Graduating in 3 years.. Does it lower chance of being accepted into medical school?

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
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<p>Hey, I am planning to enroll in 8 year combined bs/md program this fall. After orientation, I realized that since I have some AP credits, I can finish undergraduate courses in 3 years, with summer schools and extra courses during school year. Then, I could proceed into 4 years of medical school. I asked my advisor about this plan, and she told me there have been few people who have done this in the past.</p>

<p>Nonetheless, my original plan was to finish undergradtes in 4 years and transfer to different graduate school, under the circumstance that my gpa and MCAT scores are high. However, for a personal issue, I must take at 2 years off after graduate school, and I want to make up that time by graduating earlier than others.</p>

<p>So, here is my main concern: Is it disadvantageous for a 3 years-graduate to get accepted into medical school, given that the person has well qualified GPA and MCAT score (Personally, I never heard of anyone who is attending med school with 3 years of under graduate)? Also, how difficult would it be to maintain or achieve good GPA and MCAT score in 3 years?</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

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<p>EDIT: Ignore the previously posted link. It's not a very useful thread.</p>

<p>The problem is that you're applying with only two years worth of coursework instead of three, meaning that schools have 50% less academic information about you than they have about anybody else. A gap year solves this problem, of course -- no need to pay all four years of tuition.</p>

<p>Second, remember that medical schools do not accept AP Credit, so you cannot "shave" time there.</p>

<p>Third, summers should be spent on extracurriculars. Intensive courseloads interfere with more important activities -- such as research or clinical exposure.</p>

<p>Fourth, remember that interrupting your clinical training -- taking time between your fourth year of medical school and the beginning of your residency -- is a bad idea. So if you could possibly take that time between undergrad and med school instead, that would be better.</p>