<p>I am thinking of a career in either medicine or computer engineering. I am enrolled in one course, ECO 2023 Microeconomics, for Summer A. If I decide to take this class, will I have to take at least a 4 credit course load every summer to be a competitive applicant for either medical school or graduate school for engineering? Also, should I sign up for more credits in the summer to be a competitive applicant? I have just finished my first full year at UF.</p>
<p>Med schools don’t care much for summer classes, especially not the pre reqs. They want to see u take the pre reqs over a full semeste and rather devote your summers to volunteering</p>
<p>Thanks for the information. I really appreciate it. I would prefer to take the pre reqs over a full semester, but I decided to take this class because of the rule that states that students must take 9 credits over the summer. Once again, thanks for your help.</p>
<p>Don’t listen to the person saying med schools “don’t care much for summer classes” and they would rather see you volunteer over summer. What a lie.</p>
<p>Med schools do NOT care when you take your classes. The most important thing is that you take your prereqs at the university, so that they factor into your college GPA. At the end of the day, you academics are put into a calculator. It’s your grades, not when you took the class, that makes you competitive. Volunteering over the summer? You should be involved in your community at all times…</p>
<p>Damn, the UF career resource center and Pre-Health/Bio advisor are complete idiots, right? Lmao smh. Why don’t you live a little more, and research before you go around “correcting” people ;)</p>
<p>Edit: when I said volunteer over summer, it meant do something you can not normally do during the year like volunteer over seas, get an internship in another state, join a government research program, medical shadowing in another country…etc.</p>
<p>Also, med schoold DO look at when you take the course as well as how vigorous your schedule was. If I cared more about your opinion I’d find the articles backing this up, but I don’t really feel like writing a bibliography so look it up yourself. I don’t see where you get off coming on here with your non sense, not to mention you must not be pre-med or a doctor with that nasty attitude.</p>
<p>I’m a pre-health student at UF, and I’ve never heard that before either… almost all of the pre-med students I know at UF end up having to take some summer classes, usually orgo 1 and 2 before junior year. It works out better so you can get physics 1 and 2 done junior year and some other classes required for your major, and then a lot of people take biochemistry the fall of their senior year (which is a huge pain of a class). If you had to take summer classes and they weren’t med school prerequisite, I don’t see why that would be a problem, either. Plus, I think that taking orgo 1 summer A and orgo 2 summer B is plenty vigorous, you’d be completing the classes in 12 weeks - two 6 week sessions…</p>
<p>But to answer your question, you don’t have to take summer classes every summer. It doesn’t matter, nor does it make you more competitive. It’s done to stay on track, or get back on track, typically. A lot of people with minors, double majors, pre-health students and people who want to graduate early do it often… and people who fall behind or change their major. Some people do it because they don’t want to go back to their parents house for the summer and prefer staying in Gainesville, especially if they have a job or friends staying for the summer. Nothing wrong with summer classes, but I wouldn’t say it makes you more competitive, either.</p>
<p>^ I agree with you.</p>
<p>and I am sure you are aware that med schools like seeing you double up your sciences, as in take more than one pre req the same semester. Also, in the words of the Pre Health Advisor herself “you should take between 15-17 credits per semester”(I was suprised when I heard that). This is because med schools want to see your capacity of handling various science courses as well as credits at the same time. If you can take 15+ over the summer the SAME semester (either A, B OR C), then do it, but don’t take just one pre req at a time or a few credits at a time. </p>
<p>Here’s a quote from a pre-med FAQ forum…</p>
<p>“Admissions committees want to see that you’re able to take a substantial course load and get good grades notwithstanding. But when students take summer school, it’s often with the intent to take one or two classes to complement a part-time summer job, internship, or tanning schedule. Although I don’t think doing this once will doom your application, doing it more than once indicates to admissions committees that whether you intended it or not, your pre-med course load was not nearly as demanding as it was for other students in your application cycle. If you want to play it safe but you absolutely need to take a pre-med course over the summer, sign-up for a full schedule of classes.”</p>
<p>Right on Peridot! Although I will be coming in as a junior for this Fall, I intend to get immersed in the community as much as possible and as much internships over the summer as well. Medical schools wants for their future students to be able to handle large load of coursework since med school itself is demanding as hell. Unfortunately I’m coming in from a community college with Bio 1&2, Chem 1&2, and Calc 1&2 done. Ouch. In addition to that I basically skipped over sophomore year due to my ap courses from high school. Plus not being involve in anything for this first year of college. It’s gonna hurt my chances I know and I’m intending to catch up to the track for my bio major by taking Organic and Physics at the same time for junior year. Is that suicide or is that able to be done if I strap myself down for the workload and stress?</p>
<p>Thanks Biblio,
I’m actually thinking of taking Orgo 2 and Physics 1 + labs in the Spring, hopefully it’s challenging yet doable.</p>