<p>Next year I will be a sophomore bioengineering student and one of the required classes is organic chemistry 1. I want to take this class over the summer, so that I will have a freer schedule to do something else, like volunteering. I'm not worried about not being able to handle the doing all that work over the summer, but I am wondering what med schools will think about it. I want to take it at a four-year university in my hometown, instead of the university I regularly go to.
Is this a good or bad idea? How will this be looked at by the med school admissions people?
I know some people have done this, and have gotten into med school, but my advisor is not so sure.
Thanks!</p>
<p>I’d say it’s ultimately kind of neutral, as long as you get an A, do well on the MCAT BS section and take ochem at the same school. Schools are sometimes a bit leery of summer courses because they run through things so quickly and may skip things but if you do well on the MCAT and in ochem 2, that should show that no such thing occurred. Now, taking ochem at another school is probably the red flag I see here. That’s most likely going to be seen as trying to avoid a weeder class at your school (and ochem is definitely a well-known weeder just about everywhere). It’s also generally not a smart idea to take ochem 1 at one school and ochem 2 at another, which taking it over the summer would imply unless you’re taking it in 2 6-week block semesters or something, which sounds like hell to me and I’d bet most other people who’ve taken ochem!</p>
<p>With the economic situation of the country (and the world, for that matter), medical school admissions officers are acutely aware that some students may need to take summer courses at community colleges or universities other than those from which they plan to graduate. If your regular university were in the same town (or within a reasonable distance from your home), then there would be some more serious red flags. </p>
<p>That being said, as long as you are not taking the summer course to ensure a better grade, which I don’t even think could be ensured given the quick pace, then you need not worry what medical schools will think about your taking orgo over the summer. You clearly have a legitimate reason–to free up your schedule during the rest of the school year–so I would not think twice about it.</p>
<p>Well, that was my reasoning, but how would they know why I took the class over the summer? What if they just assumed the worst and thought I was taking it as an easy way out, like apumic said?</p>
<p>Just one or two pre-req courses over the summer won’t kill you, especially if you take the other during the year and perform equally well. Couldn’t you take other, none pre-req classes and free up your schedule too?</p>
<p>That’s a good point, I didn’t think of that, since I will take orgo 2 during the spring. I can’t take any other classes over the summer, though. They are all engineering classes that are specific to my school’s curriculum.</p>
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<p>I’d be REALLY surprised, unless your essay shows that you HAVE to work full nearly time to attend college and/or provide for the extended family back home. Adcoms aren’t that prescient. Taking a course over the summer to lighten the regular load for ECs is NOT the way to impress professional schools.</p>
<p>My brother-in-law’s father was on the admissions committee at a highly ranked medical school, and a very close family friend currently serves on another. They have both told me several times that admissions officers DO NOT assume the worst. If you don’t give them a chance to think you were taking the easy way out, then how on earth are they going to ever think that? I was equally worried about taking bio over the summer and the message it might send, even though I took it at the same 4-year university from which I graduated. In the end they explained that as long as the most logical explanation (harkening to Occam’s Razor) is one you would want the admissions committee to believe then there is nothing to worry about.</p>
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What difference does it make if you take a full course load during the school year and volunteer in the summer or take some summer courses and volunteer during the school year if, in the end, you receive the same credit and same volunteer/clinical experience? Unless you have substantiated evidence that professional schools look unfavorably on people taking summer classes in order to become more involved in ECs, I really don’t think I will be convinced. Moreover, I personally think increased involvement in ECs, even if accompanied by a lighter workload, shows greater dimensions and depth of character for a potential applicant.</p>
<p>I heard that it is not a good idea to take any of Med. School pre-regs in a summer. Other than that, check with your pre-med advisor.</p>
<p>food for thought:</p>
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<p>Source: top 50 college website.</p>
<p>Getting a foreign language requirement or humanities requirement out of the way is ok. It is not a good idea to take pre med requirements during the summer, especially Orgo which is a known weed out class. My guess is that they would view it as trying to avoid a class you already know is difficult rather than seeing it as helping you “balance your scheduling load.”</p>
<p>Med school admission is incredibly competitive; why do ANYTHING that could knowingly reduce your chances for admission. In other words, if an admissions board is looking at two applicants that on paper are virtually identical but one (you) has taken Orgo over the summer, why give them a reason to wonder why you did that?</p>
<p>You’ll never know why you were not admitted and will beat yourself up for taking the summer class wondering if that was the deal breaker. Why risk it?</p>
<p>Use the summer for shadowing or research both will do you more good in the long run.</p>
<p>OK, so would you say that taking pre-reqs in the summer is perfectly acceptable if you have strong retention of that information (i.e. no measurable decrease in MCAT scores), AND you get all As in those summer courses? For this hypothetical situation, assume that the courses are taken at a well-respected 4-year university. I’m just curious as to whether there are any situations in which you would find taking pre-reqs in the summer acceptable.</p>
<p>Obviously I agree that grades for pre-reqs completed when the student is taking a full course load serve as strong indicators of his/her ability to handle the medical school curriculum. At the same time, however, I think summer courses can offer insight into one’s ability to quickly absorb large amounts of new and complex information with high retention over the course of several weeks. The curriculum of many medical schools is broken into multi-week blocks of individual or related body systems as well a longitudinal courses (e.g. clinical/interview skills), which together represent two very different types of learning. While I would not advise everyone to take summer courses to fulfill pre-reqs, I have to say that there are certain situations in which I feel summer courses are appropriate–as long as the person can pull strong grades and is not put at a disadvantage when it comes time to take the MCAT. </p>
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Precisely! If you never know why you were not admitted then it’s pointless to guess and worry. Besides, after you’ve taken the summer course and received a grade, there is NOTHING you can do to change that situation. If anything, I’d suggest trying to improve the last variable that can still help you gain admission – the interview. No sense in worrying about or trying to fix something that you can’t change (esp. if you don’t know whether it needs changing in the first place).</p>
<p>I thought that interview is basically checking out personality more than anything else, how you can improve ithe nterview?</p>
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<p>Study abroad is one excellent reason for taking a summer course. Many medium-to-smaller colleges only offer Math/Science 1 in the fall, (and Math/Science 2 in the spring). Thus, taking a semester abroad would mean missing a whole year of required science. (I know of couple of successful med applicants who took physics over the summer, for example, so they could study abroad.)</p>
<p>Another excellent reason might be for a Bio/Chem/Physics major to take an intro course over the summer so s/he could take additional advanced courses in that subject. But in this case, the professional school reviwers will have plenty of science grades to look at during the regular year.</p>
<p>Do they count engineering classes as “science” when looking at math/science grades?</p>
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<p>@MiamiDAP: Interviews with M2 and/or M4 (depends on the school) are usually just to make sure that applicants are real people with interests outside of medicine and that they can socialize with others. While interviews with admissions personnel does inherently involve analysis of an applicant’s personality, they tend to ask questions with answers that can be improved with preparation–akin to a job interview. Questions such as “Why do you want to be a doctor?” and “What is the most pressing issue facing medicine today?” as well as your opinion on controversial topics (e.g. abortion, euthanasia…) are fair game during the interview. Perhaps if you were extremely quick on your feet and can come up with eloquent, sophisticated answers within milliseconds then interview preparation might not be important; for the rest of us (i.e. mere mortals), you can really never have enough interview prep.</p>
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@purplepisces: Since AMCAS determines your BCPM GPA and sends it to schools, I’d say that if on your transcript the course is not listed under a BCPM department then it will NOT be counted toward the math/science GPA.</p>
<p>^ in regard to opinion questions during interview, isn’t it true that you can have any opinion as long as you are able to support it. The fact is if you twig your opinion to desired answer, it will be evident to good interviewer that you are not true. Isn’t the most important to remain yourself, never try to show that you are somewhat different from who you actually are.</p>
<p>I’m not saying to develop an answer that they want to hear. As you said, with opinion questions as long as your argument is sound then they will not (or, rather, should not) care on which side of the issue you fall. But a simple one sentence answer to a question of “What is your opinion on embryonic stem cell research?” does not show them what they want: someone with an opinion who can express it in a thoughtful and coherent manner. Perhaps you misread what I said about practicing your interview responses. I never meant to imply applicants should pander to the interviewers personal beliefs or create a fake–albeit well thought out–answer.</p>
<p>I hate ochem!!! :)</p>
<p>hi in 2006 you answered a guys question about taking chemistry classes over the summer to lighten his work load during college school hours. I have a question sort of similar to that.</p>
<p>I am currently in 10th grade (a sophomore in high school) and I have so far in high school taken chemistry and biology. Both of which I did not have very good teachers and barely learned anything. At my school they have classes that you can take during the summer and I want to take a Chemisty class. Im NOT failing chemisty and have a B in it but I just want to take this summer class so that I better understand Chemisty since I want to become a veterinarian. Do you think this would be a good idea?..</p>