<p>I just did the 22-23 overnight stay at Chicago and had an awesome time. I'm a little worried about finances, so I've been looking at ways to cut costs.</p>
<p>I have 8 quarters worth of AP credit already (6 elective, 2 calculus), and I might get one more quarter this year (physics). So, I was wondering how doable it is to graduate in 3 years. Theoretically, based on the number of needed credits, it seems possible. I wanted to know how practically possible it is, though.</p>
<p>And I am also curious about the pre-professional option of getting all of your core requirements and half of your major requirements in 3 years, and then going on to med school (and some others, but I attended the pre-med sessions where this was mentioned) for your fourth year at the college. How doable is this option? And does it also extend to graduate (rather than medical) school, especially those in the Biological Sciences? Is this a highly competitive option?</p>
<p>It is a difficult option but it is certainly doable. This route is not very common in the natural sciences because it has quite a few requirements. The medical school route that you mentioned is a highly competitive process. I believe only one student was accepted in the past two years.</p>
<p>You may graduate in three years and go on to top graduate schools if, and only if (iff ;)), you have research experiences under your belt. After all, that is what graduate school is about.</p>
<p>Research is actually my main concern. Of all the schools that I’m deciding between, though, Chicago definitely has the best undergraduate opportunities. That’s a major draw to me.</p>
<p>Can you do the preprofessional option with a grad school, though? It seems like I heard it mentioned in one of the sessions, but I’m not entirely sure it’s possible.</p>
<p>There are a number of BA/MA programs, of various competitiveness and difficulty of completion. I have never heard of someone being accepted into a PhD program that began concurrently with finishing a BA. I suppose that it’s possible somewhere, but I don’t think it would happen at Chicago.</p>
<p>Well, they have a pre-professional program where you do exactly that. That’s why I’m asking if you can enter a grad school rather than, say, a medical school.</p>
<p>Taking 4 courses a quarter combined with the AP credit, one could graduate in 3 years without taking summer courses. S1 could have graduated in three years, but ended up taking a year off in the middle to travel and work a little, went back, changed his major, slowed down and is now going to graduate in 4 academic years plus one summer quarter (he needs one more course for his new major), and 5 years from starting. He said that there were just too many great courses to take, why hurry? (Of course “he” is not paying the bill.)</p>
<p>I found a research position in my first week here, and this research position ultimately led to a summer fellowship. It’s as easy as emailing professors. You do not have to take classes during the summer, but be prepared to hit the ground running.</p>