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[ilovegrapesoda]

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[BurghMed]

Hi! Here's my brutal advice in the most frank yet attempting to be helpful manner:

1) Why would you take physics at any of those schools? No one cares where you take physics (with the only exception being a CC), so why would you spend an incredible amount of money on courses and room and board there? The experience, to me, would suck, be harder than necessary, and risk destroying your BCPM gpa for no reason.

2) How do you intend to take physics (let alone at one of the schools you mentioned) AND study for the MCAT? I studied 3 months for it without any distractions and didn't even perform my best the first time I took it (just my personal experience). Maybe you can do all that, but I don't see why you would put yourself through it.

3) C is by far the best option. Go to the university near home, take physics 1 and 2. Crush it, get an A both semesters, lab and lecture. Not sure how you plan on studying the MCAT at the same time, to be honest, but maybe you can handle that sort of course load. I suggest taking the MCAT after you've had a generous amount of time without anything else going on in your life, if possible.

4) I repeat, no one cares where you take a couple courses (and to be honest, I've found surprisingly, adcoms generally don't care too too too much about where you even went to undergrad, as long as you do well, with few exceptions).

I hope this helps! And for full disclosure, I have been very fortunate to receive some interviews from medical schools having done exactly what I recommend above, and know many others who have done the same.

 

[ilovegrapesoda]

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[BurghMed]

In terms of how much it takes to study and succeed on the MCAT, it completely depends on the person. I would recommend for anyone, including you, to first take a diagnostic MCAT and see how you do on it, and then go from there. It took me over three months of hardcore studying to make me feel comfortable. I have a friend who studied for 2 weeks and did better than me. It all depends on the person.

I'm not sure how you'll have the time to study much when commuting+class is 4 hours a day, not including any homework/studying for physics alone.

Consider a gap year. So many people do it/take more than 1 year off because getting into medical school is incredibly competitive and others just want a break for their brains (or some mixture of the two). You might initially feel like you're inadequate because every you know is taking the MCAT or applying to medical school, but then you'll realize that you're actual one the wiser by building up your resume during your time off for application season, and you're giving yourself a rest. No one will give 2 sheeeeets that you're 22 and someone else is 23 in medical school, especially given the fact that the average age of matriculation is ~24-25. There are people who are 30 years old with children in every medical school.

 

[ConfusedChemist]

whyyyyy dont you just finish you pre-reqs this year? Don't take summer courses if you don't want a gap year. Just suck it up, get your courses in now, and then dedicate your summer to the MCAT. Overall, that's what you need to focus on.

Volunteering/working is MUCH more ideal to do while MCAT studying than taking courses. You will go crazy with all that studying and have trouble prioritizing.
Still, I think taking the MCAT after soph year is ideal, becuase then you have another yr if you need to re0write

 

[ilovegrapesoda]

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[StudyLater]

I would do C. If you're light on research, do that during the year now and get a PI rec. You're not gonna do classes, volunteering, research, and study effectively for the MCAT. Sorry; I know in UG, especially as premeds, we try to think we're these godly beings that can do everything at once, but we only end up f*cking it up when we take on too much.

 

[ilovegrapesoda]

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[ConfusedChemist]

@BurghMed , Yea I'll definitely take a diagnostic sometime next semester and plan accordingly. A gap year is looking nice right now, especially that senior year to bump up my GPA... I'd be so much more relaxed...

@ConfusedChemist Yea all that sounds nice, but I personally can't handle more than two science prereqs per semester at this point in my life...

Not to be rude or anything, but why do you think you can handle med school, but can't handle more than 2 entry level pre-req courses at once? I'm not saying you can't (notice that before you or anyone attacks me) yet if you can handle med school, which we'll assume you can, then surely taking more than 2 science classes at once isn't beyond your capability?
I still see this as the easiest solution to your problem, one that would save you thousands compared to all the extra terms filled with BS classes

 

[ilovegrapesoda]

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[ConfusedChemist]

@ConfusedChemist I try to find a good balance between studying and enjoying college/having fun/being social, so it's not that I can't mentally handle more than two pre-reqs per semester without doing anything else. I can't be in a sorority, volunteer, do research, and take more than two pre-reqs/hard science classes without exceeding my stress capacity. Being social now is important to me (not more important than school obviously) because once/if I get into med school, that's pretty much it regarding having a good social life. After med school is residency and I'll be in the work force living my life, so now is my time to have as much fun as I can while being premed.

As someone who has written, and scored well on the MCAT though....putting off all your pre-reqs and taking those courses while studying for the MCAT (as you suggest) is about as stressfull and anti-social of a time as you're going to get in undergrad. Aka enjoy the last 4 month 'breaks' you will ever have

 

[ilovegrapesoda]

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