Pre-Health Program @ Fanshawe

ladylinton1 · Apr 5, 2011

Any time you are trying to get into a Health program you want to come in with the highest grades as possible. The competition is so fierce you don't want anything to weed you out the opportunity. I applied for a Nursing program at a community college in MI, my GPA was 3.65 I was placed on a wait list. I took a few classes over and I have a 3.8 I am praying it is strong enough to get me in. With that being said dont give up on your dreams, try your very best to come in with high grades.. Dont Be discouraged.

cccormier · Apr 5, 2011

Hi there!

My name is Chantal and I completed the Pre-Health Science program at Fanshawe College last year, so I can help you with any questions or concerns you may have (I was where you were once, wondering about low grades and all)!

I believe that for the Pre-Health program, you can apply with U or C level courses (University or College). I, myself, has really bad marks in most of my grade 12 classes, and many final marks were even in the 60's.... so I was worried when I was thinking of applying to the program. I spoke to an academic advisor from the college, and she told me to apply for the "January intake" instead of the September start date because not as many students apply for January, and that would increase my chances of getting in - and it did since I was accepted. I would suggest you apply as well for the January start date.

I also want to tell you that even though some of my grade 12 marks were in the 60's and 70's, my English was very good and my final math mark was a 98% (This was my second time doing math, this mark was from some academic upgrading I had done). So, as long as you have your english and a good math, I think you have a good chance of getting in! :)

I'm SO glad I took the pre-heath program at Fanshawe; it was really helpful and thanks to working hard, I recently got accepted to the MRT program, as well the BScN Nursing at Western. I couldn't have gotten in either program without Pre-Health.

So, don't give up your dream of getting into Pre-Health.. even though you don't have the best grades, you can definitely still get in; I did, and so can you! Upgrading a few courses over the summer and/or fall can help you too. Do what you have to do to increase your chances. You have lots of time - I'm 25 years old.. it took me a while to get to this point, but I'm finally on my way to being a nurse or MRT! :yeah:

Let me know if you have any other questions about Pre-Health or anything related! I'd love to help.

ashrm11 · Apr 5, 2011

Hey Chantal,

Thanks so much for all your advice! I want to take pre-health so I can get into MRT as well! Congratulations by the way, I was at the Fanshawe open house this weekend and saw the numbers of people who get accepted... not so many! My grades range from the mid 60's to low 90's, so it's a tough call! My english mark will definitely be a 70-75 and I'm taking college math when I come back which I believe should be very easy for me considering I've taken U math all through highschool.. If you don't mind me asking, what were your science grades like?

cccormier · Apr 5, 2011

My science grades (Biology, Chem, Physics) were all over the board. My Bio was around 70'ish, Physics was quite horrible at like mid-60's and my chemistry grade 12 was I think high 70's or low 80's. So, none of my sciences were higher than 80... pretty horrible, but I think even though Pre-Health is highly competitive (because thousands of people apply each year), if you look at the *entrance requirements* compared to other programs like nursing or MRT, all they really want is a good English mark, and like my college counselor mentioned, they really like to see a strong Math background. I think that the main reason I got in even though I had mediocre science marks was because I had a stellar Math & English mark. And because I did some upgrading, they saw that when I was in high school (6-7 years ago) I was simply too immature, skipped a lot of class and didn't care about marks. Now that I did some upgrading, I proved to them that I was able to "improve" and do well - I went from a 60 to 98% in grade 12 Math.

Also, once you start Pre-Health, that is when the marks will mater for you to get accepted into MRT (or any other competitive health care program). Pre-Health is tough because there is so much to learn in such a small amount of time. Try to get mostly A's in all courses. I had almost all A's, two A+ and only one B+... it's hard work, but if you work hard, you can totally get in too.

My overall final GPA was 3.95 (out of 4.0). I know someone else who got into MRT and her GPA was 3.8.

I hope this gives you an idea of what is needed for the near future. Let me know if you have any other questions. :)

P.S. I still haven't "accepted" MRT yet (deadline to accept is May 2nd). I always thought I wanted to do MRT, but after taking Pre-Health, I started to think that Nursing was interesting and better for me.

So, I'm still not sure which one to accept... can I ask you why you want to get into MRT?

cccormier · Apr 5, 2011

I just wanted to add that I think they only accept a group of 60 people for MRT, out of like over 1700+ applicants! (I was told) :eek:

It seems like such a small number compared to BScN Nursing for example, who accept 125 students in at each site (Western and Fanshawe) - so a total of 300 students.

I also know a friend of mine who is now on the "waiting list" for MRT and she has a 3.75 GPA. If I decline my offer, she and other students might get in... it's all so nerve racking!!!! :uhoh21:

ashrm11 · Apr 5, 2011

I took a co-op at the imaging department at the hospital, and I found that MRI was pretty interesting. I couldn't see myself doing X-ray or Ultrasound.. it just didn't appeal to me. I want to work with people and healthcare is a really reliable sector to find a job in. I thought about nursing as well.. it could be a possibilty since you get to do so much with it. I guess I'll find that out once I start college, haha.. I'm not even done highschool yet :/

ashrm11 · Apr 5, 2011

PS: i know the number of applicants accepted into the MRT is over 60! from what i saw this weekend i'm almost positive it was a higher number.. it's probably from the change of people applying every year.. don't take my word for it though!

cccormier · Apr 5, 2011

Yeah, it might very well be over 60 accepted. This is just what an other accepted student told me when he got accepted too (for MRT). But I know that it varies year after year because the 3rd year student who was at the open house this past Saturday (I was there too) was showing the place to everyone who walked in, and when I asked her, she said that her class (3 years ago) was only 55 students.

The Medical Radiation Technology is mainly for general X-ray and ultrasound/CT by the way. If you really want to do MRI or Nuclear medicine, you would have to take an extra 1 year certification course (Fanshawe offers it) after completing the program.

ashrm11 · Apr 5, 2011

Yeah, I'm aware of the extra year to complete the MRI program.. Were you at the 10:00 info meeting for pre-health, or the 12:30 one? I'm wondering if I saw you there or talked to you, haha

cccormier · Apr 5, 2011

Oh! Haha, no I wasn't at the Pre-health info meeting at all... I competed the Pre-health program already last year, so I wasn't any of the students you would have spoken to (who are most likely still in Pre-health).

I only went to visit the MRT and Nursing facilities and spoke to an MRT student who told me all of the information. But if you were in the MRT room around noon-ish, I was there talking for a good half hour. :)

ashrm11 · Apr 7, 2011

I do have another question, and I'm not sure if you know about this or not. But when I graduate, i will have completed a "Specialist High-Skills Major" program for healthcare.. it will show up on my transcript. Have you heard anything about Fanshawe taking extra consideration for this?