6 year undergrad

[nekrogg]

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is there some sort of penalty for taking 6 years to finish my undergrad? ive been mainly focusing on my grades and havent done much extra curriculars. for the past 3 quarters ive been taking it easy (12 units at max). My extra curriculars are very simple: hospital volunteering, toastmasters, and president of a local club (not very time consuming activities). the reason why i am taking a light load is so my GPA doesnt go crashing... i dont know if med school has much sympathy towards that though.

 

[UCLAstudent]

I don't know, I think it could potentially raise some red flags, especially since you weren't using the extra time to be involved in heavy ECs. I've heard of some people taking five years to finish college, but rarely six. It might give the impression that you are unable to handle a heavy course load, which doesn't bode well for medical school, where you will undoubtedly have more work than in undergrad. Good luck! I hope it works out. 🙂

 

[nekrogg]

well this is my last year before my application so do you think it would be wise to start taking a good load of 16 units to look good before my application is turned in along with some research?

because there is definently no way i can finish in 5 (unless i take 20 some units along with studying the mcats 👎 )

 

[UCLAstudent]

Yes, I think that would help a lot!

 

[evade]

is there some sort of penalty for taking 6 years to finish my undergrad? ive been mainly focusing on my grades and havent done much extra curriculars. for the past 3 quarters ive been taking it easy (12 units at max). My extra curriculars are very simple: hospital volunteering, toastmasters, and president of a local club (not very time consuming activities). the reason why i am taking a light load is so my GPA doesnt go crashing... i dont know if med school has much sympathy towards that though.

I don't mean to be rude or fatalistic, but I think you need to step things up a LOT, and that you need to do it now. Taking it easy for the sake of your grades only implies that you can't handle a heavy courseload, and that's exactly what you're going to get in medical school. I mean, I've heard of people who have taken five years to graduate and been accepted to medical school because they started with a decidedly non pre-med course and decided in their junior or senior years that ohmygosh, medicine is the career for them! I've also heard of people who worked their way through school, supported their families, etc. who took longer than anticipated to graduate. These are valid reasons. I'm sure they got to explain these reasons in every interview they went to.

But you don't sound like you changed your mind. You sound like this was your plan from the get-go, and it just wasn't a good one. How will you prove that you can handle the rigors of medical school, or hell, the rigors of being a doctor? If you've taken this light a courseload, you'd better have a 4.0 and some stellar extracirriculars to show for it, and even then it might not be enough for some adcoms. It's not too late to work harder: take a heavier class load (even if you're taking non-required courses), and get yourself some more ECs.

 

[DrBowtie]

I agree. You are competing against people who took the maximum load and still had time to do research and volunteering and good E.C.'s. Step it up!

 

[fateema368]

Not that I'm about doing it like everyone else, but is there another justifyable reason for the 6 year undergrad? Do you have children, a full-time job/second career, are you an older applicant returning to school, will you be graduating with multiple degrees, etc. Do you have a very high GPA to back-up your strategy of taking it easy and enduring a 6 year undergrad?

Maybe it won't be an issue, you'll interview fine and be accepted, but if it is; you really need to have sound justification for your strategy, one that does not give the implication that you can't cut-it under pressure.

Good luck

 

[Mutt]

The only conceivable thing that would pass as the norm in your case might be if you are a transfer student to your 4-year. That is, you went to a junior college for 3 and then your 4-year for 3...