<p>Alright, so I was thinking about applying for a state college for premed which has scholarships for graduating junior year from high school which pay for premed tuition and other fees, so i would not have to pay anything at all for premed college, which relieves the financial burden on my parents. I was also wondering whether graduating early from high school gives you the ability to settle down at an early age and get a job earlier than those who complete high school in four years. I'm currently a sophomore in high school and i have less than a year to make the decision, and the senior year events are of no importance as i do not have a lot of money to do another year in high school for this reason alone and miss an opportunity to save a lot of money by graduating early.</p>
<p>I also know that doing senior year to do ap classes if taking the premed pathways isn't smart, as med schools do not accept ap credit or accept it with a supplemental. So does taking ap classes senior year (Calculus AB/BC, Physics, Computer Science, English 12, Spanish) save me a lot of money in premed college or is the amount of money saved not even significant?</p>
<p>Na, those are fine but my main questions here is if graduating early enables you to settle down early and get a medical job early (it may seem like a stupid question, but i just want to know if there is any catch) and if taking supplementals with ap credit saves you money over just taking the classes without ap credit</p>
<p>*the state college i want to go to gives a $4000 scholarship for graduating early, this is advantageous but graduating early removes my ability to take ap classes such as computer science, spanish, physics, chemistry, calculus bc, psychology, and english 12. Thats why i want to know if these ap classes can save me any money in premed.</p>
<p>OP, one year isn’t going to make a big difference in the long run. Taking higher level classes (supplementals as you call them) while you are in college makes you a better candidate and provides you a better education. This is the real benefit of taking AP classes. You could also if you choose, graduate early from college since you would have enough credits early, but this is not a good idea for someone seeking to enter a MS. If you can take AP classes in high school, then take them.
You never answered my questions from the other thread. Are you a high stats student? Have you taken the PSAT? There are many ways to save $ in college.</p>
<p>My cumulative gpa is 3.9, as for PSAT ive taken it and haven’t gotten results yet, im taking it officially next year as junior (i believe thats when it counts the most). I havent taken the SAT yet, ill be taking it in january. I still have to register for the ACT. I do a lot of ECs and volunteer at a hospital in the summer, if that would help in saving money for college. </p>
<p>So you’re basically saying to take the AP classes and do the extra year in high school and forget the $4000 early graduation scholarship? Does non science based classes like AP Spanish, Calculus BC, English, and Psychology save any money?</p>
<p>And also how much of a nominal difference does the one year make in the long run. Am I still becoming a doctor and beginning to make money/settle down earlier than others? I’m eager to start working early so i can readily support a family once i settle down.</p>
<p>Also why isnt it a good idea to graduate college early to enter a MS?</p>
<p>Sorry for all the questions</p>
<p>The trend in med school admissions is towards accepting older applicants who are more mature and have “real world/real life” experience so they can better relate with their patients. (The current average age of a MS1 is 26+ and the median is 24+. At some schools, it’s higher than that.) </p>
<p>Younger applicants (under 21) have real problems being seen as “mature” and “serious” enough to undertake a medical education and may get passed over for interviews. (No interviews=no acceptances. And your chance of getting accepted drops with each application cycle you go thru. You want to have a great application package and get accepted your first time.)</p>
<p>Those non-science classes may help fulfill any GE requirements your college has. (BTW, at most med schools in west and south Spanish fluency is huge plus. So the AP Spanish, provided you keep up your language skills, will help you later.) And you do know that starting in 2015, the MCAT will have a whole new section dealing just with social sciences–specifically sociology, psychology and ethics so you might not want to dismiss psych quite so cavalierly. And Calc BC may allow you skip any calc in college. (You’ll still need stats, though.)</p>
<p>In the long run a $4000 scholarship is pretty meaningless when looking at the total cost of a medical education. </p>
<p>BTW, med students start families all the time in med school. (But, in order to do that, first you need to find a life partner. I’m assuming you don’t have one…so that’s another thing you might miss out on in your mad rush toward the goal.)</p>
<p>Whether you’ll be able to “settle down” earlier than others depends upon so many things, it’s entirely impossible to predict. It depends on your specialty, whether you decide to pursue a fellowship, what kind of practice you want, how willing you are to relocate, how much debt you have, whether you choose to pursue medical volunteerism…</p>
<p>So do most people apply for med school when they are 21 or are there other things they do after completing premed? And also does the one year make that much of a difference, if i graduated early i would be in my fourth year premed at age 20, would i be frowned upon by med school admissions?</p>
<p>Also what if i did teach for america after premed once i graduated early from high school, would i be at an advantage over students who graduated normally?</p>
<p>TFA is a wonderful program. (So is the Peace Corps and Americorps.) All of them may give a [slight] boost against other med school applicants. But there are no guarantees. All three of these programs require a minimum of a 2 year commitment.</p>
<p>What those program demonstrate is commitment to public service–which is something med schools look for in applicants; however, participating in those programs alone isn’t enough and they aren’t a sure-fire way to get your application pushed ahead of someone else’s.</p>
<p>Assuming you make it thru the auto-screening done in the first round of cuts, med school adcoms really look at the whole package. You not only need to have the stats, but you also need excellent writing and speaking skills so you can articulate why you want to be a doctor. You need excellent interviewing skills since in the end it all comes down to connecting with your interviewer. (Interview makes or breaks you…) You need to have outside interests and passions for things other than medicine/science since med schools want fully rounded human beings, not merely technical adept idjits. It’s been reported over and over anecdotally here and other places that during interviews, almost no one gets asked about their science research or their coursework; they get asked about their hobbies, their non-medicine volunteer activities, what they do in their free time. (Think about it, med schools can fill their seat 10 times over with fully qualified candidates so why should they pick someone who’s uni-dimensional. After all they’re going to be working/interacting with this person for at least the next 4 years. They want them to be interesting. And interesting is exactly the word that every med student I’ve heard from has used to describe their classmates–they’re all interesting people.)</p>
<p>BTW, be aware that TFA is increasingly competitive to get into and that only about 1/3 of applicants are accepted.</p>
<p>Another thing people do after graduation but before med school is full time lab research. (Lab tech/lab assistant/lab manager) Public health, medical advocacy, health education all are things you can do after college.</p>
<p>(OTOH, D1 and her MS interviewer, a trauma surgeon, had a very long discussion about how being a waitperson is very much like the being an ER surgeon/doctor. Many of the same personal, people and organizational skills are required in both jobs. Another long time poster here and current med student/resident has also said the same thing. So maybe a year or two waiting tables would be relevant.)</p>
<p>So how much of a better candidate are you if you take higher level classes in college, assuming that you took a bunch of APs in high school enabling you to do this? And ive also heard that higher level classes are often irrelevant to the MCATs and can lower your MCAT scores, is this true?</p>
<p>Adcoms want to see you challenge yourself. If you can take upper level coursework and don’t–you’re going to have to explain why. (And it’s not necessarily just upper level science coursework. If you major in a social science or humanity, you’ll need to demonstrate rigor thru challenging upper level coursework in those fields too.)</p>
<p>Adcoms aren’t looking for people who do ‘the minimum’. They want individuals who have demonstrated they can work at a high level.</p>
<p>Higher level classes may or may help on your MCAT. It depends on you and on the particular classes you take. Too many variables involved to generalize. I know some people have reported that they felt certain upper level bio courses were helpful with the MCAT. But the topic is open for debate and relies on highly individualized experiences and perspectives.</p>
<p>I’ve never heard of higher level coursework “lowering” anyone’s MCAT score (since, IMO only, upper level coursework is largely de-coupled from the MCAT); lowering their GPA, yes.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. Do you think all med schools are equal in terms of admission? For example, i plan to apply in-state to a college which gives provisional admissions into its medical school. So does the < 21 age not being good to apply to med school still apply?</p>
<p>You need to contact your state medical school and ask. Every school has its own policies.</p>