Guest ikaj Posted October 21, 2003 Report Share Posted October 21, 2003 I will finish my undergrad degree this year. Is it a good idea to take a 5th year to increase grades in a few undergrad courses? Either that or MSc. But I hear that medschools prefer that one should finish their MSc before entering medical school. Is this true? If I were to enter into MSc would I be decreasing my chances of getting into medical school? thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest aneliz Posted October 22, 2003 Report Share Posted October 22, 2003 At UWO you MUST finish your MSc before you are eligble to start med school. You will not be allowed to 'abandon' your grad degree, even if you are offered a spot at UWO. Your acceptance would be conditional on finishing all requirements of your grad degree by Aug 26 of the year in which you applied. (And, you cannot defer!) UWO will allow you to complete ONE 'special' or victory lap year after you have completed your degree. To qualify, the year must be: 1. In the same degree program as your degree (ie DO NOT start a 'new' undergraduate degree, you must be registered as a 'continuing student' in your original program) 2. The special year may NOT include any 'repeated' courses...even if you failed the course the first time. 3. The special year must contain 5.0 full or equivalent undergraduate level courses...at least 3.0 of which must be 'senior' level courses (3rd year or higher level courses). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Elaine I Posted October 22, 2003 Report Share Posted October 22, 2003 Hi Aneliz, Must the extra year be in the same degree program as the degree, or can it be at any university as long as you are not registered in a degree program? Specifically, here's what I'm planning: I'll be graduating from my program at Ryerson University this year. However, because I've done much of the program on a part time basis, I can only use this year toward admissions. I don't have a second year with 5.0 courses. Therefore, I plan on doing an extra year next year, registered as a "non-degree" student. However, I was planning on taking that year at U of T, since they have a lot more pure science courses that I would enjoy. I will not be registering in a specific degree program, and will not be using the courses toward a degree. Is that acceptable, or do I need to take the extra year at Ryerson, registered as a non-degree student there? Thanks for your help! Elaine :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ikaj Posted October 22, 2003 Report Share Posted October 22, 2003 "1. In the same degree program as your degree (ie DO NOT start a 'new' undergraduate degree, you must be registered as a 'continuing student' in your original program)". So if I got my degree in biochem, for example, I have to register as a "continuing biochemistry undergraduate student"? So, my plan is to do just a year of prereq courses after I get my degree. I didn't fail any of my courses but I just wanted to take some higher level ones to boost my gpa. For instance, I may take a 2oo level English course or a 200 level chemistry course....since I got 6s and 7s (out of 9 for UofA) I was thinking of just registering as a general science student. I am not planning to do another BSc degree...I just wanted to do one more year to increase my marks on the pre-req courses only. thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peachy Posted October 22, 2003 Report Share Posted October 22, 2003 Another option, for those considering doing a fifth year, is just to defer your graduation until the end of your fifth year, so that this final year is just seen as part of your regular degree program. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest aneliz Posted October 23, 2003 Report Share Posted October 23, 2003 Peachy has an excellent point...and it will save you a LOT of paper work with your own institution. Registering as a 'general science student' should be fine...what UWO means by 'same degree' is that you are not starting the first year of a BA or BComm programme after graduating from your BSc....you absolutely CANNOT 'mix and match' years from different undergrad degree programs. For example: 1. Student A finishes biochem degree, decides to defer graduation and return for one more year (the victory lap) to take more courses. They then graduate at the end of their fifth year with a single BSc degree. This is okay. 2. Student B finishes biochem degree, graduates, applies to return as a 'continuing undergrad student'...takes 5.0 full courses, three of which are at 3rd year level or higher. This is fine. 3. Student C finishes biochem degree at school X, graduates, then applies to school X to enter the first year of a BA program in philosophy. Not okay = two separate degree programs....regardless of what actual courses you take in the first 'BA' year....the victory lap is part of a second degree and cannot be used UNLESS you complete a second year in the new degree and then you will have the magical two full years again.... 4. Student D finishes biochem degree, graduates and does a BEd...fine, but cannot use BEd year for GPA....because it is a different degree program. Elaine, I am not sure how UWO will look at you doing a non-degree year at UofT and using it for GPA purposes when your degree is from Ryerson...you will have to ask admissions for sure on that one. The one thing you will have to be careful of is that you have pre-reqs that enable you to take enough senior level courses at UofT for your 'special year' to count. (You need to take at least three courses at the third year level or higher). Ikaj - UWO does not look specifically at your pre-reqs...all they care about is that you passed them at some point. So, you really don't need to increase your GPA in your pre-reqs. All you need is two full years that are ~3.7 or better and you should be fine. If you are going to do a victory lap, make sure that you don't repeat any courses that you took previously during your special year, or else it will be disqualified. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dogeatdog12 Posted October 23, 2003 Report Share Posted October 23, 2003 Just wanted to ask, what happens if you defer your degree till your sixth year? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peachy Posted October 23, 2003 Report Share Posted October 23, 2003 You means in terms of UWO admissions or admissions elsewhere or in general? Your undergraduate institution is unlikely to care. I find that a lot of student-government types tend to take 6 (or more!) years to do their degrees... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Elaine I Posted October 23, 2003 Report Share Posted October 23, 2003 Thanks! I'll e-mail UWO admissions to make sure. (Yes, I took the necessary pre-reqs for 3rd and 4th year courses at U of T. If I can do the extra year there, I would prefer to...I'm just not sure that I'm enough of a social science student to handle another year at Ryerson...not too many science courses to choose from!) Thanks again, Elaine :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ikaj Posted October 23, 2003 Report Share Posted October 23, 2003 wow! thanks guys! I guess, then, I will hold off on MSc for a year and complete another year of pre-reqs. I am hoping to go to the UoA medical school and they put alot of weight on pre-reqs....I think it's worth like 50-60% or something like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest aneliz Posted October 23, 2003 Report Share Posted October 23, 2003 UWO will only allow you to use ONE victory lap year for GPA purposes. So, if you take more than one, you are only able to use the first one (year 5) as one of your two best years for GPA purposes. Otherwise, they don't care if you take that long, it just won't be used for GPA calculations at UWO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gem2005 Posted October 23, 2003 Report Share Posted October 23, 2003 Hey guys, What happens if you start a second degree (4years)? Can you apply after each new year of completion, and which two years will they pick (previous 4 year degree or current). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest aneliz Posted October 23, 2003 Report Share Posted October 23, 2003 If you start a second degree, you will need to complete at least two years of it before you would be eligible to apply to UWO (assuming that you want to use your new degree for GPA purposes). I don't think it matters which degree you use (new or old) but you must use two years from the same degree....you cannot mix and match. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Lactic Folly Posted October 23, 2003 Report Share Posted October 23, 2003 Prereqs at the U of A is worth something like 25% I believe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest hazard Posted October 24, 2003 Report Share Posted October 24, 2003 How is an extra year of university considered for schools beside western. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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