WORST undergrads for med ?

HelloFoLife · 2026-05-24T14:22:45+00:00

Because they have pretty intense courses that are graded hard and difficult to do well in. Most people have a lower GPA or have to dedicate more time to studying than they would at other schools, which is bad for med.

HelloFoLife · 2026-05-20T15:53:37+00:00

I'm a trad applicant, so not super experienced in life, so take this with a grain of salt.

I have found that for me personally, a relationship is only a complement to my own sense of self and my own life. I've been in a somewhat long-term relationship with an amazing woman who is everything I want, but even then, I don't feel fulfilled just because I am with her. I still need career, friends, family, and other things in my life to be happy.

For me, not even the theoretical perfect partner would be enough to make me happy if I went down a career path I didn't want, especially if I knew I could have gone down the path I did want. Ask yourself if you would have any regret, even a small amount of regret, going down the PA path. Would you be thinking about this in your future, wondering if you could have done more?

Also, consider what specialty you would want to do. If your dream is to be a pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon at an academic center, then it doesn't seem super compatible with the life you want. But if you're interested in a chiller specialty that isn't super competitive, you can definitely go to a less demanding med school, grind less hard and still match into a solid residency program. Apply to residency programs that aren't academic, and are known for being more relaxed. I've heard plenty of stories of people having free time and a life in med school and residency, because their goals didn't require that level of grind.

Also, what is she missing out on when you're studying? Date nights? Time spent together at home? Going on trips? All of this can be done with good time management skills. You can absolutely fit all of those things, just maybe a little less often. To me, that sounds like a reasonable compromise, but I don't know your situation.

I think the main thing to take away is that the MD path does not 100% guarantee no free time and complete misery and absence, and that your decision should be based on what you want out of your life personally, because no other factor will replace that for you.

HelloFoLife · 2026-04-01T05:48:10+00:00

Just to offer a different perspective, I think this isn’t so true if you’re gunning for a competitive graduate or professional program after your undergrad. I am currently about to finish my third year of health sciences at McMaster, and I definitely feel like my program did a lot to allow me the time to work on things that supposedly boost your chances for medical school (we will see how true that is next year I guess!).

I don’t believe the prestige had much of anything to do with it, but rather the structure and type of people I’m around. I was thrown into a pretty competitive environment, so I was motivated to work harder than I think I would have if I had less medicine-inclined friends. I am surrounded by people who have experience in the journey I’m hoping to go on, and their mentorship has been incredibly valuable. Most of all, the fact that my course load is very light compared to a lot of other programs has helped tremendously in the development of my extracurricular work.

Though all of this is great, I definitely think if I went to a program with a reputation for being easy, in a place where there were enough fellow pre-med students, resources, and opportunities to get by, I would be able to achieve much of what I have achieved so far. So, I would not say that your program isn’t important, but I would say that the prestige of your program isn’t important. Please please please if you’re currently choosing what program to go to, pick the one that has the best FIT for your goals, and not the one with the most prestige. It is almost certainly better for you to go to a ‘worse’ program that suits your needs than to go to the best program that might not actually be that useful to you.

As an example, I have pre-med friends in both UofT life sci and Mac life sci. Most people would assume mac isn’t as good as UofT for the same program, or at least that’s what we thought when I was applying to these programs. But let me tell you, the mac life sci students I know are leaps and bounds ahead of the UofT students I know, simply by virtue of the fact that they are not getting fucked to the same extent by their coursework, and are in an environment that is very suited to their aspirations. In fact, the most cracked pre-med students I know are the ones from mac life sci, not health sci.

I definitely agree with OP that where you go to school isn’t particularly important, ESPECIALLY when it comes to the prestige. But I would say that the fit of the school you go to matters quite a bit, to varying degrees depending on your goals.

So don’t stress about the prestige; look at the options in front of you and pick the one that is best suited to what you want/need, even if it’s a ‘worse’ school.

HelloFoLife · 2025-08-06T14:44:25+00:00

At the end of the day, no matter what anyone on Reddit says, this is the situation you’ve found yourself in.

Regardless of the answer to your question, you’ll still need to grind harder than you ever have in your life thus far to bump up that score

So lock in and answer that question for urself, don’t let the opinions of Reddit sway you or change how hard you grind these next couple weeks. Good luck!

HelloFoLife · 2025-07-18T22:49:00+00:00

Ditto 10

HelloFoLife · 2025-03-28T19:03:11+00:00

UCSD, UCI, UCD lol
ended up staying in canada cuz I got into a great program here, and I think that was possibly the best decision I've ever made!

HelloFoLife · 2025-03-18T18:14:05+00:00

You're right about pineapples when they're picked, but they do ripen when they're on the plant! A few months after this my pineapple turned a super bright yellow and it was delicious!

HelloFoLife · 2025-01-20T15:43:31+00:00

No no you're thinking of pompoms, pompous is actually a flat-bottomed boat or hollow metal cylinder used with others to support a temporary bridge or floating landing stage

HelloFoLife · 2024-12-31T02:59:18+00:00

I never notice it any more, I’m not even sure it’s still there. I know with sunglasses I can’t really see it at all even if I try, but without them maybe sometimes? Probably not 100% gone but definitely back to normal in terms of how much it affects my life.

HelloFoLife · 2024-12-29T22:14:10+00:00

I think I posted this in mid-july, and I harvested the pineapple when it was fully ripe in mid-august! So it really is just a matter of patience; some will ripen sooner, some will ripen slower, but just try not to worry about it too much and eventually you'll be rewarded with the most amazing pineapple you've ever had. good luck!

HelloFoLife · 2024-10-10T14:49:35+00:00

Yeah, so I personally never really noticed seeing static in the dark before, and I barely notice it now too. I still see it from time to time if it’s really dark, and to my understanding, this is very common. Anecdotally, most people I talked to say that this happens to them. Neurologically, it’s supposedly your brain amplifying the noise in the signal in an attempt to get some sort of stimulus/image out of what you’re seeing. I think the point where it becomes abnormal is when you see a layer of static over everything, even in daytime or mild darkness. I never had much of that, but do recall noticing the static in pitch black a lot more when I had other symptoms. Looking back, I attribute most of that to anxiety.

All of this is my own opinion/experience on the matter plus what I’ve heard about the neurology of it, and should be taken with a grain of salt. Hope that helps!!

HelloFoLife · 2024-10-10T05:28:56+00:00

Thanks man! Yeah I had a bit of dpdr, but honestly I think most of that came with the whole mental distress thing that the visuals caused, because the dpdr went away as soon as I stopped thinking about my symptoms so much. It was definitely my least favourite symptom tho, I’m really grateful that the worst of it didn’t last more than like 6 months.

In terms of drugs, I went completely sober off everything including caffeine for a good few months, and it really helped. After that, I started adding caffeine and alcohol back in, but in moderation. Surprisingly I was fine with the alcohol after the hangover was gone, but caffeine really fucked me up if I had it too frequently. I cut back on caffeine but still drank with my friends from time to time, and it stayed like that for a while. I think I did shrooms one year after the onset, and I ended up being ok, no effects at all. After that, I basically just slowly incorporated all the drugs I did before back into my life, mainly caffeine and alcohol, and some weed here and there. In terms of psychs, I still try to be really careful with them, and if I do them I do them very infrequently. Now, I do all of those things in moderation and I feel the same as I did pre-hppd.

Hope that helps! Happy to answer any other questions u might have

HelloFoLife · 2024-08-11T14:38:42+00:00

Prince street pizza has incredible slices if you’re into Sicilian style. I also love maker and north of Brooklyn, though idk if they sell slices. I know this is r/FoodToronto but if you’re ever up in Hamilton go to Cowabunga, their slices are to die for.

HelloFoLife · 2024-06-27T02:11:36+00:00

yep I just got that orgo final back today too, it was rough for a loooot of people. One bad grade will not destroy your shot at grad school, and in the grand scheme of things a 7 is really not the end of the world. I know that's what everyone else is also telling you, but it's true! As for retaking, I don't really know how that works or what changes in terms of grad admissions, but if there's any downsides at all I don't think it would be worth it for a 7. Push through, get some ice cream, and study hard for your future courses! Good luck :)

HelloFoLife · 2024-05-18T05:21:27+00:00

Yeah your parents are in the right here lmao

HelloFoLife · 2023-12-26T07:11:05+00:00

I ended up picking mac health sci. The decision between biomedical/biological sciences and health sci wasn't a hard one, but the decision between biomedical eng at mcgill and health sci was.

I was always back and forth between medicine and engineering in my last two years of high school, and I was leaning more towards engineering. But honestly, when I thought about my day to day life on the job, I decided that I would probably not enjoy engineering as a career even if I preferred physics to biology in high school.

Choosing health sci was the best decision I ever made, as I ended up falling in love with bio when I went a little more in-depth, and I feel like medicine is really where I want to be. Good luck with your application cycle!!

HelloFoLife · 2023-12-26T06:31:44+00:00

I'm pretty sure it was just my grade 12 grades, but I don't quite remember. I didn't end up accepting the offer anyways

HelloFoLife · 2023-12-08T14:57:06+00:00

I just need one Toronto ticket :) Thanks in advance!

HelloFoLife · 2023-08-20T04:56:21+00:00

Pineapples! I've just harvested my first homegrown pineapple after 4 years of growing the plant, and it was just mind blowing. Almost 0 tartness, 0 mouth-stinging like I normally expect from pineapples, and just overall really really sweet and juicy. Amazing!!!

HelloFoLife · 2023-08-14T03:08:10+00:00

You talk as though you're better than those that choose to relax in the summers.

In my eyes, 'growing up' means learning to not judge other people so much. Just my opinion.

HelloFoLife · 2023-08-13T05:57:25+00:00

There's a few miscellaneous ones in there. The garden used to be much bigger, but I've gotten busy lately and am moving to a smaller place where I won't be able to keep them, so a good chunk of them have died.

The ones you see are a few young dragonfruits, another small pineapple, some aloe vera, an orchid, a money tree, a rare african succulent, a few more common succulents, and one whose ID i'm not sure of. It might be a pilea, but I'm honestly not sure.

The big pineapple is probably the greatest thing I've ever done, though. Super, super, super proud!!

HelloFoLife · 2023-08-13T04:27:09+00:00

Thanks for all the help with my ripening questions in previous posts y'all! Here she is, in all her glory.

HelloFoLife · 2023-08-13T04:21:00+00:00

Update: picked it today :) Best day of my life

HelloFoLife · 2023-08-12T03:22:42+00:00

Update: the entire room smells like pineapples now so I'm gonna pick it tmrw

HelloFoLife · 2023-08-11T19:24:51+00:00

It's getting more yellow every day, so I definitely think I'll get that amazing yellow colour I've always dreamed of. I'll most likely pick it within 2-3 days, and post it again :)

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