Guest anothahopeful Posted August 26, 2003 Report Share Posted August 26, 2003 Ok. I've done one year of my undergrad bio major. I've been wanting to ask these questions for a long time... and now i finally can. here goes. They're probably stupid but i'm curious. 1) I took calculus 1st semester.... but then didn't do second semester calculus. Instead, i took stats. Because calculus took like 10 hours a week of homework and i knew i needed a stats course at some medschools, and at my university (Trinity Western) for my year you can take one sem. of calc and then stats... for my math requirements. So having done this do you think i hurt myself.... Should i have taken calculus II and proved that i'm hardcore. Or will it not really matter. I got an A in both Calc and Stats.... so it shouldn't really look like i didn't take calculus II because i did bad in Calc I. Tell me the honest truth. thanx a bunch. 2) Do you think the acceptance committees would frown on a Religious Studies minor. (assuming the anti-christ isn't on the committee or whatever, and its just normal un-biased people) I haven't started this, but I would like to do a Religious studies minor.... I'm still going to be a Bio Major.. Can you do obscure stuff like that? or should I take a safer route. I've heard you can do whatever.. as long as you have the core reqs. 3) At Trinity Western university...... we have a 4 point scale, but you can get a 4.3 with an A+ generally 95% and higher. An A gets you a 4.0 and can usually be obtained with a mark between 85%-90% depending on the prof and course. Because generally to get full credit for a course -- a 4.0 or an A at most universities -- you don't need 95%, how do you think med schools would look at that. Most people never get an A+ so it doesn't affect there gpa..... but i've got a couple and it is a big gpa boost. I'm sure they would have to downscale my GPA somewhat.... cuz i do have an advantage. How do medschools look at weird gpa scheme's like that..... does anybody know what sorta gpa i should be shooting for with a system like mine??? That'd be great if you knowledgable people could take a stab at my concerns. thanx a whole lot. -anotha hopeful Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mtws Posted August 26, 2003 Report Share Posted August 26, 2003 I'll take a shot... 1) Calc.. Stats... Cal II.... Nobody cares. Seriously! (I'm starting medicine in one week and I never took Cal II... I took Cal I and Stats. Just like you!) 2) A religious studies minor would definately not be frowned upon. Most, if not all, faculty of medicine encourage you to study what you are most interested in while you are an undergrad. If you are interested in religious studies... then study it. 3) OMSAS converts your GPA score to a standardized 1-4 scale. This is done on a course by course basis. You can check how your school system converts by visiting their website. I believe it's: compass.ouac.on.ca There's my take. Good luck, Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UWOMED2005 Posted August 27, 2003 Report Share Posted August 27, 2003 I only wish I'd taken the 1/2 credit each of calc and stats I could - I took the whole credit of calc. Useless for med school. Worst part is, the stats probably would have been really useful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest somethingwicked Posted August 27, 2003 Report Share Posted August 27, 2003 nobody cares about which classes you take. Stats is useful in almost every discipline. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest fox Posted August 27, 2003 Report Share Posted August 27, 2003 As far as I can tell, none of the schools care what courses you took as long as you meet their pre-req requirements. I did both a year of calculus and a year of stats, and I honestly can't remember a thing I learned in either of them. The only reason either course was helpful for me was because I had great marks in them. I used the year of calculus for Western (I think) to meet the non-science requirement, but I think you could use a semester of calc and a semester of stats to meet that requirement, anyway. As for what you choose to do your degree in (or a minor), it shouldn't matter, either. Pursue what you're interested in as you will probably get better marks if you do so. Keep in mind during the interviews the interviewers don't see your academic record and therefore would have no idea what kind of degree or courses you took unless you brought it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peachy Posted August 27, 2003 Report Share Posted August 27, 2003 Just wanted to point out that some schools WILL see your transcripts at your interviews and may choose to ask you questions about them. I was asked directed questions about my transcripts at both my U of Toronto and Queen's interviews. But like everybody said, they don't care what you take as long as you satisfy the prerequisites and get the grades. Take what you want! As to the grades conversion, for Ontario you need to look at the grading table on the OMSAS website, and for schools outside of Ontario you will need to contact the school or check their website to find out how they will convert your GPA. Your internal Trinity Western GPA doesn't matter at all. What matters is what scheme the medical schools use to convert your individual grades to their own GPA. It looks like OMSAS will give you a 4.0 for an A+, and a 3.9 for an A. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TimmyMax Posted August 27, 2003 Report Share Posted August 27, 2003 Hey, There is a Trinity Western alumnus in the Class of 2006 here at UWO! It doesn't matter what courses you take, so long as you cover the necessary pre-requisites for the schools you are interested in applying to. As noted previously on this board, there is a tendency for people to do better in courses that they are genuinely interested in, so all the more power to you! As for transcripts, marks, etc., I was not asked about any of my courses in any of my interviews (Queen's, UWO, Ottawa). Best of luck! Timmy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest anothahopeful Posted August 27, 2003 Report Share Posted August 27, 2003 Wow. Thanks so much. Advice from people that actually know what they're talking about. Sweet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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