<p>Hi all, I am a Biochemistry pre-med major at the University of Toronto. I was just wondering... how much do medical schools care about course load? I have taken 27 credits/year for the past two years (I am going into 3rd year) and next year it's going to be tougher for me to take 30 credits (esp because I will have to go home in the middle of the Spring semester to attend my sister's wedding in Hawaii, and please don't argue on this, it'd be inevitable). Do you think this will affect my chances of admission into medical schools, at all? In Canada, for example, not having a full course load is pretty frowned upon. What do American schools say about this? </p>
<p>Any help would be appreciated!!</p>
<p>My old advisor strongly suggested that we never underload and make sure to have at least one semester with an overload. That will be relative to your school, of course.</p>
<p>In general, the rule is that medical schools care about courseload but are not always very good about actually recognizing difficult versus easy courseloads. One of the easiest things for them to look at is number of credit-hours.</p>
<p>bluedevilmike - What would you consider a overload per semester? I’m at like 18.5 hours and i’m not sure if it’s enough.</p>
<p>Noornoor - Sorry, to highjack your thread haha
From what i’ve understood, medical schools seem to only care about your gpa, good mcat scores, extracurricular activities, and that you have their prereq’s completed. Don’t quote me on that, but I thought I might as well try to be productive haha</p>
<p>the short answer is yes, they care about course load, i.e., if you graduate in four years or five with no good reason, except for under-loading every semester. (It calls into question your readiness for the rigors and intensity of a four-year med curriculum.)</p>
<p>One “light” semester will not likely be noticed, however.</p>
<p>BDM is right. Adcomms do look at your course load. (When AMCAS sends out your transcripts, it lists each year of coursework on a separate page.)</p>
<p>Underloading will raise questions in their minds as to whether you have the ability to handle the massive amounts of work required by medical school. </p>
<p>Overload is typically anything higher than 4 full credit courses per semester. (Labs are counted as part of a class, not separately.) Different schools counts credits differently.</p>
<p>An anecdote, my DD was doing sports and has an LD so she choose to underload, she took the minimum units to be full time, it was either 12 or 13, most semesters. She had no issue with interviews. That was a strategic decision to maintain a strong GPA with outside activities. DD did graduate in 4 years, I think under full time and over 4 years would be a different picture.</p>
<p>D1 overloaded and often took 17-18-19 units, sometimes her GPA suffered, that would have really hurt her had she been interested in med school. Not many bonus points are offered for overloading, but lower GPA. I perceive that too many computer screenings go by GPA alone so if the GPA is too low a real person never sees your application.</p>
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<p>Exactly. At my D’s school, a standard load was 5 classes, each three units.</p>
<p>So the correct answer as to what constitutes over or underload is the number of units needed to graduate on time without summer school. If the college requires 120 units to graduate in four years, then a typical semester would be 15 units; for quarter systems of 180 units for graduation, a typical quarter would also be 15 units.</p>
<p>Anything significantly less, such as 12 units, may be noticed.</p>
<p>Here’s my guess as to what medical schools care about:</p>
<p>1) that you fulfill their requirements
2) thst your gpa is at or above “their” computer cut off
3) that you understand the material well enough to get a strong MCAT
4) that you challenge yourself occasionally and don’t always take an easy courseload
5) that you graduate on time (or have a good reason why it’s 5 years)
6) that you are able to maintain a good balance between academics, pre-med expectations and life</p>
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<p>It’ll vary from school to school, but I think bluebayou’s answer is probably on the right track. Ask around your co-students to see.</p>