1st yr courses in 2nd/3rd yr= disqualification at mac??

[Guest mya]

Hi,

I heard that if I take a first year course in my second or third year, I'll get disqualified. Apparently there's some rule. Can anyone clarify this for me?

Thanks

 

mya

[Guest dubliner]

not true. At least not for me. I had a 1st year course in 4th year. No big deal - as long as you have the proper amount of higher level credits, electives don't matter.

 

AFAIK

dc

[Guest DocLi]

I hope you're RIGHT! Because at this moment in time I'm wetting myself...running in circles...jumping up and down like a maniac...(worried stiff that is). I am taking a 1st year course in 2nd year and I don't want that to hurt my chances of apply to MAC come third year. Please help!

[Guest SoHo]

Sorry to burst people's bubbles, but a first year course in second or third year is a big no-no if you are a third year applicant. Basically what they told me was that you must have at least 30 credits by June 30th of the year of possible admission and 20 of those must be above year one. So basically if you're a third year applicant you can't have any first year courses in 2nd and 3rd year. But the nice thing is that summer courses are included in this calculation, so technically you could take a first year course in third or second year provided that you took a third/second year course in the summer (again this applies to a third year applicant). If you're a fourth year applicant.... no worries, just make sure you have 20 credits above year one.

[Guest applicant too]

Mac's requirements might be easier to understand if you think about the 2nd and 3rd year courses instead of the 1st year courses. You can have as many 1st year courses as you want - AS LONG AS you have the minimum of 10 full time courses (or 20 x .5) ABOVE 1st year level (ie. = 2nd/3rd/4th year level). When you take them does not matter for MAC. In essence, stop counting your first year courses and worry about how many courses you have that are greater than/equal to 2nd year.

[Guest bmw]

can any of moderators clarify this? Please.

[Guest bubbagump]

The rules on this are not complicated. As the above people mentioned, you need 2 full years worth of courses at 2nd year or above. So if you are planning on applying after only 3 years of university, you need 2 full years of upper-level credits. Thus, a first year course instead of a 2nd year course means you are SOL. But you can get around this by taking extra upper level courses to make up for deficiencies.

 

I'm not a moderator, but I read the rules and think they are clear.

[Guest Ian Wong]

If you are truly concerned, please contact the admissions office directly. Not to slight the moderators or anything, but ultimately if you are concerned that a technicality is going to affect your application, you should call the people who will actually be evaluating that application! Us moderators are great for giving opinions as to what the medical schools themselves are like, but for nit-picky details, you'd be best to consult the official sources themselves.

 

You can reach the McMaster website through a link at the top of the Mac forum. If I may ask you for a favour, when you find out, could you please post back here with what you've found out?

 

Thanks,

 

Ian

UBC, Med 3

[Guest bmw]

Hi Ian,

I didn't mean to slight the moderators, I just thought they might know the answer. I emailed the Admission Office and got the auto reply as below:

 

This is an automatic response -- please do not respond to this email.

 

OPEN SESSIONS FOR THOSE WHO ARE INTERESTED IN APPLYING TO THE MCMASTER

UNDERGRADUATE MEDICAL PROGRAMME HAVE BEEN SCHEDULED FOR:

 

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2002 - 7-9 P.M. AND

THURSDAY, AUGUST 29, 2002 - 7-9 P.M.

 

HEALTH SCIENCES CENTRE, ROOM 1A1, FIRST FLOOR, EWART ANGUS CENTRE (PURPLE

AREA)

 

REGISTRATION IS NOT REQUIRED.

 

Listed below are the eligibility requirements for this programme. If

your email concerns any other matters, it will be responded to within one

business day.

 

*****************************************************************************

 

NOTE: The application deadline date for possible admission in 2002 has

now past. Applications will once again become available in July 2002 for

possible admission in 2003.

 

Our brochure is available online at

www.fhs.mcmaster.ca/mdpro...ac2001.pdf . Statistics for the

past two years can be viewed at

www.fhs.mcmaster.ca/mdpro...ection.htm . Current

tuition and supplementary fees can be viewed at

www.mcmaster.ca/bms/finan...icine.html .

 

We have only two prerequisites (No MCAT! / no prerequisite courses):

 

1. You must have a minimum three years (30 credits) undergraduate studies

completed by the time of possible admission to medical school and at least two

of these years (20 credits) must be above the year one level (from any

faculty); and

 

2. In your undergraduate work, you must have attained an overall GPA of

at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale or a "B".

 

If an applicant has completed a degree in less than three years, then the

degree must be conferred by the application deadline date.

[Guest Ian Wong]

I think the best course of action then is to call. My read on the situation comes from what I see on the Mac website:

 

www-fhs.mcmaster.ca/mdprog/admissions.htm

"Two of the three years must be above level/year one. A "year" is the full block of work specified for a year or level of the programme as indicated on the university transcript and in the appropriate university calendar. Only degree courses taken at an accredited university will be considered. Two of the three years must be above level/year one."

 

 

To me, this means that people who apply after third year are most likely to be affected by the above, as it seems to state that you need a total of two complete years worth of courses above level/year one. If you were applying after fourth year, chances are that you'd have two complete years worth of upper level courses on your transcript.

 

Functionally, this means that (again, my interpretation only) if you apply after only three years of undergrad, that you need a full suite of upper level courses for those two years. I don't know how they look at summer courses.

 

Perhaps you can call then or contact them through some other means to clarify this. It's to Mac's advantage that you guys provide feedback so that they can make their website descriptions as clear and unambiguous as possible.

 

Good luck,

 

Ian

UBC, Med 3

[Guest applicant too]

Hi Ian and all,

 

The info that I have posted above is info that I received from talking to Mac. We went through all this back in the winter when someone said they had received a disqualification letter for having taken a 1st year course in 2nd year (I phoned to verify because I thought the wording was quite clear but others seemed to misinterpret it).

 

Their rqts on their web site and in last year's OMSAS booklet clearly state that you have to have 20 courses (= 10 FT credits) above level one. When you take these courses doesn't really matter - I know of a lot of people that take 2nd year courses in 1st year (myself included) and therefore still have room to take some 1st year courses in 2nd or 3rd year. Mac uses ALL courses taken as equal - even those taken in the summer - you just have to have the minimum # of 2nd year/higher courses. You CAN take 1st year courses in subsequent years AS LONG as you have the minimum 10 credits above 1st year.

 

I would suggest that if anyone still does not understand the rqts then they speak to Mac individually but that they not try to explain it again on the forum - it seems to just confuse people more.

[Guest gucio93]

Hey applicant too!

Thanks for the clear and concise explanation and some sound advice.