<p>well one factor is that at Brown labs are not considered separate classes, and also one of the requirements is that you enroll for 8 semesters so even if you took 5 classes every semester you couldn’t graduate in 3 ([Degree</a> Requirements](<a href=“Complete Your Degree | The College | Brown University”>Complete Your Degree | The College | Brown University)) although very recently there was a proposal to allow a 3 year bachelor’s ([Report</a> emphasizes expanded curriculum — Brown Daily Herald](<a href=“http://www.browndailyherald.com/2013/01/28/report-emphasizes-expanded-curriculum/]Report”>Report emphasizes expanded curriculum - The Brown Daily Herald)) so we’ll see what comes of it.</p>
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<p>The ‘credits’ at Kdogs Ss school =/= normal credits; 1 ‘credit’ = a 3 to 4 credit class. [see post #36]</p>
<p>4-5 ‘credits’ are a normal load at this school, not part time. Like I jokingly said earlier, it’s just they way they do business. No interviewers will ask about it, as it all comes out in the AMCAS wash; a couple of us on here had kids in the same school and haven’t had any problems.</p>
<p>^ Did you read my previous post? I did a translation of credit into the real world, and 3 classes is **part time<a href=“or%20at%20best%20the%20min.%20full%20time%20load”>/b</a> no matter where you are and what you want to call it. You had kids at the same school that were only taking 3 classes?! How do you learn anything taking 3 classes a semester??</p>
<p>Why is 4 credits converting to 11 credits? 4 credits at that school is considered a full load.</p>
<p>Son’s undergrad also uses the 1 unit credit for ANY class. Orgo with lab 1 unit, Spanish 1 unit, def eq 1 unit, english, econ all 1 unit no seperate credit for labs…</p>
<p>But on the back of transcript it says all 1 unit classes are transferable as 4 units. So for when he transfered those units into a public univeristy everything transfered in 4 unit increments. Same for AMCAS, 4 semester units per 1 unit class.</p>
<p>Needless to say he transferred in over 200 semester units from his first undergrad, senior year he carried 28 units per semester his classes+senior thesis for 2 semesters. And his senior thesis and jr paper did NOT transfer in for another degree but was used for AMCAS.</p>
<p>Was even more interesting when he transferred in his AP scores he did not use at first undergrad to the in-state public, 78+ semester units…those are what allowed him to complete 2 more degrees in 2 semesters.</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>@texaspg,
very simple. The classes were listed:</p>
<p>Spanish(w/lab) is a 4 credit class
Orgo(at most schools) is 3+1(lab) = 4 credits
Cell bio is 3 credits w/o lab, 4 credits w/lab = 3 credits(since no mention was made of a lab)</p>
<p>4+4+3=11??</p>
<p>In his school he is taking 4 credits. His school says 4 credits considered fulltime. So as far as AMCAS is concerned, it should be fulltime load right?</p>
<p>^ at my school 12 credits is considered “full-time”. I would never consider taking 12 credits. The only people I know taking 12 credits are also working full time or are on academic probation.</p>
<p>As LizzyM has stated (parapharse) “if someone drops under 15 credits/semester, I’d want to know why”.</p>
<p>If you need only 36 credits to graduate and one is averaging 9 per year, what would be the point of taking 10 or 11 per year?</p>
<p>I think the other aspect is what the school says a credit is worth. As Katwittens pointed out, her kid’s school is converting it to 4 semester credits per credit.</p>
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<p>:eek: Are you really asking this question?</p>
<p>I need 120 credits to graduate; I will graduate with around 190. Boy did I waste my time. You’re right. You win. Everyone should do the bare minimum necessary to get by in this world.</p>
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<p>The key is that at Kdog’s school, the 1.5 unit foreign language class is heavier than a typical 4 unit class at other schools. (It is 5-day per week class, not a 4-day per week class.)</p>
<p>For whatever the reason it may be, some school (e.g., Kdog’s S’s) is just proud of pushing their students to take a heavier dose of foreign language classes, even when the student may have had AP 5 in that lanuage at high school. Also, it makes their students to take ALL of core education classes, no matter how many AP 5s the students may have had before college.</p>
<p>Usually, the premeds at Kdog’s S’s school would take 4 units in one semtester, and 5 units in the next semester. (or 4.5 in every semester.) If AMCS or med school will pick on the course load of the students from such a school, almost all premeds will be considered as taking not enough classes in one half of the semesters, if they choose to take 4-5-4-5-4-5-4-5 units for their 8 semesters. (Actually, most comparable schools using the similar credit system only require their students to take 4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4 units for their 8 semesters.)</p>
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For a premed, I would argue that most “averager to above-average” students should not deviate too much from this rule in terms of the number of science prereq classes they should take, especially when their competitors are as fierce as you can find in this world, and some of them even unfairly (IMHO) play the post-bacc game or major in an easier major so that they could devote their time to a single science prereqs each semester.</p>
<p>In DS’s year, one student spent almost all of his waking hours studying orgo, and still managed to get B- and A only. He did get into many top ranked med school in the end. (Columbia nad U. of M., for examples.) KDog once mentioned the class average of one of his S’s science prereq is like 28 out of 100!</p>
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<p>Not buying it. I was being generous by allocating 4 credits. Almost all the lang classes that meet 4 days a week at my school are 3 credits, not 4.</p>
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<p>I am very familiar with the way these schools operate. I remember my discussions at campus visits very well. What you describe above is probably one of the main reasons I am where I am today instead of Duke, WashU or JHU. I did not want to be held back anymore. I had enough of that in high school. :(</p>
<p>Studying long hours does NOT equate to studying hard at all. Byt the time one in college, they should know that. Those who study hard usually get results, those who study long do not always get results.</p>
<p>there is also more to a college education than the number of classes you take</p>
<p>"Everyone should do the bare minimum necessary to get by in this world. "</p>
<p>I dont believe AMCAS cares that you need to do a lot more than what you are required to do for graduation when you attend college. In fact, they only care whether you fulfill the requirements needed for premed. There are people attending medical school after attending college only for 2-3 years.</p>
<p>@texaspg, I have no idea what point you are trying to make. 
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<p>btw, AMCAS is not a sentient being, that would be the adcoms. (like LizzyM)</p>
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<p>Spoken like a true Brown alum. :D</p>
<p>"I have no idea what point you are trying to make. "</p>
<p>I am trying to understand why one would need to do a lot more work than what graduation requirements are at one’s college. I understand you are doing a lot more personally but I dont know many people trying to far exceed what their college mandates. The number of credits in a lot of cases at various schools are being mandated by their majors more than anything else.</p>
<p>plumazul, We could agree to disagree :)</p>
<p>Edit: cross post with plumazul. I may also speek like a parent of a true Ivy alum :)</p>
<p>When you are in a class (e.g., such a “mundane” class like the language class) where you may soon notice that there are nationwide competition winners sitting beside you, or already speak allmost fluently in that language even when they were in their high/middle school, and you hardly have a fighting chance (within a semester’s time to catch up with them), let alone beatiing them, you may agree that being held back is the last thing in your mind.</p>
<p>I do not claim that a public school does not have such a kid who is head and shoulders above all other kids in one particular field because they do have such kids there. It is just that at some top provate schools, the probability that you have such “intimidating” (in terms of their past achievement before they set their foot on campus)" classmates is higher.</p>
<p>I heard that, among half a dozen kids in one of DS’s music classes for music majors (he took it for fun), one kid (some “X study” major whose science prereq grades are actually better than a lot of premeds, and BTW, he can speak 5 languages fluently) had performed at Carnegie Hall twice before college, and another (a math major, a PBK at graduation) has had extensive music video arrangement experience – He is the person who had produced almost all of Sam Tsui’s music video before he took that class. If, say, there are only 5 kids in that class, two of them have had such a good track record and the other two are music majors, it took some guts for a science major premed, who really could not devote as much time as most of them to such a class, to go in and take such a class together with them. But if such a premed did not take such a class, he mighr be regretful that in his whole life, he did not have a chance to take such a class anymore.</p>
<p>The focus of a premed student may not always be centered around the grades of his premed classes or premed ECs. Actually DS once made such a comment in his sophomore year: If he only wants to “do premeds” successfully rather than other non-premed related activities, he could do just as well at his local state university. This is not why he came to his college for. (He even once said he came to his college mostly for his non-class-related activities – it is not that he did his classwork poorly though.)</p>
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<p>Yes, for this school, this is not only considered FT, it is considered normal (ie. 15-16 units) rather than minimal (12 units) as it is balanced out with a 5 credit semester the other half of the year. </p>
<p>In the 3 yrs at this school D1 took from 8.5 to 10 ‘credits’ per year, so it averages out at 9+/yr. As stated by kat in post #45, the school transcript will tell AMCAS how many units each is worth.</p>
<p>Edit: sorry, I missed mcat2s excellent description of how the credit system works at this school.</p>