Graduating Before Med School

[Summer Sweet]

Okay the soonest I can graduate is in 5 years, and this is already the end of my 4th. So, this means spending the summer doing applications and MCATS, and then taking roughly 3 upper division science classes per quarter (chemistries and biologies) for my last year.

OR I can add an extra year, spend 6 years doing undergrad at a crappy state school (it's like, CSU vs UC), and probably do better in the classes.

What should I do? 6 years is SO LONG! Will it look bad? On the other hand, 5 years is almost rushing it...plus, the MCAT is computerized next year so I should take it this year anyways, right?

I'M SO CONFUSED.

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[drmota]

haha the title of this thread is great. ya "graduating before med school" might be a good idea. as for advice. i have none. i am pretty worthless. but take time if you need to. you can always explain it during your interviews.
-mota

 

[ND2005]

I'm a bit confused by your post.

Are all of these upper level science courses needed for graduation? Or are you taking them to strengthen your application to med school?

If they are all necessary for graduation, why have you waited until the 5th year to take them? (I'm not trying to be a jerk -- this is something med schools will want to know and you will need to be able to answer).

If they are not necessary for graduation, why not take a couple of them and just go ahead and graduate, then do something else (research, volunteer, or get a job and save some money)?



You don't HAVE to stay in school until you start med school. I think that taking 6 years for an undergrad degree may look odd on your records, and it's something the med schools would question or want to know more about.

As for the MCAT, take it when you're ready. Don't let the CBT be the deciding factor. If you rush to take it before you're ready, you'll do worse on a paper test than you would on the CBT.

 

[Summer Sweet]

Are all of these upper level science courses needed for graduation? Or are you taking them to strengthen your application to med school?

If they are all necessary for graduation, why have you waited until the 5th year to take them?

My major requires 12 quarters of chemistry, 4 of physics, 4 of calculus, and a handful of biology electives in addition to the required general education classes. The chem courses are sequenced so if you don't start it at a certain point, you have to wait a year to take it. That happened with Ochem--so I'm taking it now instead of last year. So next year I will have to take Biochemistry and Physical Chemistry together, and finish some of my bio electives. It's taken me this long because I generally try to take no more than 2 hard classes a quarter since they are pretty demanding, and I figured I need to get my GE classes out of the way anyways. I took a couple unnecessary classes (art, music...), so now I'm stuck with another year packed tight with hard science classes.