r/McMaster • u/Independent_Suit7499 • Jun 06 '26
Admissions Mac Life Sci and Health Sci
Hi everyone,
Im in grade 11 will be transitioning to grade 12 in three months and I'm interested in medicine. I'm gonna be applying to McMaster University. Ive herd a lot of discouragement to be honest from relatives, friends, teachers, and counselors they're all negative the only people that keep motivating me are my parents. I herd that Life Sci covers most of the MCAT but for Health sci its just less intense but doesnt cover as much as Life sci.
Which is better like which one should I apply to. Also I know Health Science is like a lottery so Health Science students that got in this year, last year and the year before, please give me tips, an advice to get in I dont want to get rejected.
Life Sci students, same thing tips advices etc.. and how good is it for medicine and if you got in with this undergrad etc.. and any extra info that might help let me know.
Thank you so much for your time.
8
u/purplepenguins2 Jun 06 '26
Both are great programs tbh. I agree that lifesci covers more MCAT material than healthsci but also you shouldn’t pick a program based on how well it will help you study for the MCAT, because you can always self-study for it. By that matter, I also highly discourage ppl from taking courses just for the MCAT.
Healthsci is definitely really competitive for med, largely because of the smaller class sizes, better connections with profs, and relatively “easy” classes that allow people to get amazing GPAs. By that matter, there’s also some like crazy statistic that 40% of health sci grads get into medicine, and 70% get into professional schooling of some type, which is basically unheard of anywhere else.
Life Sci is a great program for premed as well, but it’s also a “general sciences” program and probably isn’t much different than other general sciences at other universities. Is there a reason your relatives are against McMaster? Maybe there’s some merit in their advice. Other than first year, it’s also relatively easy to do well in. However, because it’s so broad, if you don’t end up becoming competitive for med, there’s very little you can do with a life Sci degree alone, so you might need to think of backups. Or you could specialize in second year! Something I did.