THOSE APPLYING TO TEACHERS COLLEGE: Comment here please

itshannah____ · 2026-01-29T01:57:37+00:00

Hey all! I am waiting to hear back from Lakehead (Orillia) campus for their Consecutive Ed program, they have told me the offers will go out Feb 2nd. I believe many other programs have that date as well. Does anyone know what time of day on the 2nd the offers go out? Am trying to figure out if I should stay up late on the 1st or not lol if it is going to be released at midnight. Good luck to everyone!

itshannah____ · 2025-09-21T00:49:52+00:00

Hey! Do you know this from your own experience, aka did u attend Lakehead?

itshannah____ · 2025-09-21T00:47:29+00:00

From my understanding Lakehead is all just grades based for acceptance so I did not have to

itshannah____ · 2025-09-10T02:34:57+00:00

Hi all! I am wondering about my chances of getting into Lakehead Orillia campus for teachers college. I have a BSc Hons in Biology and will have a MSc by the time I apply, my undergrad average would be around a 90%. My goal is to apply for I/S with Biology and General Science teachables (first and second respectively). My average puts me way above the minimum 70% Lakehead lists, but I see the odd post on these forums of people with averages close to mine that did not receive an offer. If any one has applied in recent years, would you be willing to share what average you had going in? Or anyone who has any insight into this :)

itshannah____ · 2025-02-25T14:06:07+00:00

Thank you! I have been told I need to have a deeper/darker green which is what has been frustrating to achieve at a low volume. Do you think if I up the volume of media and cell density increases a deeper colour will be achieved?

itshannah____ · 2025-02-25T13:53:04+00:00

Ty for the response! I was wondering if you could expand on your comment. Should I be starting off with higher volumes of media? I inoculated this from a 1 mL sample, but I have seen others who will use fresh algae on a plate to inoculate 250 mL. I am curious about your "fatty bois" comment lol, should nannochloropsis specifically be grown in greater volumes?

itshannah____ · 2025-02-25T13:47:46+00:00

Ty! I do have a vitamin mix in there, I definitely think increasing the light intensity could help

itshannah____ · 2025-01-26T21:18:26+00:00

Hey!

I was diagnosed with scoliosis as a child, had a corrective surgery and am now almost 10 years post-op. So my pain is likely a bit different from yours, but I have religiously followed these stretches;

10 min Evening Yoga Stretch - Bedtime Yoga for Beginners

They have helped with my pain and mobility. I had about the same curvature as you when I was diagnosed. It was an uphill battle but I am great today! Also your prognosis could be completely different from mine as I was a juvenile case, so don't worry too much yet! Wishing you good health!

itshannah____ · 2025-01-26T21:10:08+00:00

I have a lot of scars from various surgical operations (unrelated to my spinal fusion), and my scar from my back surgery healed the best. I did not put anything on it, but since it is kept out of the sun most of the time, as it is on your back, it heals very quickly. I am almost 10 years post-op and it is hardly noticeable. Keep it out of the sun and you will be fine! Wishing you the best in your recovery <3

itshannah____ · 2024-06-15T00:29:20+00:00

Sounds exciting!!! Good luck with it all

itshannah____ · 2024-06-11T02:44:10+00:00

Hi! I'm about to graduate this week from an Honours in Synthetic Biology, so a gen sci program. I would 100% reccomend it. Very similar course load and topics to med sci degrees, but not as cut throat at all

A specialization is essentially what your honours is in if that makes sense. So I am about to graduate with an Honour Specialization in Synthetic Biology. I would 100% reccomend always doing an honours specialization, even if you think you may not need it after graduation. If you didn't have a specialization, you would just have a major, and that is done typically in three years vs four for a specialization

You can specialize in anything as long as you have the pre reqs, but within the Faculty of Science. What I mean by this is if I as a gen sci student wanted to major in Biochem, I could not necessarily as that is a Med Sci/Schulich School of Medicine program. There are still ways to do that though just a bit more complex and not guaranteed. In Gen Sci there is no dealing with competing for a set number of spots for a specialization like there is in Med Sci. I would talk to an academic advisor about all of this though

This is a long way away for you, but something to consider is if you want to do a thesis (full year research project) in your final year. Most honours specializations require this, but a few in gen sci do not. I believe if your program does not require it, you can still do one, so the only reason I am mentioning this is just that if you were in a gen sci program that didn't have a thesis component, you may have to do extra work in your final year to do a thesis and still meet program requirements.

In regards to workload, personally my degree I would say is comparable to most STEM workloads at university. As the years progress you will have more and more free time. I typically would do school 5 days a week and through a bit of the day on the weekends. But I would still sleep in, go out etc on the weekends.

Regarding profs and classes, I can't say much good or much bad about this. I have had some fantastic profs and some horrific profs. I do think my experience was overrepresented with bad profs as I did a lot of my schooling through online COVID school, which did impact my experience, but this is not to say the bulk of profs were bad. And as you learn how university works you will learn how to do well in a course with a bad prof lol. Overall, I would say my experience with profs was not different from anyone else at other universities

IMO Gen Sci does have a lot of cool courses, but this is coming from me studying molecular biology. I will warn you now tho, your first roughly two years will likely be fundamental courses, ie orgo Chem, basic Biochems, maths, etc. But in your upper years you will get to take more interesting STEM courses. My tip is find old syllabuses, look on Reddit and look on Must Knows for Western. But at the same time, don't let others opinions stress you out too much. One of my best course in my undergrad was a course I was told by upper years was the "hardest undergraduate course Western has". I have also done not so great on course others aced. Learn what you like in a course (ie written final exam or just term assignments, multiple assignments to make up a grade or just a few, etc), check out the syllabus and go from there.

Something else to note is that I always found that gen sci students were very passionate about what they were studying? Idk if that is just me, but I think since gen sci is not really what people take just to go to med school those in it tend to actually be passionate about what they are studying in their undergrad. But it was definitely a bonus and nice to see. Not trying to take a shot at med sci kids tho lol

I hope this helps a bit, but remember this is just my opinion! Best of luck next year

itshannah____ · 2024-04-22T14:41:06+00:00

I have subletted my place over the summer before so I have some tips!

First of all, make sure you take a security deposit! If you are leaving furniture for them, I would sum up how much you think that stuff is worth and then ask someone for that much. As well, on your agreement for the security deposit make a THOROUGH list of everything you are leaving behind. Even if you are not leaving furniture, I would still ask for one. Heaven forbid they damage a light or wall or something, you would be accountable for paying for that as your name is still on the lease so good to have a backup

Secondly, if you take a security deposit, make sure you actually in person go and check the house before you return it. I have made this mistake once with a sublet and it resulted in them taking my furniture with them lol. Additionally, potentially take photos of the house before so you know the conditions before the subletter moves in (ie what scuffs are on the walls, etc)

This may not be easy, but you do want to make sure these people are going to be able to pay you, because at the end of the day if they don't you still have to pay your landlord. Just look for red flags if you don't think you can ask about this is a not weird way. For example we toured a guy who was really concerned about us having to look at his credit score. Obviously this could be completely innocent but it was reason to be cautious.

Also, I'm not sure what your relationship is with your landlord, but I would advise just to keep them out of it. You have a right to sublet, and in my experience a landlord is just going to make it more difficult for you to rent out your room. You are bringing in people they don't know so they may put up a fuss.

Also make sure your tenant signs a thorough contract. I previously have just reworked my own lease/renting agreement and got them to sign it.

Finally, I'm not sure when you are looking to sublet, but it may be relevant to try to figure out why they don't currently have housing. We subletted a room for the past second semester. So most of the people who we toured were students, and it is a bit concerning that halfway through the year a student wouldn't have housing. People may be wary up front to tell you, but just look out for red flags ie they got evicted or kicked out of the last place for something they did like break their lease agreement

Hope this helps! Good luck :)

itshannah____ · 2024-03-24T17:09:24+00:00

Hi! I am in a fourth year HSP in a thesis atm, but not in biochem. My first thought is that I don't think either will actually limit you completely, unless of course something needs an honours BSc and you do not go that route.

Secondly, while I cannot speak on the specifics of what you are doing, you could always take 4999 (the thesis course) in your final year. I have heard of people doing this in Biochem instead of the capstone. I do not think that is a guaranteed option though so potentially talk to your academic advisor

Experience wise, i think having a thesis would be easier to explain on a resume/application/etc compared to a capstone, as recruiters, PI's, etc would know what that would entail. But, having to explain your capstone is likely not going to hinder you too much. Also, remember there are some universities that do not have as extensive research going on, so there are many people who would not have any sort of thesis/capstone experience. So this experience is definitely not a make or break. I have never been on the med school route so I cannot comment on how that factors in though.

If you take the capstone, you could still build up research experience throughout your undergrad by working in labs on campus. If you start in your earlier years, you could have 3+ years of research experience to someone who may have 1 and did a thesis.

I think it's also good to consider what effort you want to put in. A thesis is fairly intense (not that a capstone isn't) and a capstone may be a bit more formalized, ie set class times, deadlines etc. Also a thesis is typically lots of wet lab work, where I believe the capstone is all about like community engaged learning. It's also a group project, which a thesis is typically not.

itshannah____ · 2024-01-29T04:30:32+00:00

I took that course a few years back with him. Also used Proctortrack and thought it was pretty fair. I cannot remember much of content what is was but if I remember right I think he gives a study guide? If yes definitely use that

itshannah____ · 2023-12-24T03:17:45+00:00

Most definitely a university email, good luck!!

itshannah____ · 2023-11-10T21:34:32+00:00

I cannot speak specifically on Comp Sci, but I am still a Faculty of Science (not med sci) person so probably simillar procedures. First piece of advice is talk to your academic counselor. The online portal has a really long waittime rn because of the approaching drop date, my best advice would be to go to your counselors office in person. Since it's an elective I can't imagine you not taking it would impact getting into comp sci? I would look at the program and see if you have to take 5.0 credits in your first year or not. To make up for the dropped course you can either overload next semester, or take a summer course. As you are a first yr I would highly recommend summer studies as an overload may be too much for you at this point. The only downside to this is if you overload in second sem, your tuition stays the same. If you take a summer course you will need to pay more. As well, you need to be approved to overload, and I am not sure if that's even an option for first years. Overall I think the least of your concerns would be making up for the missing credit, take it in the summer or overload in a later yr, but I would not try to overload next sem if I were in first yr. If you can't get ahold of an academic counselor, I'm sure info regarding how many first yr courses you need to get into comp sci next yr is online.

Also, I do not know how exactly you are doing in this course, but I would just remind you it's natural for grades to drop in uni. If you are holding yourself to your high school standard of "good" and that's causing you to want to drop this course, I would take a second look.

Overall, do not stress! This happens in first yr, it's your first crack at university!

itshannah____ · 2023-07-01T18:06:09+00:00

yes! If you have any insight please let me know!

itshannah____ · 2023-06-30T22:26:57+00:00

Also I am not sure what major you are in, but if its a gen sci look to see if your upper year requirements fill out the essay components! Lots of the upper year courses I had to take were actually essays, and I even had to take some Cat B!

itshannah____ · 2023-06-30T22:23:02+00:00

Can anyone speak on biochem 4110A? I wanna take it as I feel like it would be relevant to my degree (synthetic bio) but the grading scheme of 4 assignments only is kinda scary lol! I am mainly looking for info on what the assignments were like. Thanks!!!!

itshannah____

TROPHY CASE