Hi, I'm applying as a mature student and therefore am subject to the part time limitation for the first 18 units. I'll be applying for admission to the Spring/Summer sessions. I have a couple questions. As a mature student I'm limited to 1 course per term within the first 18 units. Obviously no one here knows me, so it's difficult (maybe impossible) for you to judge my preparedness, but I'm concerned about immediately jumping in to the condensed schedule of the Spring/Summer sessions. I would only be taking 1 course per term during the Spring/Summer session, but I'm wondering if maybe it will be too much, and that I'd be better off waiting until Fall when the classes would be more spread out. On the other hand, I'd have more classes to contend with during the Fall/Winter sessions. I'm also a bit confused about what Term 1 and 3 are (yes, Term 1 and 3, not Term 1 and 2). A page on the McMaster website (which I am unable to link to due to my low post count... By the way, I think it might be a good idea if the forum allowed links to the McMaster website even if you don't yet have 5 posts) shows that they both have the same starting date. This confuses me. Is there a maximum of two separate terms that you can take during the Spring/Summer sessions? What's the 3rd one about? Is it probably too much for someone that has never attended university? I would be working towards a commerce degree. Thanks. Ouch, the formatting here sucks. I can't get it to accept spaces between paragraphs.

A term 3 course in summer school runs both terms. So if a math course is a term 3 course, it would run from May-August.

As you said, i don't know anything about you, so i can't really say if it's too much or not, but if you are taking 1 course per term in the summer, you have a lot of time to study for it (assuming you are not really busy in the summer with other things). It's better to reduce the course load and take some courses in the summer. So i think it would be a good idea to take summer courses.

Not having a full course load might not always be a good thing. Just talk to your academic advisor before you register for summer school.
1 last thing...summer school registration begins in March. All the best with everything!

So does that mean that I could then take 2 courses at once? 1 course in Term 1, and 1 course in Term 3. Then 1 course in Term 2, and 1 course in Term 3. Not that I would, at least for the first term until I get a better perspective on where I stand. Thanks for your response, it was very helpful.

Originally Posted by seveneight

So does that mean that I could then take 2 courses at once? 1 course in Term 1, and 1 course in Term 3. Then 1 course in Term 2, and 1 course in Term 3. Not that I would, at least for the first term until I get a better perspective on where I stand. Thanks for your response, it was very helpful.

You can take 2 courses per term in summer school. So that's a total of 4 courses for the entire summer. Now, i am not sure about this, but you can take 1 course in term 1, another in term 2 and a third in term 3. So it's like having 2 courses per term. I am not sure if that is how it works, just ask your advisor.

You might want to take a look at this:
http://registrar.mcmaster.ca /regis...sessional.html

The terms are split the same way as during the normal school year.
Term 3 courses are typically those worth 6 units and run the entire session (spanning terms 1 and 2), whereas 3 unit courses are only half the session and you can take them either term 1 or 2 depending on when it's offered.

Why are you limited to one course per term for the first 18 units? that will take you 6 terms just to get your the first 18 units...that's spring, summer, fall, winter, and the following spring and summer, assuming you take courses in each term. So it would take you over a year just to complete half of the units required in level 1. That's ridiculously spread out.

Taking less than 18 units in a normal fall/winter term is considered part-time, are you sure that's not what they mean? I would definitely check with someone about that. You can be part-time and take more than one course per term during the fall/winter sessions.

I really don't know what else you're doing in the summer, but if taking one summer course is "too much" then you should rethink your plan. That isn't meant as an insult...like I said, I have no idea what else you're doing in the summer, you could be working full time and taking care of family and whatnot and just not have the time, but if that's the case, then you're going to have a lot of difficulty managing courses whether it's summer or not, unless you only plan on taking one course per term during each of the fall and winter terms and nothing else.

Many people do work full-time during the summer and take 1-2 summer courses concurrently. If the courses are night classes without extra labs and stuff, students can usually make the scheduling work, and then it's just a matter of keeping up with the material.

Yes, I wasn't accurate in what I said. The 1 course limitation is only for the Spring and Summer sessions. After that it's a maximum of three courses per term during the Fall and Winter sessions. I don't have a job or any other obligations. I've just read about people stressing over summer courses and their condensed nature. I wasn't sure if this was summer courses by themselves or combined with other obligations. Obviously if I want to go to university then I should be prepared to deal with at least a part time fall/winter course load (I am not worried about this). I was just concerned that perhaps a summer schedule would be much more challenging than the Fall and Winter sessions and that perhaps it wasn't a good idea initially. If the difficulty level is about the same then I have no more concerns. Also, I still have to take one final test (Gr 12 math). My average in that course is currently 97%, and I'm considering applying right now. I'm worried though that if they give me a conditional offer of admission, and I don't do as well on the test, causing my average to go down to the high 80s that they will no longer accept me, despite a high 80 being above average for admission to Mac's business program. Do conditional offers of acceptance require that you maintain the same average that you had when they gave you the conditional offer? Or do they just require a minimum grade? Should I have any concern about this? How do conditional offers of acceptance work?

If you're just taking one summer course with no other obligations, it really shouldn't be any more difficult than if you were taking it during the fall/winter session with 2 other courses.

Typically your offer will state that it's conditional upon you maintaining a certain average. In the past, this average has actually been lower than the cutoff for the program, but I don't know if that's changed.
If you don't meet the conditions of your offer then admission is revoked, but there's no reason not to apply now...the condition won't be maintaining an average higher than the cutoff.

Also, how do you know what the cutoff will be?

Oh, I don't know what the cutoff is. I was basing my estimations on the business admission average for 2012 (I still can't link.. but if you go to Google, search Cudo, click on the first link, choose McMaster University, and then click on the Admission link, scroll down and you should find the admission average for 2012). Is the cutoff the same as the average mentioned on that page (not the same average obviously, as that was for 2012), or are the cutoff and the average two different concepts? Thanks for your help.

I think it was low to mid 80s last year for business..this year it is mid 80s. You can check here:
http://future.mcmaster.ca/admission/...n-requirements

Is that the average or cutoff? Are they both the same thing?

Originally Posted by seveneight

Is that the average or cutoff? Are they both the same thing?

It's not the cutoff, it just says that you need an average of mid 80s to get accepted. If a lot of people apply to mac for a certain program, then the admission average for that specific program would go up. That's why they don't post the cutoffs on the website; because they know it can change from year to year.

Oh okay, great. Thanks.