<p>Hey all</p>
<p>A quick question. Here's my situation - I'm in a guaranteed med program that allows its students to apply out to different medical schools without penalty.</p>
<p>I came in to undergrad with a good amount of AP credit, and I can probably comfortably graduate in 3 years instead of 4.</p>
<p>What emphasis do medical schools place on a four-year undergrad experience? Would it be a determining factor, or would it be a negative?</p>
<p>The problem isn't the early graduation in and of itself, the problem is that you'd be applying with only two years of coursework under your belt, meaning that medical schools are 50% more certain of all the other applicants (undergrad-wise) than they are of you. This puts you at a disadvantage.</p>
<p>A gap year solves all of those problems.</p>
<p>Also, remember -- many medical schools don't accept AP Credit. So you'll still need to take the same amt. of time on premed courses as you would previously.</p>
<p>Thanks for your reply, bluedevilmike</p>
<p>I see what you mean when a medical school will see that I've only had 2 years of college coursework, and you're probably right on that one, but I'll be able to finish all the med school requirements and a bit more by the time I start applying:</p>
<p>Calculus II (AP), Gen Chem/Lab (AP), Organic Chem/Lab, Gen Bio/Lab, Cell Bio, Genetics, Genetics Lab, Physics/Lab (AP), Biochem I, and then a number of upper level psych classes that fulfill social science/etc requirements (Research Psychology, Statistical Methods, etc.). It seems like I'll be only taking science classes, but that's also not the case -- I'm taking polisci next semester and a few history courses, mainly because I want to...</p>
<p>Does that change anything?</p>
<p>1.) It would certainly be much worse if you hadn't taken your premed coursework beforehand.</p>
<p>2.) Unfortunately for you, my answer was given already assuming that this was what you were doing. So while it's better this way than the other way, we've already been talking about this way throughout.</p>
<p>The problem is that the rest of your coursework is still important -- not least because it would almost certainly include at least a LITTLE bit of extra science coursework, which would be more advanced and crucial to getting a better picture of your scholastic ability.</p>