Clarification: Acceptable Semesters

[stormy]

Hello,

I am trying to determine something that I do not want to get confused about. In the guidelines, it says 3/5 courses must be at the 3rd or 4th year level. Does this mean that, in my FOURTH year, I can take 3 classes at level three and 2 classes at a first year level, and this is an acceptable semester? Or does this mean that in my third year, I must take at least 3 3rd year courses per semester and in fourth year, I must take at least 3 fourth year courses per semester?

Thanks to anyone who can clear this up. I just want to know if I need take 3 courses corresponding to my academic level, or if in third and fourth year, both levels are interchangeable.

[Joel]

Hi Stormy,
To better word it, I understand that 60% of your courseload must be 3rd year or higher if you are in 3rd or 4th year.

[vmurthy]

Joel's got it. 3rd and 4th yr courses are interchangeable. As long as you are in 3rd yr or later, 60% of your courses must be 3rd OR 4th yr courses. The remainder can be any course

[priscillayu]

I am in fourth year and if my 2nd semester of my fourth year has 3 second level courses, then would they only count 2nd semester of 3rd year and 1st semester of 4th year and disregard my 2nd semester of 4th year? (This is for applying for 2014 cycle). Thanks!

[dreizehn]

According to the OVC admissions page section "Important Regulations Regarding Acceptable Courses" (www.ovc.uoguelph.ca/future/dvm/admissions/academic/#Important):

"For students in science programs with more than 10 credits, 60% percent of credits in each full-time semester must be taken at a 3000 level (third year level) or above. However, 40% of the credits in a full-time semester may be taken at the level of the applicant’s choice." (all emphasis mine)

Assuming you would be taking a standard 5 course semester, if you take three 2nd-year courses then only the remaining 40% of your courses (2/5) that semester would be at third-year or higher, so this semester would not meet admission's requirements. Hence, following this line of reasoning, this semester and all its courses would be deemed unacceptable by admissions and "ignored" with respect to your application. As such, admissions would take the previous two acceptable semesters (as you said: the second semester of third-year and the first semester of fourth-year, assuming they have met all of admission's requirements)

So, simple answer: I would say, yes, your line of reasoning is correct.

As always though, it is best to have written confirmation from admissions just to make sure everything goes according to plan in the future, so I would suggest contacting Deanna Lundmark ([e-mail]) just to confirm and get this official for your file.

[guest13]

I know that the courses you take should be at your year level but does anyone know if it is okay to take a third year course in second year? The reason I ask is because there is a third year biochem course only offered in second semester at my university that I'd like to use as a prerequisite course. Would this still be an acceptable semester? I'm taking four 2nd year courses and the 3rd year biochem. I already faxed in my course approvals but it would help me sleep better until I get a response if someone could share their experience with this!

[dreizehn]

I'm assuming this post by "guest13" and the one just a few minutes later by "seb" ("3rd year course in 2nd year?", fvc.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=courses&action=display&thread=6453) are duplicates since they appear almost the exact same, so I'm just going to put my answer once, over in that thread.

[westieowner]

I will be in my 4th year of a non-Guelph university this September. I may probably take a full year thesis/project course(2 semesters) for graduation. If so, I can only get a grade report for 4 courses in the 1st semester and a grade report for 4 courses + 1 full year course in the 2nd semester. In this case, am I not eligible to use the 1st semester's grades (4 courses only) to apply for the 2013-14 OVC? Instead, do I use the grades of my 3rd year (2nd semester + 1st semester) to apply for the 2013-14 OVC? Thanks.

[lowenger]

You can use the 4 courses in the fall semester for prerequisites BUT not for the GPA of the last 2 semesters. They would use the fall 2012 and winter 2013 semester GPA.

[guest12323212]

Will 2/5 courses in second/first year give you a disadvantage at all in the eyes of the admissions committee? or is it more along the lines that if you follow the 60/40 rule they only look at grades rather then the courses?

Thanks

[Guest6]

I got an interview this year and I had 2 first year courses so I don't think it matters.

[oncovet]

All they care about is grades, they don't look at the names of the courses. If you have completed them in the manner they prefer and with all of the rules and regulations you are not at any disadvantage for taking first/second year courses in 3rd or 4th year.

[notfromguelph]

I just wanted to make sure I understood how taking full-year courses impacted the calculation of your admissions average:
- All in all, if there aren't 5 marks for 5 courses at the end of that semester, it is not a "full-time semester". Thus, that semester's average is ineligible as part of your 2 most recently completed "full-time semesters".
-However, if you're going to 5 classes for that semester (some of which may be full-year courses), you're still taking a full course load, so any pre-reqs in that semester will still be considered.

The admissions page seems to equate the terms "full-time semester" and "full course load" so I'm a little bit confused... If what I understand from above is true, then I wish this had been clearer so I could have planned my courses accordingly.

A full-time semester (full course load) is minimum 2.50 credits at the University of Guelph. This is typically five courses at 0.50 credits each per semester.

[dreizehn]

I think you have the interpretation as a whole correct, but are just getting a little hung up on the wording:

Jul 4, 2013 16:37:54 GMT -5 @notfromguelph said:

- All in all, if there aren't 5 marks for 5 courses at the end of that semester, it is not a "full-time semester". Thus, that semester's average is ineligible as part of your 2 most recently completed "full-time semesters".

I'd say you're correct in that it's NOT eligible for the "last two acceptable full-time semesters" requirement, simply because at the time of application you will only have
4 of 5 final grades, so it would be impossible to assess completely and fairly for this requirement itself. HOWEVER, it IS still a full-time semester, with a full course load, as you are meeting the course weight requirements (2.50 credits). As you said, "the admissions page seems to equate the terms 'full-time semester' and 'full course load';" I'd say this is precisely because a "full-time semester" is one that has a "full course load," regardless of whether it is acceptable for inclusion in the aforementioned requirement.

Jul 4, 2013 16:37:54 GMT -5 @notfromguelph said:

-However, if you're going to 5 classes for that semester (some of which may be full-year courses), you're still taking a full course load, so any pre-reqs in that semester will still be considered.

Correct.

---

Here's a summary I wrote in an earlier post about full-year courses:

Sept 12, 2012 17:56:46 GMT -5 dreizehn said:

If the full-year course will NOT be completed by the admissions deadline for final grades (December 31, as of the date of this post):

The course itself can NOT be submitted for anything related to grades (i.e., neither the "prerequisites" nor "last 2 full-time semesters" requirements). In addition, the semester as a whole in which the course is taken will NOT be used for the "last 2 full-time semesters" requirement; the two previous eligible semesters will be used instead.

HOWEVER...

The course DOES still count in course weighting (i.e., for maintaining a full-time course load). Thus, if so desired, for the "prerequisites" requirement one can submit the grades for the other courses in that semester (provided they will have final grades by the deadline). From the admissions web site:

A course that runs the full year will have the credit weight divided equally and half applied to each of the two semesters [in which] the course is taken.

If the full-year course WILL be completed by the admissions deadline for final grades (December 31, as of the date of this post)(e.g., the course may have been taken in an earlier year):

The course can be used in the same manner as any other, single-semester course (i.e., as a prerequisite, in a semester for the "last 2 full-time semesters" average, and for weighting requirements)

As always, if you have any questions or concerns regarding the acceptability of courses or semesters you are planning to submit, Deanna Lundmark is the official contact for approvals.

[wutwut]

Hey! Does anyone have any insight about taking a single non-degree semester? Most importantly, can it count towards your admissions average (assuming it meets all the criteria)? At my school, I'd be a part-time student if I only took the 1 semester. I would be a full-time student if I took more courses over 2 semesters. Does that influence whether this single non-degree semester is a "full-time" semester or not? Thanks!

[dreizehn]

Jul 30, 2013 15:15:06 GMT -5 @wutwut said:

Hey! Does anyone have any insight about taking a single non-degree semester? Most importantly, can it count towards your admissions average (assuming it meets all the criteria)? At my school, I'd be a part-time student if I only took the 1 semester. I would be a full-time student if I took more courses over 2 semesters. Does that influence whether this single non-degree semester is a "full-time" semester or not? Thanks!

Personally, I would think a non-degree semester could most definitely be used for OVC admissions' purposes, or at least don't see any clearly defined reason why it couldn't, so long as, as you have said, all the requirements as outlined on the admission's academic requirements web page are met. Furthermore, and as always for external students, you would have to get it approved by Deanna Lundmark, preferably ahead of time to avoid nasty surprises in the future (especially since if you take some courses you are counting on using and the semester is later deemed unacceptable, you would be unable to submit those courses, and couldn't even retake them in a future semester to submit for admissions' purposes).

As for the whole "your school considering you a part-time student" bit: as you're already aware, OVC/UofG admissions has their own criteria for what qualifies as an acceptable semester and what qualifies as full-time studies for the purposes of OVC admissions, so I really don't think it matters at all what your external school considers it (e.g., some schools/programs only require 2.0 credits (i.e., usually four courses per semester) to be considered a full time student, while OVC admissions requires 2.5 credits (i.e., usually five courses per semester)). Hence, whether your own external school would consider you full-time or part-time I think is irrelevant as to whether or not your semester would be acceptable for the purposes of OVC/UofG admissions.

Bottom line though: get the official word from Deanna Lundmark.

[Guest1232123]

How doe OVC average the last two full time semesters if one is overloaded (greater then 2.5 credits)? Would one semester count more then the other or are they both still equal? Still five courses per semester one is just weighted 0.75 credits.

Eg one semester is 2.75 and another is 2.5 credits

Thanks

[lowenger]

If the semesters are deemed appropriate they are equal

[Guest6574857584]

Does anyone know if you fail a course in a semester, can you still use other courses in that semester for the 8 required courses? Or is it not considered a full time semester even though you were registered for full time.

Thanks

[dreizehn]

Sept 2, 2013 6:20:15 GMT -5 @Guest6574857584 said:

Does anyone know if you fail a course in a semester, can you still use other courses in that semester for the 8 required courses? Or is it not considered a full time semester even though you were registered for full time.

Thanks

If you haven't done so already, contact Ms. Lundmark for the official word. Even if someone has gone though a similar situation, each student has a unique academic history and set of circumstances, so their past experience may or may not apply to your case.

Logically it would seem like you should still be able to use the other courses since you still carried a full-time course load (and I assume all other regulations were met), but just happened to fail one of the courses. However, my attempt at logic in an earlier post today didn't prove true, so you should probably just ignore that and stick with contacting Ms. Lundmark...