<p>Once again, Jesus, Mary and Joseph. </p>
<p>MiamiDAP: depending on number of major reqs, it’s not that one cannot satisfy major, premed and GE reqs in 3 years, especially with a bag full of AP credits. As a competitive med school app is much more than merely satisfying these reqs, OP asked if he should have any concerns about this idea. On the one hand, you indicated that OP should “go ahead try, see what happen and if you work hard, everything will work, …” Others who like you post regularly on this forum and also tend to offer sage advice to premeds, and others on SDN whose advice to premeds tends to be viewed as gospel (LizzyM, Goro), and even other SDN premeds who went through process, all raised many concerns and suggested waiting the extra year (except if money is an issue). If I am OP, what should I conclude?</p>
<p>Hey guys, sorry if I wasn’t clear in my original posting but I think what I would do is take my MCAT during the summer after my sophomore year and see what I get. If I do score well, would it be too late to apply for that year’s medical cycle. If I scored poorly, I would retake it and probably take a gap year after my 3 years of college and then apply for the next medical cycle. Regarding my original question, I was just wondering whether finishing college in 3 years is a bad thing, regardless of when you apply to medical school.</p>
<p>@kingkumar, I don’t think graduating after 3 years is bad, as long as you are doing everything you should within that time frame. I do think that applying to medical school with only 2 years of transcript is a bad thing and I would never recommend doing such a thing. I’ve known several people who tried this(with really good stats), every one was unsuccessful. You should plan a productive gap year after graduation.</p>
<p>Also, I would never take the MCAT just to “see what I get”. You take the MCAT when you are fairly certain you will get the score you need. You want to take it only once and then move on. </p>
<p>@plumazul Most likely, I don’t think I will apply after 2 years but out of curiosity, the people you knew, why exactly where they unsuccessful if they had decent stats?</p>
<p>Sorry if I came off as a little relaxed when I mentioned the MCAT. I definitely will study hard for it and I plan to take it after my 2nd year and hopefully, I won’t have to retake it. </p>
<p>“If I am OP, what should I conclude?”
-I always have the same stand. Be self-reliant, listen to yourself first, before you listen to others, Everybody is different, only person himself can assess what they can and cannot do based on their privous experiences. My D’s strength has been working hard but living balanced life no matter what. She said that some others around her have a different approach. She did not listen too much even to proffessionals. She always sift thru all information/advices, she left behind anything that would not match her own criteria. I do not know how you can go wrong with this approach. Our advise here should not be taken as a gospel at all. We do not know anybody personally. We just share our personal experiences and of course, they are different. If they were the same, then why we post, we should let only one person speak and the rest of us just say “YES”. Do you think that if everybody agree, then it is more productive discussion? I blieve that this is more like brainstorming than the solid advise. More like showing what different people went thru. I also do not see any point in arguing who is right or wrong, we are ALL right, because each approach has worked…with different people and circumstances. Also, there is not much difference in their ability either, they are pretty much “equalised” by their acceptance to Med. School, so there is no reason to point to that either. </p>
<p>There are MDs as young as 17-18 years old. So, if op is in that group, you can do any thing you wanted. But for an “average” md candidate, it is not advisable to take Mcat or apply for med school in the second year of their college. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Sorry but Doogie Howser doesn’t exist. A 17 year old is not eligible for medical licensure in the US. </p>
<p>There are tiny handful of 20 and younger medical students admitted every year. (Fewer than 1% of all matriculants annually)</p>
<p>See: <a href=“https://www.aamc.org/download/321468/data/2012factstable6.pdf”>https://www.aamc.org/download/321468/data/2012factstable6.pdf</a></p>
<p>Ambati Balamurali Krishna born in 1977, became a md when he was 17</p>
<p>OK, I was wrong, Doogie exists; however every state I’ve looked at so far, plus the DEA, require the applicant to be “of legal age” (i.e. at least 18) in order to be eligible for a license.</p>
<p>Krishna may have graduated from med school at 17 and been granted his MD, but he could not have received a medical or prescribing license at age 17. (Both are typically required to start any internship.)</p>
<p>OP does not care if 17 y o MD’s exist or not, however, it is entertaining to know. Frankly, I would not go to a 17 y o MD, I am just too old for that, but maybe some 20 y o nice looking opposite gender patient will be interested. So, 17 y o MD might actually be a very successful cerving certian patient population, go for it!!!</p>
<p>@MiamiDAP, :-? @-) [-X </p>
<p>@WayOutWestMom,
</p>
<p>There’s two in my program (out of 18). That’s > 10%! I hope this is a trend. :-bd </p>
<p>OK, I never thought about age, who cares? However, thinking back, my D. was accepted into accelerated bs/md, she had chosen non-accelerated bs/md. So, while she will graduate from Med. School at 25, she would have graduated at 23 if she had chosen accelerated bs/md. This accelerated bs/md (NEOMED) has 105 students in the class and they spend 2 years in UG and normal 4 in Med. School. If D. actually had chosen this 6 years program, she would have been 19 entering Med. School. Since this accelrated bs/md programs admit only right out of HS. then ALL participants in this type of programs (several in the country) are entering Med. School at 19 (and they are doing just fine).
Again, while maturity factor is important, maturity is not exactly correlates with age. Of course, a 5 y o is not as mature as a 10 y o. But at the age of 18 - 22, people have beein exposed to very different environments, many seek variety of activities that give them more chances to mature or some family circumstances happen or whatever. So, while level of maturity is of great importance, the age may not reflect the true maturity. And some jsut simply able to raise to an occasion so to speak.<br>
I would not make conclusions based strictly on age.<br>
I do not see what is there for OP to loose? If 3 years will not work out, then it will be a 4th year. What such a big deal, nobody is getting killled here.</p>
<p>Yes, why the rush? </p>
<p>^The only explanation I can think of is another year of UG tuition.</p>
<p>^That would be my reason for 3 years undergrad. I would most likely take a gap year afterwards as I don’t think I could be done with the MCAT and have enough EC’s by the end of my sophomore year.</p>
<p>^ That is the exact reason my D took a 4th year UG. She could graduate in 3 years, but her EC’s and GPA require boosting. We had to pay two more quarters for her makeup, she spent one gap quarter for the MCAT. After the MCAT came out, it is too late for the last cycle, so she took a gap year just to apply. It is quite normal among her classmates, except a few PBK.</p>
<p>As I said before the only reason that D. had 4 years was that her program required then to stay in UG for 4 years. She had to have 2 minors to fill her credits and she was able to do ALL ECs during school year (all long term, several years) and had absolutely free summers (very light volunteering and shadowing that she was able to get into only because of her persistant nature, impossible in our area). Thank goodness, she had a great job on her campus also, could not find any in hometown. But thinking back, now we believe that it all worked to her great advanatage. Summers of sleeping in and spending time with friends is what pre-meds REALLY need, I am glad that D. fully used the opportunities to do just that in her UG summers.</p>
<p>I’ve been on cc for years, mostly as a lurker not a poster. I have a D applying to med school this cycle. MiamiDAP, it is wonderful that things worked so well for your daughter. But most people applying to med school don’t have a 4.0 gpa and a 35 MCAT. If the majority of students don’t do something meaningful with their summers, don’t do significant shadowing and volunteer work, don’t stay in undergrad long enough to put the strongest application out, they will not get into med school. For example, my D took the MCAT 3 times. The first 2 were not good - lets just say the first number was not a 3. The 3rd score was much better. But before she received her 3rd score she was offered 2 II, and I think that is precisely because she made sure everything else on her application was strong. Not trying to disparage anyone’s advice, but the majority of students need to work on all aspects of the application, not just MCAT and gpa…</p>