Hi guys..im kinda new here..and Ive been recently offered admission for Mac Life Sci...I really wana go but the only thing that im kinda curious and scared about is that ive heard mac life sci is very competitive...im scared by GPA will not be high enough and my grades wont be good enough for level II honours.....my avg is around 88-89%....and I know that diff. high schools have diff markings and w.e,,and the IB kids are usually more likely to do well..l (thats what ive heard..and makes sense) and I dont go to an IB schoo..so I was just wondering..where would I stand in terms of the transition..because Im scared im not gunna be even close to the top 50% of the kids in the program...and that kinda scares me... Any help...or advice would be appreciated...

Also are the profs helpful..and are the TA's fair markers..and how about the exams in the diff. subjects..are they relatively fair..or more on the hard end?

thankss

I'm sorry to hear you're doubting yourself so much! Getting into Life Science is really competitive, so you should be really proud of yourself. Just work hard, go to all of your classes, and you'll have no problem. I think my average was around yours when I got into Life Science in first year (I've since switched, but not because I got kicked out of it), and I had the exact same concerns. It's not an easy program, but it's very doable if you're putting in the effort. Be optimistic about it, and work hard.

You should also remember that if the university accepted you, then obviously they think you're good enough to be in the program.

Congratulations on your acceptance!

Thanks Adelle..i know I shouldnt be doubting myself..but I cant help it....its just one of the things that crossed my mind...i mean worse case scenario.

Thanks for the encouragement..I really needed it at this point.

Plus previously ppl have been telling about how they went in with like 90-95% avg..and their term 1 marks were like around less than 6...which is also very scary..and I hope that my high school has prepared me well for univ...

Originally Posted by Missions

Thanks Adelle..i know I shouldnt be doubting myself..but I cant help it....its just one of the things that crossed my mind...i mean worse case scenario.

Thanks for the encouragement..I really needed it at this point.

No worries! University is a big leap, and it's not an easy program. Your concerns are perfectly reasonable for an incoming student. Keep in mind that Life Sciences is a very large program, so if you ever need help, there are a lot of resources - not to mention how many other students there are to lend you a hand.

I worried a lot before my first year, but I think you'll find that it isn't so scary. It's competitive when you're applying for second-year programs, but so long as you're doing reasonably well, you shouldn't have a problem getting into any Honours level II program. At the worst, you may have to shadow the program you want and reapply for it in third year - people do this all the time, and it's not a big deal whatsoever. Just make sure you keep up with your work, take advantage of all of the resources available (Math Help Center, study groups, academic advising, etc.), and you'll be perfectly fine.

Good luck in first year!

EDIT: I'm sorry, I just saw the second part of your post. I went in with an average right around yours, and I had an 8.9 average when I switched out of the program. By contrast, my housemate went into Engineering with an 80% average and now has a 12 average, and a friend with a 97% entrance average recently got kicked out of Health Science. Oddly enough, your high school marks don't always resemble your university marks. Just do the best you can do, and if you don't make it, at least you'll know it wasn't because you didn't try.

Thank you for the advice and the encouragement. Trust me, it was very helpful!! I guess Mac it iss!

Don't worry from now! If you were good enough to study this year to and keep the grades to get in I am sure you will study and do well next year. I will be in Life sci I next year too. See you there!

like most people said dont worry about it too much, you wont really know what to expect until you actually start and get into the groove, until then just chill out and enjoy the last peaceful summer you might have for a while......

anyways just a word of advice... in order to do well you need to work at it and that goes without saying... so as soon as uni starts dive right into it, dont procrastinate, dont put stuff off, (trust me for some reason it seems theres a lot more time in uni compared to highschool when u first start out)

anyways youve gotten in so finish your school year off and then have a blast over the summer with your friends..

Woah, be more positive man! You do NOT have to be an IB student to do well in Life Sci! I've actually seen some of these people get really cocky and not do very well.

Your marks likely will drop a little in first year as you adjust but its really not that big of a deal (well as long as they don't drop too much!). Its really all about the work ethic. If you work hard and you like what your studying you will do fine.

Don't even worry about how you stand against the other kids in the program. I had the same worry going into first year and after meeting a lot of people I found that yeah, there are some crazy genius people that make me feel like I don't even belong in the program. But then again most of the people are all at the same kind of level more or less and are differentiated by how hard they work. And then your going to run into some people (surprisingly a lot) who are going to make you think, how the heck did this person get into Life Sci?!

Oh, and as for getting into a second year program, if you pick your courses right, Life Sci gives you a great opportunity to get into a variety of different programs. You would have to mess up pretty badly to not get into one of these.

haha. Don't worry! You will be fine I'm currently in honours life sci and as long as you put effort and hard work into all that you do, you should not have to worry at all. In my opinion, the students that I work with are all helpful and friendly. It's not overly competitive like you may think.

You'll do great

Thank you guys all for the replies ..trust me that helps alot...btw how big are the classes 1st year? I hear bio classes are usually the biggest.

and someone also told me that in life sci...as the years progress the number of students doesnt decrease much...i didnt think that was true (but I need someone to verify this) because isn't it that second year...everyone is picking thier own Level II honours or whatever else programs..so shouldn't the class sizes be decreasing by a lot?

congratulations on your life science acceptance. you will enjoy it.

the orgochem class I am in is 400 - the auditorium is always packed. It's a course that is a prerequisite for many programs so size doesn't change much - same goes for physiology and genetics.

also I have noticed an average drop of 10% in marks from high school. I studied the same as I did in high school, and got the same range of marks.