Hi everyone,
I am a Canadian citizen doing high school in US, returning to Canada for college. I was accepted into McGill Life Sci, Waterloo Life Sci and co-op, and UofT Life Sci and VicONE Stowe Gullen stream.
I also want to go to a medical school in either US or Canada.
For waterloo’s co-op program (biochemistry), it will take me 5 years to graduate at least whereas at McGill or UofT it would take 4 at least. Also, it isn’t as reputable as the other two universities, so I wonder if that would play a role in med school admissions, especially to US ivy league med schools.
For McGill, my main concern is that it is extremely far from Mississauga, where my parents will live when I start college, and I don’t know any French, which could ruin chances at internships, jobs, or leadership opportunities that med schools like. Also, it has a reputation for being pretty hard to maintain a good GPA, but not as bad as UofT.
For UofT, I really want to go because it will be very close to home, I don’t need to know French, and I am acquainted with the city already. I also got into the VicONE program, which is pretty competitive to get into I imagine and it seems to cover some interseting topics with small class sizes and big professors. I am still worried about the difficulty and “unfairness” in grading and GPA at UofT.
I am a hard working student thus far and I have had straight A’s throughout High School ( 3 A- scattered here and there total GPA 3.97 ), and I feel like I can succeed at UofT or McGill. Do I need a reality check? Is McGill easier than UofT (in terms of maintaining a solid GPA)? Would the VicONE program make much of difference in my overall experience and GPA at UofT? Is the extra year at waterloo because of co-op really a big deal?
Thank you!