Multiple Changes in Undergraduate Programs

[carylm]

I am a First Year at a Canadian University and I am just wondering if changing my degree 2 times in this year will affect my application? I believe that my first year in university is somehow experimental where I am still in the process of deciding what I really want to do. Please, your insight about this will be greatly appreciated. Thank you

[Ginsy]

Hi there! First of all, I am not formally experienced with the medical school admission process so please take whatever I say with a grain of salt and still come to your conclusions. Maybe someone with more experience can be of more help to you. 

With that being said, I highly doubt that changing your degree/major will affect your application. When I was applying to universities this year I noticed a common trend where, often, your first year in an arts or science program is specifically made to be experimental and general so that you can get a feel for what you like or dislike. If anything, it is probably expected that most students in their first and second year will change their major because they're not entirely sure what they want to do yet. GPA is presumably the most (or one of the most) important parts of your application, and changing your major/degree essentially means taking a different set of courses, so as long as your GPA stays high, regardless of what you are doing you should be fine. 

Also: if you google search "Change major premed101" you will find plenty of threads about people changing their majors, and based on the comments, it does not seem to matter. And since premed101 is only a sample of information, almost every medical school's admissions page explicitly state that they don't care what you do (and I'm sure you're already aware of this). 

[CardiacArrhythmia]

1 hour ago, carylm said:

I am a First Year at a Canadian University and I am just wondering if changing my degree 2 times in this year will affect my application? I believe that my first year in university is somehow experimental where I am still in the process of deciding what I really want to do. Please, your insight about this will be greatly appreciated. Thank you

As you stated first year is often experimental, admissions know that because students are still adapting to university (as some are moving away from home for the first time, etc), GPAs are often not good in the first year, hence why GPA weighting formulas exist. However, admissions will always have the complete transcript from first to your last year of undergrad. If it is a panel interview, they may sometimes ask why you decided to switch from "X program" to "Y program."

[gottawannit]

carylm,

I did a 5 year undergraduate and changed my major every single year. Honours Chem >> Physiology >> General Biosci >> Finance >> Operations Management. I start med this year. From my experience and what I've read/researched, it changes nothing.

CAVEAT: some schools (UofC) have scores for GPA as well as academic rigour (there's a special name for it, but I don't remember). So, for example, if someone  only scored in the 30th percentile for GPA, but was taking 7 courses per semester in engineering, their academic rigour score might be in the 95th percentile, which would offset the hit to their GPA. Conversely, if someone is taking a program with less labs or fewer classes per term, their rigour score may decrease. 

In the end, GPA is (generally) king. If you need to switch programs until you find one that you enjoy and excel at, then do that.