Thinking about semester averages...

[Deleted]

Hey everyone!

Hope you all are doing well and not too stressed about applications. I want to apply to OVC in 3 years but I think I found a loophole in OVC's academic requirements and now I don't know what to do...

I finished my first year with really good grades and all my prerequisites done (96.3% average). But here's the thing: the way OVC calculates admissions means I can just stop taking a full-course load each semester and none of my future grades will impact my admission... So I have a guaranteed academic average of 96.3% which should be very competitive.

Is this something people do? Does OVC realize this, and if so do they care? I'm worried if I do this but don't get admitted, it will look bad that I did not take a full course load when I apply to jobs or other programs... I would prefer to take a full course load, but 2nd and 3rd year courses are definitely harder and I'm sure they would lower my average...

Any advice would be appreciated!

[guest79]

Your prerequisites must be taken during FT semesters, so it is unlikely those first year marks will be considered by the time you apply, unless you are submitting some of those courses as prereqs. I suppose you could use this strategy once all your prereqs have been completed and you are satisfied with those marks. That's a fantastic average though, I'm sure you'll continue to receive great marks!

[guest79]

Whoops I don't know how I missed that part of your post- ha. Since your prereqs are done, that sounds like a solid strategy! Any way to keep up with the ever-rising average is a good call. As long as you don't get red flagged, marks and the interview are the only thing that matter whatsoever.

[Deleted]

Thanks, I appreciate the words of encouragement! I was surprised but happy to have done so well, but have been really stressed this year about messing it all up...

Good luck to you and see you at OVC maybe

[tilac]

I think as other posts have mentioned, the unique thing here would be that you have the prerequisites done. Most people don't typically have all of the veterinary prerequisites in their first year. I'm not even really sure how you did it, for example, biochem requires CHEM*1050, which in turn requires CHEM*1040 as a prerequisite. This would probably take at least 3 semesters unless you took something early or got AP equivalency. But so long as you have them done you'd be alright to just keep doing reduced semesters. Your situation is just really unique so take advantage, the hard work it took you to get those marks in the first place is definitely not a loophole.
Fingers crossed that your marks aren't just a new normal from having so many online courses!

[--]

Hi, i think the only thing you need to watch out for is under academic requirements: "Complete at least two years (4 semesters) of full time studies of a Bachelor's degree program. Full time is a minimum of five one-semester courses, for example 2.5 credits at the University of Guelph" So once you finish 4 semesters, once you enter third year you could take non full-time courses, which is a strategy that OVC applicants do in fact use. However, this means you can't use your first year semesters, though you could use them as prerequisites.

[Current DVM student]

How did you manage that? Genuinely confused. Most people would not be allowed to take the courses which can be used a prereqs in their first year. Chem being a prereq for Biochem.. intro molecular bio/genetics for MCB and MBG.. math for Stats. Are you sure you have them done? Make sure you check the list on the academic requirements page of OVCs website to be 100% sure.

Assuming you have done all that, YES, that is a very common strategy that DVM students used to get into OVC. As soon as I was done and my average was good I "locked in" and only took two courses for the rest of the semesters preceeding vet school. It's a smart way to do it and how much time has elapsed since your last full time semester is currently irrelevant to admissions. Be 100% certain you are done and then take whatever your heart desires.. just not 2.5 credits worth.

[hopefuldvm]

As mentioned before, you need to have 4 full time semesters done in order to apply, so you would need to take 5 courses in both semesters of second year as well regardless of whether your pre reqs are done or not. So either way, I don't think your semester average for first-year semesters will count.

[Deleted]

Thanks for your input everyone! And yes I had transfer credits which allowed me to take all the prerequisites I need.

It's good to know this is a common strategy! I thought it was a loophole and they might change the rules.

I forgot about the 4 full time semester part... But I think I can get around that as well! As long as I take 2.5 credits, but take the credit/no credit option on at least one course per semester, they will still count as full time semesters but won't count towards my average. Can anyone confirm?

I never thought we would have to be so strategic with our course selection.

[tilac]

Feb 8, 2021 23:49:23 GMT -5 @wadeli said:

I forgot about the 4 full time semester part... But I think I can get around that as well! As long as I take 2.5 credits, but take the credit/no credit option on at least one course per semester, they will still count as full time semesters but won't count towards my average. Can anyone confirm?

I never thought we would have to be so strategic with our course selection.

According to the OVC website "Winter 2020 will be considered one of the last 2 full-time semesters so long as it is a full-time (minimum 2.5 credits or 15 credit hours) acceptable semester and has numerical or alpha grades in a minimum of 1.5 credits or 9 credit hours (e.g. 'pass' grades in a maximum of 1.0 credit or 6 credit hours will be acceptable). Any course(s) presented as a 'pass' grade will be excluded from the calculation of the cumulative admission average." 

There isn't any newer update for Fall 2020, so I assume the rules are still the same. My understanding would be that those 2 semesters would still count, they would just calculate your average with the pass/fail courses excluded (i.e. if you 'pass' one course then your average for that semester would be based on the remaining 4 courses). You can also use this in your favour but based on the 4 full-time semester requirement, it doesn't seem like you'll be able to use your first year as your last 2 semesters. You also better be dead-set on OVC if you start designating courses as passes, because other veterinary colleges, professional schools or post-graduate programs may not be as tolerant.

Best

[Deleted]

From what I understand that exception only applies to Winter 2020, so any other semester without numerical grades for at least 2.5 credits won't be considered for the last 2 full-time semesters. Might have to confirm though.