Advice please

[Guest mandm]

Hi everyone:

 

Just wondering if your could direct me:

 

I am planning on going back to school this Sept after a while to upgrade my GPA. I would like to take a variety of courses (not sure about a major yet), where do you think I should register- at a community college, at a correspondance school or at the U?

 

I don't want to be a fish out of water re: workload/ intensity as the whole point of this exercise is to get the ol' GPA up there. Added to the mix: I am working full-time (8:00-4:40) , 5 days a week. Cutting back on hours/flex time is not an option.

 

Any advice (...and I mean ANYTHING...) would be really helpful. Cheers!

[Guest fox]

if you are thinking of applying to med school i would suggest taking courses at the u. however, as far as i know, most schools require you to be full-time in order to consider that year in calculating your gpa... so if you are only taking a course or two then it may not bring your gpa up.

[Guest Biochem10]

I don't think community college will help you upgrade your GPA.

[Guest Dannyboy]

I believe---to state the obvious: always check this info out for yourself---that marks from community colleges are NOT factored in when figuring out your GPA. This is what I have been told by various med schools and by all the grad programs that I have investigated. The reason being is that GPA needs a sense of standardization that colleges simply do not have--ie. grades at colleges are perceived as being either inflated *or* deflated; either situation is unacceptable when for comparision purposes.

 

That being said, taking courses that you may find challeging can be taken at colleges in order to protect your GPA--e.g if you need to do courses in physics and that really is not your best subject, a "C" on your college transcript will not be factored into your med school application GPA BUT it will still be recorded as a pre-req fulfilled. I would definitely "get my feet wet" and/or take my weakest subjects at college level. It's so much cheaper as well.

 

You are obviously going to have to creatively work around your situation. If you can only work nights than that is that--you will have to find a program that suits your *current* lifestyle and/or needs. Not all schools require you to go f/t; most that do only require you to do so for two years. I found that I inevitably had to bite the ol' bullet and go the student loan I-am-soooooo-broke route (arghhhhhhhh don't even get me started on that one).

 

If it is any help, there are plenty of people in your sitch that do manage to do the med appl thing. It can be done; you just have to jump through some extra hoops to make it happen. Best of luck.

[Guest mumfirst]

mandm,

 

While you need to check out whether or not you will require a full university course load with the individual med school requirements, I can highly recommend taking courses through distance education. I completed my undergrad through distance ed at Waterloo which gave me the flexibility to work around the busy schedule I have had raising a young child. I was not working fulltime so I did take a full course load - but it gave me flexibility and the ability to stay put and not have to move closer to a university.

 

Many of the students I have met through my DE experience hold down fulltime jobs and pursue their undergrad part time through Waterloo's wonderful DE program. If changing the number of hours you work is not an option then perhaps DE is for you. If you live near a university you could also look into taking night courses. Just keep in mind that if you take them on a part time basis (which will not be allowed at some med schools) it will take a lot of courses to start to see a change in your GPA.

 

You will need to find out for sure about the fulltime vs. part time study thing but I can assure you that the DE courses have been treated equivalent to the on campus courses as far as the med school requirements. Good luck!

[Guest fox]

one thing to consider... i know in ontario that college and university are completely separate and are not considered equivalent. however, in alberta, you can do your first two years of university at a college and then transfer and these are considered equivalent. i guess it depends where you're going to school.

[Guest mandm]

Thanks very much- I appreciate the direction. There seems to be a consensus that community college is not the way to go.

 

That said-- I was under the impression that there are quite few courses at community colleges that can be tranferrerd and credited as university level courses. True/False?!

 

Also does anybody have any experience w. Athabasca University?

 

BTW: I am planning on taking a full course load.

[Guest Dannyboy]

Fox and mumfirst gave ya some good advice. The college-university thing is *provincial*. You can check that info on the web. If you are from out west, my understanding is that there is a well-established and respected transfer system. From your posts, I am gleaning that your province does have it since you noted the two year transfer rule.

 

I know two people currently in med school who took the Athabasca route. I am personally not very impressed with the program but I am quite particular about what I want in an education (I can't stress the "I" thing enough) so ignore my input. Athabasca is essentially the same as doing it DE so I would think a local university DE program would be better. Ask the people who count---the med school reps.

 

I did the DE thing too. I think anyone can do it AND like it, depending on their motivation level. Like mumfirst said, DE definitely has its pros. She obviously did very, very well.......

[Guest mandm]

Wow. The support from this forum is unbelieveable. Thanks so much. I was seriously considering the DE route given my professional restrictions.

 

Can you please comment on how you maintained a full-time student status with your own DE experience and the subjects/nature of the courses you took?

 

Also, do you have to be a real self-starter to do DE? (Which I am REALLY not...and as such am worried about the ease with which I could procratinate away my "schedule"...)

 

 

These are just a few questions for which I was not able to get a straight answer as the admin at Asthabasca U tried to "sell" me their program.

[Guest mumfirst]

Hey mandm,

 

You absolutely have to be a self-starter to do DE - without it, it is easy to leave things to the last minute. Having said that, all DE programs are a little different and at Waterloo you do have set assignment dates and exam dates to help keep you moving along.

 

As for Athabasca, I did take a few courses with them in order to get in a couple of the courses that Waterloo didn't offer (eg. 1st year bio) but be careful - they do NOT have set assignment/exam dates so you really do have to be self-motivated to keep up to date otherwise it could be very, very easy to leave things to the last minute. I was a little hesistant about Athabasca at first because I thought of it as one of those "correspondence" schools (which of course it IS!) but according to the med schools that I checked with, their program is as acceptable as any other Canadian university.

 

Also, if you choose Athabasca you need to be very careful about the fulltime/partime aspect - they allow 1 year to complete a "full" course and 6 months to complete a "1/2" course. As I only took a few of their courses, they were done on a letter of permission from Waterloo so I had to complete them within Waterloo's term dates to be acceptable. Make sure you keep this in mind - if you take 5 full courses over one year, the med schools will NOT count that as a full course load.

 

As for how I kept my fulltime status, I took five 1/2 courses each term - the equivalent of on campus fulltime students. If you are going to continue to work fulltime, I would just warn you that a fulltime course load at the same time is going to be tight (although not impossible). You can check out other DE programs through Queens, Laurentian,and Dalhousie, to name a few.

 

Feel free to email me at md2b1day@hotmail.com if you have any other questions about my DE experience.

 

Dannyboy...thanks for the compliment!

[Guest steak]

Hey Mandm,

 

Just thought I'd chip in and let you know that I, as of this weekend, will be finishing my first full year of full-time DE courses. Did an undergrad in math at waterloo, then an MBA at laurier, and now a BSc through distance, also at waterloo.

 

While you certainly have to have some self-discipline, I wouldn't go so far as to say you have to be a big self-starter to do well.. -- mainly due to the fact that there are assignments due every two weeks for most courses.. when you mix a full courseload in, there aren't many weeks when you don't have an assignment due..

 

It's worked out nicely for me too as I didn't want to move back to walking distance to the school, or have a big commute - I can fit the courses around my work schedule..

 

Best of luck with whatever you decide!

 

Steak

[Guest mumfirst]

Hey guys - I just noticed that the subject of my last post was "Good luck" - I have changed it because when I reread it, it sounded like I was saying "Good luck... unless you are a self-starter you won't be able to do it". Absolutely not what I meant - the "Good luck" was automatically filled into the subject line from a previous post - sorry mandm, hope you didn't take it the wrong way!

 

Quote from steak "While you certainly have to have some self-discipline, I wouldn't go so far as to say you have to be a big self-starter to do well."

 

Maybe my comments were misunderstood. I have always been the queen of procrastination (QP) and until I started with DE courses I often left things to the last minute. I agree with steak's comments that the assignment dates at Waterloo help keep you on track but unless you are able to keep yourself on track as well then you may end up leaving things to the last minute. As a former QP I learned that the hard way! Often times you have several assignments due on the same day (as any on campus student might), and unless you are able to use your time wisely your multiple assignments are fighting for your attention come deadline time. You don't have a schedule of lectures or tutorials set in stone to help you out - you have to set (and stick to) your own schedule. Hope this helps clarify things - absolutely, it can be done but a healthy dose of self-discipline will help to make the experience a little easier!!

 

BTW steak - are you on Waterloo's DElinkers listserve - perhaps we already "know" each other!

[Guest tantastic]

Hi there :

 

Steak: I was wondering if you are completing an entire degree through DE. Is it to bring up your GPA? Have you been out of school for awhile? How are you finding the courses? Are you able to take all the science courses required by Med schools and the MCAT?

 

Actually if anyone has any advice on whether DE offers CHEM, BIO, PHYSICS, ORganic Chem with labs, I would really appreciate the input

 

To those that are completing a Bsc or are in the process of completing a Bsc, does the school offer these DE courses in a wide range of areas, ie Microbiology, Physiology etc or are you limited as to the courses you can select.

 

Finally is it denoted on your transcript that you took the course via DE or is it just noted as any other campus course would be noted?

 

Thanks alot for the advice

 

Tantastic

[Guest mumfirst]

Tantastic,

 

Waterloo does not offer any of the first year science courses with labs through DE. They do have first year chemistry, physics, calculus and an org chem (no bio). I know that Athabasca offers all of the first year sciences with labs although I only took their bio and that was before the lab portion was mandatory. You may be hard pressed to find many DE programs that offer labs - which of course would mean that the courses could not be used as prerequisites for some med schools that require labs. Also, keep in mind that it not always possible to complete an entire degree through DE - you need to check with the individual universities.

 

As for the transcript, there is nothing to denote the courses are DE (nor does the actual "degree" itself). Of course, I can only speak for UWaterloo - I'm not sure about other DE programs. Hope this helps!

[Guest mandm]

Hi mumfirst, dannyboy, steak, fox, Biochem10 and others..

 

Many thanks for the great advice and direction-- this helps me considerably. I think I will go ahead and register for DE and just really WATCH those timelines...

 

mumfirst, I may email you personally as time goes on, as I go through this whole course selection/registration process. Hope that's OK.

 

Thanks again, everyone.

 

M & M

(as in my favourite candy and not the rapper... )

[Guest mumfirst]

Hey mandm,

 

Yes, of course you can email me whenever. I forgot to mention that Waterloo's website has all the DE courses listed for you to look at - just follow the links. You could also call them and request a calendar, although I'm not sure if next year's one is ready yet or not. Also, if you end up taking courses at Waterloo and you are interested in the student listserve just let me know - it is one way to reduce the feelings of isolation you sometimes get as a DE student!

 

Good luck with your plans.

[Guest moose]

Hi Mumfirst,

 

I've just tuned in to this discussion after being away from the boards for quite a while, because I had to study for my DE exam from Waterloo! I've taken 2 courses through their program, and am planning to take some more in the future. Anyway, I asked my professor several times about getting in contact with other students and he said it wasn't possible due to "funding cuts". But you mentioned a listserve of students - is that a list of current students who are willing to have their contact info. be made public? Could I have access to that too? Thanks.

[Guest mumfirst]

Hey moose,

 

The university used to run the DE Student listserve but there were some major problems with it a couple of years ago (some fighting and threats and then a lot of "bashing" of the DE administration). In the end, the university pulled the plug on it (rightfully so in my opinion) and one of the students took it upon herself to set up another one. It is supposed to be made known to DE students when they join but I don't think it is really that well known. There are currently about 50 students on the list, and while most of us are just lurkers, there are a handful of students that chat daily. It certainly comes in handy if you have any questions on a particular course or if you are looking to buy/sell texts. Email me at md2b1day@hotmail.com and I will forward your email address on to the student who sets you up on the listserve.

[Guest steak]

Hey All,

I apologize for my conspicuous absence - I was busy studying for my (6) finals, then getting ready to start job hunting, and now packing to move into my new house (yeah!)

 

Anyway, I'll try to go by memory and answer any questions I saw..

 

As for transcripts, DE courses are ever so slightly distinguished.. If you look at a transcript which has both on campus and off-campus courses, you'll see a small dot or star beside the DE courses (or at least, my transcript has 'em) Nothing obvious, and in any event, I've emailed some adcoms and been told a course is a course is a course, of course, unless that course.. (okay, you get the rest..)

 

Pre-req's: Well, yes, but that's from my perspective. I did a B.Math (on campus) at Waterloo, and having done that, was granted half of my BSc degree (all the electives) as transfer credits. I only need to do 7.5 science faculty credits to get the BSc. I'm doing that a) to take care of pre-req's, and to get the required marks, since my B.Math marks didn't add up (get it?) <groan>

 

The labs and such are not offered via DE, and if the marks pan out, I intend to take them on campus during a subsequent term (probably summer)..

 

I think that was about it.. Oh, no, I'm not on the listserv - honestly, wasn't aware of it, but will certainly look into it.. If anyone has any questions I might answer, feel free to mail me at: "chris dot reimer at rogers dot com"

 

back to the packing!!

[Guest mandm]

Thanks Chris!

 

Great advice. I have yet to get around to course selection but I am pretty sure I am going to go with with DE as opposed to "in-house" University courses.

 

Hope the exams went well and congrats on the new house- that's very exciting.

[Guest mumfirst]

MandM,

 

I just received my UW calendar the other day (I graduated last year but they keep sending them!) and just wanted to let you guys know the deadlines for registration. If you have never taken a course at UW before the deadline for applying for admission/course selection is June 30th for the fall term. Of course, there are other schools that offer DE but I'm not sure of their deadlines.

 

Good luck to all!