I’m out of high school and upgrading for a year. I do not yet know what I want to do but I am leaning towards life sciences/ medicine. I took Bio and Chem, and have OK math marks (not superb but I didn’t fail). Would you recommend taking physics as part of my upgrade?
Thank you so much for your advice! I really appreciate it!
Sincerely,
A confused student
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hey there,
by upgrading, do you mean that you’re taking high school courses before applying to your undergrad?
if so, taking physics will not necessarily improve your application. if you’re not applying to a program that requires physics, then there’s no reason that having taken physics will be beneficial for you.*
as a high school applicant to uoft, your admission is based on the average mark of your top 6 grade 12 university or mixed courses, including any prerequisites to the program you’ve applied to.
if physics isn’t required and you don’t anticipate doing very well, then it might not be a great idea to take it. what you may want to do instead is take courses where you think you’ll do well. that way, the courses you take will increase your average and give you a better chance of being admitted.
not to generalize, but if your math marks were only ok, then you will probably find physics difficult. now, i don’t know you, and i could be wrong about that. ultimately, it is your decision. if you think you will do extremely well in physics, then by all means: take it.
however, you shouldn’t be taking a course as part of an upgrade that you aren’t fairly certain will be among your strengths.
as for medical school – physics will not make or break your application, especially at the high school level. med school actually has relatively loose requirements in terms of which courses you have to take. it’s all about your marks, interview, and MCAT scores there.
so ultimately, your primary focus should be your confidence level around physics. if you feel it’s going to be too difficult, don’t feel pressured to take it.
best of luck with it!
aska
*obviously, if you’re applying to a program that DOES require physics, then you should take it.