commerce,  life science,  med school,  phys ed

When I grow up I wanna be a doctor and a businessman and a physiotherapist and a princess!

hey aska. is it possible to take classes and/or dual major across faculties? So can a life science student dual major or take classes with kinisieology or commerce? oh and have you heard any good things about the physical education and health program? I was planning on maybe doing that instead of the traditional life science premed route. Do people get into med school from that program and is it hard to keep up a high gpa?? thanks

Hmmm? So it goes like this:

For the Kinesiology undergrad degree (that?s not exactly how it?s called, but still) you?ll have to apply to the Faculty of Phys Ed and Health. If you want to combine courses from Arts & Science, and eventually add a minor in Life Science, you can (you can also add a major, but most people don?t go that far). If you want to get more info about that faculty?s programs contact this guy. Just note that for the undergraduate degree you will be registered in a single faculty.

What is specifically important for med-school is achieving a high mark on your MCAT. I have no idea if going for the Phys Ed+Life Science major path will increase your chances of achieving that mark. But what I do know is that you don?t need an MD to be a kinesiologist. In general, the Phys-Ed program is more career-oriented than the A&S Life-Sci degree. You need to look into what the MCAT consists of, and browse med school program sites to see what the requirements are. Different institutions may have different demands.

As for the Commerce program, it?s part of A&S, but has specific requirements, and costs more. It may be possible to combine it with a life science program (as a double major), however:

  1. You wouldn?t be graduating with a B.Com degree, which requires you to be enrolled in a Commerce Specialist program.
  2. The Commerce program costs more than a regular A&S program, and most students prefer to take a specialist and complete a B.Com degree if they?re already paying that much for tuition.
  3. Even if you?re able to pull off taking all the required courses for both programs within 4 years (which is somewhat unlikely), your schedule will be hell on earth, and at some point you?ll internally combust.

So it all comes down to this:

Do you want to mix these programs in order to achieve a higher GPA? Take less Life Science courses? Or is it to keep your career options open in case you don?t qualify for med-school? If you?re really serious about med-school, you should dig into the subject and do some serious research about qualifications and stuff.

Maybe this can help: Since med schools don?t necessarily require a life-sci undergrad degree, you should ask yourself- Even if I don?t get into med-school, what would I have chosen to study anyway (I didn?t make that one up)? ?Just remember the bird in the hand?

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