I think it depends on how long you plan on being there. I didn't care if I was there for a year or more because it was about quality over quantity. But some of my friends wanted to get out asap so they took two 5 hours in one semester. That's definitely the hardest route to go. I definitely think people should take their time and use the school as not only a place to take a step forward, but a place to learn about yourself. I learned a lot about myself. I know that it was a good idea for me to take my time and take one 5 hour(plus other 3 hours) a semester. It helped me grow. There are generally 2 types of people that go to the program: people who are very smart but just didnt care in undergrad and people like me, who weren't mentally mature/capable enough to handle the content and demands of undergrad. So people in the former category can probably just load up and take the fastest route, but people in the latter category like myself need time. Soooo I would first decide who you think you are and try your best to determine what you need, then pick classes based on what I'm about to tell you.
Gross anatomy- high volume course, hardest most time-consuming course. But it's amazing.
Med phys 1 -hardest class by content. Some math involved. Very difficult. I liked the class until I dropped it but it was a class that my mind didn't catch very easily. People love it and I know it helps tremendously for the MCAT.
I don't suggest doubling up with either one of those. And when I say "I don't suggest" I am basically saying for the love of God don't do that to yourself. Remember why you are going there, A's!!
Neuro - the best class there in my mind besides gross. Sooo awesome. Dr. Baldwin teaches it and med phys 1.
Med phys 2- boring. Lol
Pharm - during the summer only.
Histo - covers a lot of things that you will be exposed to in all the classes offered at mc. It's a great class. Lab is kinda boring but it's good.
As far as all the 3 hours are concerned I would say take all the Graves classes you can, then Sample if he is still there, then reiken, then Carmicle. I took med gen(Sample), cell phys(Carmicle-now Reiken), immuno(Norcross), mycology(graves), food and water micro(graves), mitochondrial genomics(reiken), and virology(sample). Immuno was not too hard, but it was a good bit of info to add on to my 5 hour plus med gen on top of that. I took 17 hours over the summer. All As. Summer is pretty easy.
So I guess here are some pairings I suggest:
Histo + 1-2 3 hours for your 1st semester
Histo, cell phys, med gen
Histo, immuno, seminar
Histo, virology, cell phys
Histo is a good starter class.
Gross plus 1 3 hour or just gross for semester 2 OR
Neuro plus 2 3-hour classes for semester 2
Med phys + one 3 hour
If you want to stack two 5-hours(med school courses) then this is the order I would say do it in if you really want to:
Histo Neuro - by far the easiest combo like that but doubling 5 hours is very very hard, but people do it and they are successful, but I'm not willing to risk it myself
Histo med phys 2
Med phys 1 and 2
Med phys 1 and neuro(very hard-but my friend is in it now and doing well- again it depends on you, but the majority will say no, don't do it)
These combos I'm about to list are not smart at all to do. Like do not do it unless you have to for some reason.
Gross and Neuro
Gross and med phys 1 or 2
Gross and histo
One of my friends did gross and med phys 2 because he dropped a five hour one fall and had to make up the hours in the spring. He got two Bs. I know two girls who got two Cs because they did gross and Neuro. But dr. Baldwin will actually suggest that combo. lolol.
DO NOT MAKE ANYTHING LOWER THAN A B IN THE MED SCHOOL CLASSES. DONT DO IT!! It makes a hole that's not easy to get out of. I suggest only making B+s or better. Sometimes you can kind of choose how you want to allocate your time. Like somewhat neglect or completely neglect your 3 hours. I would take an A in a 5 hour and a C in a 3 hour over a B in the 5 and A in the 3. Mathematically it makes sense to choose the A, C. Live to fight another day!
Hope that helps.