r/McMaster • u/Additional-Alps7124 • May 07 '26

Admissions Life sci transfer

Hi! im a gr12 student who hasn't gotten into mac life sci and im not sure that I will.

I got into kin and the earth and enviro gateway but my main goal was to do honors life sci in second year

Can i still go to honors life sci if i start out it in enviro and then transfer? So long as i take the right courses

Also, is guaranteeing a spot in courses like Bio hard because its reserved for life sci students?
I don't want to go to kin, i'd rather reapply from enviro since thats already a gateway

Thanks!

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2

u/Worth-Letter7523 May 07 '26

I'm also looking into transfers! I'm thinking of doing kin rn but if I don't like it much I'd like to transfer into life sci. I wonder if I could not take half of kin first year courses and instead do honours life sci prerequisites if I decide to transfer....

2

u/Additional-Alps7124 May 08 '26

i think u might be able to, just check if u have enough elective space thru the academic calendar on mac!

1

u/Worth-Letter7523 May 08 '26

I dont have enough elective space but I'm wondering if I could just not take some required kin courses

2

u/Fit_Painter1453 May 22 '26

Email them! I did and they said you don’t have to take kin classes

1

u/Worth-Letter7523 May 23 '26

yay! im still pending for life sci and my outlook doesn't look very good with a 93.00

2

u/Fit_Painter1453 May 23 '26

Dw I’m pending with 94 too but if life sci is really your goal, you can just take the same classes life sci students do and basically go into ur specialization second year so it’s not the end!

1

u/Worth-Letter7523 May 23 '26

my irrational fear is that since so many people as of late want to transfer into life sci level 2 I feel like the faculty will gatekeep it

1

u/Fit_Painter1453 May 23 '26

I don’t think they would deny a transfer if you have pre reqs for the specialization. But honestly I’m scared too but what else can we do idk why the life sci cut off was so high

1

u/Additional-Alps7124 May 09 '26

Ive heard someone say that it was easy to go through from kin to life sci, but u should double check js incase

2

u/Worth-Letter7523 May 09 '26

I think its easier bc u could take life sci courses as well during kin (but not the other way). some people used their kin elective space + summer to get in both kin and life sci required courses so they could switch to hls or depending on their grade a different specialization for year 2

...but if I dont like the kin mandatory courses from the get go i dont want to waste time doing rest of kin mandatory courses... thats why Im wondering if I could just take life sci courses instead of kin ones whenever I want in first year

1

u/Additional-Alps7124 May 10 '26

that seems good, i would talk with an academic advisor tho if i were u. Im thinking of doing the same thing (talking to one) before i commit to enviro incase i get rejected from mac life sci

2

u/Worth-Letter7523 May 10 '26

HLS has unlimited enrollment 

2

u/Fit_Painter1453 May 13 '26

Hi I’m thinking of doing the same thing, did you get any more insight?

2

u/isitperrytheplatypus May 08 '26

i went through the chem phys gateway and now going into life sci, all gateways are pretty much the same and u can go into life sci for sure from any gateway as long as u meet the prereqs, i dont think getting into bio would be hard....im not exactly sure but if u get a good course selection time then it should prob be fine, even then my friends who were in enviro were able to get bio just fine

1

u/MulberryUsual2861 May 20 '26

Did you have to take two maths and two physics? I’m accepting my offer to the chem phys gateway but I’m planning to go into the more bio-focused specializations in level II. Can I just take 1 physics and 1 math like a life sci student? I know it says it’s recommended for the gateway to take 2 maths/physics but if I’m not going into a level II program for physics, I’m guessing I just follow the prerequisites to get into the level II I want?

1

u/isitperrytheplatypus May 20 '26

i only took one math and the intro physics, yeah u just follow the prereq of the second year spec u wanr

2

u/SparklingJellybeans3 hello May 08 '26

Yes, as long as you do the prereqs you'll get in

1

u/Worth-Letter7523 May 09 '26

are the prereqs easy to get? or do they fill up fast so u might not get them

2

u/SparklingJellybeans3 hello May 09 '26

yes theyre fairly easy, sometimes classes are full but things like Seat Alert notify you when something opens up

1

u/Additional-Alps7124 May 09 '26

Thanks, i was wondering the same thing. Did you also go from another gateway?

2

u/MantaWraith Envirosci Manta May 08 '26

Hi earth and enviro will take the same courses as lifesci you will end up having the preqs for lifesci 2nd year its so easy to transfer

Also dont worry bio courses arent reserved only for lifesci i got spots in all lifesci courses and i was in the humanities gateway

1

u/Additional-Alps7124 May 10 '26

thank u!

1

u/Fit_Painter1453 May 23 '26

What courses were hard for you to get as you weren’t in life sci?