I am thinking of transferring after my first year at McGill University to my home state Oregon. I am looking at Oregon State University or University of Oregon. I am doing poorly at McGill right now after midterms. Chem 94, Cell Bio 78, Ecology 82, and Zoology 81. I also withdrew from Calculus after getting a 75; was not prepared to take 5 classes and 3 labs. I have talked to friends at University of Oregon and Oregon State and they all say it is easy and are doing exceptionally well in their science courses, while having a blast as fraternity members. Is it worth transferring back home to an easier college?
Should I Transfer?
- Thread starter wyman525
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This is the second thread you've posted in this forum that clearly does not belong here. Please read the forum-specific rules and look at other current threads to determine the correct place to post your thread.
Moving to pre-allo
Moving to pre-allo
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Transferring down rarely looks good. Transferring is either neutral/can help if you move to a better college. Med schools will likely notice that you did poorly at McGill then left for an easier college.
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It's far more important that Op posts a solid GPA somewhere than try to stick it out at McGill. Besides, it's not like either of the other schools are community colleges. Adcoms also understand that cost can be a substantial factor in these decisions.
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An excellent GPA at your state public school trumps a mediocre to poor GPA at McGill. By far. Ideally, you'd pick the more rigorous of the two institutions you've named.
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If OP transfers to an easier college, (s)he needs to have a reason other than that McGill was too hard. Perhaps "it was more affordable" could work if it's true. I transferred and am currently going through interviews, so I know what I am talking about. There has not been one interview where I haven't been asked why I transferred.
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OP your primary focus has to be going to a school where you can do well. Plenty of undergrads go onto medical school from Oregon UG. A strong GPA from Oregon can do just fine at plenty of medical schools when combined with other strong components of an app.
If you feel you will do better there than at McGill, do that. Not all schools are going to know all that much about foreign schools like McGill which probably don't have that many pre-meds apply to medical schools each year(especially the large number of US MD schools that don't take Canadians). Besides, there are other valid reasons for wanting to leave a school in Canada and go back to the US. This concern of, "Oh Oregon will look less prestigious than McGill" is a very minor concern when compared to keeping your GPA at a competitive level. Don't keep slogging it up in Canada if you don't feel you can do as well there as you could at those state schools you talked about.
If you feel you will do better there than at McGill, do that. Not all schools are going to know all that much about foreign schools like McGill which probably don't have that many pre-meds apply to medical schools each year(especially the large number of US MD schools that don't take Canadians). Besides, there are other valid reasons for wanting to leave a school in Canada and go back to the US. This concern of, "Oh Oregon will look less prestigious than McGill" is a very minor concern when compared to keeping your GPA at a competitive level. Don't keep slogging it up in Canada if you don't feel you can do as well there as you could at those state schools you talked about.
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I agree 100%. Just do well in your classes at OSU, and come up with other reasons for why you want to transfer both from McGill in general, and to OSU in particular. And be prepared to talk about them in your interviews!
If you have any questions about transferring as a pre-med feel free to PM me.
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OP, I suggest that in addition to researching the pros/cons of transferring, you also look at yourself and figure out why you're not doing well. Maybe it doesn't matter where you go, you just need to change how you're studying or your time management or something. You definitely don't want to transfer to an "easier" school and still have the same problems. Your post comes off to me like you're looking for an easy way out to get better grades with less effort and party more. While college is certainly supposed to be enjoyable, it is also a lot of work, especially if you're taking multiple science courses and trying to do well.
This isn't about prestige of institution or how med schools view Oregon vs McGill. Ultimately, you want a good GPA, so make whatever decision you need to in order to get that. I just want to make sure you consider that maybe the problem doesn't lie entirely in the school, and that "easiness" of a school is not generalized.
This isn't about prestige of institution or how med schools view Oregon vs McGill. Ultimately, you want a good GPA, so make whatever decision you need to in order to get that. I just want to make sure you consider that maybe the problem doesn't lie entirely in the school, and that "easiness" of a school is not generalized.
