What school to pick?

[blitzkreig]

Hi,
I am a grade 12 student in Ontario wanting to get into medicine. I have a really good gpa but am confused as to what school to get into to do my undergrad. I am planning to do my undergrad in medical sciences at western. But i was reading in one of the threads that its better to get into a low ranked school to boost up your gpa. But doesnt the reputation of the school matter too? Could someone suggest some common undergrad degrees that would help medicine and also some schools? thanks a lot.

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[Mike59]

First, what you've heard is correct: go somewhere where you can earn a high GPA. Many schools in Ontario have GPA cutoffs that are strictly numerical and do not take your undergrad school into account. Pick a school that is close to friends/family and where you can have a good time (all while getting a solid education of course), it doesn't have to be a big name (just not a community college). Rankings mean NOTHING, especially in Canada.

Regarding your major, as wild as this sounds, I would advise you to NOT major in medical sciences, unless it something you are really passionate about. I would say that you can be passionate about medicine, major in philosophy/arts/social science/business/whatever interests you most, and that will actually increase your chances of standing out come application time to med school. Every Tom Dick and Harry who applies is a Bachelor of Science with honours major with a 3.9+ GPA and high MCAT score (with research experience). I promise- stand out from the crowd and your life will be a hell of a lot easier, it worked for me

 

[coastal]

go to premed101.com, it's for canadian med students and pre-meds. Your question has been asked a zillion times, so you probably won't need to ask it again, just do a search and read some of the replies already given.

Having an "non-conventional" degree as a pre-med may help you stand out abit, but if Russian Literature and Ukranian folk lore aren't your things, then do not try to make them your things in an effort to stand out. There are NO degrees that will help you get into med school. Some will help you more than others once you get there, but my perspective was why study the same stuff twice (ie sciences)? Pick something you are interested in and, if you don't know what that is yet, take a little bit of everything in first year. Education is for learning, not for getting into med school or some other professional school or whatever. I started out pre-commerce, decided I wanted to be an MD, switched to Biology, and then switched to English. And it's all worked out. As far as going to an "easier" school I think the notion of easier/harder schools being significantly different is a bunch of bull**** from disgruntled students who perhaps had overly high expectations for themselves. In high school you can get excellent grades just by putting in effort. In university effort isn't always enough and alot of people can't come to terms with the fact that their Type A personality is perhaps a bad fit for their Beta or Delta ability levels. If you put in the effort and are genuinely intelligent, you'll do well wherever you go to school. With respect to the previous poster's opinion, "difficulty" should not be a consideration.

A last note-most people who want to be doctors going into university change their minds-a significant portion of them within the first two years. I know you might think you want it more than anything, but don't plan your life around it just yet.

 

[Sage880]

Wow, I don't agree with this stuff at all. Do your undergrad in something biology related and take physics and chem. Makes MCAT studying a lot easier. Undergrad sciences are pretty easy. Get a good GPA and a solid MCAT and you're golden. Science courses are the easiest path and everything else sounds like it would be harder to me.