Wavering between a few scenarios, really need advice

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
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<p>First of all I hope I posted in the right forum. A bit of a background to my situation: I'm currently in my first-year of undergrad and in order to earn my degree I need to complete 120 credits (so that averages at 15 credits per semester over 4 years; each course is about 3 credits with a few exceptions). During high-school I completed the International Baccalaureate program and received 20 transfer credits as a result which leaves me with only 100 credits left to complete in order to receive my bachelor of science degree.</p>

<p>So now I have a few different scenarios running through my mind of how I should plan out the rest of my university experience. I should note that I do plan to attend med school (hence why I'm posting in this forum) and the scenario I follow through with should be the one which is best for a person with these kinds of prospects. </p>

<p>I have one scenario where I would complete my degree in 3.5 years (since I would complete 120 credits by the end of my first semester of my 4th year of studies) where I would take about 12 credits/semester of required science courses for my major and 3 credits/semester of an elective.</p>

<p>I have another scenario where I would complete my degree in 3 years and this would be achieved only if I take some summer school courses for this summer. I still have 2 more of the universal science freshman courses at my university (calculus II and physics II for 7 credits in total; physics II is one of those exceptions I mentioned about... it is a 4 credit course) which I did not receive transfer credit for and I would take those during summer school. I would still take 12 credits/semester of required science courses for my major and 3 credits/semester of an elective for the next 2 years. As for the 3 lingering credits, I would take another elective squeeze those in one of the remaining semesters (to have one semester of 6 elective credits instead of 3; the semester would be the only one with 18 credits in total).
Would taking those courses during the summer be looked down on by medical schools? Is this too ambitious?</p>

<p>My final scenario is one where I would simply spread everything out over 4 full years. This would mean I would go over my 120 credit mark which means I'll just be taking extra credit. Basically I would have my required science courses for my major spread out even more as there would be a mix of some semesters with 12 credits/semester and 9 credits/semester of those. The remaining courses would be electives of course. I do not plan on taking anything less than a normal, full course load of 15 credits/semester at my university.</p>

<p>So now the big question, which do I follow through with? This has been a real load of unnecessary stress on my holiday as I'm finalizing my course selection for next semester and whatever courses I choose now will reflect how I will go about completing my degree so this is really important. I know there's a great deal of numbers up there but I tried to make it as clear as possible. Any advice would be greatly appreciated and please feel free to include anything you feel is relevant. So many things are going through my mind right now. Thank you very much in advanced.</p>

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<p>I would graduate in 3.5 years, personally. The only reason to graduate a full year early is if you want to take a gap year between college and med school. You don’t get extra points for graduating a year early. And I don’t know why you would spend all that extra money on credits you don’t need to graduate, but that’s your decision.</p>

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<p>1) You should never go below full time status. EVER. There are often implications for scholarships, grants/loans, and other items like being covered by your parents’ health insurance.</p>

<p>2) Graduating in three years, without taking a gap year before medical school is disastrous. Applying with only two full years of college means you are going in with 50% less coursework than your competition, less time accumulated in research activities, campus involvement, volunteering, and the associated experiences and leadership positions that go along with them. Simply put, no matter how great your application will be after two years, it’ll always be better after three.</p>

<p>3) If you go to a school where you pay by credit hour, then perhaps you look earning extra credits as a waste of money. Likewise if you go to a school that charges a flat tuition rate per semester, you may question why you’d want to go to a school for the extra time. However don’t discount the unique environment that college represents. This is the last time in your life where you’ll be expected to do nothing more than learn, in classes that you choose. (They expect you to learn in med school, but there’s not very much choice in the matter). If you can financially handle going the full four years, at or above full-time status, I highly suggest that you do. Take classes in things you’ve never explored. Take a painting class or history of jazz or scuba diving. You may also consider study abroad. There’s something to be said for being a well rounded individual or developing new passions and interests.</p>

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<p>Thank you so much guys for your responses I have things to consider now that I would’ve never thought of. And Bigredmed you make some very interesting points that have definitely helped me in completely ruling out graduating in 3 years. I was never comfortable with the idea but now I have much more reason to not be. I’m leaning more towards graduating in 4 years but I won’t rule out 3.5 for another year or so when it’s too late I just need to see how things work out in university. I don’t think I view earning extra credit as a waste of time personally but I just needed to see some other perspectives on whether or not it was.</p>