In her firstyear, Sarah Chapman, HealthSci ’24, muted her program’s group chat after receiving over 1,000 messages per day about schoolwork and assignments. In some cases, her peers were discussing assignments with due dates months in the future.
In September, 370 freshly minted Bachelor of Health Sciences (BHSc) students will come to Queen’s for their first year of undergrad. Five years since its inception, the cohort all have high school averages over 90 per cent and impressive cocurricular records.
For Chapman, the first week of first year was nerve-wracking. When she started in 2020, students arrived for the first day of classes having completed assignments posted to OnQ. Since then, the faculty has closed OnQ courses until classes officially begin.
Health Sciences students have a reputation on campus as being heavily involved in academics and extracurriculars—and for many students, the stereotype isn’t baseless.
Chapman herself is a varsity women’s water polo player, President of Queen’s Save the Mothers chapter, a member of Queen’s Friends of Doctors Without Borders chapter and Queen’s University Children’s Health Association, all while conducting research and working part-time at a local coffee shop.
Between extracurriculars, work, and school, Chapman had 80 hours of commitments per week, which she recognized as being unsustainable.
“I think the idea that Health Sciences students are able to do it all and be involved in everything does sometimes get some people into situations in which they do feel overwhelmed, but it’s so normalized to be that busy and overwhelmed,” Chapman said in an interview with The Journal.
To capture students’ personal development through extracurricular activities, Jennifer Carpenter, lead for the BHSc global health and population track, is piloting the Advocacy, Allyship, and Community Engagement (AACE) port in her class of over 100 students.
The AACE port is intended to help students reflect on how they’re giving back to their community. The port was created in part to help students focus on the value they’re adding in one or two clubs without overcommitting.
“[Health Sciences students overcommitting themselves] actually did in a way inform the creation of the AACE port program,” Carpenter said in an interview with The Journal.
In interviews, students in the BHSc program unanimously reported they, and most of their peers, were applying to professional or Master’s programs. Applications for law school and medical school in Ontario have 32 spaces for students to list their extracurricular activities.
“If I were on an issions committee, I would want to hear what you learned from a few [extracurricular activities] rather than seeing you have a list of 20 things,” Carpenter said.
Andrew Dam , HealthSci ’24, had to go straight from volunteering to class and then to his clarinet rehearsals, sacrificing sleep and home cooked meals in the process. He didn’t expect for this to be his lifestyle.
“I think being in HealthSci surrounded by all these people who are doing so many things outside of school, they have a lot on their resume, and you sort of feel the need to be doing these things,” Dam said in an interview with The Journal.
The BHSc program is built on a flipped classroom model, where students work through course content individually and class time is dedicated to discussions, presentations, and applications of what they learned. The model allows students to build their own schedule, factoring in their extracurricular activities.
Genuinely interested in his extracurriculars, Dam leverages the flipped model to squeeze as much as he can into his day, but still struggles with feeling like he’s not doing enough compared to his peers.
“I feel the need to be doing more, even though I physically probably can’t do more,” Dam said.
The program has built a reputation as being competitive and difficult to get into. With almost 6,000 applications, spots are in high demand, Michael Adams, associate dean, undergraduate studies (life sciences, biochemistry, BHSc), said.
Adams s medical and other professional schools changing their issions processes to omit first year marks so a 17- and 18-year-old can live a life and make a mistake or two before it impacts their career decisions.
s are consistently monitoring BHSc students’ academic performance, and across both their core and elective classes, they achieve high marks Adams said. In grade distributions of 17 mandatory classes for students, all showed over a third achieved an A plus grade.
“It means that if you bring in high quality students they do extremely well in other courses,” Adams said.
For Adams, the program is meant to students in finding their ion, not feed them into a specific professional school. Students in BHSc are highly qualified and motivated, he said, and he hopes the structure pushes them to achieve to their fullest potential, while learning the life lessons which come along with attending university.
In second and third year, Calder Bryson, HealthSci ’24, heard of peers in clubs, so she got involved with student government; if someone was doing two clubs, she did three. Heart set on law school, Bryson still felt the pressure of competing with her peers despite avoiding the drama of medical school applications.
“I think we attract a certain type of person, a certain type of mindset. You’re competitive and driven and smart, and so you put all these people together, it’s basically lighting a fuse,” Bryson said in an interview with The Journal.
The program taught Bryson professional skills, and the science and humanity dimensions of health, while working hard in both academic and extracurricular spheres. Bryson resented the reputation other students associated with Health Sciences students. Other students had the impression she wasn’t interested in social activities because she was in Health Sciences.
“I don’t want someone to have this idea that I’m a shut-in and all I care about is school. I don’t think that’s a very Queen’s-forward mindset at all,” Bryson said. “Part of the reason I chose the school is because of the balance of academics, extracurriculars, and social activities.”
Health Sciences Society (HSS) President Sara Pollanen said students have been overstretched and report feeling imposter syndrome. The program is unique because so many students are heavily involved, she said. To alleviate stress, Pollanen and her team have planned socials to bring students together.
This year, the HSS planned a formal, plant potting night, bracelet making, around-theworld potluck, and an art gallery night.
“[The Art Gallery event] allowed students to simply show their artistic talents and converse with other artists in our program. We hope by initiating such events it would help bridge connections in our BHSc community,” she said in a statement to The Journal.
More opportunities to come together in a social, non-academic setting is key for building a better culture in BHSc, Mariane Ratsimor, HealthSci ’24, said in an interview with The Journal. As a member of the COVID-19 cohort, she developed a sense of community with her peers over time, leaning on one another to get through the transition to in-person school.
Choosing between grades, extracurricular activities, and sleep, Ratsimor found herself leaving sleep for later. She said the “pre-med toxicity” is worse amongst the lower years of the program.
As Queen’s its larger cohorts, students’ sense of community could be reduced. Collaboration in classes can be a source of conflict for students, needing other ways to connect.
Chapman, Dam, Bryson, and Ratismor all told The Journal spending more time with BHSc students in social settings without performance expectations is important. They’ve been able to find their communities despite the program’s competitive culture, not because of it.
“Having [more] opportunities to sit next to one another and see this is a peer, not a competitor,” Ratismor said.
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