Hi,

I've been looking at the course requirements for some majors that I could potentially enter from life sciences Level I and some/most of them require a senior thesis or a senior project. Is this something to be feared or quite normal of being an upper year student? Should I avoid these majors? I'm only in the second month of first year so they do seem quite intimidating to me, but then again university seemed intimidating in high school and at the moment, it really isn't that bad. Some people who I have talked to who happen to be involved in a thesis at the moment don't seem too happy and quite sleep deprived lol. I know in the end it's a personal choice but I'd love some advice from people who know a bit more or have "been there and done that"

Thanks in advance

You should do a thesis if you have strong interests in research and graduate school. Don't do a thesis to make your portfolio/CV/resume look good.

When I did my fourth year thesis, all of my marks dropped significantly - granted I was also doing interviews and applications at the same time. It's not the case for everyone though, people who had clinical studies had less lab time than wet labs...

If you like research you should do one.

I can see why it would be intimidating if you're just starting university, but don't worry about it. I actually wish I was in a program with a thesis course or thesis project, because I like working on big assignments. It takes a lot of work but it's definately rewarding.
I've had fourth year seminars which are KIND OF like thesis courses (not really, but a little). It's a very active type of learning (as opposed to passive learning). It's hard work but you get to work closely with professors and you can work on projects that you have a strong interest in.

I would suggest going into these programs if you're able to. I know it's hard to decide, because you probably don't know if you want to go into grad school or not. But you can always switch into something else if you change your mind.

Originally Posted by Kathy2

I can see why it would be intimidating if you're just starting university, but don't worry about it. I actually wish I was in a program with a thesis course or thesis project, because I like working on big assignments. It takes a lot of work but it's definately rewarding.
I've had fourth year seminars which are KIND OF like thesis courses (not really, but a little). It's a very active type of learning (as opposed to passive learning). It's hard work but you get to work closely with professors and you can work on projects that you have a strong interest in.

My 4th year seminar course was very different from a thesis ... especially if the OP is in life sciences.

I did a thesis in my fourth year, and I must say it was a good experience overall and peek into the research world. I wasn't sure whether or not I'd like it, but I just wanted to keep my options open and try something new, so I did. Let's just say I'm pretty sure now that I'm not ready to dedicate a significant portion to my life to research. I'm happy that I found that out by doing one.

HOWEVER, there is always that trade off that you will be risking your marks/not liking it and wasting your time. Research is definitely not for everyone, but I would recommend trying it even if you think there is a slim chance you might like it. Alternatively if you think it might affect your marks too much (for example), you could do a senior project which is only 6 units, or even a 3 unit project which is similar to a thesis (offered through "Science" I believe).

My two cents...

do med schools see it as an asset? if they do, is it enough of an asset to overcome the possible detriment of lowered marks?

Originally Posted by Lij

My 4th year seminar course was very different from a thesis ... especially if the OP is in life sciences.

I should have mentioned in my other post that I'm not in Life Sci, I forgot that.
I had two seminars in fourth year, and they were kind of different. One was like a small tutorial, with assignments every week. For the other seminar, it was a year long course and we had one paper to hand in. We spent the entire year working closely with the prof, individually, on an huge paper (with our own choice of topic). We got to research what we wanted and something useful came out of the course, instead of just a grade on my transcript. That's the point I was trying to get across to the OP.

Originally Posted by dumbconsumer

do med schools see it as an asset? if they do, is it enough of an asset to overcome the possible detriment of lowered marks?

U of T likes research, but if you're not passionate about it then it won't be an asset.

If your marks are below the cut-offs, then it doesn't matter. If they're above it, research can help, but only if you actually care about what you're doing.

Doing something just for medical school is a waste of time and a waste of your supervisor's funding. You should be doing it for the experience.

I noticed a lot of profs get annoyed when students do things just for the sake of med school.

If you're going to grad school, a thesis definitely helps, but it's not essential. What is more important is that you can show you are able to sustain a long-term project. If you do the same sort of thing over the summer, a thesis is not as necessary. If you're applying to grad school with zero experience working in a lab, then you should definitely at least have done a thesis.

I've gone back and forth trying to decide if I should do a thesis or a project. Since I'm in co-op, the project is recommended over the thesis (for my program...for others it is different), but I would really enjoy the experience of doing a thesis. I used to think that a thesis would suck, and I would definitely not want to do one, but now that I have more experience in my field, I can definitely see the benefits of doing a thesis, and all of the things I used to see as negatives aren't so bad anymore. The biggest issue for me is the room a 9-unit thesis will take up. I don't want to overload on top of doing a thesis, so I want to have room to take all the courses I want to. I'm going to do everything I can to fit a thesis in though, because I think it would be a really good experience, even though I'll be doing similar things on my work term.