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Admission in to Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences

 
Old 08-24-2010 at 09:11 AM   #1
MacFreak76
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Admission in to Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences
Hi, I'm a Gr.12 Highschool student, trying to get into a science program at Mcmaster.
My question is how to get into the second year major (Biochemistry)?
I did my research and some sites say, for admission they look for your highschool courses and grades and other sites say they look for your first year university grades.
Which one is it?

Is it also possible to switch from Med Rad Science (Year 1) into the Biochemistry (Year II)?

Thanks in Advance!
Old 08-24-2010 at 09:35 AM   #2
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Going into second year at McMaster, they DO NOT look at your high school grades.

I just finished first year so I have some current first hand experience in this. Remember when you applied for Life Sciences or Med Rad or whatever it is you applied for? Well you do the exact same thing again after first year. You apply again for a second year program (Biochemistry, Chemical Biology, etc.). Your acceptance into a second year program depends on your first year marks.

In grade 12, I applied for Life Sciences and got in. At the end of first year I then applied for Chemical Biology and Biochemistry and got into both and chose Chemical Biology. It's as simple as that. If you're in Life Sciences and you didn't get into any of the second year programs that you applied for, you will get automatically placed into a Life Sciences degree.

And yes, it is possible to switch into Biochemistry from Med Rad. You simply have to apply. Also, MAKE SURE you take the correct prerequisites during first year that satisfy the courses you need to take to be in Biochemistry.

Hopefully that answered your question
Old 08-24-2010 at 09:42 AM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by naurasj View Post
Also, MAKE SURE you take the correct prerequisites during first year that satisfy the courses you need to take to be in Biochemistry.
You can check the prerequisites for Biochemistry here:

http://registrar.mcmaster.ca /calen...nt/pg1513.html
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Old 08-24-2010 at 09:50 AM   #4
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Be careful choosing courses for first year. Make sure you satisfy the program requirements of the programs you desire to apply into. A lot of people say that Life Sciences is the default program they put you into if you don't get into other programs. But similarly, if you do not meet the average and program requirements, you will not be automatically considered for the Life Sciences program.

If you are thinking of transferring from Med Rad to Biochemistry, it would be wise to sit down with an academic advisor to see the best options for you in taking which first year courses will satisfy your level 2 desired programs.
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Old 08-24-2010 at 10:35 AM   #5
manap3000
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woahh be careful there, the two degrees require different skill sets one (med rad) is heavily based on memorization, while the other requires a lot of lab work and common sense (biochemistry) if you see yourself thriving in med rad, (and not find it boring of course) stay where you are
Old 08-24-2010 at 10:37 AM   #6
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If you are planning on getting into biochem from medrad, you have to be very careful. If you take all of the required medrad courses in first year, you won't have enough room to take all of the required courses to get into biochem. Therefore, you'll either have to intentionally not fulfill the first-year medrad requirements (so you wouldn't be able to continue in the program if you don't get into biochem) or take 3-4 courses in the summer. Your acceptance into biochem would be conditional of you completing these courses. Before you go either route, you should talk to an academic advisor to make sure you're not screwing yourself over. 3-4 summer courses is a lot, so you should make sure they don't have a limit on the number they will accept to let you into biochem. I've heard of people's program offers being conditional on 1-2 summer courses, but never more than that. That's not to say it isn't possible, but you should double-check before you decide that's what you want to do.

The programs were designed so that if you start off in medrad, you will continue on into one of the medrad specializations (radiation therapy, ultrasonography or radiography), and if you start in life sci, you will either stay in life sci or continue on into one of the bio programs, or chembio or biochem. The courses that you take if you start off in physical sci or life sci or enviro sci are similar enough to allow for relatively easy 'crossover' between the level 1 program you start off in and the level 2 program you go into. For example, you can get into biochem or chembio equally easily from the life sci 1 or physical sci 1 programs. Medrad is much more specialized right from the beginning, and they take a lot of different courses.

If you know for sure you want to do biochem, then medrad probably isn't the best choice for level 1 program, simply because it's so specialized and it will be difficult for you to get the required courses to get into biochem. It's not impossible, but it will be a lot harder.
Old 08-24-2010 at 10:43 AM   #7
manap3000
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yea dude just pick one already
Old 08-24-2010 at 10:56 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by manap3000 View Post
yea dude just pick one already
Dude, he still has a year of high school to go through.
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Old 08-24-2010 at 11:34 AM   #9
Mahratta
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nerual View Post
if you start in life sci, you will either stay in life sci or continue on into one of the bio programs, or chembio or biochem.
Hey, there's a few of us who didn't follow this! I started in life sci and applied for majors that were all either in the humanities or mathematics-related, haha
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Old 08-24-2010 at 11:43 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mahratta View Post
Hey, there's a few of us who didn't follow this! I started in life sci and applied for majors that were all either in the humanities or mathematics-related, haha
Yeah, I just said that that is how the programs are designed. You can apply for anything as long as you have the prereqs, but each level 1 program was designed to lead into certain level 2 programs, and they assume that you will go into the level 1 program most appropriate to where you want to be in level 2. Of course, people change their minds all the time, which is why having some crossover is a good thing
Old 08-24-2010 at 11:47 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nerual View Post
Yeah, I just said that that is how the programs are designed. You can apply for anything as long as you have the prereqs, but each level 1 program was designed to lead into certain level 2 programs, and they assume that you will go into the level 1 program most appropriate to where you want to be in level 2. Of course, people change their minds all the time, which is why having some crossover is a good thing
Yeah, you're right, I was just joking (well, not about the programs I applied to). Kind of a shameless math plug - "you can go into math from life science!"
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