Hi All,

I am trying to pick a good undergrad degree that would be a smart choice for wanting to go to med school in the future.

I heard and read on the internet that McMaster excels in medicine, which is why I applied for Life Sciences here. Can anyone tell me why MacMaster is a smart decision if my future plan is becoming a doctor? Do any of you have any success stories of getting into med school after a degree at mac's life sciences?

Also, how hard is the work load? how much effort would I have to put to get a sufficient GPA that is med school worthy? I would really appreciate it if people who are currently in the program or graduates could post their experiences and why they chose this program.

thank you so much for your help

Originally Posted by JonZ

Hi All,

I am trying to pick a good undergrad degree that would be a smart choice for wanting to go to med school in the future.

I heard and read on the internet that McMaster excels in medicine, which is why I applied for Life Sciences here. Can anyone tell me why MacMaster is a smart decision if my future plan is becoming a doctor? Do any of you have any success stories of getting into med school after a degree at mac's life sciences?

Also, how hard is the work load? how much effort would I have to put to get a sufficient GPA that is med school worthy? I would really appreciate it if people who are currently in the program or graduates could post their experiences and why they chose this program.

thank you so much for your help

#KMT ... Med school

sorry what does #KMT mean

Originally Posted by JonZ

sorry what does #KMT mean

kiss my teeth, you wanna be a doc right u should know that

Originally Posted by JonZ

Hi All,

Also, how hard is the work load? how much effort would I have to put to get a sufficient GPA that is med school worthy?

thank you so much for your help

this says so much about you, you wont be making it into medical school.

No passion, no curiosity, no motivation. Just seeking the big bucks, the prestige and basically all the bullshit .. good luck.

Follow what you love, not what will "prepare you" for medical school. Medicine isn't about getting there with a hard science degree. As long as you will their prerequisites they will teach you what you need to know from there on.

Medical schools look for people that are passionate and dedicated to what they love. They want someone who will be passionate and dedicated to medicine.

Now of course keep in mind I'm NOT involved in the admissions process in anyway so take what I said with a grain of salt. But that is what I've been told by some very wise people who I believe know what they're talking about.

Your undergraduate doesn't have much to do with getting into med school except your GPA. Therefore your only problem for deciding to attend McMaster is whether or not it is easy to get a high GPA at this school compared to others.

No one is going to be able to compare it to others, but short answer: yes, it is easy to get a high GPA. It is also easy to get a high GPA at some other schools too, though.

There is nothing magical about the undergrad you choose - if you're planning to be in a generic program like life science, it will be quite similar at any university you attend.

Just a heads up: you don't actually need to major in something related to medicine to go to med school. When the McMaster reps came to my high school, one of the first things the guy presenting told us was about his friend, who did his undergrad in music and was now in his second year of med school.


Yeah.

and that's why the system is such a fail...

Originally Posted by MCHEDDENITE

and that's why the system is such a fail...

I disagree completely. I can't count how many times my father (a physician-scientist with a PhD in biochem), has acted totally bemused by my pride at some concept from hard science I have learned and asked me if I really thought it would be all that helpful in medicine. He has been much more impressed by a lot of the "soft-knowledge" I've picked up in Humanities courses and through experiences with politics.

Make of it what you will, but medicine is far more than just the life sciences.

Originally Posted by arathbon

I disagree completely. I can't count how many times my father (a physician-scientist with a PhD in biochem), has acted totally bemused by my pride at some concept from hard science I have learned and asked me if I really thought it would be all that helpful in medicine. He has been much more impressed by a lot of the "soft-knowledge" I've picked up in Humanities courses and through experiences with politics.

Make of it what you will, but medicine is far more than just the life sciences.

I hate how you are always serious and stuff ... you are so annoying. The system is fail ! if you disagree then its your problem

I don't think it's fair in that.. I could take humanities courses and get higher marks than what I could get in hard-science courses, therefore achieve a larger GPA overall and have a better chance at getting in (so long as I have the pre-requisite courses). And, when it comes down to doctors in research, I doubt that those with backgrounds in arts/humanities/business will have as much background knowledge as science majors. med school isn't just about becoming a physician.

Originally Posted by ooburii

I don't think it's fair in that.. I could take humanities courses and get higher marks than what I could get in hard-science courses, therefore achieve a larger GPA overall and have a better chance at getting in (so long as I have the pre-requisite courses).

In 20 courses I have gotten one mark that wasn't an A or A+. It was a B in English. The two other humanities courses I took I earned an A and an A+ in. I only got an A in Italian because I already knew the material from high school, and I was barely able to pull off an A+ in Critical Thinking. Meanwhile I never doubted that I could get A+'s in first year chem, and I don't think I have a science course yet where I worried about not getting at least an A. (Except Orgo chem which was intimidating at first, but as I wrapped my head around it became much easier than most people say it is).

And, when it comes down to doctors in research, I doubt that those with backgrounds in arts/humanities/business will have as much background knowledge as science majors. med school isn't just about becoming a physician.

Not every doctor will be a physician-scientist. And that said not all research in health fields in based in the hard sciences. Much of it has to do with things like social determinants to health, health policy, or even things like music therapy (or therapy for musicians!). So I completely disagree that recruiting only (or even mostly) people with hard science backgrounds is advantageous to furthering medical research especially as medicine moves from the biomedical model to the biopsychosocial model.

Originally Posted by arathbon

I disagree completely. I can't count how many times my father (a physician-scientist with a PhD in biochem), has acted totally bemused by my pride at some concept from hard science I have learned and asked me if I really thought it would be all that helpful in medicine. He has been much more impressed by a lot of the "soft-knowledge" I've picked up in Humanities courses and through experiences with politics.

Make of it what you will, but medicine is far more than just the life sciences.

SO true. Having a "background" in science is completely useless. My brother forgot EVERYTHING he learned in undergrad except for a bit of organic chemistry and he's fine.

The level you learn at med school is so much higher than undergrad, it's like saying "ohhh all that grade 9 math I learned helped me in second year university!" That's fine, I'm sure you require some components of that grade 9 math, but what you do require you learn within one lecture and then you move on to new things because it's so much easier than what you're learning now. In the same way, everything you do or don't learn in undergrad you pick up in med school, and a lot faster than you did it in undergrad because your level of schooling is much more advanced overall.

Originally Posted by L'Étoile

I hate how you are always serious and stuff ... you are so annoying. The system is fail ! if you disagree then its your problem

Lol what? The system is fail...if he disagrees then it's his problem? If it's his problem why are you upset?