Originally Posted by dumbconsumer

speak from experience or what you've heard?
/curious

you use the backslash a lot

/profound observation

Originally Posted by dumbconsumer

Also, just in case you guys are curious, outside of the 4 people involved in this thread (I'm assuming Bernard is the Bernard I know IRL, if not, then two kids named bernard transferred lol), I personally know 3 more people that have been given the transfer option, only two of them are confirmed accepting it. Last year's transfer inquiry class had 17 kids, so even if 20 offers are given, not all are accepted.
At the moment, of the 7 I know (including you guys), there are 5 men and 2 women, and I think everyone of the 7 is a faculty of science kid from mcmaster.
/pointless statistics.

Lol yea it's me

And I've heard from one person that apparently some Health Sci profs are advising their students not to go into the Health Sci biomed specialization because its a ton of work

Congratulations on receiving your transfer offers! I can hopefully answer some of your questions, as I transferred into Health Sci last year and am also in the Global Health Specialization. For GH, we took 2 courses, one that was in first semester and another that spanned both semesters. The first course allowed us to gain a deeper understanding of factors affecting health in developing nations (we looked at structural violence quite a bit, biological factors, socioeconomic factors, etc.). This was an amazing course, as was the other, which involved a lot of ethics and preparing us for third year. As Sarah mentioned, virtually all of us took both anatomy courses (I believe there was only one person out of 30 who chose not to take them).

The workload was quite a bit heavier compared to my first year (I did life sciences at Mac) and found myself working a lot more (I'm not sure where this notion of having tonnes of free time came from, but I certainly did not find this so). This was true for a number or reasons - a lot of the courses are group based/PBL which requires a lot of group meetings, research and preparing. Anatomy was also a very heavy course, but it was extremely interesting!

For transfers, the second semester will be the heaviest since you'll have Cell Bio and the second part of Inquiry, which are both inquiry based courses (lots of group meetings, research, etc.). I thoroughly enjoyed both of these courses.

I don't know too much about the BHSc Biomed Specialization, unfortunately, but from conversations I've had with people who are in it, it sounds really awesome.

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!

Originally Posted by Scuderia

Congrats on getting in!

And LOL at your Health Sciences is tough. You'll find it a lot easier than Life Science I. It might be a little heavy in-terms of catching up, but tough not at all.

Also, LOL at thinking you know what you're talking about.

Ok I have another question. I understand that one of the second year Health Sci courses is a pass/fail course. So I know someone who transferred into Health Sci last year and he decided to take six courses first semester since one of them was just pass/fail. Would anyone recommend this?

Congrats on getting in! I chose not to specialize, but I'd say the biomed specialization is an amazing opportunity if you are really interested in laboratory based research since from what I've heard you get first hand experience in your courses to design your own projects, experiments, write grants/proposals, and since the specialization is tiny, you get to become really close with your profs which can be advantageous when looking for jobs etc. On the other hand, global health is really unique as you have the opportunity to go abroad in third year for one semester and possibly work with a NGO and do research there. I'd say it really depends on your interests . And if you're not sure, doing the regular program is perfectly fine as you have a lot of elective space later on to specialize your courses anyways.

Hi, I'm a first year health sci student that's going into the biomed spec next year. If you look at the course list for the biomed spec you'll see what the required courses are, but basically in 2nd year you take the biochem 2L06 inquiry and biochem 2b03 and 2bb3 along with a slew of the regular health sci courses (notably exempt from the pass/fail health psych, and 2nd year inquiry). most of us (I think all?) are doing organic chemistry in the summer currently so that we have more elective space and have a bit less work since we all pretty much want to take a full year of anatomy as our elective. as a transfer im not exactly sure how the courses situation would work out since you are required to take the health sci 2D06 inquiry as well as fit in 12 units of biochem, orgo I, stats, epi, cell bio plus health sci 1g03 if you havent taken a psych. I'm sure if you emailed someone in the BHSc office they'd tell you how to plan your courses (probably just delay one of those courses to third year or something). also, if you're worried about med school prereqs or whatever, there is still a decent amount of elective space in third year that you could use for more math/physics/soc. sci or whatever (though if you're coming from life sci I that would probably be less of an issue too since you guys might have a full year of those already). i obviously don't have any feedback on the program yet since im not yet started in the specialization, but meeting with the profs and coordinators for the specialization earlier last year really impressed me! Just personally, having 18/21 units of electives in 3rd and 4th year didn't fit me - I know that im interested in biochem and this is the best way to get access to those courses/faculty/profs in that area of expertise.

don't let the course calendar and the program layout tell you what you can or cannot take. as a transfer myself, you can go into the respective specs if you like too. if you want to take anatomy and don't have enough room in 2nd year to take it or feel like its going to be too much, the BHSc office will help you structure you next 3 years to suit ur needs, u just need to approach them and ask questions. they will gladly help you decide what to take. you don't have to take anatomy 2nd year either, you can take it in 3rd if you want - theres flexibility here. a lot of GH students do that.

and don't let all the talk outside of the BHSc program fool you, there is absolutely no doubt u will have more work in 2nd year BHSc... esp 2D06, we transfers make sure of it =) you'll see what i mean....

what specialization you end up, whehter in biochem spec or BHSc biomed spec, it really has no relation to the research you do. you should not be under the assumption that in BHSc biomed spec ur research will be less intensive or not as 'biochem' - it all depends on ur supervisor and field of research. BHSc biomeds take similar courses with the biochems and also have the opportunity to do a 12 unit thesis with a biochemistry professor - just like any other biochem.

OH YES,
all you incoming transfers - MAKE SURE YOU COME TO WELCOME WEEK.
don't miss out on meeting other upper yr transfers and going on super fun health sci trips during WW

Welcome Week coordinator here for BHSc. YES, do come to Faculty Day/Canoe Trip/Faculty Night! You'll get to meet a bunch of the upper years, including the WW Reps (Pathogens) that will be in the same year as you! The activities will be altered so they're more suited towards second year students coming into the BHSc program, rather than students coming to McMaster.

You'll also be able to meet your other transfers, who you'll be spending A LOT of time with in the upcoming year! If you have any questions, feel free to join the 2015 FB group (even though you're not 2015) and just post a question. Lots of upper years and transfers are in the group and will be happy to help you out!

Link: https://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk... 231493032543

let us know if you have any more questions!

Originally Posted by Chandlerowns

Also, LOL at thinking you know what you're talking about.

haha aint that the truth.

Great thread, thanks to everyone who replied.

Does anyone know when we have until to decide which specialization, if any, we want to pursue?

Originally Posted by RememberTwce

Great thread, thanks to everyone who replied.

Does anyone know when we have until to decide which specialization, if any, we want to pursue?

<unrelated> so you decided on health sci huh? : ) see you in inquiry I guess </unrelated>

This is my response to a PM from the OP. Hope this is helpful to anyone else deciding to transfer and feel free to ask me any questions as well


Workload: First, a warning. Health Sci II is not a joke regardless of what people say. Last year in life sci I slacked a lot, but this year I spent 24/7 studying and in group meetings. You will be busy ALL THE TIME especially with extracurriculars (most health scis do some sort of volunteering and are involved with clubs). You will practically live at MDCL and HSL. You may get eyebags and cry into your coffee. But it will be worth it if you want to genuinely want to learn, you care about self development, and want to achieve your maximum potential.

Unique teaching style: As a transfer you will be taking Transfer Inquiry for two terms, as well as cell bio inquiry in second term. In inquiry, you basically are assigned a problem for term, you interpret it how you want to with your group, decide what to do for your presentations, etc. It's very self-directed and beneficial because you're learning how to learn instead of just regurgitating textbooks. You also learn to work with others which is definitely an important skill if you're interested in med/research. Whether it's difficult to adjust or not is based on your learning style; if you're keen on pushing yourself, if you're inquisitive, then you'll be fine. If not then, you'll get used to it because it's definitely something you need to learn in order to be an effective student/individual.

Courses: Other than transfer/cell bio inquiry, you take stats, epidemiology, anatomy x2, health psych, plus two electives.

Specializations: It's been mentioned already but yes, you can specialize, and if you really want to take anatomy you can always take it in 3rd year if you don't have space.

Welcome week: Don't miss it. It'll be worth it to meet your fellow transfers and upper/first years. We got a free canoe trip last year, not sure if it's happening again.

Perks: Food will magically appear in some classes. Small program size means you will get to know people better (compared to life sci). More interaction with upper years who are extremely helpful. Very supportive and open BHsc office staff, as well as amazing facilitators and profs. BHSc events such as the musical and fashion show if you're into that kind of stuff. Cool courses like health psych where you get components with applied drama, yoga, gym, and a hiking field trip (this is the pass/fail course as someone mentioned). You get access to learnlink... where other health scis post advice, old notes, sell their textbooks, sell their bikes, post links to distracting youtube videos... etc. Access to anatomy lab (if you take the course) and ability to book study rooms in HSL. etcetc

Be happy that you're one of the 20 that got accepted out of hundreds of transfer applicants, and accept the offer already! I did not regret a single thing.

Originally Posted by Bernard

And I've heard from one person that apparently some Health Sci profs are advising their students not to go into the Health Sci biomed specialization because its a ton of work

why would health sci profs/faculty make a specialization and then advise students not to go into it? and what does 'too much work' even mean? I don't see how it could possibly be much harder than the regular biochem stream.