Thesis Or Double Major?

[ysoNaCly]

Hey everyone this is my first post so bear with me. 

 

I'm currently in second year at UWO, in the medical sciences program (well not really since admission doesn't occur until third year). I have to submit my intent to register by the end of the month and I can't decide what I want to do. My main dilemma is whether to do an "honours specialization" which involves a fourth year research project and thesis or an honours double major which at Western is still an honours degree but you don't do a research project in fourth year. 

 

I think a double major would give me the best chances at maintaining a high GPA but doesn't that also blow my chances at getting into graduate school (in case I need to do a masters)? It also seems like schools like Western are starting to care more about things like research experience and less about GPA (with the new ABS component). 

 

I also noticed on Schulich's admission statistics that most people who are accepted have "honours" degrees, does an honours degree mean the same thing at other universities or is Western unique in that a double major can lead to an honours degree?

 

Anyways, as you can probably tell I'm freaking out a little. If anyone has any advice or if there are other Western students who have gone through this and could share their experience I would be very grateful. 

 

ps. If I did do an honours specialization I was thinking physiology since it interests me most and it seems to be closely tied to the faculty of dentistry (all the phys labs and most of the phys profs work in the dental sciences building). If I did a double major I was thinking phys + IMS. 

[NotASerialKiller]

A thesis can be helpful when looking for a Master's supervisor, but it's generally not an explicit requirement. If you're thinking about pursuing research though it would be nice to get some exposure to it, depends how detrimental you really think it would be to your GPA

[Bambi]

Just remember, GPA is king.