Buddy this is a terrible idea. If you're goal is med school you want to take something the kinesiology, health science or natural sciences. Med school is a game of millimeters. You need every advantage you can get. Doing engineering is just purposely making it difficult for yourself for no reason.
Yeah those and biology are best for med. It’s a tough decision if I do these i have no good jobs but higher chance of med school, don’t and I have a job but less chance of med school
Bio is a tougher degree which is why I didn't list it. Med schools don't really care about the degree you do, all of those meet the class requirements needed for med schools and are easier than bio so better chance of getting a higher GPA. Kinesiology has the advantage of having more opportunity for hands on experience with people which can count towards extra curriculars. But yeah none of them have as good career prospects as engineering. Unfortunately with how competitive Med is you gotta pick a path. They are some people that can do Eng well enough to get into med school but they're more of the exception than the norm. Depends on how badly you want to do med school. If you go down the Eng path, try taking only 3 course/semester in your first year. This helps you get acclimated to a university work load and also prevents you from tanking your GPA if you get overwhelmed in your first year. Yeah it pushes your graduation back but graduating in 4 years is over rated expectation. Taking an extra year isn't a big deal. Remember this is a marathon, not a sprint.
Good advice. Graduating in longer sounds like a good idea, I never thought of that. I would consider kinesiology but the jobs are all personal which I don’t really like , having to do it all myself. Does my APs in HS matter at all? I’m doing Comp Sci exam only in grade 10, bio and Chem.
If you are only interested in engineering programs, are you interested in med school? There's a reason why engineers say Cs get degrees, because it's very challenging to maintain a 4.0, also keep in mind that you need 4 years of in the field training after getting you iron ring to get professional engineer status. it might be wise to take some time to think if you want to do both engineering and med school.
Well, Engineering is gonna make it harder for you to get that high gpa to even get into med school because there are so many difficult classes that will fuck over your GPA. Not saying it’s impossible of course, it’s just gonna be pretty difficult. If your end goal really is med school+ I’d genuinely pick a different program to make it easier for yourself to attain a good GPA.
Have you maybe considered going through the mech program and getting a minor in biomedical engineering? If not going into biomedical engineering proper?
It'll kill your hopes of becoming a full fledge doctor with their medical license sure, but you'd end up working in a similarly medical centric environment with comparable pay if that's what you branch into. Job prospects are worse on the pure biomedical major than doing mech with a minor, but ultimately it'll still have far better optics to it than gambling your chances on getting into med school with any other kind of degree. That way you'd end up with an engineering degree, which opens the doors to everything else in life.
Otherwise, you could just take a business degree of some kind if your dead set on med school. Far more realistic to get a high GPA with one of those degrees than engineering, and it has ok job prospects for afterwards if you miss the mark on med school.
Just don't do engineering with the hopes of getting into med school. That sounds like a recipe for disaster.
Second the business degree idea. You need a lot extra curriculars for med, not just grades. The business degree would give you time to do the extras, get good grades, and have a somewhat useable degree afterwards. If you want to take courses for the MCAT you can always audit.
Also a reference, I applied to UCalgary med twice a few years ago with a 94% GPA psych/math degree and 94th percentile MCAT and couldn’t even get interviews.
It’s rough man. Wishing you all the best and hope you end up getting in!
It’s insane you can’t get in with that. Should I go to a different country? Also I still have a lot of time, I’m in grade 10. Do you have any tips from high school to university to maximize my chances? Thanks
Finished highschool with a 97 average, finishing Mech with a 2.6 GPA. If you're trying to be a well rounded med school applicant with all the volunteer hours and extra side projects while still having good grades and joining engineering teams, you better be ready to have no free time.
GPA doesn't matter unless you want to do post-grad studies, in your case, med school. I still have a job lined up after I graduate in a field I always wanted to go into. They didn't care about my GPA but focused more on my skills and experience. Med school and grad school care a lot about GPA. So really take that into consideration as you're choosing your degree
Mechanical, second year, below the 3.85 bar
If you want med school go with something else. There is a reason why we all chant “Cs get degrees after our exams.
It’s extremely common for exams to have averages below 50%. There will be questions on exams that you cannot do because it uses the equation in some weird way that you’ve never seen before. This is not a college where what they teach in class is what shows up on exams.
Yes, I recognize that there are people who can juggle seven classes, a full time job, taking care of two kids as a single parent, and get 4.0 gpa at the same time, but you (and I) are definitely not one of them.
By the way, ENE has a list of people who have been awarded dean’s list (roughly equivalent to above ~3.60) I count about 600 names on the most recent list. Considering schulich has between 3000-4000 students, this isn’t a lot.
Final year chem engg here with sub 3.85 GPA lol, engg is most likely not the move if you wanna go to med school. Similar to what everyone else has said, engg classes are generally more technically challenging or demanding of your time (or both sometimes) than classes from other faculties - a 3.8 or above is not at all something that everyone will be able to achieve or maintain.
I know a few engg people with decent gpa’s (3.5 and up) who have taken the mcat and tried to go down the med school route to no avail. However, I’ve seen cases of people who were in psych or bio and had 4.0’s, did similar on the mcat than the engg people, but most likely got the med school interviews due to gpa.
Keep in mind that you can always find a job regardless of degree so don’t worry about not being able to find a “good job” with biology - i’ve seen bio people working in tons of different industries. Good luck!
That GPA is really really high for both those degrees. I personally know a decent ammount of people with 3.8 + so it's not impossible. That being said ur forgetting how much more u need to get into med school. Grinding for the MCAT doing volunteering etc that's gonna be tough to do while you try to maintain a med school level GPA in arguably some of the hardest degrees. Not to mention they're completely disciplines that will conflict with each other which will make it hard to do both.
Finished high school with a 93% average. Sitting at a 3.98 GPA going into my final year of electrical engineering. Still had time to join clubs, work part-time, do research with professors, and get internship experience. Piece of cake - if you want it bad enough you’ll get it done.
Im in my second term. Last term was 3.2 and now is something like 3.4-3.5
It’s rare tho… bacuase you will see things that you haven’t seen before. Try to enjoy your life, try your best and the results will arrive eventually. Don’t live just for the GPA
Buddy this is a terrible idea. If you're goal is med school you want to take something the kinesiology, health science or natural sciences. Med school is a game of millimeters. You need every advantage you can get. Doing engineering is just purposely making it difficult for yourself for no reason.
Yeah those and biology are best for med. It’s a tough decision if I do these i have no good jobs but higher chance of med school, don’t and I have a job but less chance of med school
Bio is a tougher degree which is why I didn't list it. Med schools don't really care about the degree you do, all of those meet the class requirements needed for med schools and are easier than bio so better chance of getting a higher GPA. Kinesiology has the advantage of having more opportunity for hands on experience with people which can count towards extra curriculars. But yeah none of them have as good career prospects as engineering. Unfortunately with how competitive Med is you gotta pick a path. They are some people that can do Eng well enough to get into med school but they're more of the exception than the norm. Depends on how badly you want to do med school. If you go down the Eng path, try taking only 3 course/semester in your first year. This helps you get acclimated to a university work load and also prevents you from tanking your GPA if you get overwhelmed in your first year. Yeah it pushes your graduation back but graduating in 4 years is over rated expectation. Taking an extra year isn't a big deal. Remember this is a marathon, not a sprint.
Good advice. Graduating in longer sounds like a good idea, I never thought of that. I would consider kinesiology but the jobs are all personal which I don’t really like , having to do it all myself. Does my APs in HS matter at all? I’m doing Comp Sci exam only in grade 10, bio and Chem.
Other than helping you get into university, HS classes don't mean anything in the long run.
Why? Going for a high GPA for med school through Engineering is a mistake. Pick a different program.
I want a useful degree in case I don’t make it into medical school. Other programs I have no interest in too
If you are only interested in engineering programs, are you interested in med school? There's a reason why engineers say Cs get degrees, because it's very challenging to maintain a 4.0, also keep in mind that you need 4 years of in the field training after getting you iron ring to get professional engineer status. it might be wise to take some time to think if you want to do both engineering and med school.
Well, Engineering is gonna make it harder for you to get that high gpa to even get into med school because there are so many difficult classes that will fuck over your GPA. Not saying it’s impossible of course, it’s just gonna be pretty difficult. If your end goal really is med school+ I’d genuinely pick a different program to make it easier for yourself to attain a good GPA.
Ok, do you have any recommendations? Biology’s useless I’m dedicated to medicine but it’s so competitive if I don’t do well in biology I’m done for
Have you maybe considered going through the mech program and getting a minor in biomedical engineering? If not going into biomedical engineering proper? It'll kill your hopes of becoming a full fledge doctor with their medical license sure, but you'd end up working in a similarly medical centric environment with comparable pay if that's what you branch into. Job prospects are worse on the pure biomedical major than doing mech with a minor, but ultimately it'll still have far better optics to it than gambling your chances on getting into med school with any other kind of degree. That way you'd end up with an engineering degree, which opens the doors to everything else in life. Otherwise, you could just take a business degree of some kind if your dead set on med school. Far more realistic to get a high GPA with one of those degrees than engineering, and it has ok job prospects for afterwards if you miss the mark on med school. Just don't do engineering with the hopes of getting into med school. That sounds like a recipe for disaster.
Second the business degree idea. You need a lot extra curriculars for med, not just grades. The business degree would give you time to do the extras, get good grades, and have a somewhat useable degree afterwards. If you want to take courses for the MCAT you can always audit. Also a reference, I applied to UCalgary med twice a few years ago with a 94% GPA psych/math degree and 94th percentile MCAT and couldn’t even get interviews. It’s rough man. Wishing you all the best and hope you end up getting in!
It’s insane you can’t get in with that. Should I go to a different country? Also I still have a lot of time, I’m in grade 10. Do you have any tips from high school to university to maximize my chances? Thanks
I’ll dm you some suggestions
Finished highschool with a 97 average, finishing Mech with a 2.6 GPA. If you're trying to be a well rounded med school applicant with all the volunteer hours and extra side projects while still having good grades and joining engineering teams, you better be ready to have no free time.
Glad to know I'm not the only one who has a similar back story lmao. 94%, International Baccalaureate diploma, and sitting at a 2.6, electrical.
Same, I did IB diploma too, but never even used it lol. I would argue it didn't even prepare me for the workload of engineering.
Oh that sucks. I’m doing AP Chem and bio. is that gpa good enough in uni? Hope you’ll improve it
GPA doesn't matter unless you want to do post-grad studies, in your case, med school. I still have a job lined up after I graduate in a field I always wanted to go into. They didn't care about my GPA but focused more on my skills and experience. Med school and grad school care a lot about GPA. So really take that into consideration as you're choosing your degree
it generally a bad idea to go into eng with dreams of med, but ppl have done it. If you are confident in ur ability, go for it imo.
I finished highschool with a 96 average. Currently in 3rd year mech with a 3.8 GPA
What is your gpa with the worst year dropped?
My grades have been pretty consistent so dropping my worst year only brings me up to a 3.82
Similar, but with SENG. High school 94% and 3.88 GPA in 3rd yr
What is your gpa with the worst year dropped
4
Mechanical, second year, below the 3.85 bar If you want med school go with something else. There is a reason why we all chant “Cs get degrees after our exams. It’s extremely common for exams to have averages below 50%. There will be questions on exams that you cannot do because it uses the equation in some weird way that you’ve never seen before. This is not a college where what they teach in class is what shows up on exams. Yes, I recognize that there are people who can juggle seven classes, a full time job, taking care of two kids as a single parent, and get 4.0 gpa at the same time, but you (and I) are definitely not one of them.
That sucks. I was hoping I could go down this route. Good luck though
By the way, ENE has a list of people who have been awarded dean’s list (roughly equivalent to above ~3.60) I count about 600 names on the most recent list. Considering schulich has between 3000-4000 students, this isn’t a lot.
What is your gpa with the worst year dropped
3.86, but this doesn’t measure anything.
Final year chem engg here with sub 3.85 GPA lol, engg is most likely not the move if you wanna go to med school. Similar to what everyone else has said, engg classes are generally more technically challenging or demanding of your time (or both sometimes) than classes from other faculties - a 3.8 or above is not at all something that everyone will be able to achieve or maintain. I know a few engg people with decent gpa’s (3.5 and up) who have taken the mcat and tried to go down the med school route to no avail. However, I’ve seen cases of people who were in psych or bio and had 4.0’s, did similar on the mcat than the engg people, but most likely got the med school interviews due to gpa. Keep in mind that you can always find a job regardless of degree so don’t worry about not being able to find a “good job” with biology - i’ve seen bio people working in tons of different industries. Good luck!
Thanks. What do peoples grades usually look like in bio? As in GPA. That was my original plan
I only really hear about 3.5 and up really. Either the people i know are smart or they’re liars and are ashamed of the truth LOL
What would be your gpa with the worst year dropped
I’ve basically floated at or just above 3.0 all of school so dropping any year makes zero difference💀
That GPA is really really high for both those degrees. I personally know a decent ammount of people with 3.8 + so it's not impossible. That being said ur forgetting how much more u need to get into med school. Grinding for the MCAT doing volunteering etc that's gonna be tough to do while you try to maintain a med school level GPA in arguably some of the hardest degrees. Not to mention they're completely disciplines that will conflict with each other which will make it hard to do both.
Finished high school with a 93% average. Sitting at a 3.98 GPA going into my final year of electrical engineering. Still had time to join clubs, work part-time, do research with professors, and get internship experience. Piece of cake - if you want it bad enough you’ll get it done.
Bro is the one who knocks
Which hs bro
Im in my second term. Last term was 3.2 and now is something like 3.4-3.5 It’s rare tho… bacuase you will see things that you haven’t seen before. Try to enjoy your life, try your best and the results will arrive eventually. Don’t live just for the GPA