HELP...must drop course... < Full Load

[Guest kela]

HELP!!!

 

I need to drop one course. I know that I will not be able to handle it (I had the prereqs waived).

 

What happens if I do not have a full course load (1st term=5 courses; 2nd term=4 couses)?

 

Can I pick up a correspondence course at another school?

[Guest Ian Wong]

Hi there,

 

The effect of being a part-time student on your application has been recently discussed here:

 

pub125.ezboard.com/fpremed101frm34.showMessage?topicID=62.topic

 

If there's a particular school that you are concerned about, you could contact them directly and ask them. The websites of all the Canadian medical schools can be found here:

 

premed101.com/medschools.html

 

Hope this helps,

 

Ian

UBC, Med 4

[Guest macdaddyeh]

Hey Kela. I feel your frustation. I have NEVER taken more than five full courses in a year and while at least at U of T a student is still considered a full time student with 4 or more courses, ironically this same principle does not typically apply for med school enrollment purposes. The policy miraculously changes to be a five courses or your're-not-getting-in policy.

 

Med schools expect you to be a superhero who takes five full courses every year, to volunteer weekly and/or work, carry family reponsibilities, etc.

 

To do all the above would be futile and ironically dangerous to one's well being but med schools still feel obliged to demand this.

 

That said my argument can not be universally applied. I know that MAC does not care how many courses you took, when, at what level and how long it took you to do them...They will take in the bigger picture that many other schools will not.

 

For this reason I have only applied to Mac because for my sanity and well being I took four courses a year and work and volunteer and I'm a parent and maintain nearly straight A's. While some or many people may tell you "what's one course; stick with it" my advice is to say that you are the only one who knows your own limits. One more course could make the world of difference to make or break your limit. If you do not have a lot of non-academic responsibilities then I stay stick with the course; if other things are eating up your time, energy and sanity then drop it....

 

I hope you find my advice useful

[Guest peachy]

I agree with the point about knowing your limitations .... but ... that said, it is a huge pain not to have a full courseload. If your real reason, as you said, had to do with that ONE course (and not to do with the general difficulties of taking a full courseload), then I would personally try to pick up another course asap to round out a full schedule - it's only tuesday of the second week of term, you still have time to enroll in a new course. Find something that you KNOW will be fun and easy, even if it doesn't help towards your degree. Some suggestions are fine-arts courses for nonmajors, easy math courses if you're good at math, or any random nonscience course in an area that you find interesting. A language course, economics, health ethics, ... there are tons of fun courses out there that won't take you more than, say, five hours a week on average and if you can handle it without dropping your grades in your other courses (or even with minimally dropping them) you may find that you're happer with that a few years from now.

 

.... only you know what is the right decision for you, this is just an option that you ought to think about.

[Guest mying]

Kela,

 

Picking up a correspondence course probably won't change your part-time status if you drop that course. Besides, universities generally won't let you be enrolled in more than one school at a time.

 

Western will still look at your app if you have two full-time years that meet their cutoff GPA. They want to see what you can do with a full course load, but won't discriminate against you if you also happen to have some part-time years in there. I think Queen's is similar.

 

Don't kill yourself. It's not worth it. If you can't do it, you can't. I made that same mistake -- thought I could handle a course but I barely scraped by. I also dropped to part-time one year and it didn't negatively affect my application.

[Guest UOMeds05]

i think that your best advice is 1) not to overdo it. Know matter, you come first, and nothing is worth spreading yourself too thin. 2) it is a lot better to let other things slide other than your full course load if you can. Let some of the extra-curricular stuff go before you let the class go, if this is possible. 3)worse than only having 4 courses is having 5 courses, one or any of which you end up with a really bad mark. that will follow you for a long time.

 

Hang in there. We aren't superheros. you find ways to get by. Good luck.

 

PS-if you can take a correspondence course at your university, do it... really lightens the load and had no negative affect on my app.

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there,

 

Look into the taking-courses-at-two-separate-schools idea a little further if that's one way to top your courseload back up to five. I do know that some schools won't blink an eye when it comes to allowing you to attend classes administered within two completely separate bailiwicks... a few years back when doing my MBA at Queen's, I also took two half courses--one in the fall and the other in the winter term--at UofT with no problem nor special permission required.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[Guest aneliz]

I don't think that med schools expect you to be a 'super-hero' to get in...

 

Yes, they expect you to show that you can cope with a fairly demanding academic workload...but guess what...thats what you are going to have to do IN med school...and you can't drop to part time status once you get in. The full-time academic status is not too torture you...it is for you to demonstrate that you can handle the academic demands of med school.

 

Yes, they expect that you have some outside interests and are capable of managing your time. You are going to have to do this for the rest of your life if you get in. Having outside interests that include working to pay tuition, looking after family responsibilities, etc will not negatively impact on your application. You don't have to be an olympic athlete and spend every summer volunteering 12 hours a day...I didn't and probably 99% of the students here didn't either.

 

As for dropping to a part-time course load: It is not ideal..see if you can still pick up another half credit at your school this semester. If not, it is not going to kill you. Western will not allow you to use this year for GPA purposes but if you have two years that are above the cut-off...this years won't affect you at all! Dropping a course is better than failing a course. Use this experience to learn from - pre-reqs are there for a reason...same as med school pre-reqs and requirements are there for a reason...

 

Good luck!

[Guest kela]

Thank you all very much for the great advice. I unfortunately cannot pick up a correspondence course or a "regular" course at my institution (this has to do with the program [coop in March] I am in...pretty harsh).

 

I guess my only option is to take a correspondence course at another institution.

 

Would med schools accept seeing two transcripts with a full course load?

 

Thank you again!

[Guest mirrille]

You have to remember there is a difference between what your institution considers a full time student and what individual med schools will consider at full course load. Not all schools require full course loads for the whole course of your university career, although there are some that do. Check with the individual schools on this.

As to taking correspondence courses at other institutions, check with the med schools as to which institutions they accept. There are some distance education programs (e.g. Athabasca, BC Open University) that they accept credit from.