Need some advice and maybe support please

[Guest osindy]

Hi. Okay I finally decided to follow my heart and I'm going to try to get into med school. The thing is that I'm gracuating from a BComm next month and have only taken 1 science class to date (chem). I know most of the work though since a lot of my friends took them my first few years in college. I go to a school in the east now but I went to U of C for a few years also. I am applying there to do a second degree a BSc in Natural Sciences.

 

Now, I was wondering if you had any suggestions for concentrations I could take (such as bio, chem etc) that will not be so challenging as to drive my grades down but that I can do well in and learn from (i.e no rocks for jocks). I need to ask for help in picking a concentration and courses other than those required for admission into most med schools. Also, do you know if this program will take more than 2 years because I want to enter med school in 2005.

 

Thanks for your help in advance.

[Guest mtws]

Hey osindy,

 

I'm glad you're following your heart. Ya gotta do that!

 

I don't know about U of C but at U d' Ottawa, for the past six years (or so), one program has consistently provided prospective medical students with interesting, relevant undergraduate studies that provide a real possibility for achieving great marks: A B.Sc. in Human Kinetics.

 

I didn't take it myself but if you are very serious about this, and interested in applying yourself for two solid years (cause that's what it's going to take), I think HK is the way to go. I have a few friends graduating from UofO Meds this year that made that choice and achieved their required A to A+ average in the HK program. (Sometimes I kick myself for doing a Masters instead of two years of HK, but I wouldn't be a college professor now without my graduate degree... so you have to consider the possibility of not making it into meds... regardless, if you do an HK degree and get your A+'s, and make sure you get all the prereq's in the process, you're in.)

 

Hope this helps, and good luck to you.

 

Cheers,

Matt

[Guest UWOMED2005]

For the most part, the marks you get in those prereq science courses you will take shouldn't matter, it's the coursework that you've already done that matters. There simply aren't that many prereqs to take - first year bio, first year chem, somewhat first year physics (for the MCAT only, if you're weak in physics) and second year organic chem. . . maybe second year biochem (depending on the school you're applying to) and some arts courses. But the bulk of your GPA requirements will come from your B. comm.

[Guest osindy]

Yeah I know for most schools the bulk of the courses that go into the gpa calculation will be those from my bcomm. My hope is that they will see my new found determination is the science courses and this will all support my contention that I didn't have that good of grades before because I wasn't that interested or involved in the subject matter. I am looking mostly to the schools that look at either your last two years or your best two years. I know I can't compete in schools that look at your whole academic record because I'll never meet their cutoffs. I just hope this BSc shows my dedication to bettering my academic career and while I'm taking the prereq courses I might as well get another degree. Actually if you look at all the prereq courses for most schools you will end up taking at least a year and a half to complete them all.

 

Thanks for the suggestion of a major in human kinetics, I'll look into it. What about other subject matters that are not as intensive as maybe cellular microbiology and such? Which ones are these ecology, physics, botany, zoology? What?

[Guest fox]

I think that courses vary between schools and even between semesters. For example, I had friends who took the same course as me in a different semester with a different prof, and their marks were a lot different (and we were able to compare seeing as we took most of our classes together over four years). For me, botany was a lot easier than some other science courses (and some courses I found really easy were still hard to do well in, like zoology), and I found biochem courses really easy. If you are doing a second degree you will be required to take a certain number of biology courses, probably physics, chem etc., so that will already cover med school pre-reqs anyway. If you are serious about med you might as well apply to all the schools you can without the pre-reqs next year, as most people learn a lot about the application process by applying and not making it the first or second time. Anyway, I guess I wasn't of much help.... but those are my words of advice.

[Guest Biochem10]

I don't really want to profess that one major is easier than another, but this list might help you. This is purely an opinion, so take it with a grain of salt. This is what I've come up with from speaking to people in different faculties and taking courses in almost all of these subjects.

 

Science degrees in order of easiest to most difficult:

Psychology

Anatomy

Biology

Physiology (unless you're doing Math & Physio)

Biochemistry/microbio/immunology

Chemistry

Computer Science

Math

Physics

 

Note: Please, no one get mad at me and say "I've taken so and so and it's not easy"... I'm definetly not saying any of these majors are easy.

 

Also remember it varies for everyone, however, most people are pretty good at just memorizing information and regurgitating it whereas understanding abstract physical concepts such as quantum mechanics is another story--believe me, I've been there and it wasn't fun

 

There's other majors I didn't mention here because i'm not familiar with them and I don't want to give false advice.

[Guest peachy]

Okay, I'll play along, Biochem10. People generally say that Kine should be first on the list before Psych.

 

I also think that math can't really be put on a list like this, because more than anything else, it depends on you. If you're good at math, it will be easier than anything else. If you find math hard, then it will be basically impossible.

[Guest j282]

UWO will look at your best year and your last year of your most recent degree. However you must complete three full time undergrad year on top of Bcomm.

 

Ottawa will look at your last three years, so you will have to complete another degree for their med program also.

 

Mac will consider your ENTIRE undergrad GPA and they will average the whole thing.

 

UofT will look at the ENTIRE average of all courses taken

 

Queens will look at your last two years. If you start another degree they will look at the most recent two years of the recent degree. If you don't complete the degree (ie 3 or 4 year Bsc) then they will take the last two years of your Bcomm degree.

 

So there isn't any "short cut" route. Be prepared to completed another 3 years of undergrad AT LEAST (totalling 7 years in undergrad in your case) and don't expect to be guaranteed enterance. As many have pointed out in previous threads, grades are only one factor among many that will be examined carefully by the schools when deciding your suitability for medicine.

 

I would like to add that I'm not trying to discourage you, infact I wish you all the luck in the world, but it's always a good idea to prepare for the work that is ahead of you and the real possibility that you may never gain admission despite the efforts that you will have to undertake.

 

BTW What was your Bcomm GPA(year by year breakdown of GPA and cumulative)? This could be an important factor on what schools you should apply to

 

Cheers