i've known people with 95% average and didn't get in. lol. so its hard to say... but definately good marks is suppose to be one of the MANY things they look for..

you can always apply second year if you don't get for first year if you really want this program.

I guess I'll be the first to wave the bullshit flag here. I'm a fourth year in the BHSc program. You don't need 1000 hours of volunteer service at the local hospital or 99% average to get in. With respect to marks, my year's entering average was 93.5%, and it will likely have increased since then because of the popularity of the program and hence the deeper pool of applicants with high marks. I personally had a top 6 (including reqs like English 4U) of 94%. I know people who came in with low 90s.

With regard to extracurriculars, from my knowledge, nowhere on the application does it ask you explicitly to list your volunteer activities. You might choose to load your application with "I stocked hospital toilets for 2 years" and "I held a car wash for AIDS", but what you do and its relevance to health/medicine is really not important. What you took away from your experience is more important than anything. Personally, I had TONS of volunteer experience in high school, but I only listed one of them on my supp app (which had nothing to do with medicine), and this didn't earn me a rejection.

Be HONEST, above all. If all you did in high school was improv team, talk about it! If you have a plan, and things that you want to improve on as a person, write about it! If you don't know for sure that you want to go into medicine, don't be afraid to say it! BHSc is NOT a pre-med program. Collaboration and interdisciplinary learning are encouraged, and having more than just future doctors helps. Trust me when I say there are ENOUGH people in this program who are med-school obsessed.

And if you don't get into BHSc at Mac, life goes on. There are are some great universities in Canada, and you will be spared the doom of having to live in Hamilton while you could be in places like Montreal or Vancouver!

Here's my personal experience with BHSc. I did not apply into it, as I was not interested in getting BHSc diploma. Sister applied previous year, for 2007-2008 year but failed to get in with 95-96% avg (non-IB), which was surprising to the family.

However, she had 0 extra-curriculars, only some volunteering (<100 hours).

This past year, I know several people who entered into the program. They are all very committed students, and they all did IB in high school, one other person was in some different school offering AP courses. In addition, they were all stellar people, meaning that they had very good personalities and did plenty of volunteering/cool stuff at school, and are very interested in the health profession (not parent forced) and did volunteering in that area.

If you're committed, a great student, and have done volunteering, know the area, then BHSc is probably right for you, and having done IB, you probably won't have a problem getting in.

Edit:
Adding to this, like Eva mentioned earlier, "do other things that just make you stand out".
Step into the shoes of the person reading your supplementary application. If you submit just a generic application, you probably will not get in.

so are IB students preferred?

Originally Posted by sinthusized

so are IB students preferred?

From my personal experience, I've seen more IBs get in than regular people. However, usually IB students are more active in general, so perhaps this has to do with it.

I did IB, had a 98% average in high school, and instead of applying to health sci, I went into engineering.

It's hard to get into health sci because it's like pre-med and they want to admit people who have a good chance of going on to be a doctor, which requires more than marks

If you have really good marks and don't get into health sci or aren't sure if you want to be a doctor go into engineering, tough it out, and then you be a doctor OR worst case you'll have a really good job

I did IB as well and had a 97% average and health sci just didn't seem to want me. BUT, each to their own.

My CA is in health sci. He told me how flawed the system for getting in is. I mean first year students read the applications and decide who they want to get it. It doesnt really seem too legit to me. Once you have the marks you might as well just flip a coin.

Hello. I'm not sure who your CA is, but first year students definitely do not read the supplementary applications. In the past upper year students reviewed them, but this stopped last year and as of now all of the applications are read by staff.

hmm i have a question... it's competitive to get into medschool ... if you applied for this premed program, have volunteer hours, and have the marks but still get rejected because you don't have the "right fit" ... is there really much hope for you to get into medschool? I mean sure lots of people who didn't go through BHSc at mac go to med school but well like it was said, they want people who have a shot at being a doctor, so if you are rejected should that be it? Anyways, yeah I don't really understand what's so standout-ish of a filing cabinet/receptionist... hell, that sounds boring and passionless to me.

3500 applicants to BHSc for 160 offers= 1/ 20 some

5000 unique applicants to Ontario medical schools and more than 1000 slots= 1/5

Based on numbers alone a greater percentage get into medical schools...Don't quote me on these exact numbers, but I think I got them from a pretty reliable source.

So essentially do not give up on your medical school goals. Our associate dean, Del Harnish, tells everyone in first year that if it was up to him they would have interviews for all the applicants, like for medical school, but this just isn't logistically possible. A lot of deserving people don't get admission, but that is why they take ~20 second year transfers.

And also, don't think that BHSc is a premed program because that is really not what it is supposed to be.

If any prospective first years or prospective second year transfers have any questions feel free to message me! I'm currently in second year BHSc.

Guys I had a quick question.

Beside the questions on the application, it says 1500 characters.

Does that mean each letter, period, exclamation mark etc or individual words?

And if it is characters, is it characters with spaces or characters without spaces?

Thanks for your help.

Characters I assume means letters as well as punctuation and spacing. If it was 1500 words they would have stated that.

Its exactly that, punctuation and spacing. Its 200-300 words, basically.

Hey,
I'm a prospective student for the Health Sci program and I'm in the process of writing up my supplemental application. The last question asks: If there were one question which should not be asked, what would the question be and why?
I want to say that it is this question that should not be asked. I've heard that a lot of last year's applicants used that answer. So I was wondering if my answer would be seen as unoriginal, or would they judge my answer based on how I supported it?