Do med schools care about courseload?

[tastybeef]

For my first four semesters, I've consistently taken around 13 units of graded courses and around 4 units of pass/no pass classes each semester. These pass/no pass classes are only offered as pass/no pass. They include seminars, undergraduate research, and some field work in education.

Last semester, I only took 11 units of graded courses. This semester, I plan to take only 10.

How do med schools evaluate this?
Also, will those pass/no pass classes impact my GPA? I've heard rumors that some schools count passes as D's.

Thanks in advance.

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[Law2Doc]

For my first four semesters, I've consistently taken around 13 units of graded courses and around 4 units of pass/no pass classes each semester. These pass/no pass classes are only offered as pass/no pass. They include seminars, undergraduate research, and some field work in education.

Last semester, I only took 11 units of graded courses. This semester, I plan to take only 10.

How do med schools evaluate this?
Also, will those pass/no pass classes impact my GPA? I've heard rumors that some schools count passes as D's.

Thanks in advance.

Med schools don't really care about courseload as much as undergrads like to think (assuming you maintain full time status), only the GPA. Nor do they really care about course selection, major or other attempts to show you are taking "hard" courses. Just take what you enjoy (plus the prereqs) at what ever rate allows you to get straight A's.

They don't treat P/F courses as D's but you are advised to use these very very sparingly (I wouldn't do more than 1-2 IMHO). You are probably better off taking fewer classes than using P/F more often.

 

[Superman78]

I think courseload only matters if you're not getting a high GPA with a low courseload. But if you're getting straight A's and taking only 13 units per semester, you're doing a great job and they won't hold it against you. You're being smart and giving yourself time for other activities.

 

[RevivedPreMed]

I would say course load would matter if you were taking 12 credits and did nothing but that. If you are heavily involved in ECs, have a job, etc. then a lighter course load is not really a big deal.

 

[armybound]

it's been my experience in talking with adcom members that taking an extremely light courseload does not sit favorably.

 

[armybound]

I think courseload only matters if you're not getting a high GPA with a low courseload. But if you're getting straight A's and taking only 13 units per semester, you're doing a great job and they won't hold it against you. You're being smart and giving yourself time for other activities.

what does it prove to medical schools, though? that if they watered down their curriculum to about 1/2 what it is now, you'll be successful? how do they know you can handle the ~20+ hour equivalent of medical school?

 

[DrWookie]

I ultimately took five years to graduate college (Well my first was "taking a year off" but I got some prereqs out of the way at the same time...easy stuff like gen chem and calc). So my last two years (this one included) were lighter than most because I was a year ahead in most things (ochem as a freshman, my upper division biochemistry courses as a sophomore and so on). I take about 14 credits a semester (At my school I think 20 is max) which is basically 3 major classes and a couple of small things (orchestra and a lab usually). However, I work about 30-40 hours a week in a lab (and I made that clear on my application).

No one has ever said anything in interviews about my course load.

 

[DrWookie]

what does it prove to medical schools, though? that if they watered down their curriculum to about 1/2 what it is now, you'll be successful? how do they know you can handle the ~20+ hour equivalent of medical school?

I don't think taking a full courseload at an undergraduate institution really tells them if you can handle a med school curriculum either though...a full courseload is really meaningless...it all depends on what is taken and how much time needs to be spent. I don't know about other schools but at mine labs are worth 1 credit (out of like 20 max)...and yet most of the labs I've taken at 5 hours in lab and at least 5 hours out of lab. Compare that to a philosophy course where I'll spend 3 hours in class a week and about 0 hours out of class "reading" and I'll still get an A.

 

[armybound]

I don't think taking a full courseload at an undergraduate institution really tells them if you can handle a med school curriculum either though...a full courseload is really meaningless...it all depends on what is taken and how much time needs to be spent. I don't know about other schools but at mine labs are worth 1 credit (out of like 20 max)...and yet most of the labs I've taken at 5 hours in lab and at least 5 hours out of lab. Compare that to a philosophy course where I'll spend 3 hours in class a week and about 0 hours out of class "reading" and I'll still get an A.

that's why courseload isn't assessed just as number of hours.

 

[DrWookie]

that's why courseload isn't assessed just as number of hours.

How else can they assess it when looking at your transcript without just taking wild guesses? I took a 300 level philosophy course that I spent ZERO time on and got 100% on every exam. I also took a 1 credit lab that required 10+ hours a week on research outside of the classroom...but then Ochem lab was basically 3 hours a week and maybe 1 hour outside of classroom.

With a transcript all they can assess is number of credits...which is rather meaningless.

 

[tastybeef]

The only reason I'm keeping the number of graded units low is that the classes I'm taking are difficult. I'm taking upper div. cell biology, developmental biology, and plant biology.

I was always told that it's better to show them what you can do than show them what you can't do. As such, wouldn't it be better to get a high GPA with a light courseload than get a low GPA with a heavy courseload?

To be a little more clear, with the addition of P/NP units, I've been taking around 15 or 16 so far.

 

[RoyBasch]

Although the gospel on SDN is that it doesn't matter at all, I don't think this is the case. I can tell you n=1 anecdote that when I interviewed at Loyola in Chicago they had us fill out paperwork and they asked a few short essay questions wherein they wanted us to self-evaluate both the difficulty and size of our course load. I doubt they would ask if they didn't care at all. It makes me think that other schools care too.

However, as L2D said, it probably doesn't matter as much as it should, and definitely doesn't matter as much students like us think it should. Med school is about the A's, they don't care that much how you got them or why you didn't.
-Roy

 

[BlitzSleep]

Logically, it makes a difference. Your undergrad years will be the "proof" that you are more likely to be able to handle the material in med school. What are you telling the adcom if you take 10 hours each semester? Plus you need that make it or break it semester/year of insanely hard classes. It's like a rite of passage haha.

 

[armybound]

How else can they assess it when looking at your transcript without just taking wild guesses? I took a 300 level philosophy course that I spent ZERO time on and got 100% on every exam. I also took a 1 credit lab that required 10+ hours a week on research outside of the classroom...but then Ochem lab was basically 3 hours a week and maybe 1 hour outside of classroom.

With a transcript all they can assess is number of credits...which is rather meaningless.

These people are also in the business of education, they can understand course titles and probable content. Some courses are difficult to understand, but 10 hours, 7 of which are basketweaving and yoga are easy to assess. Maybe those are the hardest 3 hours of yoga on the planet, but probably not. They can make certain assumptions.

 

[GoldShadow]

The only reason I'm keeping the number of graded units low is that the classes I'm taking are difficult. I'm taking upper div. cell biology, developmental biology, and plant biology.

This is not an excuse; everybody has their difficult semesters but still have a regular courseload.

Now clearly there is no consensus here, but the couple admissions officers I've heard from said that courseload is important, regardless of what classes you're taking.

 

[BTC]

The two year post-bac is a shining example of how course load doesn't matter one bit.

Take the time to get the best grade you can. If you graduate in five years with a 4.0, it will ALWAYS look better than graduating in 4 years with a 3.6.

 

[BlitzSleep]

The two year post-bac is a shining example of how course load doesn't matter one bit.

Take the time to get the best grade you can. If you graduate in five years with a 4.0, it will ALWAYS look better than graduating in 4 years with a 3.6.

The OP is planning on a schedule that is considered less than full time for a year (or possibly more). Please explain how that's going to look excellent on his app.

 

[Law2Doc]

These people are also in the business of education, they can understand course titles and probable content. Some courses are difficult to understand, but 10 hours, 7 of which are basketweaving and yoga are easy to assess. Maybe those are the hardest 3 hours of yoga on the planet, but probably not. They can make certain assumptions.

They are reviewing 10,000 applications, they aren't going to focus on course titles. They look to GPA and to make sure you took the prereqs. The rest is more about what you're interested in than what they are. If you are an A student they really won't care whether you took that extra Pchem course. Seriously, they won't. You are only taking these hard course for yourself, not med schools. If you want to take basketweaving and yoga guess what, you have no worse a chance of getting into med school as the biochem major.

 

[BTC]

The OP is planning on a schedule that is considered less than full time for a year (or possibly more). Please explain how that's going to look excellent on his app.

The good grades he gets because he has the time to do all the work required will look good on his app.

There are many post-bac courses where students take eight or fewer courses over two years to fulfill their pre-reqs. Students at these schools do fine when applying. They may in fact do better because, in addition to having more time to do the work, they also have more time to develop meaningful extra-curricular experiences.

 

[PeepshowJohnny]

Agree, they're not going to spend much time on this. Unless they look down and see that "Wow, this guy was obviously dogging it" in 0.1 of a second, no one is going to care.

 

[Neuronix]

it's been my experience in talking with adcom members that taking an extremely light courseload does not sit favorably.

I did exactly this. I took the minimum amount of credit hours to stay a full-time student most semesters. Yet I did very well in the admissions game. The only way an adcom would know you had a light courseload is if you took a long time to graduate or someone went out of their way to **** you on an LOR by pointing it out to them.

Otherwise, adcoms don't sit there and count your courses. Courses are arranged differently (time per course, credit hours, etc) at different schools anyways, so it's hard to gauge what is hard versus is what is easy at different schools. You don't have time to do this for that huge stack of apps on your desk, so nobody does. I 100% agree with what L2D has already said on this topic. Could you come up with someone's app who DID take basketweaving level courses all the time outside of their pre-med requirements? Probably. That's also probably 1 in 10,000 or less. Most people have a serious sounding major, and how can an adcom know that ChemE is the hardest thing at your school? Maybe that school's Anthro department is notoriously difficult? They don't know, they can't know, so they don't care in general.

As long as you're full-time at your school and take 4-5 years to graduate, nobody cares. If you go part-time at times but still graduate in a normal amount of time, it's unlikely anyone will notice or care. Also, a P in a P/F course is not counted as a D (where did you hear that?!), but doesn't go into your GPA calculations. Agreed that a 4.0 in 5 years will be much better for you than a 3.6 in 4 years. It's a screwy system, but it's reality. I can't count how many pre-meds were "advised" to take 21 credits as a pre-med in undergrad as "preparation" for medical school and then couldn't hack it. Thank you SDN for being there for me when I was making my own plans.

 

[Excelsius]

Initially they might not, but once you pass the screen, I'm pretty sure they do. There is no other way to explain their discrimination against "fluff" courses.

 

[FormerCorpsman]

I would say it matters. However, I would also say it depends on what school you are attending as well. You need to look at some Pre-Med program rankings. If you school does not fall in these rankings then I would say you need to load up. Say like 14-18 credits a semester. However, if you are at a school like BYU I would say register as a full time student and prepare to hold on tight. Rumor has it that a C at BYU is an A anywhere else crazy huh. It is the most competitive school in the country. Also, they are ranked in the top 5 for pre-med programs according to Texas Health Care systems. So if you are going to a community college or junior college I would load up.

 

[Neuronix]

You need to look at some Pre-Med program rankings. If you school does not fall in these rankings then I would say you need to load up.

By your advice, it's amazing that I managed to get into a top program (and indeed 50% of the places I applied to) coming from such a no name place with the lightest schedule I could manage while still remaining full-time...

Pre-allo, the blind leading the blind.

 

[FormerCorpsman]

Well working with a lot of top notch docs in the military, I was a former Navy Corpsman, this is the advice they gave me. So if you think I am blind, no the the grenade shrapnel missed my eyes thank you.

 

[Neuronix]

Don't listen to them. Get the highest GPA possible while maintaining a light courseload and spend the extra time doing great ECs. You will be an absolute stunner of a candidate this way and get into any program you want if you follow that simple advice.

If there was one piece of poor/inaccurate information going around that I wish I could fix, the crap about courseloads mattering would be the #1 thing. And, #2 would be you need to publish to get into an MD/PhD program (you don't)...

When USNews figures out a way to put courseload/major difficulty/undergrad reputation into their research rankings, this might matter. As it is, it's that GPA and MCAT score that matters and that's just about it, unless you're doing something really, really strange. The ECs are the cherry on top that help you stand out and get you into the biggest name places.

 

[Bacchus]

I will affirm his story, he's not lying.

 

[FormerCorpsman]

So your telling me that if I take full-time student load (12 Credits) and do EC that I will be a good candidate? I am Middle Eastern Studies/Arabic major do you think they will hold that against me? I am going to go out on limb here and put some confidence in you. MD/PhD programs are they good to get into? Tell me what the pros and cons are? Currently I am sitting at a 3.86 GPA overall.

 

[Neuronix]

So your telling me that if I take full-time student load (12 Credits) and do EC that I will be a good candidate? I am Middle Eastern Studies/Arabic major do you think they will hold that against me? I am going to go out on limb here and put some confidence in you.

Sounds good. You are a US citizen or permanent resident right? Obviously you'll need a complete application with MCAT and LORs and essays and good interviews... But really your major and courseload are about the last thing anyone cares about.

MD/PhD programs are they good to get into? Tell me what the pros and cons are? Currently I am sitting at a 3.86 GPA overall.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/forumdisplay.php?f=32

There's plenty of literature about MD/PhD in this forum. I'm happy to answer specific questions, but if you're interested in MD/PhD I think you should read some things first.

That being said, bring your science and research game if you want to do MD/PhD. A 3.86 GPA is fine, but you might wanna think about a dual major in science if you're early enough in undergrad to pull it off. You'll need years of part-time undergrad science research as well.

 

[FormerCorpsman]

I just decided to go into medicine even though I have an extensive background in it through the military. I will be done with my major in the fall. I will try to do the double major. However, if I did a double minor let say in Chemistry and in Microbiology would this suffice. I know I can get into research at my University. The professors are always looking for students to help them.

 

[DarknightX]

They are reviewing 10,000 applications, they aren't going to focus on course titles. They look to GPA and to make sure you took the prereqs. The rest is more about what you're interested in than what they are. If you are an A student they really won't care whether you took that extra Pchem course. Seriously, they won't. You are only taking these hard course for yourself, not med schools. If you want to take basketweaving and yoga guess what, you have no worse a chance of getting into med school as the biochem major.

I agree with this 100%. Courseload doesn't matter. As long as you have finished the prereq's and graduated in a timely manner (5 years or less), then nobody is really going to care that you killed yourself with a bunch of science classes every quarter.

When I was a pre-med, I honestly thought that the admission committee would sit there and look at each class individually. Sorry, but that just doesn't happen. They just take a glance at your AMCAS, which is just one big laundry list of the classes you took, from start to finish. You could seperate them into semester/quarter if you wanted to, but you got a couple thousand applications on the burner, thats just not going to happen. In the end, the average person reviewing your application will just take a quick glance at your classes, and look for any red flags (D's, F's, a bunch of C's or W's, or semesters taken off).

 

[Neuronix]

I just decided to go into medicine even though I have an extensive background in it through the military. I will be done with my major in the fall. I will try to do the double major. However, if I did a double minor let say in Chemistry and in Microbiology would this suffice. I know I can get into research at my University. The professors are always looking for students to help them.

Woah woah hold on there man Make sure you have a genuine interest in science before you going jumping on this bandwagon. A PhD is 4 years of your life and if you don't have some sort of love for research you will definitely hate it. There's a good chance you will grow to hate it even if you don't have a love for research . But seriously, if you ARE interested, get the lab experience, read a lot of material, and really consider whether MD/PhD is for you. The double minor combined with 2+ years of research work would likely suffice, along with mid 30s on the MCAT. A good thing is if you do get lab experience now it will look good for med school and hey, if you're interested it's a good, medically-relevant thing to do with your spare time.

Please don't just do MD/PhD for free medical school tuition. Because you lose 4 years of salary, MD/PhD does not make it financially worth it. If you actually do grow up to do research, you will make less money.

 

[FormerCorpsman]

The Middle Eastern Studies/Arabic major I am in is nothing but research and writing, using Arabic texts to analyze certain eras in the Middle Eastern History. I actually love to research. Thus far my favorite two research papers I have written are on to totally different subject materials. One was on the Smallpox virus and the other the was on the Mongol Invasion of Baghdad in 1258 by Hulegu Khan. This is something I love. I never do anything for the money.

 

[tastybeef]

The OP is planning on a schedule that is considered less than full time for a year (or possibly more). Please explain how that's going to look excellent on his app.

So far, I have been taking courseloads that are above the minimum units. I'm not planning a schedule that is considered less than full time.

The minimum units required for full time at my university is 13. I have been taking around 15 or 16 units every semester so far. My concern is that during my previous semester, I took 11 units of graded units and 4 units of P/NP. The 4 units of P/NP include field work in high school tutoring and biology TA. These units are only offered as P/NP so it's not like I have an option.

My question is ultimately this: will med schools disapprove of the fact that I am taking fewer graded courses (but more difficult) in my last 2 years?

I would say it matters. However, I would also say it depends on what school you are attending as well. You need to look at some Pre-Med program rankings. If you school does not fall in these rankings then I would say you need to load up. Say like 14-18 credits a semester. However, if you are at a school like BYU I would say register as a full time student and prepare to hold on tight. Rumor has it that a C at BYU is an A anywhere else crazy huh. It is the most competitive school in the country. Also, they are ranked in the top 5 for pre-med programs according to Texas Health Care systems. So if you are going to a community college or junior college I would load up.

Where can I find such a ranking? I didn't know there are rankings of premed programs around...

Where does UC Berkeley fall on this ranking?

As long as you're full-time at your school and take 4-5 years to graduate, nobody cares. If you go part-time at times but still graduate in a normal amount of time, it's unlikely anyone will notice or care. Also, a P in a P/F course is not counted as a D (where did you hear that?!), but doesn't go into your GPA calculations. Agreed that a 4.0 in 5 years will be much better for you than a 3.6 in 4 years. It's a screwy system, but it's reality. I can't count how many pre-meds were "advised" to take 21 credits as a pre-med in undergrad as "preparation" for medical school and then couldn't hack it. Thank you SDN for being there for me when I was making my own plans.

Thanks for clearing that up. I heard it from some friends who were talking about graduate school and law school admissions. Apparently, some grad. schools and law schools consider a Pass as a D. Then they asked me if it were true for med schools. I didn't know the answer, but I just assumed so since law schools did.

Thanks for all the responses.

 

[Superman78]

In light of the new information you have given us, you're screwed. No medical school will ever accept you so you should just give up now and either work in Mickey D's or get into porn.

You said you took a course Pass/Fail, well, I'll give you the answer right now - FAIL.

 

[medicalkid2008]

Never take less than the normal course load (don't try to take the easy way out)

However, it doesn't benefit you a ton for MOST medical schools to take an insanely hard course load if it means your grades will be worse

You're better off taking the usual # of credit hours most semesters and consistently getting very good grades.

Lots of schools will see your GPA but don't have the time to undergo an exhaustive review of how many courses you took, how many were upper level, etc.

However, for top schools, the requirements are more stringent: most prefer cell biology and genetics, biochem, etc. And they will look at heavy courseloads favorably. But be sure you're going to do well before you start trying to take lots of extra or grad level classes. You are still best off graduating your courseload from normal--> overloaded slowly: take the normal load and do well in it, and only when you are confident you can handle that, should you go up to larger courseloads.

 

[Lunasly]

Don't listen to them. Get the highest GPA possible while maintaining a light courseload and spend the extra time doing great ECs. You will be an absolute stunner of a candidate this way and get into any program you want if you follow that simple advice.

If there was one piece of poor/inaccurate information going around that I wish I could fix, the crap about courseloads mattering would be the #1 thing. And, #2 would be you need to publish to get into an MD/PhD program (you don't)...

When USNews figures out a way to put courseload/major difficulty/undergrad reputation into their research rankings, this might matter. As it is, it's that GPA and MCAT score that matters and that's just about it, unless you're doing something really, really strange. The ECs are the cherry on top that help you stand out and get you into the biggest name places.

I apologize for bumping an old thread, but I was wondering f anyone else on this forum can give more insight on this. What is considered a normal/light course load? Is a light course load just enough to keep full time status? Ex. Full time status at my university is 9 credits, so would taking 2 credits for one or two semesters cause a lot of harm?

 

[mtbtx]

I apologize for bumping an old thread, but I was wondering f anyone else on this forum can give more insight on this. What is considered a normal/light course load? Is a light course load just enough to keep full time status? Ex. Full time status at my university is 9 credits, so would taking 2 credits for one or two semesters cause a lot of harm?

Just 2 credits? Surely you don't mean one 2 credit class. I agree with the quote you cited. It is much better to take a lighter course load (12-15) and get good grades than take 17 hours and get C's/B's. I took on average just over 14 hours per semester.

 

[Neuronix]

My rule of thumb is you should graduate in 4 years, but 5 is ok in some special cases.

 

[Ignatius M.D.]

Course load and undergraduate institution should matter, but I'd say it depends on the medical school. You cannot tell me that 18 credits at MIT with a 3.4 is equivalent to 12 credits and a 3.7 somewhere else. I would say that most of you are probably right though. Take the largest load you can while maintaining 3.6+ GPA. If this is 12 credits then so be it. You can take summer school to keep up.

 

[Sesom]

Adcoms care but it isn't about taking 13 credit hours or 20 credit hours per semester. Premed is more then just school, it's building your application. This will include volunteering, shadowing, research,_____, _____ (fill in blanks for yourself). I like to think of GPA and MCAT as your admission ticket to be reviewed by a school so baby them. However, what is going to get you the interview or acceptance is most likely going to be what is done outside of college during your free time. This can be volunteering at your local homeless shelter or going on a medical mission. It isn't going to matter if your EC are mundane or spectacular, it is what you got out of the experience. So, in other words, take the amount of credits that are going to allow you to grow as a person the most.

 

[Lunasly]

Adcoms care but it isn't about taking 13 credit hours or 20 credit hours per semester. Premed is more then just school, it's building your application. This will include volunteering, shadowing, research,_____, _____ (fill in blanks for yourself). I like to think of GPA and MCAT as your admission ticket to be reviewed by a school so baby them. However, what is going to get you the interview or acceptance is most likely going to be what is done outside of college during your free time. This can be volunteering at your local homeless shelter or going on a medical mission. It isn't going to matter if your EC are mundane or spectacular, it is what you got out of the experience. So, in other words, take the amount of credits that are going to allow you to grow as a person the most.

All the more reason why I don't want to be taking a large amount of credits per semester. Sorry I did not mean 2 credits a semester in my last post, not sure what I meant lol.

In any case, I was thinking about 3 classes for some semesters. For example, I can take Organic, Cell Bio, and Physiology. Each of these classes is 4 credits, so by the end of the year I can have 24 credits assuming I take 12 credits a semester, but as I posted in another thread, each class is a different amount of credits at each school.

Some universities in Canada look favourably on those who take at least 24 credits a semester. However, that means I can take 3 classes every semester if I wanted because the credit system at my school is different than others. Then again, it is mandatory that we take labs with our classes so even though I would be taking 3 classes (organic, Cell Bio, and physiology for example) I would still be taking 6 classes because labs are 0 credits and are included in the lecture mark.

However at another school a person can take 4/5 classes and that alone equals 12 credits.

 

[surftheiop]

FWIW

In my experience medschools don't care AT ALL about the number of credits your taking. In my case starting in my junior year I took no more than about 13-14 graded credits a semester, including at least 1 obviously "Easy A" class. Also I took Bio I&II in the summer at a state school near where I live so I could change majors and nobody questioned my summer classes at a "less prestigious" place.

My GPA went up from around 3.0 each semester to near 4.0 each semester and all my interviewers were impressed and nobody questioned why I wasn't taking 16 credits of intense classes every semester or why I took bio in summer. ( Got accepted to a top 20ish school, so didnt seem to matter to them either)

 

[Charles_Carmichael]

I honestly don't think adcoms care much about courseload. With that being said, nearly every one of my interviewers was impressed that I was averaging 20 credit hours for the past few years and getting 4.0s. That's the key though: that you continue to do well. Otherwise, it doesn't matter.

 

[organelle67]

I'm gonna presume everything that was said in this thread about course load was directed at students who do NOT have to work full time.

I have to work full time, there's no choice for me. I honestly don't believe an admissions committee will hold it against you if don't take a full course load because you have to work full time.

There are many older non-traditional students who apply to med school every year, who had no choice but to work full time and could not load up on courses every semester. I can usually only take 8 to 9 semester hours (esp. science courses). Otherwise there wouldn't be enough time in a week to do what needs to be done to get a good grade in these classes after work.

So again, I'll assume this thread was aimed at 18, 19 year olds to early 20 somethings who haven't been out of high school very long, who can still live with mom and dad (or another relative, etc.) and either not have to work at all and study full time, or only work part time.

 

[stscrivener]

The only reason I'm keeping the number of graded units low is that the classes I'm taking are difficult. I'm taking upper div. cell biology, developmental biology, and plant biology.

I was always told that it's better to show them what you can do than show them what you can't do. As such, wouldn't it be better to get a high GPA with a light courseload than get a low GPA with a heavy courseload?

To be a little more clear, with the addition of P/NP units, I've been taking around 15 or 16 so far.

I would stop taking P/NP, but otherwise, I think you're right; it's better to take a lighter courseload if that means you'll be able to do well in them. It's also better for your mental health if you're more confident that you can do better in them, and it frees up time for your ECs, which you can put more energy into.

Courses are only one part of the complex equation that is getting into medical school. There are people on here who claim to take 20 credits hours a semester, but for all we know, most of them could be lying either about their grades or their classload.

 

[stscrivener]

I'm gonna presume everything that was said in this thread about course load was directed at students who do NOT have to work full time.

I have to work full time, there's no choice for me. I honestly don't believe an admissions committee will hold it against you if don't take a full course load because you have to work full time.

There are many older non-traditional students who apply to med school every year, who had no choice but to work full time and could not load up on courses every semester. I can usually only take 8 to 9 semester hours (esp. science courses). Otherwise there wouldn't be enough time in a week to do what needs to be done to get a good grade in these classes after work.

So again, I'll assume this thread was aimed at 18, 19 year olds to early 20 somethings who haven't been out of high school very long, who can still live with mom and dad (or another relative, etc.) and either not have to work at all and study full time, or only work part time.

Well, those are pretty broad generalizations, assuming all young people have family to live with and/or do not need to work.

(I'm 20, working full-time and taking 17 credit hours, because I don't have any family at all)

 

[occams_razor]

Well, those are pretty broad generalizations, assuming all young people have family to live with and/or do not need to work.

(I'm 20, working full-time and taking 17 credit hours, because I don't have any family at all)

you're working 40 hours a week and taking 17 credit hours? that's quite a load. are you doing any EC activities?

I know lots of nontrads doing post-bacc who work 40 hours a week + volunteering/other ECs and they generally seem to take 6-12 credits a semester.