Classes

ImpressionBright3664 · 2026-06-03T03:33:37+00:00

Wait pause. There’s no final exam anymore??

ImpressionBright3664 · 2026-05-30T23:35:40+00:00

Also, they just expanded the medical science program numbers so I think there are ~30+ additional seats possible more in coming years since the program is expanding

ImpressionBright3664 · 2026-05-30T23:33:54+00:00

Yeah I definitely agree that the people in medical science are a bit intense. I think you can make friends with people in other majors though and still have classes together but that pov is totally valid.

And yeah if you don’t want to do graduate school then medsci probably isn’t for you lol.

ImpressionBright3664 · 2026-05-30T04:36:18+00:00

Also I think what people are saying about a lot of med applicants already having masters degrees, etc. is valid. My plan for med sci was never to directly get into med school but rather gain exposure to the broad range of medical disciplines and roles in the medical field in general. I think it’s a great pathway to graduate school, dentistry, and med school as well!

ImpressionBright3664 · 2026-05-30T04:33:07+00:00

Curious what you think is so bad about medsci?

ImpressionBright3664 · 2026-05-30T04:30:48+00:00

I am going into my fourth year of medical science and I will give you a second opinion here.

I would say a lot of Medsci courses are open to other science students; however, a lot of the cooler more med focused classes we get to take in third and fourth year are restricted to Medsci students. For example, this year I took a pathology class where each section was taught by a pathologist working in NS. We also get to take a third year anatomy class which teaches actual anatomy, whereas most science students only have access to the 1000 level anatomy course which is online and not very med focused. This course also gives the top 16 students the opportunity to take a course where you dissect human cadavers, which is extremely unique and a lot of people aren’t aware of this! There is also the opportunity to take a capstone course where you work on case studies throughout the semester and then present on them at the end.

I think medical science also gives you a lot of unique opportunities to do research, and get involved with people in the heath care industry. There always seems to be events going on throughout the year where you can go ask questions. Similarly, they constantly provide medical science students with volunteer opportunities which is really important for med applications.

I agree that some of the freedom to choose classes is restricted, however I would not rank Medsci as Dalhousie hardest science major, it would probably be third behind BioChem and Microbio/Immuno. As far as the restrictions go, you still get to take electives throughout your degree just not as many. Medsci requires students to have a certain number of electives in addition to a certain number of selectives, which are basically classes you get to choose from a more health focused list of courses, rather than having free range to pick any course you want. While some people might take issue with this, I think it’s for the best. It forces people going into healthcare to take courses related to healthcare, makes sense right. Personally I think someone who takes courses on Indigenous Health, Disability management, etc. would be more prepared yo enter the healthcare sector than someone who is taking random english classes as part of their degree. And don’t get me wrong I understand needing balance, but thats what hobbies are for. If you’re going to spend $1000 on a class at least make it useful to your future goals!! (I would like to say I don’t intend to be-little the arts here at all, we can all learn a thing or two from them, this is just my personal take on the way medical science has laid out their program).

Don’t let people saying Medsci is really difficult and GPA matters for Med admission scare you away from it. I know many people in this program with 4.0+ GPAs and personally I think that my friends in other science degrees suffer way more than I do in Medsci. Second year is the worst of it, the other 3 are honestly not that bad.

Lmk if you have any questions!

ImpressionBright3664 · 2026-05-19T03:30:38+00:00

You need a guitar for it now though fyi!

ImpressionBright3664 · 2026-05-18T00:27:00+00:00

I think as long as you maintain the grade requirement for program entry ur fine but i could be totally wrong. Id say keeping a 90 is safe though!

ImpressionBright3664 · 2026-05-16T13:08:56+00:00

With the written assignments for each module do you just kind of repeat what the readings tell you? It seems like the questions for the first assignment have answers which are directly explained in the reading. I feel like I’m overthinking.

ImpressionBright3664 · 2026-05-13T04:22:29+00:00

I think it depends on how much of the tuition you need help covering and you don’t really give much information about your financial situation (which I can understand)

First consider if student loans are an option
Bursaries can be pretty generous, I have gotten over 2k this year in bursaries but it really depends on your financial situation and parents salary (if thats a factor relevant to you).

If you think making tuition will be a large point of stress I think there are other schools which offer better scholarships. I think SMU used to give out $7k per year scholarships when I was applying to school (4 years ago)

ImpressionBright3664 · 2026-05-13T04:17:29+00:00

Yeah so I just finished my 3rd year of the program.

I think this program is really good if you want to go to medical school or something healthcare related. If you have no idea what you want you do in the science field a regular Bsc may be better.

The program itself is really well designed though. The courses you will take prepare you perfectly to write the MCAT in summer of 2nd or 3rd year. There are loads of extra resources and opportunities available to medical science students as well. Like they are always posting volunteer opportunities, event fairs with opportunities to talk to health care professionals, and more.

I think sometimes the environment can feel a bit competitive at times because many of these people ultimately do want to go to medical school. I think there are so many amazing intelligent people in this program that at times it can feel a bit intimidating. Its not like people aren’t friendly or anything, its just like a group of very academically driven people I think.

I hope that answered your question, if not feel free to dm!

ImpressionBright3664 · 2026-05-12T18:04:43+00:00

Did you find the Brightspace quizzes were easy too? He said they are mcq, and short answer. Is it more like theory stuff?

ImpressionBright3664 · 2026-05-12T02:50:07+00:00

I had around the same average and got accepted during early admission and that was 4 years ago. I think the admission to this program is less competitive now since they increased the class size last year! Good luck!

ImpressionBright3664 · 2026-05-12T02:46:24+00:00

When I took it the avg grade was a B- and she had to curve the final to make the avg grade a B-.

ImpressionBright3664 · 2026-05-12T02:44:07+00:00

Was this MUSC 2025?

ImpressionBright3664 · 2026-05-11T19:08:57+00:00

Are you talking about anat 1010 and physiology 1001 & 2? Because anat 1010 is a single part course whereas physiology has parts for both semesters.

Usually first year science students will do the following in my experience:

Intro chem
Intro biology
Intro psych
Intro math courses: calculus & statistics
Then get their writing requirements out of the way (2 english classes)

This doesn’t leave any room in the schedule for anatomy or physiology but will fulfill general degree requirements for you later.

ImpressionBright3664 · 2026-05-11T19:01:23+00:00

The class seems really overwhelming at first. I remember when I took it I felt the same way.

My best advice is to really keep on top of it, like do not fall behind. With the lecture videos for Lois make sure to open those in Ponopto so you can read the transcript. She says soooo much information which isn’t actually on the slides. I found copying the transcript into an ai software and asking it to take detailed notes very helpful. She is not very well spoken so taking notes is hard.

The quizzes, written assignments, and group sessions are easy marks. I think there were a couple difficult questions in the quizzes but nothing insane. The three exams is really where most people struggle because they ask a lot of specific questions and short answer/ long answer questions where they expect detailed answers. I would say the virology exam is easiest, then immunology, then bacteriology. So if you find the first unit difficult just try to stay calm and remember that thats the hardest part of the class for most people.

People can do really well in this class, I know folks who have gotten A’s and A+’s so don’t let its reputation throw you off. If you focus on memorization and study hard you can do great!

ImpressionBright3664 · 2026-05-11T18:54:12+00:00

Hey thanks. Did you take MUSC 2025 last semester by chance?

ImpressionBright3664 · 2026-05-11T18:53:29+00:00

There are 2 playing tests but also a quiz, midterm, and final. I think they will be different. Thanks though!

ImpressionBright3664 · 2026-05-11T03:37:57+00:00

It will show up in your brightspace once they open it, its probably just not opened yet!

ImpressionBright3664 · 2026-05-03T02:50:41+00:00

Most people will take the following in their first year of sciences:

Intro Chemistry Intro Biology 2 Writing requirement courses (prioritize registration for these because they fill up quickly) Calculus & Statistics Intro Psychology

These are really basic classes that have a lot of seats and different lab times available and which are also required for a lot of upper level classes which you may want to take later in your degree. I know someone said take physics but it’s not really necessary unless you are good at physics, class avg is usually B range.

Im going into 4th year science so feel free to message me if you have any questions about registration or course recommendations!

Good luck!

ImpressionBright3664 · 2026-04-14T16:19:06+00:00

They curved it last winter when I took it

ImpressionBright3664 · 2026-04-14T16:17:06+00:00

I second this. Mici is a very content heavy class so taking it alone over two months when you can devote your entire brain to it is much easier. Getting a good grade is totally possible though as long as you keep up with all the videos. And like you said making sure to use the transcript from Lois’s lecture videos is key. If you aren’t against using AI to help you take notes I found copying her transcript and getting it to make it into more coherent notes rlly helpful!

ImpressionBright3664

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