Questions regarding pre-requisites

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jh24park

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Hi Student Doctors :),

I am a co-op student from Waterloo Engineering, and I have a few questions regarding pre-requisite courses.

Due to the nature of my program, I have two co-op terms (Fall and Winter) and one academic term (Spring). I was wondering if it is acceptable take pre-requisite courses during the spring term (I thought this might not be allowed since this year is technically not full-year basis due to two co-op terms). So I asked an admission advisor about this issue, and his answer was " A year with two coop terms would not be counted towards your WGPA but courses would be recognized towards the prerequisites."

1) Does this mean that my grades for pre-requisites will not be counted as part of my GPA? If so, how would the admission committee evaluate my academic performance on pre-requisite courses?

2) For some medical schools, it is required that an applicant should take pre-requisite courses at a level corresponding with the year of his/her program. I am in third year right now, so does this mean that I will have to take third year pre-requisite courses? Since I am in Engineering, is it acceptable to take first-year level biology/chemistry as pre-requisites?

3) Most medical schools require you to take "full-year" (or two half-year) courses. Am I allowed to take one half course in third year and another half course in fourth year?

4) In order to take a "full-year course in biology", is it acceptable to take two half courses that are completely irrelevant? (for example, genetics and anatomy)

I would greatly appreciate it if anyone could answer any of these questions.
Thank you.

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This is a really specific question to Waterloo and Canadian med schools, and you should try the Canadian SDN equivalent instead:

http://www.premed101.com/forums/

I had similar problems; I found the Canadian med school application process was not friendly towards co-op programs and off-cycle prereq courses. You need to be very clear about the requirements before spending time and money on courses. For example, sometimes they will not count courses into the GPA, or will not count prereqs, if you did them during your work terms, or you did correspondence courses.
 
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