Summer school AND applying to Medical School

[FutureSurgical]

Hey SDN, I have a dilemma that I didn't think of until tonight. I need to take physiology and a history course next summer in between junior and senior year. I also plan on applying to medical school at the same time to increase my chances on getting in.

Physiology will be taken in June for 28 days (4 weeks) and history in July for another 28 days (4 weeks). The downside of Physiology is that it has a lab with it 3x a week. Both courses have an exam every Friday and a 2 hour final at the very end. I'm not worried about history because a friend of mine just took it this summer with another class on top of that and made a B+. I have taken summer courses before while being an RA (took physics with lab and made an A in both). However, having potentially a bunch of secondaries with a bunch of essays really concerns me. I don't want to put too much focus on AMCAS to screw up in classes but don't want to put the applications on the backburner to where I don't even touch the secondaries until summer is over.

Anyone have experience with this? Or any general advice on how to tackle this?

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[TheBigB]

Sorry, this is something you're going to have to get over, and maybe mention it offhandedly (banterly) in an interview. Best advice though: prewrite, prewrite, prewrite

 

[godawg300]

Pre write your secondaries. I'm taking summer Ochem and another class and have already submitted almost all my secondaries.

 

[FutureSurgical]

So this is do-able? I was thinking setting weekend mornings and afternoons catching up and finishing primaries and secondaries?

 

[godawg300]

So this is do-able? I was thinking setting weekend mornings and afternoons catching up and finishing primaries and secondaries?

Of course It is. Just start prewriting before your classes start and be organized. Make a spreadsheet going and you will be fine.

 

[hoihaie]

start writing your personal statement now. Finish that, then start working on the most common secondary questions. After than you can adapt the essays to schools that usually don't change their questions (i.e. UCSD is 99% gonna be autobiography again, while USC is probably gonna change).

 

[FutureSurgical]

Is there a list of what questions are most likely going to be in secondaries? Or a spreadsheet of some kind?

 

[godawg300]

Is there a list of what questions are most likely going to be in secondaries? Or a spreadsheet of some kind?

Search the forum in the specific med school part. Or just use google. There was some website, maybe md chance predictor or something that had a list.

 

[hoihaie]

Is there a list of what questions are most likely going to be in secondaries? Or a spreadsheet of some kind?

You'd have to make that yourself. Look at the schools you are applying and then look up their secondary questions (look at past school threads for their secondary questions). Compile them all together and look for hte common ones.

 

[M12B]

I am applying this cycle, writing secondaries now and I am working 50+ hours per week. It is possible, but you will have to have excellent time management skills. Given that you'll need excellent time management skills in med school, just think of it as preparation haha

 

[zeppelinpage4]

Hey SDN, I have a dilemma that I didn't think of until tonight. I need to take physiology and a history course next summer in between junior and senior year. I also plan on applying to medical school at the same time to increase my chances on getting in.

Physiology will be taken in June for 28 days (4 weeks) and history in July for another 28 days (4 weeks). The downside of Physiology is that it has a lab with it 3x a week. Both courses have an exam every Friday and a 2 hour final at the very end. I'm not worried about history because a friend of mine just took it this summer with another class on top of that and made a B+. I have taken summer courses before while being an RA (took physics with lab and made an A in both). However, having potentially a bunch of secondaries with a bunch of essays really concerns me. I don't want to put too much focus on AMCAS to screw up in classes but don't want to put the applications on the backburner to where I don't even touch the secondaries until summer is over.

Anyone have experience with this? Or any general advice on how to tackle this?

If I remember right, I started filling out my AMCAS in May, and finished it and submitted by first week of June. The rest of June and early July was mostly waiting for verification and secondaries.
Thus, if you're taking physiology the month of June, it might not conflict with your application much. If you submit early enough, most of the month of June may just consist of waiting for verification and waiting for secondaries. And so you could focus more on physiology which sounds like a harder course.

My secondaries started coming in more around July and I worked on them July and August. This was a more hectic period with writing essays, but if it's just history, which your friend's experience, suggests it isn't too difficult, you might be okay doing secondaries and taking history in July. Then you have all of August to focus on and wrap up secondaries.

So, if you apply early enough and time it right (assuming AMCAS timing hasn't changed since i applied), you might be able to take these courses and apply just fine.

That's just my experience though, results may vary.

P.s. Although it's not as heavy as two courses, I did a summer REU while doing applications and managed okay.