Help Deciding

[Leela]

ShadeY @ Sun Feb 22, 2009 2:55 pm wrote:

Hey Prabhakar, can you please elaborate why? Co-op not important?

Sorry for asking so many questions here... just want to make the most informed decision possible.

PEY is like co-op, only better. You get to stay at one place for an extensive period of time doing some real work. St. George is basicly considered better because it's located in the downtown core, very fun, cool and hippy place. I can't tell you about the difference in the quality of education between the three campuses.

[Prabhakar Ragde]

St. George has better students and better instructors.

[billnye]

Trent is a good school. Its known for its Ecology/Environmental sciences but its cs program is getting a lot better. Its gone through some serious changes since i was there in 2003. Its a challenging program but its not super hard like other big schools. Its very common for undergrades to jump to really good schools for their masters. When I graduated people from my class went to Berkley, MIT, Harvard and Oxford for their M.sc...that might be a little harder to do some place else.

[Prabhakar Ragde]

It's easier to get into Berkeley, MIT, and Harvard for a Master's degree than for a PhD, because in the American system one goes directly from a Bachelor's to a PhD. Master's degrees are considered terminal, much less or no financial aid is offered, and usually they are coursework degrees (no research). Oxford grants Master's degrees automatically to their undergraduates after seven years! Their MSc is also a coursework degree. "It is intended as a graduate conversion course both for those who have already been trained and/or employed as programmers, and for graduates of other numerate disciplines who have had less previous exposure to the subject."

If your classmates have ended up in PhD programs at Berkeley, MIT, or Harvard, or a DPhil program at Oxford, I'd be more impressed.

[Analysis Mode]

However, it's more difficult for a Canadian undergrad to get accepted into an American medical school.

[Drew416]

Analysis Mode @ Thu Apr 16, 2009 6:49 pm wrote:

However, it's more difficult for a Canadian undergrad to get accepted into an American medical school.

No it's not. It is much easier to get accepted in a US med school then a Canadian one. The GPA requirement is much lower and there are generally more spots open. It might be difficult to get into the elite top-tier med school but if you just want to get in, it is generally easier. In Canada I've heard people getting rejected with like 3.85 gpa whereas with that kind of GPA you will definitely get in somewhere in the US.

[Analysis Mode]

Drew416 @ Thu Apr 16, 2009 8:08 pm wrote:

Analysis Mode @ Thu Apr 16, 2009 6:49 pm wrote:

However, it's more difficult for a Canadian undergrad to get accepted into an American medical school.

No it's not. It is much easier to get accepted in a US med school then a Canadian one. The GPA requirement is much lower and there are generally more spots open. It might be difficult to get into the elite top-tier med school but if you just want to get in, it is generally easier. In Canada I've heard people getting rejected with like 3.85 gpa whereas with that kind of GPA you will definitely get in somewhere in the US.

What I meant is, American medical schools prefer undergrads from American universities.

Yes, I have talked with a cardiologist about this issue before, and he tells me that the average Canadian medschool is better than the average American one, but the top-tier American ones are better than their Canadian counterparts. And no, I don't just want to get in, because the quality of graduate school determines the quality of your training and hence, your skills and patient care abilities.[/b]

[Drew416]

Analysis Mode @ Thu Apr 16, 2009 8:51 pm wrote:

What I meant is, American medical schools prefer undergrads from American universities.

That might be true for State schools but most private schools are pretty open to canadian students. They are only interested in your $s and don't care where you practice.

[Analysis Mode]

I know most state schools won't consider you, period. The large majority of American applications are done need blind, so the fact that they don't care about your $s goes without saying. As for preference, that's what I've heard, from one Canadian person, who is in the faculty of medicine at U of T and studied at an Ivy League university.

[Vermette]

Prabhakar Ragde @ April 16th 2009, 17:01 wrote:

It's easier to get into Berkeley, MIT, and Harvard for a Master's degree than for a PhD, because in the American system one goes directly from a Bachelor's to a PhD. Master's degrees are considered terminal, much less or no financial aid is offered, and usually they are coursework degrees (no research). Oxford grants Master's degrees automatically to their undergraduates after seven years! Their MSc is also a coursework degree. "It is intended as a graduate conversion course both for those who have already been trained and/or employed as programmers, and for graduates of other numerate disciplines who have had less previous exposure to the subject."

If your classmates have ended up in PhD programs at Berkeley, MIT, or Harvard, or a DPhil program at Oxford, I'd be more impressed.

Huh. That explains why when I asked a friend doing graduate studies at Duke if they were just going for their Master's they acted like I just slapped them.

Also, iirc in the German system all undergraduate degrees are given a Master's designation.