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Med school - transferring to eaasier uni after year 1?

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aem

Posted: Monday, September 01, 2008 12:22:28 PM

Rank: Frosh
Groups: Member

Joined: 7/7/2008
Posts: 20

Hi im gonna start Life Sci studies at UofT downtown in Sept. I was wondering if It wuld be a good idea to change to a uni like York for a better GPA in CASE my gpa is relatively bad.

However I don't mean bad in general, because even if i get 3.0 its considered good for first year. but what if people that are not as smart as me get a higher GPA at york first year in sciences?

Med school doesnt care which uni you get your gpa from and first year isn not considred as much so I'm willing to try UofT for its reputation. However do you think it would be wise to transfer at end of first year if my high school peers who weren't as umm bright get a much higer GPA, say 3.6,3.7?

karla

Posted: Monday, September 01, 2008 4:13:11 PM

Rank: Student Body President
Groups: Member

Joined: 6/5/2008
Posts: 1,758
Location: Edmonton, AB

A 3.0 at U of T doesn't equal a 3.6-3.7 at York. The discrepancy isn't that big, and your high school peers who weren't 'as bright' may have just adjusted to university better. It's going to be tough to get a high GPA no matter where you go.

University of Alberta - Mechanical Engineering '11

iamnotjoshua

Posted: Monday, September 01, 2008 5:38:06 PM

Rank: Senior Student
Groups: Member

Joined: 8/26/2008
Posts: 52
Location: Toronto

Your first year GPA does count, though different schools have policies on how they calculate your overall GPA when you apply. Don't assume that just because it's your first year that your GPA does not matter. If you apply during your third year of university to UofT's medical school, for example, your marks for all of your years so far are counted equally.

Also, if you can work hard and do better, try not to settle for a 3.0 GPA even though it's your first year.... If you think about it, if you get a 3.0 GPA after first year and a 4.0 GPA after 2nd year, your GPA avg is still 3.5..... UofT needs a 3.6 GPA to even be considered. The average (UofT converted) GPA for students who get into UofT is 3.89-3.90 the last few years. For Western and Queen's, your latest/best two years need to be at least ~3.70 or so. For Ottawa, I think last year Ontario applicants needed a converted GPA of 3.87 to even be considered, or something like that. It's really hard to bring your GPA up in university sometimes because of the GPA system, so you don't want to ever settle for less if you can do better.

You are right though that med schools don't care where you did undergrad. If you strongly want to go into medical school in the long run, and you are doing poorly at your current university, then switching might be good. Just keep in mind that there's no guarantee you'll actually do better at a different university, and lots of times, it's just wishful thinking.

Good luck!

York Biomedical Sciences Class of 2010
2006 TD Canada Trust Scholar

MedHopeful.com - my blog with advice and entertainment on medical school, undergraduate studies, and scholarships.

UofT2011

Posted: Monday, September 01, 2008 8:23:28 PM

Rank: Student Council
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Joined: 7/15/2008
Posts: 434

Ok i don't know too much about York. But once again its about YOU and not the difficulty of the school. A highly smart person will always be one of the top students in the class, regardless of the difficulty of the university [mainly due to bell curve system].

If you are moderately smart, which i assume you are, it would be more beneficial for you to go to a "easier" university. Keep in mind, the AVERAGE GPA will be close enough to be considered equal among many universities. But like you said, if you go to a university program that is "easier", you will get a better GPA then the average GPA. While, if you go to a "harder" university program, you will get close to the average GPA (considering you are strictly a model of an ideal student)

So in short, yes, it would be to your benefit to go to a "easier" university. But keep these in mind:
- How do you seperate a "hard" university/progam form a "easier" one?
- If you dont make it into medschool (which is a very good possibility), what are your back up plan? If it includes continuining studies/research of your undergrad progam, then choosing a "easier" univeristy wont be beneficial atall (as many research corporation and grad school will look at your undergrad univeristy choice).

Quote:

UofT needs a 3.6 GPA to even be considered. The average (UofT converted) GPA for students who get into UofT is 3.89-3.90 the last few years.

That is not cGPA (cumulative average GPA)... that is aGPA (adjusted GPA). Policies depends on different universities, but genereally, for every 8 credits/half year course you can drop one of your lowest GPA. So by the end of 4 years, if you have 40 credit courses (considering you take 10 half year courses/year), then you will get to drop 5 of your lowest gpa.

University of Toronto Electrical Engineering 1T1 (2011)

iamnotjoshua

Posted: Monday, September 01, 2008 9:04:45 PM

Rank: Senior Student
Groups: Member

Joined: 8/26/2008
Posts: 52
Location: Toronto

I don't know the exact terms as I hadn't researched it, but yah, we're talking about the same thing.

My example was for a student applying during 3rd year, where since only 2 years worth of marks are submitted, no course marks can be dropped. But you're right about students applying during 4th year or afterwards (for admission to UofT).

Anyone interested in more info about this for UofT med admissions, they explain the GPA adjustments here:

http://www.facmed.utoronto.ca/programs/md/admissions/0910/requirements/Academic_Qualifications/Calculation_of_GPA_Weighting_Formula.htm

As a side note, I am going into my 3rd year of biomedical sciences at York, so if you have any questions about the science programs, I'd be happy to try and answer. I haven't taken courses at any other universities, so I can't really compare difficulty or anything.

York Biomedical Sciences Class of 2010
2006 TD Canada Trust Scholar

MedHopeful.com - my blog with advice and entertainment on medical school, undergraduate studies, and scholarships.

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