Need some advice

[Vee9]

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I'm a grade 12 student and I'm hoping that I'll make it into optometry school after.

I'm deciding between Waterloo Life Science and Guelph Biological Science. I ultimately want to go to Waterloo Optomtry school.

I've gotten mixed reviews for both.
Some say that Guelph has a more well-known biolmedical program than Waterloo and that their campus is nicer.

Some picked Waterloo because it was well-known and prestigious, but said it was hard to maintain a high GPA there.

Any advice?

 

[Bioflare]

I'm a grade 12 student and I'm hoping that I'll make it into optometry school after.

I'm deciding between Waterloo Life Science and Guelph Biological Science. I ultimately want to go to Waterloo Optomtry school.

I've gotten mixed reviews for both.
Some say that Guelph has a more well-known biolmedical program than Waterloo and that their campus is nicer.

Some picked Waterloo because it was well-known and prestigious, but said it was hard to maintain a high GPA there.

Any advice?

This is from when I was deciding for undergrad so the information is dated.
Waterloo Life Science gave me early acceptance, if that is a sign of a good program I'm not sure. Guelph's biological science program isn't that hot either.

From what you've said it seems you're conflicted... you ask for the "easier program" but want well-known and prestige? I'm pretty sure you want to stay away from Premed programs as the competition will hurt your gpa.

I'm going to say Waterloo is not known for its health/life/biological science undergraduate programs, but that doesn't mean it will be easy marks. The reason is that most people that want to go into Optometry at waterloo apply into that program, in the belief that waterloo favours its own undergraduate students. This is not true and you can find quite a few posts about Waterloo undergrads not getting into Waterloo Optom.

Guelph's biological science program should be better since they have a veterinary science graduate studies at the school. So if you were to choose between schools, I would go with Guelph since you'd have less competition. Needless to say Waterloo Optom is not easy to get into, the average % for entry is 80-96% for 2010... that equates to 4.0 if you take the middle of that range. Keeping 4.0 for 3 years is not as easy as it sounds, you might want to consider easier programs.

Hope that gave you some insight. Western's health sciences program is easier if you can avoid partying you can do well. Don't even consider going to UofT Downtown campus, the first two years they want averages in the low 60s. Queen's undergraduate program has good professors, but I'm not sure how their marks go. But their undergrad prepares people well for med and research studies.

 

[WaveofShadow]

I can't say I know much about the two specific programs you are considering, but I do know that Waterloo offers no preferences based on which school you went to. As far as I can tell, they accept students from all over Canada from many different schools. I personally went to York, a school not widely recognized for having an amazing Health/Life Sciences program. It wasn't bad, probably just average, but it was not altogether difficult to maintain a high GPA.

 

[tmorowat]

I'm a grade 12 student and I'm hoping that I'll make it into optometry school after.

I'm deciding between Waterloo Life Science and Guelph Biological Science. I ultimately want to go to Waterloo Optomtry school.

I've gotten mixed reviews for both.
Some say that Guelph has a more well-known biolmedical program than Waterloo and that their campus is nicer.

Some picked Waterloo because it was well-known and prestigious, but said it was hard to maintain a high GPA there.

Any advice?

I go to Western, and I'm really enjoying my experience so far. I have a friend who went to Western first year, is now at Waterloo and she says it's much more difficult there. They really focus on labs and assignments more. And I don't know much about the University of Guelph, but I do know that Guelph itself isn't the most exciting-looking city (though the downtown is nice).

Hope this helps at all!

 

[Cappuchino]

This is from when I was deciding for undergrad so the information is dated.
Waterloo Life Science gave me early acceptance, if that is a sign of a good program I'm not sure. Guelph's biological science program isn't that hot either.

From what you've said it seems you're conflicted... you ask for the "easier program" but want well-known and prestige? I'm pretty sure you want to stay away from Premed programs as the competition will hurt your gpa.

I'm going to say Waterloo is not known for its health/life/biological science undergraduate programs, but that doesn't mean it will be easy marks. The reason is that most people that want to go into Optometry at waterloo apply into that program, in the belief that waterloo favours its own undergraduate students. This is not true and you can find quite a few posts about Waterloo undergrads not getting into Waterloo Optom.

Guelph's biological science program should be better since they have a veterinary science graduate studies at the school. So if you were to choose between schools, I would go with Guelph since you'd have less competition. Needless to say Waterloo Optom is not easy to get into, the average % for entry is 80-96% for 2010... that equates to 4.0 if you take the middle of that range. Keeping 4.0 for 3 years is not as easy as it sounds, you might want to consider easier programs.

Hope that gave you some insight. Western's health sciences program is easier if you can avoid partying you can do well. Don't even consider going to UofT Downtown campus, the first two years they want averages in the low 60s. Queen's undergraduate program has good professors, but I'm not sure how their marks go. But their undergrad prepares people well for med and research studies.

Profs are generally good at Queen's (for most life sciences prereq courses) and do genuinely care for your well-being. This is not to say the program itself is not difficult. There will be profs who are "out-to-get", and want to keep class averages at a certain level. You may want to check ratemyprof.com before choosing your electives, it really helped me a lot in avoiding profs like that.


Averages in first and second year courses are in the 70s, but raise to around 80s in third and fourth year (for core courses).

I've looked at the waterloo biochem exam last year before my own exam, and I have to say, the level of difficulty between the two exams were pretty different. But of course, although they were both *introductory biochem courses*, they are of course differently structured, made based on different course materials.. etc etc.

Will it be easier to get higher grades in waterloo compared to queens? Maybe. If you are a motivated student who will keep on top of your work, I believe it is possible to do well at either =)

Good luck on choosing a school! 👍

 

[quackquack]

I went to waterloo for my undergraduate studies and I have to say the professors are mostly good and helpful. The campus life is wonderful and lots of good groups to join. Mark wise, I find it very easy? But that's because I'm the studious-type of person, I don't know. If you are looking for research experiences too, there are a lot of professors here who are happy to take volunteers and stuff.

No advantage of going to waterloo and getting into optometry. It's just that, more people from waterloo tend to APPLY to optometry, so statistically speaking, more people who get in seems to be from waterloo than other schools. Spoke to couple people from this year's class. All from out of provinces or other schools.