Sup Marauders,

So I'm a first year Engineering student, and it's been tough but for the most part I've enjoyed it. Towards the end of the year though, I felt my passion waring thin and at this point I don't really see myself working as an Engineer for years to come.

At this time I am considering switching to Kinesiology because my passion lies within Anatomy and Physiology. Ideally, what I'm considering is a career as an Osteopath.

I have a question for anybody who knows about Kinesiology, Engineering, or both:
Obviously coming from Engineering, Kinesiology will be a huge step down in terms of difficulty. My concern is that I was looking at the course calendar for a Kinesiology degree at Mac and to me the program looks really easy. So many electives per year! And the final year I practically all electives!

Although I'm not complaining about free time and extra choice in courses.. my concern is that for me to be captivated by a program or area of study, I need to be chaleneged - which is why I had initially chosen Engineering. So my question is - how difficult is the Kinesiology degree at Mac? The reason I'm asking this is because I don't want to get out of university thinking I had a really easy time doing my degree. For me to be satisfied with my work at a university education, I need to feel as though I really truly worked towards something. And my fear is that Kinesiology will not give me this satisfaction. I definitely don't want to leave university with a degree that almost anyone can get. But then again - I could be TOTALLY off about this as I don't know much about this program

So anyways - knowledgeable Marauders, please let me know what you know about this program: it's difficulty, the prestige behind the program, the dropout rate, are there other schools that offer a more prestigious Kinesiology degree?.. really any academic factoids you can give me.

Oh and if anyone is / was actually a Kinesiology student - please leave your contact info - I'd love to talk!

I'm in Kin and absolutely love my program thus year, but definitely looking forward to 3rd and 4th year where I will have more choices into what Kin courses I am taking.

You're right, there are a lot of electives. You get 4 electives per year if you decide to take on a full course load. First year was quite easy for me tbh, but you have to remember, the study technique/style from Engineering to Kin is quite different. In Eng, where you do mostly physics/math practice problems, etc. Kin has a lot of memorization, understanding! (especially for first year in Anatomy/Physiology I and II.) and is basically all individual studying.

It's funny because since there are many other requirements for Med, PT, OT, osteo, naturopathic schools, the majority of Kin students end up taking the full year bios, chemistries, psychs, physics, and englishes are their electives! (Many of my friends joked that first year Kin courses felt like their electives and that their harder courses were chemistry, physics, biology, etc.)
--> Not to mention the required courses you have to take before graduating like Stats and Calculus.

2nd year was definitely harder and more challenging. I can guarantee you that. No degree is a flyby, and no degree let's you off easy. Second year sees much more weekly tests, more labs, more lab reports, more midterms, longer exams. Some courses are much harder than others. For instance, MSK Anatomy is pure memorization and understanding (I know people who have failed this twice) and Biomechanics, which is the physics of human movement.

Overall, if you really do want to switch into Kin, that is possible. (I'm not sure if it's too late now though, it's pretty hard to switch in unless you have 11+ gpa, as they only let in transfer students based on how many people dropped out of Kin that year)

I suggest looking at the course calendar descriptions to give you a sense of what kin courses and (much more interesting) upper kin courses look like. For instance, cardiopathology, neuromuscular exercise physiology, health psychology are examples of upper level courses.

Good luck!

Why not go into BioEng?

I'm going into 4th year Kin and it's an amazing program. Like the post above me said, first year is pretty breezy with most of your learning narrowing down to just memorization. Mind you, there's a quite a bit of info (especially with anatomy) but it's really interesting stuff so it's not hard to memorize. Almost everything we learn can be applied to your personal life such as diet and protein supplements with Nutrition, coaching and athletic training strategies with Motor Control and etc. It's real interesting stuff man!

A lot of what we learn in first and second year is built upon in our upper year courses. So again, it's kind of hard to forget concepts you learnt in first year since it's constantly being brought up and incorporated into the upper year courses. Intro Biomech will incorporate concepts of physics, anatomy and neuromuscular physiology.

Third year is where it gets interesting since you basically get free reign to pick any 6 kin courses from a list and fill the rest of with electives (this is your chance to get all those pre reqs you need for those osteopath schools). Depending on your preference, you can take the easier route and take the "bird" kin classes that are interesting in their own right such as Body, Mind and Spirit and the Exercise Psychs and Sport Psych.

But if you liked what you learned in Engineering but prefer some anatomy and physiology, I suggest courses such as Ergonomics, Neural Control and Clinical Biomech. These classes really incorporate methods of research design and control while marrying aspects of how that affects our physiology and what we can do to improve it. They're a good challenge too since these courses aren't memorization but require logical thinking and application; especially Ergonomics where we get to go out to the field and perform an ergonomics assessment at a company (we did Fortinos). Sports Injuries is another challenging but rewarding course where you are assessed by a hands-on practical test.

So in a nutshell, Kin's what you make of it. First two years a very interesting and set the groundwork for upper year classes though they are a bit heavy on memorization. While the upper year courses have many that are practical and challenging if that's what you're into as well. On top of all this, you get all the electives which you can fill with your grad school pre reqs or use to complete a minor.

"Why not go into biomedical? "


I talked to faculty heads and they explained how it's one of the hardest eng faculties. To quote the director - "We try to kill them in 3rd year, it's just about near impossible."

So errr. .. no thanks

Originally Posted by IVIascitelli

"Why not go into biomedical? "


I talked to faculty heads and they explained how it's one of the hardest eng faculties. To quote the director - "We try to kill them in 3rd year, it's just about near impossible."

So errr. .. no thanks

Lol who said that? Was it debruin

Third year is definately hard but its far from impossible, speaking as a third year in elec and biomed. In fact a lot of the people I know are doing really well. Also, about a third of the class choose to extend the program to 5 years (and maybe take some electives that interest you).

I can relate to where you're coming from since I didnt enjoy first year that much either. Its a general first year so there were courses that didnt interest me at all. Once I got into second year I was really enjoying the courses because they felt more relevant to what I wanted to do. So just keep in mind that first year isnt a good way to judge how you will find the rest of the years. For example I hated physics in first year and thought elec would be worse but I found it to be very different and much more interesting.

By the way since you mentioned you like anatomy and physiology we get to take a very in depth course on anatomy and physiology (with the health scis and nursing) which provides access to the anatomy lab in the hospital (ie. working with cadavers). Its a very difficult course but also one of the most interesting courses. We also get to take biomed courses that integrate the concepts learnt in the anatomy course with the biomedical applications in the real world.

Anyway, this is just my opinion and you dont have to stay in eng. But I think its definately worth it to stick it out till the end. Biomed is a tough program but its not impossible and its a growing industry which means there are an increasing number of jobs.
Good luck with whatever you choose

Originally Posted by IVIascitelli

Although I'm not complaining about free time and extra choice in courses.. my concern is that for me to be captivated by a program or area of study, I need to be chaleneged - which is why I had initially chosen Engineering. So my question is - how difficult is the Kinesiology degree at Mac? The reason I'm asking this is because I don't want to get out of university thinking I had a really easy time doing my degree. For me to be satisfied with my work at a university education, I need to feel as though I really truly worked towards something. And my fear is that Kinesiology will not give me this satisfaction. I definitely don't want to leave university with a degree that almost anyone can get. But then again - I could be TOTALLY off about this as I don't know much about this program

Originally Posted by IVIascitelli

"Why not go into biomedical? "


I talked to faculty heads and they explained how it's one of the hardest eng faculties. To quote the director - "We try to kill them in 3rd year, it's just about near impossible."

So errr. .. no thanks

Seems contradicting to what you wanted in your original post.

What's your overall first year average in engineering?

Originally Posted by HILLyBilly

Seems contradicting to what you wanted in your original post.

What's your overall first year average in engineering?

I want a challenge, but I don't want to eradicate my brain in the process - which is why BioMed scares me.

And my first year average was about a 6, but should be hire due to 2 horrendous project groups that fucked me over ROYALLY in first semester.

Originally Posted by IVIascitelli

I want a challenge, but I don't want to eradicate my brain in the process - which is why BioMed scares me.

And my first year average was about a 6, but should be hire due to 2 horrendous project groups that fucked me over ROYALLY in first semester.

That isn't a great average to have, I guess it depends on the faculty but most won't let you transfer with a C+. Kin needs B+ and a bunch of courses that you don't have (plus deadline is over). Which means you are going back to first year (or undeclared) before transferring to first year Kin. Not sure if you want to be behind that much (2 years).

Your choice.

First year always is a pain in the ass. Its like starting a new character in a RPG. Who really enjoy being level 1?

The chances of you actually getting transferred to Kin are slim to none. Although they say that the average you need to be considered is a B+, that is the minimum and you would need a competitive average, similar to the 11+ that was posted above. Most people that I know that wanted to switch into Kin from other faculties ended up having to transfer schools to do so. So if that is definitely your passion, I would look at other schools such as Brock. Good luck!

Wait wait....

So you mean to tell me that they accept some snot - nosed idiot high schooler with questionably legitimate grades over someone who worked their ass off in university for an 80?

Lol... great system they have here.

Originally Posted by IVIascitelli

Wait wait....

So you mean to tell me that they accept some snot - nosed idiot high schooler with questionably legitimate grades over someone who worked their ass off in university for an 80?

Lol... great system they have here.

A 6 gpa = an 80 eh

Basically next to impossible to switch into Kin while you are in university unless you have a gpa of 11 or higher.

They only accept a limited number of transfer students, about 10-15 per class.

Good luck!