Hi there everyone,

I live in Sarnia and I am currently in High School, grade 11. I am interested in applying for Medicine at McMaster. I wanted to know where I should start researching. I am very confused as to what I should be looking for. I know I want to do Medicine but I am afraid my grades are going to be low, at present I have an 89 average. Please help me out. Thank You so much.

Vman93

Originally Posted by vman93

Hi there everyone,

I live in Sarnia and I am currently in High School, grade 11. I am interested in applying for Medicine at McMaster. I wanted to know where I should start researching. I am very confused as to what I should be looking for. I know I want to do Medicine but I am afraid my grades are going to be low, at present I have an 89 average. Please help me out. Thank You so much.

Vman93

You cannot go directly in medicine. But you can apply either for Health Science or Life Sciences program. I am pretty sure with those marks you would surely get into life science. But, for health sciences you would need a 90% at least and a supplementary application. The main thing you have to do about getting into health science is to have a super-duper supplementary application. There are people who get rejected even if they have 96% average. You are good to go with 90%, the thing that really matters is supplementary application.

If you don't get into health sciences, don't be afraid, life sciences is an amazing program too and not inferior in any way or sense. If you get into health science, You mostly prep for medicine school and you know that you want to go into medicine. But, if your into life science, you can take variety of courses and go either into bio (medicine included), chem, physics or maths streams.

Once you earn your Bsc, then you will apply for medicine school and they don't really care if your in health science or life sciences. It's all about clearing all of the pre-requisites for medicine school and having a good average. Both HS and LS students are required to complete MCAT by some schools and do good on it. I don't know what more you supposed to do. But, I know for sure, it doesn't matter much if your either into HS or LS when you apply to school of medicine!

PS: I am in LS, level I
GOOD LUCK!

Originally Posted by mcmastergcdb

You cannot go directly in medicine. But you can apply either for Health Science or Life Sciences program. I am pretty sure with those marks you would surely get into life science. But, for health sciences you would need a 90% at least and a supplementary application. The main thing you have to do about getting into health science is to have a super-duper supplementary application. There are people who get rejected even if they have 96% average. You are good to go with 90%, the thing that really matters is supplementary application.

If you don't get into health sciences, don't be afraid, life sciences is an amazing program too and not inferior in any way or sense. If you get into health science, You mostly prep for medicine school and you know that you want to go into medicine. But, if your into life science, you can take variety of courses and go either into bio (medicine included), chem, physics or maths streams.

Once you earn your Bsc, then you will apply for medicine school and they don't really care if your in health science or life sciences. It's all about clearing all of the pre-requisites for medicine school and having a good average. Both HS and LS students are required to complete MCAT by some schools and do good on it. I don't know what more you supposed to do. But, I know for sure, it doesn't matter much if your either into HS or LS when you apply to school of medicine!

PS: I am in LS, level I
GOOD LUCK!

Thank you so much. If it is ok for you, can I ask you what your marks were when you were in High School? Are you going to continue into Medicine or somehting else? BEcvause I want to go into Medicine and I have heard that if I want to get into Medicine after my undergraduate I have to get pretty high marks. Is that true?
vman93

I just want to point out that you don't absolutely need a BSc or BHsc to apply to med school. As long as you satisfy the pre-reqs (if there are any), then you should be fine.

For instance, Mac's med school does not currently have any specific course pre-reqs (i.e. some have gotten in with a B.A. in music). However, each med school is different and will have different requirements. I would suggest researching on med schools and keeping up to date on them between now and the time you are going to apply.

Here is the Mac med. school homepage:
http://www-fhs.mcmaster.ca/mdprog/index.html

I suggest completing first year before you set your heart on med school...Alot changes after first year

Originally Posted by manu

I suggest completing first year before you set your heart on med school...Alot changes after first year

Ohh so I am confused as to what degree I will be getting once I finish undergrad with Life Sciences. What all unis are good for Medical School like post grad? I went on the McMaster website that was recommended but i dont knw where to go from there? thank you again

When you graduate, you will have earned a Bachelor of Science; life science is just a stream that you enter into in first year. There is also physical science and math and stats which all fall under the faculty of science.

In second year, you have the opportunity to choose a major (ex.: biochemistry, biology (even more specializations), life science, psychology, molecular bio. etc.).

Med. schools in North America (at least), should all be good since they have to maintain similar standards. To be honest, someone is lucky to even get even accepted into med. school because it is so competitive. So I wouldn't worry about specific med. schools right now.

As for the Mac website, what are you looking for exactly? Admissions info.?

I wanted to know some information on the post graduate medical program at McMaster. I also wanted to know if Life Sciences will cover the requirement courses needed for MCAT.? What would I need to chose in second year for completing courses that I require for MCAT? Ithank you forall your quick responses, I really appreciate it. It really is very helpful.

Yes, Life Sciences will cover all the courses that are required for the MCAT. The majority will be completed in first year (i.e. bio, physics, chem.), and organic chem can be completed in 2nd year.

The Mac med. program is different than other traditional med. schools in that the teaching style involves problem based learning (PBL), which is something you will encounter to varying degrees at Mac depending on what courses you are taking or what degree you are working towards.

Below is a link on their current academic requirements:
http://fhs.mcmaster.ca/mdprog/academ...rements .html

A link on the program overview:
http://fhs.mcmaster.ca/mdprog/overview.html
When you open this link, on the left there is a "toolbar" that has many headings which will explain to you what PBL is and the curriculum.

Hope that helps.

Thank you for you help. My dad is very concerned about after undergrad and wants me to reeasrch some Universities that I can get into for post grad Medicine. Are there any specific websites that can help me? Or do I have to go on each uni's website and search all the information? What is a GPA > 3.5 in terms or high school averages? Is it easy to get if you are a person with an 85+ average?

If you're talking about getting into an undergrad science program, then yeah as long as you get over an 85+ average overall you should be fine. An incentive for mac is that you get $2000 if you get over 90, and $3000 if over 95+ (not to mention a guaranteed single room on rez!). There is premed101.. google canadian med schools I'm pretty sure a few sites come up. I'm also going to reccomend you read "So you want to be a doctor, eh?" It's... a wake up call with respect to showing you what the medical profession is really like. And though it's great that you have this goal set, keep your mind open to other careers, because a lot of people change their mind after first year.. even after second year. Take me, for example. I was dead set on med school coming out of high school, or chiropractor college. I was also dead set on going into biochemistry. Come second year when biochem started, I absolutely hated it. And now, I'm transferring into Honors Life Sci but eventually applying for nursing! Also, start you volunteer work if you haven't already!!! Tutor kids at school, coach a team, whatever, because some med schools like U of T look at all of your extracurriculars from when you were 16. hope that helps!

Originally Posted by vman93

Thank you for you help. My dad is very concerned about after undergrad and wants me to reeasrch some Universities that I can get into for post grad Medicine. Are there any specific websites that can help me? Or do I have to go on each uni's website and search all the information? What is a GPA > 3.5 in terms or high school averages? Is it easy to get if you are a person with an 85+ average?

- http://www.ouac.on.ca/omsas/ <-- This website has most if not all of the essential information you need to know about Ontario medical schools. Unfortunately, if you want to look into schools in other provinces or even outside the country, yes, you will have to go to each school's individual site.

- > 3.5? Where does it say that? Your chances are much greater if you have at least a 3.7 (80%) in university. But trust me, even if you are a 90% student in high school, it's not necessarily representative of how you do in university (i.e. most people's marks drop, including myself).

And to be blunt, no, I don't think it's that easy to get in, even if you have a high average. You should be a well-rounded individual and really know what you're getting yourself into (i.e. make sure you research the profession well!).

Also, as a side note, I definitely agree with Allie that you should be open to other possible careers as well.

Yeah I agree with nh999. Not to brag, but I came out of a pretty tough highschool (had IB etc) with a 95, and I've sunken to a 75 overall. It's a big change, there are many different factors that can affect your grades. And yeah, even with a 90 avg in UNIVERSITY, that doesn't guarantee you med school admission. You need to be, like nh999 said, well rounded in everything. But if it's something you REALLY want, even AFTER you've explored other careers and after first year, then you make damn sure no one gets in your way. If you REALLY want to you can do it, but it's important to know all of the obstacles you will encounter along the way, as well as exactly what kind of career you're getting yourself into. It would be a shame to work so hard only to find out it is not the career for you.

Honestly, if you want a decent chance at med school in Canada, your GPA should be way higher than 3.5. If it's more like 3.95 then you have a decent shot, assuming you rape the MCAT (well, more-so for other med schools than McMaster's), and are well rounded as others have stated above.

I wouldn't worry about what your marks need to be in university right this moment. If you want to 'buff up' your application though, start volunteering and doing extracurriculars... and keep doing it! This shows your dedication and commitment. You could be brilliant, but if you don't show yourself as being well-rounded... you might not get an interview. Just remember you will be competing not only against your peers to get into med school, but those at other universities and those that may have gone and done grad school or took a year off to volunteer!

When I was in highschool, I thought about med school... had like a 94% average going into Mac. But you'll soon notice that things aren't easy... and there will be a transition. My drop in average is about 10% (when you compare highschool and university).

I'm not saying it's impossible, but university will test you and your commitment. Your profs will not care if you don't study, go to class or fail to do your assignments... and your parents may not be there to hound you!