My GPA.

[duracell]

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Hi!

I'm just wondering, does it matter if you have like, a lot of the "recommended" courses under your belt? For example, human anatomy, embryology, histology, physiology, zoology etc... Well i'm wondering because, I did not do so great in my pre-req's (the first year ones...shudder) so that is pulling me down 🙁 And it's not like i would take an upper year physic course (to pull the sucky one up) because I will get slaughtered, and probaly if i take upper year chem course i will get my butt kicked as well. So does anyone have any tips? My avg. is around 73%. And the pre-req pulled me down (bad first year). So, can someoen help me?I'm also from a Canadian university if that affects much.

 

[rpames]

If you got A's and B's in all the courses you listed early in you post and did well overall in the later half of your college years you will probably be alright. Of course I assume in the "bad" classes that were pre-reqs you got a minimum of a C. If you don't have at least that, you must repeat them in order for them to count..even if you took upper level classes later.

 

[jefguth]

Hey duracel,

Sounds like the recomended courses you are talking about are for Waterloo 😀 . Waterloo, definately considers how many of the pre-reqs you have, but your average grades are, unfortunately, quite low for them. However, you grades sound just great for the American colleges. In fact, when the director of admissons for SUNY spoke at Waterloo this year he told us that grades such as yours would be just fine for them, but that anything lower (like high 60's) and you probably have to start looking at the large private schools. Also, you will want to ensure that\, like rpames mentioned, you shouldn't have anything under a C (which I think is any 60 at Canadian universities - bottomline: nothing below 60) otherwise you have to retake that course. As for improving your average, just try to do your very best in whatever courses you are taking. Likely those will be bio since I think alot of us have an adversion to physics and chem. Also, for the American schools, if you do well on the sections of the OAT that correspond to your lower first year grades then that is something they will also consider. Lastly, many of the US schools look quite favourably upon students from the big Canadian schools.

Hope that helps you out!

BTW, what university are u studying at?

 

[Mixin Marc]

Hi!

I'm just wondering, does it matter if you have like, a lot of the "recommended" courses under your belt? For example, human anatomy, embryology, histology, physiology, zoology etc... Well i'm wondering because, I did not do so great in my pre-req's (the first year ones...shudder) so that is pulling me down 🙁 And it's not like i would take an upper year physic course (to pull the sucky one up) because I will get slaughtered, and probaly if i take upper year chem course i will get my butt kicked as well. So does anyone have any tips? My avg. is around 73%. And the pre-req pulled me down (bad first year). So, can someoen help me?I'm also from a Canadian university if that affects much.

the avg. of 73% is not too hot... but i'm just going to tell you straight out as not to get your hopes up.... i know of 3 people personally who went to that UW canadian school, and they had overall avg of 74.1, 73, and 74.4 and none of them got an interview. That's because you'd need at least 75 to get an interview. I think you have to take a lot of bird courses to get that average to a 79-80 at least and then reapply

 

[I-Ball]

the avg. of 73% is not too hot... but i'm just going to tell you straight out as not to get your hopes up.... i know of 3 people personally who went to that UW canadian school, and they had overall avg of 74.1, 73, and 74.4 and none of them got an interview. That's because you'd need at least 75 to get an interview. I think you have to take a lot of bird courses to get that average to a 79-80 at least and then reapply

Didn't get an interview where? at Waterloo or in the States?

 

[Mixin Marc]

Didn't get an interview where? at Waterloo or in the States?

Waterloo because of some lady by the name of Amodeo

 

[I-Ball]

Waterloo because of some lady by the name of Amodeo

Yeah she's the secretary there, how much of a hand does she really have in everything?

 

[mystro]

Waterloo because of some lady by the name of Amodeo

Ya with 73 it's hard to get into waterloo. Anyways, Mixin Marc, did your friends apply to the US? Did they get into any US schools? And what extracurricular did they have? I'm really curious as well.

 

[stompy]

How do large Canadian universities compare to universities in the US?

 

[jefguth]

Yeah she's the secretary there, how much of a hand does she really have in everything?

Like you said, she's the secretary, and has absolutely no hand in it whatsoever, she is just there to help out and handle the communications. I don't know how, but somehow her infamous chilly personality has earned her an international reputation 😕

How do large Canadian universities compare to universities in the US?

Generally, the large well-know universities in Canada have a better reputation than your average college in the US. I don't know why, but this just seems to be the case. While the quality of universities varies quite a great deal in the USA, the vast majority in Canada are on an equal footing; they are for the most part equally difficult and challenging while some are just better known abroad. Take for example McGill in Montreal - consistenly ranks in the top 100 world universities and will be instantly recognized by any medical/optom/whatever admissions commitee in the USA because of its long history and number nobel prize winners (ie. Ernest Rutherford). On the other end, a university like Waterloo (where I attend) which is relatively new would not be recognized by most (although I must say that American optometry schools are very familiar with us). But like I said, from my experience speaking with people in admission departments in the US, they regard the Canadian schools are very competitive and I think this is reflected in the rather large number of Canadians studying optometry in the United States.

 

[stompy]

Are there a large amount of Canadian students studying medicine in the US?

 

[jefguth]

I don't think there are very many, actually I think there are many more Canadians studying optometry than medicine in the US. Actually, now that i think about it, a friend on mine who applied to SUNY Upstate Medical University (and was recently accepted) showed me some of the statistics: there are only about 150-160 foreign students studying medicing in the US while i believe that there are some 200 Canadians in Optometry. The principal reason for this is that most of the state medical schools do not accept foreign students while only a very few fairly competitive schools do, while I think all but one optometry school (Northwestern? OK?) will take foreigners.

 

[r_salis]

I think one of the reasons there are so many Canadians attending optometry school in the US is because there is only one English-speaking optometry school in Canada, which makes the competition for entry pretty fierce.

 

[mystro]

It makes it more like a war.

 

[jefguth]

Its only like a war in first year undergrad... We have all cooled down and realized that fighting and plotting against each other gets us all nowhere... But yes, it can be very fierce at times here!