Originally Posted by Ngluding

"Like fuck no wonder you failed to classes, your problem solving skills are subpar at best"
This is your idea of a friendly joke, and useful... well that can be debatable and please do not bring up condescending with me, you should be the last person to make that statement.

Uh that comment was in reference to my previous post... could you stop looking for reasons to bash me man? like im honoured you spent a day thrashing my posts, but its getting tiresome. and for the better part of the afternoon/evening yesterday, your posts were far more condescending to me than my comments were to you. Toodles

Although balancing grades can obviously be difficult with a fail (as already mentioned), I find that you are getting narrow perspectives so...I figured I would tell you that there are many ways around this, so you don't have to feel like you've dented your future. Regarding medical school, there are a subset that look at your last two years, further most grad schools only consider your senior years. No one cares about your first year. Just ensure you fix your habits and you should be fine!

*Of course in terms of programs requiring cGPAs, this may be difficult but I figured I should emphasize that the more common routes for a science student are not by any means closed.

OP

If professional school or grad school is something you want to do then do not stress about failing 2 courses, however you should figure out what you did wrong and fix that.

As someone who is currently applying to professional programs and grad school i can vouch to say that first year means absolutely nothing.
As you have pointed out Queens and Western Medicine looks at your last 2 and best 2 years respectively. Toronto drops 6 courses if you continue to to take a full course load. The only school you really screwed yourself a for is Mcmaster Medicine as they look at ALL of your grades. As for other professional programs, Toronto Dentistry looks at your top 3 of 4 years, Western Dentistry at your top 2. Same goes for majority of law schools that only look at your last 2 years. Grad schools are also the same in the fact that they look at your last 2 years.

So you haven't really done yourself in, but you must fix your studying habits in order to succeed, each person does things their own way and its up to you to sort out how you work.

As for your options with courses keep what you have and get the highest marks that you can. In the summer take the other 2 courses you failed, either from your hometown (assuming your not from Hamilton) or at Mac.

Point is, fix your studying habbits.

Originally Posted by unman69

OP

If professional school or grad school is something you want to do then do not stress about failing 2 courses, however you should figure out what you did wrong and fix that.

As someone who is currently applying to professional programs and grad school i can vouch to say that first year means absolutely nothing.
As you have pointed out Queens and Western Medicine looks at your last 2 and best 2 years respectively. Toronto drops 6 courses if you continue to to take a full course load. The only school you really screwed yourself a for is Mcmaster Medicine as they look at ALL of your grades. As for other professional programs, Toronto Dentistry looks at your top 3 of 4 years, Western Dentistry at your top 2. Same goes for majority of law schools that only look at your last 2 years. Grad schools are also the same in the fact that they look at your last 2 years.

So you haven't really done yourself in, but you must fix your studying habits in order to succeed, each person does things their own way and its up to you to sort out how you work.

As for your options with courses keep what you have and get the highest marks that you can. In the summer take the other 2 courses you failed, either from your hometown (assuming your not from Hamilton) or at Mac.

Point is, fix your studying habbits.

Dentistry is not the only professional school, nor is med school.
While all pathways are not closed, some certainly are. For example, pharmacy requires first-year math and failing that specific course (even if you re-take it and pass) will negatively impact your ability to get in. Being able to get into dentistry is fantastic but won't help the OP if they really wanted to be a pharmacist (I'm just using these as examples; I'm sure there are other examples out there).

People seem to be saying either "you can't realistically bounce back from failing two courses" or "it doesn't matter that you failed two courses". Really, whether or not it matters depends on the path you choose after graduation. You will find less options available to you if you have a low GPA/failed courses.

Fixing the study habits is definitely the most important thing though.

Originally Posted by starfish

Dentistry is not the only professional school, nor is med school.
While all pathways are not closed, some certainly are. For example, pharmacy requires first-year math and failing that specific course (even if you re-take it and pass) will negatively impact your ability to get in. Being able to get into dentistry is fantastic but won't help the OP if they really wanted to be a pharmacist (I'm just using these as examples; I'm sure there are other examples out there).

People seem to be saying either "you can't realistically bounce back from failing two courses" or "it doesn't matter that you failed two courses". Really, whether or not it matters depends on the path you choose after graduation. You will find less options available to you if you have a low GPA/failed courses.

Fixing the study habits is definitely the most important thing though.

I mentioned Law,Medicine, Dentistry and Graduate studies. However yes Pharmacy MAY be a no go.

But as you said, study habits need to be fixed.

Originally Posted by Ngluding

Thanks everyone for their advice, I have taken them down for consideration. Also to double check, you need 30 credits to pass life science 1 right and you need to pass life science 1 in order to get into honours life science? Like is it ok if I get the credits from the required courses to get into honours life science and not have 30 credits this year but work towards 120 credits by the end of my 4rd year?

Yes. You need the full units (in this case 30) to pass Level 1 to get into Level 2 and beyond. You can't just take the required ones and start Level 2, or continue into level 2 and get 120 by 4th year.

I've found that school gets "easier" once you develop some sort of goals or commit to a certain path. It may not be the case for all people (or even most people) but I did significantly worse in school in my first year when I was exploring what I liked... because while I did eventually find what I liked, I had to weed through a lot of subjects that I didn't. Albeit, this was in humanities/soc sci which have extremely loose first year requirements.

Once I committed to a program (Economics) that had several required classes, I did much better and only got better as time went on. My final year was my strongest academically even though I was taking harder classes.

My point: some people do better with structure, and a good way to provide that for yourself is to really consider where you want this school thing to lead you and know exactly what you'll have to do to get there. I respect your desire to explore, test the waters, etc... but now is the time to really consider where and why you went wrong. Maybe setting some firmer goals could provide the motivation you'll need to succeed in the coming years.

PS - I seriously think the people around here who take pride in being brutally honest are way more interested in being brutal than honest. The disparaging comments aren't constructive. I've known so many intelligent people who struggled with school for all kinds of reasons but went on to do great things. Failing a few courses in first year is hardly an indication of anyone's ability to succeed thereafter.

Just my $0.02

I don't get it, why don't people get off their ass and go to their faculty/department office to see a counselor? You don't need an appointment.

Originally Posted by topkek

I don't get it, why don't people get off their ass and go to their faculty/department office to see a counselor? You don't need an appointment.

Preach brotha!!!

I would rethink life science and go to chemistry if I were you as you passed it..