to her talents. They certainly were. A number of years ago, she was recruited to a southern Californian finance firm, moved to La Jolla and hasn't looked back. Like the MBA, a commerce degree exposes you to a broad selection of facets of business. Additionally, like a commerce degree, an MBA does not train you to be a specialist in any one subject: it enables you to be a generalist. Essentially, I view it as a way to remove any fear or trepidation of any aspect of business and enable you to talk to the specialists in the field in common terms. Although my pal has her CFA designation now, she still managed to climb the ranks and do well with some smarts and a wee B.Comm. Others can too. Cheers, Kirsteen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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