<p>Hey guys, </p>
<p>If I finish a lot of my major reqs early, and take 8 credits each of my 4 last semesters (including adv bio courses and such), is this looked down upon by med schools? It would help because it would let me focus on the more advanced classes, but what do med schools think? </p>
<p>Thanks
poppa</p>
<p>What's normal at your school? What's the threshold for part-time status?</p>
<p>Full time = 12 credits at my school</p>
<p>Your honest opinion, BDM?</p>
<p>Hm. My first instinct is to say that this will be a major, major problem. I'm not sure what I would think if you used the extra time to hold down a major, major extracurricular, however. I'm not sure what I'd think of it then.</p>
<p>It does not sound like that's what you're planning on doing, however, so I guess the point's moot. The scenario as described is absolutely a huge problem.</p>
<p>Thanks for the quick response, BDM. Just wanted to gauge opinions; now I know not to do that. Thanks</p>
<p>Major problem. Major red flag.</p>
<p>Can you just graduate early?</p>
<p>I have recent come to think that this, too, is a bad thing. (I never used to think so, but I have since changed my mind.)</p>
<p>I'm just wondering, but when it comes to application time, is there a way for adcoms to find out the norm number of credit hours at a certain school? If an interviewer asks you about why you took 8 credit hours and you respond by saying that it was the norm at your school, then how is the interviewer going to believe it? What if the norm at the your school was actually greater than 8?</p>
<p>For one thing, if you're in part-time status, that will be obvious. For another, the admissions committee has almost certainly seen several other students from your school. Third, your premed advising committee (if you have one) will almost certainly make a note of this. Fourth, you can usually tell just by looking at the transcript officially.</p>
<p>8 credits= approx. 2 courses. I think adcoms can figure out you weren't a full-time student, especially if you have 4 of them in a row.</p>
<p>
[quote]
For one thing, if you're in part-time status, that will be obvious. For another, the admissions committee has almost certainly seen several other students from your school. Third, your premed advising committee (if you have one) will almost certainly make a note of this. Fourth, you can usually tell just by looking at the transcript officially.
[/quote]
But I've seen instances at some schools where credit hours that obviously look like part time status are in fact full time. It's also possible that you're the first one at your school applying at the school. Also, not every school has a premed committee. And what if you can't tell by looking at the transcript whether someone took part time or full time. Then should the interviewer just trust what the applicant says?</p>
<p>If the credit hours are assigned strangely, I think adcoms will just go by courses. You should be taking 4-5 courses per semester. An occasional 3 course semester is okay but obviously if your transcript is full of 3-course semesters, adcoms will be able to tell.</p>
<p>Just look at the sample premed schedules in the above post. Now if someone comes along with 2 courses per semester for 4 straight semesters, wouldn't they stand out immediately?</p>
<p>
[quote]
An occasional 3 course semester is okay but obviously if your transcript is full of 3-course semesters, adcoms will be able to tell.
[/quote]
How often is "occasional"? Below is my schedule. Should I be worried? (My school is a tri-semester btw)</p>
<p>1st Semester Freshman - 14 hours:
Intro Chem I
Intro Bio I
Intro Physics I
Linguistic Analysis</p>
<h2>GPA: 2.9 - I didn't study at all and wasn't motivated. :( I wasn't even interested in medicine then.</h2>
<p>2nd Semester Freshman - 9 hours:
Human Bio
Intro to Linguistics
Archaeology-Human Origins</p>
<h2>GPA: 3.7</h2>
<p>3rd Semester Freshman - 9 hours:
Gen Chem II
Orgo I
Intro Stats</p>
<h2>GPA: 3.8</h2>
<p>1st Semester Sophomore - 11 hours:
Genetics
Gen Chem II Lab
Calc I
Biochem I</p>
<h2>GPA: 3.4</h2>
<p>2nd Semester Sophomore - 16 hours (Present):
Inorgo I
Orgo II
Orgo II Lab
Calc II
Biochem II
Critical Thinking</p>
<h2>GPA: expecting 3.7-4.0</h2>
<p>3rd Semester Sophomore (Future):
History of Philosophy
(only taking one course because I'm going to do undergrad research this summer)</p>
<p>As you can see, up to last semester, I've been taking less than 15. This is not because I couldn't handle it, but because 1) at my school a minimum of 9 was need to be considered full-time, 2) I knew nothing wrong with doing this until the end of last semester, 3) I was going to graduate in time anyway even if I took 9-12 per semester so again I never knew taking less than normal was going to hurt me, and 4) I wanted to have a relaxing life.</p>
<p>Now that I realized it's bad to take less than a normal load, I've decided to take at least 15 from this point on.
But even if I start taking at least 15 from now on, get only 4.0's, and at the end of my undergrad career end up having a 3.7+ overall science and non-science GPA, I'm worried if adcoms will take off points for my course loads in first four semesters. Will I be fine? I wish I could go back to freshman and start over again by taking only 15 or more! :(</p>
<p>You might need to start taking more than 15. Think about it, if you have 2 yrs of low units, then you need two years of high units to make up. Just like if you have a 3.0 the first 2yrs, you need a 4.0 the last 2yrs to have a gpa near the median gpa of med-school matriculants. I took 13units once. So in order to make up for it, I took 19 the next quarter. The year before, I took 16. So the quarter after that, I took 21.</p>
<p>Then will I be fine if I take 18-21 from now on until I graduate and only get 4.0's? But I remember bdm once saying that course load is not something that you can just "make up" for and that Duke advisor said never to take less than 15 even once.</p>
<p>I'm not getting any response. Does it mean my situation is that bad?</p>
<p>Is there a reason why I don't get any response, or does no one actually know the answer to my situation?</p>
<p>You do have a few low course loads in there. Don't overdo it with the heavy courseloads but I would definitely suggest 16+ credits from now on. How much damage those early semesters will do, it's hard to tell. If you end up with a high GPA, a Rhodes Scholarship, and a 43 MCAT, no one will give a crap. If you end up like your typical 3.5/30 applicant, then that might be one of those things that keep you out of med school</p>
<p>Don't forget about DO schools.</p>