Originally Posted by vman93

Hi again eveyrone......I am happy to be posting on MacInsiders again...it really helped me out a whe lot the ast time I was on this..so I was hoping to get answers to a few more questions....I wanted to get inot the Life Sciences program adn through that I want to get into Med School..by taking the required courses as my elecitve....when will I be able to choose those ore? Is it like High School where you take a certain number of compulsary courses and a few electives? And also what degree will I be earning if I finish the Life Sciences program? I also heard tht Life Sciences had 2 categories? Can you please tell me the differnces between those 2??? thanks a lot

You would get a BSc , ad yes universities give you a list of compulsory courses and then you have electives.

Elective Courses Available To Level I Students
http://registrar.mcmaster.ca /CALEN...ent/pg103.html

The best place to get information is from the Undegraduate Calender ..link to honors lifesci page
http://registrar.mcmaster.ca /CALEN...nt/pg1957.html

Ohh ok thanx....but how many electives can I get in my all 4 years? LIke how many in each year? So i knw what courses I need to take and when so tht I have completed the rquirements for MCAT??

30-36 units so 10-12 one term courses. But alot of your compulsory courses would help you in studying. I would have no worries about it

Hmm...alright thanks...Does anyone know the differnce between lIFE sCIECE AND hEALTH sCIENCE? i THINK I ASKED THIS QUESTION BEFORE BUT IM STILL NOT URE WHAT THEY ARE....and I heard Life Science is divided into 2 differnet categories...what are they?

Are you asking about the degree options?
Because if Life Science, if you choose to graduate after 3 years, you graduate with a B. Sc.
if you chose to graduate with a B. Sc (Honours), you do a four year degree.
I'm pretty sure that with the Health Sci program (I'm going to abbreviate this as HS for all future references; LS = Life Science), graduating after 3 years still gives you an Honours degree.
As for the differences between the programs, it's pretty self evident if you navigate around the Registrar's Undergraduate Calendar, which was linked to earlier in these posts.
Life Sci allows you to focus on a variety of different fields, pure Bio, the general Honours LS program, Biochem, etc. Physical Science encompasses Chem Bio, Chemistry, Physics, etc.
HS is a unique program tailored around problem based learning (PBL), working in groups to come up with solutions to problems presented to you, using the knowledge learned in your courses. A lot of people feel that HS is the only path to med school and it's true that the program has some very intelligent people, is rather selective in admissions and can be a great environment to grow while learning from your peers in an enriched, competitive environment. It doesn't mean that LS doesn't have these things but that YOU have to take the effort to form groups etc, whereas in HS most of your work mandates you be in one. One large downside to the HS program is that unlike LS, less of your courses "automatically" prep you for the MCAT. Let's say you chose to go into Biochem. You would take 1 year of first year Bio, 1 year of first year Chem, 1 year of first year Physics (with labs), 1 year of 2nd year orgo, and 1 year of Biochem which meets many of the prerequisites of schools in the States and a few in Canada that have stringent prereqs.

But in HS, you would have 1 year of 1st year Bio, 1 year of first year Chem but Physics, Orgo, and Biochem are optional. Doesn't mean it can't be done; you have plenty of electives in HS to fill up with these prereqs. But in a LS program, chances are your electives would be things you WANT to do, with less being given up to meet med school prereqs. That's not saying one is better than the other; it's just logical inference.

Nonetheless, you appear to have a great deal of in depth questions which MI users would be happy to answer but one of your best bets would be to go and see your guidance counsellor and ask for some advice about this. Believe it or not they do have a good idea, if not a great one, about the structure of these programs and they can be instrumental in helping you achieve some of your goals

Wow tht is a lot of information.....but yea thanx...I was thinking abt asking my guidance counsellors some qestions...and I will...So honos or no honors...is it still the same program or is it a bit differnt? WEll it is differnrt but how much is I guess what Im trying to ask. Why do people do minors and majors? And how do you do it? Just by taking a few extra courses?

If you don't do honours, you can't specialize (ie go into biochem, or bio, or chem, or whatever). You can get a BSc in Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, Math/Stats or Environmental Sciences, but not in chemistry or biochem or physics or anything like that. They're much more general degrees.

If you do honours BSc, you have so many more options for majors, and your degree becomes a lot more specific. Your major is your program of study, so for example, my major is Chemical Biology, since that's the program I'm in. I started off in Life Sci, and then chose to major in ChemBio after first year. People do a major for many reasons--the job they want after graduation might be in a certain field, they might have a very strong interest in a specific field, some really interesting courses are only available to those in a certain program, etc. If you are in an honours BSc program, and then get into med school for your 4th year (after having completed 3 years), you can apply to switch from honours to general, so that you still get a degree before going to med school. If you're already in med school, it won't really matter what type of degree you have, you'll have gotten the benefit of honours, and if med school fails, I think you can go back and do your final year to upgrade your degree to an honours BSc if you need to. You can also get an honours BSc in Life Sci if you want to stay somewhat general (if you have a wide range of interests or want a lot of elective space), but still want an honours degree.

You can minor for the same reasons you would do a major, except it's implied that you have less expertise in your minor than your major, since you take less courses in that area. You'd generally use your electives towards a minor, so you shouldn't need to take any 'extra' courses. You need a certain number of credits in a specific area to minor in it, and it usually includes specific mandatory courses. You can go to the department's section of the course calendar to find out any minor requirements. The course calendar for this year is here: http://registrar.mcmaster.ca /CALEN...ent/index.html To find out the minor requirements for biochem (as an example), go to that link, click on 'Faculties, Programs and Schools', then 'Faculty of Science', then 'Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences', then 'Minor in Biochemistry'.