12 Units/credits a semester

[exmissionary]

Would I still get accepted into an American medical school if I took 12 units or credits every semester until I graduated. I'm slow at learning and really enjoy the material if I just take my time. It helps me stay sane and enjoy school at the same time.

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[Tensyle]

Would I still get accepted into an American medical school if I took 12 units or credits every semester until I graduated. I'm slow at learning and really enjoy the material if I just take my time. It helps me stay sane and enjoy school at the same time.

it may take you 6 years at that rate. some medical schools are just gonna question why you did that...because at 12 credits every semester, your gpa's meaning isnt very good. even if you get a 4.0, you'll have had much more time than other pre-meds.

 

[el aye]

it may take you 6 years at that rate. some medical schools are just gonna question why you did that...because at 12 credits every semester, your gpa's meaning isnt very good. even if you get a 4.0, you'll have had much more time than other pre-meds.

Not necessarily. If you fill that time with meaningful EC's I don't see there being a problem.

 

[fisko82]

I took 12-13 credits per semester during my last two years of undergrad; I don't think it affected my chances one bit.

 

[BluePhoenix]

The only problem I'd see was that if you never went full time with a full course load and all, they may wonder about your ability to handle all the material at the speed you're going to see it in med school. While being fully involved in activities at the time would help...the med students I know have class full time on top of everything else they're doing. But I don't know how big a deal it is to adcoms.

 

[lex]

It is better to get a 4.0 GPA even though you get it by taking 12 units/semester than a 3.0 GPA with 18-20 units/semester.
The units I took in the last 5 years range from 6 to 20 units/semester. But as a working professional, I do work full-time 40-50 hours/week plus some activities. So, take your time but do consider how you are going to keep up in med school eventually.. Med students juggle 6 science courses or more in one semester.

 

[BluePhoenix]

I dunno, I'd expect higher grades from someone that was taking less classes, especially 3 vs. 5 or 6...unless they were working full time or something.

 

[veaselhaufen]

There are plenty of "gimme" classes on campus that require just about no work. Seek them out and get up to 15. Maybe even 18 if your past loads have been light. I doubt adcoms will know that the classes are a joke.

 

[Hilbert137]

I'm sure you can find an easy 3 credit class out there to fill the schedule up to 15 so that there is no problem. Also consider independent study. At least at my school, you can get up to 3 credits for doing research. You would be killing two birds with one stone if you did something like that.

 

[ysk1]

I'm currently in second year and I took less than 13 credit hours every semester until last semester because I didn't know it was a bad thing to take less than 15 (btw, I'm in a tri-semester school)
No one at my school told me it was bad. Most people take less than 15 anyway at my school. Until I came to SDN I really had no idea less than 15 was bad. From now on I'm taking at least 15 and will continue to do that until I graduate.
How would top med schools see this?:


Freshman:
Fall: 14 credit hours
Spring: 9 credit hours (9 hours was considered minimum to be full time at my school)
Summer: 11 credit hours

Sophomore:
Fall: 11 credit hours
Spring (present): 16 credit hours

 

[UFGatorMed]

I'm currently in second year and I took less than 13 credit hours every semester until last semester because I didn't know it was a bad thing to take less than 15 (btw, I'm in a tri-semester school)
No one at my school told me it was bad. Most people take less than 15 anyway at my school. Until I came to SDN I really had no idea less than 15 was bad. From now on I'm taking at least 15 and will continue to do that until I graduate.
How would top med schools see this?:


Freshman:
Fall: 14 credit hours
Spring: 9 credit hours (9 hours was considered minimum to be full time at my school)
Summer: 11 credit hours

Sophomore:
Fall: 11 credit hours
Spring (present): 16 credit hours

There are alot of people who think they know what they are talking about on SDN, but really have no clue. Don't take more credits you can handle.

 

[BluePhoenix]

I'm currently in second year and I took less than 13 credit hours every semester until last semester because I didn't know it was a bad thing to take less than 15 (btw, I'm in a tri-semester school)
No one at my school told me it was bad. Most people take less than 15 anyway at my school. Until I came to SDN I really had no idea less than 15 was bad. From now on I'm taking at least 15 and will continue to do that until I graduate.
How would top med schools see this?

At my undergrad, the registrar would recommend you add a class if you registered for less than 16 credits (at 3 credits/lecture) and I think below 15 credits you had to have the permission of your advisor, which you generally didn't get. I think I'd have had to stay an extra year to finish all the requirements if I took that few credits each semester.

 

[skinnylindsay]

I've never taken more than 15 hours in a semester, and that was only once. I usually only take 14, and I'm currently underloading this semester (10 hrs; I only need a 1 hr PE class to graduate), and it hasn't been a problem at all during the admissions process. I had 26 hours worth of AP credit (basically a year's worth of classes), so I've never had to take more to graduate on time. To be fair, the semesters where I've only had 4 classes, a majority of them were science classes. But it's never come up as to why I didn't take a more strenuous course load. If you can take it easy, I don't think it will be a problem as long as you do well.

 

[HigHal320]

I took about 12 units/semester for my first two years in College. However, I always took summer courses so I still have at least 30units/year. During my last two years, I took about 18-19 units/semester. None of my interviewers questioned my first two years.

 

[redlight]

There are alot of people who think they know what they are talking about on SDN, but really have no clue. Don't take more credits you can handle.

honestly, as long as you are full time, it really doesn't matter how many credits you take as long as you have some extracurriculars and still have a 'good' gpa (at least a 3. something). otherwise, some schools may question what you do with your spare time. i have a friend who got into hopkins med a few months ago and she maintained that her credit load was light compared to most people (especially during the semester before she took the mcats)

if you want more specific information you should probably talk to your academic/pre-health adviser.

and a good indicator of how many credits you should take could be the minimum requirement of credit load to still be eligible for dean's list. at my school you need 14 credits, with 12 of them being for a grade.

edit: took out "time-consuming" in front of "extracurriculars" and substituted "high gpa" with a "'good' gpa (at least a 3.0ish and higher)"

 

[Mobius1985]

Would I still get accepted into an American medical school if I took 12 units or credits every semester until I graduated. I'm slow at learning and really enjoy the material if I just take my time. It helps me stay sane and enjoy school at the same time.

If you are "slow at learning" you might want to aim at a medical school that decompresses the first two years, so you can take longer to complete the basic science coursework. A typical med school curriculum requires the equivalent of 20-21 hours per semester. This would seriously limit the schools you should apply to. University of Illinois-Urbana campus is one of them that I've heard of.