There seems to be a lot of people who want to go to professional school like masters, dentistry, medicine, law, business etc on these forums.

So I was wondering how hard is Mac in terms of GPA?

I know this depends on your program and on many other factors but if you are someone who wants to go to professional school:

1) What % of your capability do you think you worked and what GPA did you get?What professional school do you hope to go to?

2) Have your plans changed since you came to Mac because it was harder/easier than you thought?

3)Do you think Mac is easier/harder in terms of GPA? I know that no one can really answer this unless they've been to another school but for e.g. students from UofT believe they have it quite hard. So how does Mac compare in your opinion?

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Galleria

There seems to be a lot of people who want to go to professional school like masters, dentistry, medicine, law, business etc on these forums.

So I was wondering how hard is Mac in terms of GPA?

I know this depends on your program and on many other factors but if you are someone who wants to go to professional school:

1) What % of your capability do you think you worked and what GPA did you get?What professional school do you hope to go to?

2) Have your plans changed since you came to Mac because it was harder/easier than you thought?

3)Do you think Mac is easier/harder in terms of GPA? I know that no one can really answer this unless they've been to another school but for e.g. students from UofT believe they have it quite hard. So how does Mac compare in your opinion?

Thanks!

Going for your Masters isn't professional school. You NEED a degree in order to get into graduate school. Schools that do not require a degree are called professional schools (Medical and Optometry schools require 3 years of undergraduate work, pharmacy requires 2 year I believe).

You know that the amount of work and success of individuals are like 90% subjective right? Some people work ridiculously hard but can't break a 10, some people work ridiculously hard and achieve really high marks, some people don't work much at all and still get really high marks and some people don't work much and get low marks. So you're going to get a variety of answers and even if a lot of people say one thing, it doesn't mean that's the final word (MI population <<<<<< McMaster population).

Originally Posted by Galleria

There seems to be a lot of people who want to go to professional school like masters, dentistry, medicine, law, business etc on these forums.

So I was wondering how hard is Mac in terms of GPA?

I know this depends on your program and on many other factors but if you are someone who wants to go to professional school:

1) What % of your capability do you think you worked and what GPA did you get?What professional school do you hope to go to?

2) Have your plans changed since you came to Mac because it was harder/easier than you thought?

3)Do you think Mac is easier/harder in terms of GPA? I know that no one can really answer this unless they've been to another school but for e.g. students from UofT believe they have it quite hard. So how does Mac compare in your opinion?

Thanks!

Although what Jeremy said is basically right, I can tell you I'm 90% confident that McMaster is far easier than U of Toronto, especially when it comes to engineering and probably for science as well. It's also likely easier than Waterloo and Queens University. However that doesn't mean you're guaranteed to do well here, nor is it guaranteed you can't do well at Queens/Waterloo (though I very rarely see people do extremely well at U of T).

I got into veterinary medicine at OVC-Guelph this year. I came to Mac knowing I wanted to be a vet and being at Mac didn't change that (though I also became more open to medicine as a possible career in undergrad).

The ease with which one can obtain a high GPA really differs between programs..eg. engineering at Waterloo is likely to be harder than engineering at Mac but science at Mac may be harder than science at Waterloo.

Originally Posted by Galleria

There seems to be a lot of people who want to go to professional school like masters, dentistry, medicine, law, business etc on these forums.

So I was wondering how hard is Mac in terms of GPA?

I know this depends on your program and on many other factors but if you are someone who wants to go to professional school:

1) What % of your capability do you think you worked and what GPA did you get?What professional school do you hope to go to?

2) Have your plans changed since you came to Mac because it was harder/easier than you thought?

3)Do you think Mac is easier/harder in terms of GPA? I know that no one can really answer this unless they've been to another school but for e.g. students from UofT believe they have it quite hard. So how does Mac compare in your opinion?

Thanks!

1) I worked 50% of my capability and my GPA dropped (as simple as that). i hope to go into medicine.

2) no...atleast not yet anyway

3) what u sow is what u reap!!!

Originally Posted by epikness

1) I worked 50% of my capability and my GPA dropped (as simple as that). i hope to go into medicine.

2) no...atleast not yet anyway

3) what u sow is what u reap!!!

WE DO NOT SOW!!



...game of thrones reference

I want to go to Law School after I'm done

Originally Posted by Galleria

There seems to be a lot of people who want to go to professional school like masters, dentistry, medicine, law, business etc on these forums.

So I was wondering how hard is Mac in terms of GPA?

I know this depends on your program and on many other factors but if you are someone who wants to go to professional school:

1) What % of your capability do you think you worked and what GPA did you get?What professional school do you hope to go to?

2) Have your plans changed since you came to Mac because it was harder/easier than you thought?

3)Do you think Mac is easier/harder in terms of GPA? I know that no one can really answer this unless they've been to another school but for e.g. students from UofT believe they have it quite hard. So how does Mac compare in your opinion?

Thanks!

I plan on going for my Master's Degree (even though, like stated above, it isn't a "professional" school), but I can answer your questions, even though I've only completed one year.

1. Last year, I'd say I worked at about 40% capability. I rarely paid attention in lectures, I barely ever finished the required readings (that were more than 10 pages), and I really didn't study like I should have. With that being said, I finished with a 9.8 average, but I know that I can do much, much better than that. Which is why I actually plan on doing my work second year.

2. My plans did change, but not at the post-undergraduate level. I initially planned on majoring in History, but after about the first two weeks of class, I decided that I couldn't imagine myself studying that for roughly 4 more years (no offence History majors, I'm still doing a minor in it). That was definitely not because I found it too hard, or because I found CSCT/English to be easier. I made a personal choice based off of my interests and acted upon what I thought would bring more pleasure into my studies.

3. If you put in the work (I know, I'm not one to talk about putting work into my studies), then your GPA will reflect that. As compared to other schools, my brother went to Queen's for their History program (I know...) and he often complains about how they were marked as if they were in Grad school even though they were only in Undergraduate, but that could just be his inflamed ego after attending that school (it's a plague). Honestly though, this is going to sound incredibly cliche, but just do your work, try your best, have fun, and everything will sort itself out.

Originally Posted by TheBrickWall

I want to go to Law School after I'm done

Hello David... from Engineering... O_o




Just remember: THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!

I went to U of T before and it's much harder to get good marks because they try to make the class average a c+. So if the class average for the first test is a b then the prof will make the next test extra hard. Most of the time the tests will be made harder so the prof will add extra marks to everyone's grades. Profs also have to explain themselves in front of a committee if their class averages are above a c. As far as I can tell, there isn't such a thing here at Mac. I've switched majors completely so it wouldn't be fair to compare the schools beyond that, although I feel compelled to admit that my essays get A+'s at Mac but B-'s at U of T.

My advice to you, though, is to pick a school that feels right, and to study whatever your passion is. You won't get very far in life worrying about your marks. Build a relationship with your profs, get to know your peers, and try to get work in your area. Mingle with people - work on your interpersonal skills. I know of people at U of T with 3.7+ gpa's that fail miserably in the interview portion and get rejected from work and school. Trust me, being a well-rounded person matters too.

My friend at U of T had a hard time getting into law schools because he had one year with average grades; he thinks he should have gone to Mac! But, he has work experience, a fantastic letter of interest (or whatever they're called), diverse interests, and great references so he got into U of O - even though his grades and lsat score was kinda borderline.

Originally Posted by GollyHolly

I went to U of T before and it's much harder to get good marks because they try to make the class average a c+. So if the class average for the first test is a b then the prof will make the next test extra hard. Most of the time the tests will be made harder so the prof will add extra marks to everyone's grades. Profs also have to explain themselves in front of a committee if their class averages are above a c. As far as I can tell, there isn't such a thing here at Mac. I've switched majors completely so it wouldn't be fair to compare the schools beyond that, although I feel compelled to admit that my essays get A+'s at Mac but B-'s at U of T.

McMaster works like that too, I'm pretty sure every university works like that. I believe they try to get averages around a 6-7 which I believe is a C+ to B-. Although it's not a written rule, professors would have to explain themselves to the Dean of their faculty if their classes had extremely low or high averages.

It's actually the stupidest thing I've ever heard of :\ It's make no sense whatsoever in terms of learning.

I think its unfair to say toronto and waterloo is harder for engineering. whether its a bttter program is debateable. I will say eng sci at uoft is def harder. For example i saw my friends physic test. they were not harder or easier than ours.

Also, I suspect that the top students in each school would probably do well regardless of where they go (and wouldn't you be a top student if you were considering professional studies?).

So pick your school based on the profs, the program, atmosphere, etc. You'll do better if you're enjoying school. I assume you won't be applying to the "easiest" school after your undergrad, so why look for that quality in your undergrad?

Do this. You probably know people who graduated your high school a year before you, who are now in the program you want to be in (if you don't you can save yourself some time and stop reading right now). Ask them what their gr 12 average was. Ask them what their 1st year average was. Do this for as many people as you can. Gather their data in terms of what program and what university they're in. Interpret how you want to interpret the data.

A more concrete answer: I don't know.