Hey guys, I have some questions about this course:

a) I know you get the choice of going to a retirement home to volunteer or joining a discussion with seniors. I already volunteer at a retirement home, but I'm considering this course because I'm wondering if it would it be more impressive if you mentioned this course in let's say a medical school interview and talk about how you volunteered at a retirement home in the course? That must be unique right and would they be interested in your experience? But on the other side of the coin, I don't know if volunteering at a retirement home would interest them since most people already do that, but joining in a discussion with seniors would be unique right? I don't know if it's worth to join this course for that reason. (I'm also interested in the material)

b) If I don't get in the course, is there any way I can participate in these activities? McMaster offers a lot of unique opportunities that other unis don't really offer, and I want to take advantage of every opportunity I can.

Thanks!

join the course for the material, not for med school application LOL. youve had a lot of these topics...just get through first year life sci man. who knows if youll want med school after 1st year. you may get interested in some lab/research stuff and thus go into a chem program or something idk. just dont worry about med school with every little decision you seem to be making.

Originally Posted by brady23

Hey guys, I have some questions about this course:

a) I know you get the choice of going to a retirement home to volunteer or joining a discussion with seniors. I already volunteer at a retirement home, but I'm considering this course because I'm wondering if it would it be more impressive if you mentioned this course in let's say a medical school interview and talk about how you volunteered at a retirement home in the course? That must be unique right and would they be interested in your experience? But on the other side of the coin, I don't know if volunteering at a retirement home would interest them since most people already do that, but joining in a discussion with seniors would be unique right? I don't know if it's worth to join this course for that reason. (I'm also interested in the material)

b) If I don't get in the course, is there any way I can participate in these activities? McMaster offers a lot of unique opportunities that other unis don't really offer, and I want to take advantage of every opportunity I can.

Thanks!

a) I wouldn't necessarily say it is "impressive", because anyone taking these HLTH AGE courses can do them.. or people not even in the program. But it is one other thing that you can add to your list of qualifications of why you think you would be good for a med school program. Get a high GPA, and you can def do it with these HLTH AGE courses.

b) There are alot of charitable clubs on campus. Visit them during clubfest and see what appeals to you. There are alot of volunteering activities that certain clubs participate in. Join clubs! Be involved... I'm pretty sure they look for well rounded individuals and not just 12GPA students with no social skills.

Thanks guys!

I was debating between taking Econ or Health and aging, but I'll stick with econ, because I can probably still do the things people do in the Health & Aging course outside of a class, and I don't think it would make any difference whether I took a Health & Aging course or Econ in the end.

Originally Posted by Silver

join the course for the material, not for med school application LOL. youve had a lot of these topics...just get through first year life sci man. who knows if youll want med school after 1st year. you may get interested in some lab/research stuff and thus go into a chem program or something idk. just dont worry about med school with every little decision you seem to be making.

Well I'm not joining for the med school application, obviously I'm interested in the course, but I'm debating taking this course against economics, but in the end, I can still do those things in the health aging course outside of the health & aging course, and it wont make a difference between taking econ or health and aging in the end.

I just need to have a plan, I don't want to have only one plan, I need a plan A through Z just incase something doesn't work out, I'm just trying to get as much info as I can to make a proper decision. But I'm pretty sure I'll stick to what I've planned, I'm not really one to change my mind once something is set.

And Med school was just an after thought of one of the pros of taking the health and aging course, it's not my focus in my discussion questions I've posted, this was the only one where I mentioned medical school.

Originally Posted by Cliu91

a) I wouldn't necessarily say it is "impressive", because anyone taking these HLTH AGE courses can do them.. or people not even in the program. But it is one other thing that you can add to your list of qualifications of why you think you would be good for a med school program. Get a high GPA, and you can def do it with these HLTH AGE courses.

b) There are alot of charitable clubs on campus. Visit them during clubfest and see what appeals to you. There are alot of volunteering activities that certain clubs participate in. Join clubs! Be involved... I'm pretty sure they look for well rounded individuals and not just 12GPA students with no social skills.

Yeah you're right, and in the end, if I volunteer at a retirement home and discuss issues with seniors, it won't make a difference whether it was because I took Health & Aging or Econ. And I took econ in high school and I love business courses so I may stick with it.

b) Yeah, I plan on joining alot of clubs first year because that's when everyone is new and you can make more friends, and I want to start when I'm younger, I won't just study in my room for 24 hours haha

But thanks a lot!