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Transferring from Life Science to Health Science

 
Old 07-03-2011 at 09:21 PM   #1
MichaelScarn
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Transferring from Life Science to Health Science
Since I'm getting quite a few PMs about transferring to Health Science, mostly asking the same questions, I decided to make this thread so that hopefully I can answer anyone who still has questions.

Extracurriculars
From what I know, Health Science doesn't even look at your ECs. All they care about are the marks and the supplementary application. That being said, obviously still get involved! Not only does it look good on your resumé, no one wants to be cooped up in their rooms studying all the time. It's also a great way to meet people, which is always good.

Marks
The cut-off GPA for transfers in my year was a 10.0/12.0, which is definitely manageable in Life Science I. After you make the cut-off, all they care about is the supplementary application. First year of life sciences is definitely a lot of work and if you didn't have good study habits in high school, or your marks weren't that great, I would suggest you make better study habits. Perhaps you used to study with friends and you always got distracted. Or maybe you only did rote memorization, when instead you should be APPLYING the concepts you've learned. Whatever the reason, make sure you find out what method of studying works for you because studying efficiently is critical anywhere. Also, if writing that in caps lock wasn't enough, APPLICATION IS KEY. Don't just memorize a bunch of details and regurgitate them during midterms/exams. That might work for Bio 1M03, but you'll screw yourself over in the rest of your courses. Know how to apply what you've learned to different situations so that you're prepared for whatever questions the profs might throw at you.

Supplementary Application
Probably the most important part. There aren't any set rules or special tricks to writing the application. The best advice I can give you is to NOT write what you think they want to see because they'll see through that in two seconds. As cheesy as it sounds, just be honest and be yourself. For the transfer applications, it's this one admin dude who reads through them and he's a seasoned veteran when it comes to these applications. If he spots any , you're done. There are only roughly 20 spots each year for transfers so he wants the most genuine out of the bunch.

For the questions, whatever they may be, there is no correct response. As long as you give a well-reasoned and clearly defined answer, you're good. One of the questions will most likely ask you to talk about yourself. There's no need to list all your accomplishments, your exec positions in high school, your awards etc. Talk about them only if it's relevant to you as a person and to what you want to say. When I applied in Grade 12, I listed a few of my accomplishments and talked about them, but I didn't get in. When I applied again after my first year, I literally talked about hanging out with my friends and lo and behold, I got in. So let me emphasize again that it's not the CONTENT that matters, it's how you WRITE it.

Also, start writing at least a month in advance, that way you have time to edit and to ask your peers/transfers to edit as well (if you still remember me in March, I'd be happy to edit your application for you ).

The Transition from Life Sci to Health Sci
This might be too early for some of you, but some have been asking me about the transitioning. For this I refer you to this thread:

http://www.macinsiders.com/showthrea...ro m+a+health


All in all, just work hard, set your priorities and manage your time well.

If anyone still has any questions, feel free to post here or to PM me

And if any of my fellow transfers have anything they want to add, go right ahead
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Last edited by MichaelScarn : 07-03-2011 at 09:51 PM.

Buddastotle, L'Étoile, MirandaC all say thanks to MichaelScarn for this post.

Old 07-03-2011 at 09:47 PM   #2
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Great article thanks!
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Old 07-03-2011 at 09:50 PM   #3
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You covered all the stuff I would have said.

Only thing I would add, and I can't stress this enough, is: Don't go through first-year determined to transfer into Health Sci. There are so many awesome specializations available starting second year and if you don't pay attention, you might just miss an opportunity that is better suited to your interests/strengths.
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Old 07-03-2011 at 10:24 PM   #4
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Very helpful, thanks Bernard. Thanks to sukhpreet aswell, hes given some good advice in pms.

Overall, thanks to both of you!
Old 07-03-2011 at 10:55 PM   #5
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Thank you very much for starting this thread. I'm a future first-year applicant!
Old 07-04-2011 at 02:50 PM   #6
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I've also been receiving PMs, to add on to Bernard's awesome breakdown (writing mine from scratch, so there might be some overlap with bernard):

The advice that was given to me at the beginning of first year by another transfer student a year above me was to be myself in the answers, so that's what I did. Basically, from what I gather, they don't want to hear about your achievements in your answer to the supplementary application, I had a lottttt of extra-curriculars in high school, just like pretty much everyone that tries for health science, and there was a question that required you to talk about yourself or something and I filled it to the max limit with all of my achievements, saying stuff like "I have great leadership skills as I was president of [insert club]", it's not a job interview, they don't want to know about your qualifications. This time around, I just sat down one evening with my laptop and drafted some simple answers for all three questions, I got my sister to look them through for any grammar errors but generally left them as they were on my initial write. Many people have even told me that they wrote the answers on the spot, without previous thought, and got in. That is not to say you shouldn't be prepared but I think you're probably beginning to get what I mean. Be conversational, talk as if you would talk to your friends, but in appropriate English of course : )

Marks wise, be above the cutoff and you have a chance, I don't know if you know how the marking scheme works at Mac, but its on a 12 point scale. People do get in with 12s and people get in with 10s, from my understanding, there is no mark-based discrimination once someone is above the cutoff. Once you're above the cutoff they ONLY look at your application, so you can see how much weight the application has, and I'd just reiterate what I said above and say that you should try to be genuine in your answers. Genuine doesn't have to mean simple or down to earth, but basically it shouldn't sound like you have written a rehearsed, edited 5000 times over MBA response to them.

If Kinesiology sounds like an interesting course to you, I'd suggest taking it in first year, Health Science in second year has 8 mandatory courses that we have been told can be overwhelming, and Kinesiology 1Y03/1YY3 will make you exempt from HTH SCI 2F03/2FF3 respectively, this can lessen your workload significantly in second year. HOWEVER, first year kin is no walk in the park, I'm fairly certain its just as hard as second year HTH SCI anatomy, if you'd rather keep your first year marks higher through electives to compensate for mandatory courses, then it may be better to just deal with anatomy in second year. HOWEVER STILL, if you're med school bound, many med schools give later years more worth, so maybe its better to take the harder course in first year as first year won't count for much?! MANY FACTORS, you decide.

I'd highly suggest taking both Psych 1X03 and 1XX3, they TOGETHER cover the course material the hth sci kids learned in first year psychobiology and if you end up taking neither for some reason, then you'll have another mandatory course on top of your 8 mandatory courses, NOT GOOD. You need that elective space.

Umm, what else, get to know some kids in health sci, preferably those that are cool about discussing the program, often its not for everyone, I know a person who did not like PBL, did not go into health sci, went into honours life sci, after third year he got FOUR medical school interviews (he didn't even apply to Mac because of his PBL dislike), and now he's going to UBC. I'd like to take this moment to dispell any rumours that health sci is the only good route for med school, that is horribly, horribly false. In fact, if you're the type of person that learns well from lecturing and likes to design his own timetable with freedom, I'd highly suggest considering Honours Life Sci.

These numbers are not confirmed at all, but I have heard through word of mouth that about 300+ applicants are considered for transfer, they take 20, so that's roughly 6.6%, in first year they have about 3000-4000 applicants and they take 160, so that's anywhere from 4% to 5.33%, I think you see that your chances aren't really that much better. Although if you're set on transferring you should be working hard to achieve it, I highly suggest you consider many alternatives, such as how I mentioned Life Sci above.

In our transfer class I know of 18ish people, all of them seem to be from mcmaster, and nearly all of them seem to be from life science. In the year above us, I know of 17 people, where 14 are from mac, 1 is from york, 1 is from western, and one person is from Pennsylvania I think.

That's all I can think of at the moment,
Anmol
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Old 07-05-2011 at 03:46 PM   #7
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Is it me or are there a lot more people on MacInsiders looking to transfer?

I don't remember there being this many last year.
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Old 07-05-2011 at 06:01 PM   #8
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Probably a lot got denied for first year Health Sciences but got in Life Sciences and decided to transfer after first year Life Sciences. D:
Old 07-05-2011 at 08:53 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by UlteriorMtve View Post
Is it me or are there a lot more people on MacInsiders looking to transfer?

I don't remember there being this many last year.
Yea, a lot of seemingly brilliant people get first year rejections, a lot of them seem to be eager enough to reload and try hitting the target again.
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Old 07-05-2011 at 09:15 PM   #10
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Probably because there are so many more HS applicants than first year applicants
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Old 07-05-2011 at 10:40 PM   #11
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...
...
...
...

Last edited by CAHopeful : 07-06-2011 at 12:49 PM.
Old 07-05-2011 at 10:43 PM   #12
MichaelScarn
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CAHopeful View Post
Looks like someone has been reading Cal Newport's blogs, or the red book
.......what?
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Old 07-06-2011 at 10:39 AM   #13
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Thanks, I had been wondering about some of this stuff. I guess more information about the application process would be online where I applied the first time? I'm entering life sci I because I got rejected from health sci.
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Old 07-06-2011
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