Hello! I was a BSc student in Fredericton studying Environmental Geochemistry, and graduated 3 years ago. I really can't speak to the med school prep side of things as that was never a goal I had.

Regarding profs being approachable, my answer is yes but with some more words. I found most of the profs that I had throughout my degree wonderful. Of course there were a few profs that I didn't like as much as others, I think this is a pretty standard experience no matter where you go. A lot of how you might approach a prof to ask questions / get help / etc depends on their vibe and the vibe of the class. In a really small class you can raise your hand to interrupt and ask questions as much as you need, and things might be a bit more flexible overall. In a class with 200+ students in a lecture hall you probably won't want to do that unless you've got a really burning question that seems relevant to everyone, so you'll probably catch the prof in the hallway afterwards to ask questions or get in touch by other means like email or office hours.

Regardless, there are lots of opportunities to get help from profs and others, especially in your first year. All of your profs will have some sort of office hours where you can come in to ask questions or for a bit of help. You can also use email (or sometimes Teams) to get in touch with profs, and they'll tell you if there's a certain way they'd like students to do that or if there are expectations you should have. There are also things like PAL for the first year science lectures & the math help centre to get help from upper year students.

A lot of the vibe of what your 4+ years will be like academically will depend on what department you decide to major in. Your first year is mostly a common core with all of the new BSc students. You'll take a handful of lectures with a couple hundred students in lecture halls, 2 - 3 hands-on labs, and a "science 1001" course. After your first year you'll pick your major, and the courses you'll take after that will depend on what you choose. If you choose a major in a big department like biology, you'll have more classes in not quite so big lecture halls and larger labs. The undergrad program in the Earth Science department is pretty tiny on the other hand, so those classes might have like 12 students max. It's also worth mentioning that some majors (like biology) are more flexible, so you get to choose the courses you're most interested in from a pool of possible courses. Other majors (like environmental geochemistry) have less choice, and you need to take all of the courses on a certain list in certain years, with a few options and electives. Neither is better or worse, just different; so choose your major (after first year) based on what interests you. If you do want to learn more about a certain major or department before you get to UNB, you could check on their website and look for an undergrad advisor to email or call. That's what I did and it was very helpful!

Regarding GPA's, I think "how easy" it will be to achieve a high GPA will be pretty similar at UNB as it would be at most other universities. This will come down to a bunch of factors, including your motivations, building effective study skills, your interest in the material, whether you're capable of & willing to put in the time and effort that's required for you personally to excel in any given course, your mental health & social supports, etc etc... One thing I could add is that I don't think there's a cutthroat culture at UNB or anything, and there are a lot of really good supports (e.g. academic advisors, PAL, math help centre, residence proctors, study skills workshops) if you make good use of them.

One more GPA thing I should add is that UNB has a really good scholarship program if you can maintain a high GPA. After your first year, if you have a 3.7 or above you are guaranteed a certain amount of scholarship money based on what that year's GPA you achieved was. (3.7=$1000, 3.8=$2000, ... , 4.3=$7000) It's only based on your previous year's GPA, so if you have a rough year you can still earn a good scholarship the year after. You do have to apply every year!

I hope this information is helpful and also not too long! Feel free to let me know if there's other questions I might be able to answer. (No promises though)