8 years down to 6 or 7 years

<p>From reading thoroughly through this board and through old threads, i am starting to like rice/baylor and case's 8 year program. But, i did read somewhere by BestBuy that i can complete those programs in 7 years if i decide to graduate early. is that possible and could i do it in even 6 years if possible for case or rice/baylor? thanks!</p>

<p>bumppppppppp</p>

<p>Rice/Baylor is an 8 year program, and you must sign a contract stating that you will stay 8 years. Basically, the reasoning behind this is that they want people who are going to take advantage of every opportunity as undergrads (you know, play a sport, study abroad, do research, double major, take random electives, learn a language, play an instrument, write for the newspaper, volunteer, etc.). So they DON'T want people just taking the bare bones pre-med stuff and then rushing over to Baylor to become a doctor ASAP.</p>

<p>HOWEVER, in some rare cases, students come in with tons of AP credit or are just very driven and really do take advantage of everything and are really ready to move on after 3 or 3 and 1/2 years. In this case, BCM occassionally will allow them to graduate early. I've heard that it is easier to spend 3.5 years at rice, so that you come to bcm at the same time you would have anyway, but I know at least 2 girls who are rice/baylor and graduated from rice in 3 years. This is NOT encouraged, but it is possible. Definitely 6 years is NOT allowed at all. </p>

<p>But don't rush. You only get 4 years of undergrad, and you'll have like 40 to be an MD. Take a long hard look at whether or not it's worth it to make that balance 3:41.</p>

<p>Just like jenskate said, students are strongly discouraged from graduating from the rice/baylor program in three years - if you do, you must also take the MCATs (although the score will not really count for anything). You may, however, graduate in three years, take a year off to do something, and then enter medical school without penalty (I believe).</p>

<p>i dont see a point to graduating early. i say stay in an enjoy the whole undergrad experience man! enjoy life!</p>

<p>What a few people do (me and my roommate, in particular), is b/c we came in with so much credit, we can easily finish Rice in 2 years. So, the tentative, vague plan is to graduate in 3 years, and work somewhere, or do research (possibly even at Rice) for a year, and then go to Baylor. There's is next to no chance that you will be allowed into Baylor a year early - they really, really, really hate that. The reason I wanted to graduate early is both to save $$, and so that I don't waste a year by taking courses I'm not really interested in, and simply floating around. I can have the same experiences (the same friends, parties, sports, etc etc) by sticking around Rice to do research for the first year.</p>

<p>i guess that makes sense. did you place out of alot of ap classes?</p>

<p>yeah. about 50 hrs worth (i'm an academic junior, now, hehe).</p>

<p>thats kinda my dilemma. I dont know if i should place out of my ap credits when i go to rice next fall. they say medschools dont like it? whats your opinion on that?</p>

<p>do it, there's really no reason not to...med schools don't care at all, and it's not worth taking the same intro courses over again. Placing out gave me ridiculous amounts of course freedom and choices, that I wouldn't have had if I'd had to take intro courses this year.</p>

<p>so far i have US history, biology, chemestry, and english and i will have more this year when i take them in may. but is it a good idea to place out of general chem and physics if they are the required courses for medschool? would I be prepared for the subsequent courses?</p>

<p>it depends on how you view your high school courses. If you find them very rigorous, then you will probably be prepared for whats next. But if you're breezing thru them, it might be a warning sign that you should retake the courses in undergrad.</p>

<p>well you know. It was hard for me to keep the 94 in US history AP, my teacher was really hard. I thought that chemistry AP was really easy, but its not because the teacher was bad its just that science is my strenghth. the same thing applies to biology. I am definitely going to place out of english and history because i have no interest in persuing those fields. I am just undecided on bio and chem. what do you think I should do? i got a 790 in chem sat2 and a 780 on the bio. I think i will decide depending if i get into rice/baylor. If i need to take the mcat, i will take bio and chem in college probably.</p>

<p>the thing is, if you get a 4 or 5 on the AP test, you are sufficiently prepared for the college level material. I can't speak for everyone, but I'm doing fine in the next level courses. Med schools don't care...trust me. I know they are premed requirements - as long as you get them done, they don't care that you have used AP credit for it. It's definitely worth it to place out. However, I don't recommend taking all advanced courses freshman year - it's just to give you some space to take an interesting, non-science related course.</p>

<p>I got all fours and fives and i am an ap scholar with honors, i was just worried about that maybe ap chem wouldnt give me a strong enough base for example...lets see...organic chemistry at RICE? i just dont want to go in expecting to know all this things that the introductory class covered. you think the AP curriculum covers everything. when you went into orgo did you know everything that you were expected to know since the beginning? I plan to be a biochemestry major.</p>

<p>I'm a bioch major, and I'm taking orgo this year (as a frosh). You use very little, if any of your AP chemistry curriculum in orgo. I also placed out of intro biology, and I haven't had any problems with that, either. If you got a 4 or 5, there is an excellent chance that you'll do well in a higher level class at Rice.</p>

<p>thats good to hear. because people had been telling me not to place out so i was getting a little hesistant</p>