Average Number of Hours??

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addisonda

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Hello I was just wondering if some of the pre-meds currently or formerly could tell me what the average number of hours you took while in college? including summer courses if you took any? I'm about to enter college and i'm interested in being a doctor but i would like to know about how many hours I should take. I won't have a job and I will volunteer maybe once a week, but i have no clue on how many hours to take. I spoke to someone yesterday to take around 16-18 and I spoke to someone along time ago who said 12 was almost way too much? I'm a very smart person and I can handle alot of stress so any suggestions would be really nice. Thank you.

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addisonda said:
Hello I was just wondering if some of the pre-meds currently or formerly could tell me what the average number of hours you took while in college? including summer courses if you took any? I'm about to enter college and i'm interested in being a doctor but i would like to know about how many hours I should take. I won't have a job and I will volunteer maybe once a week, but i have no clue on how many hours to take. I spoke to someone yesterday to take around 16-18 and I spoke to someone along time ago who said 12 was almost way too much? I'm a very smart person and I can handle alot of stress so any suggestions would be really nice. Thank you.


I wish I had asked more people this question before I went to college. I took 19 hours my first semester freshman year and also was in a research lab that didn't count for credit. Now, I'm taking 22 credit hours and am still in that lab. It's really difficult to say how many hours one should take since there are so many factors that one has to take into account. For example, if all of your classes have labs, I don't think you want to take too many hours. You don't want to have a 3 or 4 hour lab eveyday, do you? Also, I found that it's easier for me to take more classes if they are right after each other. That way, I have the entire afternoon (from 1pm on) to study and do other things. Hope this helped you! :)
 
I usually took 18 credits/semester. But i was an engineer and had to take a lot of credits in order to fit everything in. 16 credits/semester seems about average.
 
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I took 20-21 each semester and 12 in the summers. 20-21 was entirely doable when I was taking lower level classes (gen chem, physics, calculus) all together, but when I hit biochem I hadn't had genetics (I'm a chem/math major) and it just about sucked the life out of me. It seems like I'm coasting in this, my third year, with only 14 credits, but that has advanced lab and math senior seminar, so it's a lot of work and research.

I agree with tinker - I think 16 is about average.
 
Freshman semester, I'd start out with 16. Start with chemistry for sure, and either biology or physics. The other 2-3 classes that will fit in can be general education requirements (Psych 101, English 101, math, stats, etc).

My freshman semester I had first semester gen chem, calculus, Spanish and an ethics seminar (humanities credit). Second freshman semester was biology, second semester gen chem, physics, and a lit class (yeah - three labs!). Then I jumped up to 21 credits for one semester and down to 13 for the next.

Experiment.
 
geez are you people serious? 15 / semester is fine for me, and i'm double majoring in biology and philosophy :laugh: . and no summer school, except maybe for english depending on if i feel like dropping it this semester.
 
front-load yourself. motivation may wane as you progress, plus you'll need to study for the mcat. i took 16,15, 18 my first 3 sems plus 12 each summer. by junior year i was down to 12 or 13, which allows time for mcat study. by senior year you should be able to fill in your 12 hour semester with bowling or golf class. believe me, it's nice having blow off classes when you get accepted to med school.

good luck
 
Taking tons of hours won't help you get into med school. Take the hours you need to graduate in the time you want to graduate. A high GPA is much more important than lots of credit hours. Besides starting off you don't want to overload youself. Take 15 or so to start with and see how you do with that. I came in with AP credit and so had multiple 12 hour semesters. It was great and didn't hurt me at all (probably helped).
 
It's about how well you do in each class, not how many hours you take. usually you need 120 hours to graduate. that's 15 each semester on average. so what I did was take less hours my junior year when I was studying for the MCAT (i.e. 12, the bare minimum) so just spread the extra 6 hours over the other years. and if you're taking a hard courseload like your pre-med reqs, take less. gluck.
 
take 16 and keep your grades up. 16 cr. and a 4.0 is better than 21 cr. and a 3.5.
 
Thanks for the information but the question i should have asked is what grades did you make while taking so and so many hours? some people are saying tehy took 21 hours but what kind of grades did ya make? How many labs also? I really wanna stick with a 4.0 and with 21 hours is that possible? thanks
 
Dear God, overachiever center. Why would you want to leave college so soon?

Max I've EVER taken was 16, minimum is this semester with 12. Finished in 4 years, into medical school. Jesus, don't go out and kill yourselfs with 18-21 credits....there's a reason why the university has to give you an override to take that many classes.
 
AStudent said:
Dear God, overachiever center. Why would you want to leave college so soon?

Max I've EVER taken was 16, minimum is this semester with 12. Finished in 4 years, into medical school. Jesus, don't go out and kill yourselfs with 18-21 credits....there's a reason why the university has to give you an override to take that many classes.

Yeah really. Im taking several semesters of only 12 and still getting out in (if scheduling works) 5 years. Its more relaxing, more free time, and better grades and mcat scores.
 
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Credit hours dont really have a direct relationship to workload. With different class load outs you could be taking 12,15,18,21,24 hours and still end up spending about the same amount of time on work. Consider course level ie 100-400, labs, and other miscelleanous factors.
 
Well, I suppose this thread begs the question, "What are the most credit hours ever attempted in a semester by anyone?"

i.e. "Who is the biggest nerd?"

My average was 18 but never surpassed 19. Couldn't be bothered with getting the dean's permission for exceeding 20 hrs.
 
i'm taking 22 and the only classes i want to drop are my pre-med classes. I mean, why would I ever want to drop my elective: anthropology of human mating? :p

obtw, it's under neurobiology and behavior. can that grade be included in my bcpm?
 
ishaninatte said:
Well, I suppose this thread begs the question, "What are the most credit hours ever attempted in a semester by anyone?"

i.e. "Who is the biggest nerd?"

My average was 18 but never surpassed 19. Couldn't be bothered with getting the dean's permission for exceeding 20 hrs.

26 this semester. Getting the over-ride was a real bitch. That said, it's a real pain in the ass to take this many units. Today alone, I had 9 hours of lecture (yes, no lab time). By the end of my last class I was completely brain dead. Don't take any more than 15-16 units if you don't have to. A 12-15 unit load will let you do the other important things in life like volunteering, research, girlfriend/boyfriend, partying, etc. Up until now, I had one semester at 18 units and the other semesters varied between 6-14 units, with the average being 12. Although because of this, I have had to take summer classes. Anyway, I've gotten into 2 schools so far. No one at any of the interviews has ever asked why I only took 6, 9 or 12 units in various semesters. They were just happy to see the A's.
 
addisonda said:
Hello I was just wondering if some of the pre-meds currently or formerly could tell me what the average number of hours you took while in college? including summer courses if you took any?

I took 12-14 every semester and usually took 1 or 2 summer and winter courses there or abroad. Anyone who tells you that adcoms care about the rigor of your courseload is speculating and wrong. Alot of people on this forum like to brag about how much they can handle at once, but all that matters in the end is your GPA.
 
Thanks for all the info. It seems to be a split decision. I want to have straight A's but is it possible to do that with 16-18 hours i wonder?

IF my first semester I took the following would it be ok? or is it suicide? I plan on gettting a bachelors in zoology, because OU doesn't offer a biology major. If i do get a bachelors in zoology and complete all my required coursework is a bachelors in zoology ok in med school or would i be better off majoring in something else? THANKZ
FIRST SEMESTER OF FRESHMAN YEAR.
Chem 1 - 5hours
college algebra - 3 hours
Eng 2 - 3 hours (took eng 1 while in high school)
Am. Fed. Gov't - 3 hours
Zoology- 4 hours

SECOND SEMESTER OF FRESHMAN YEAR
Chem 2- 5 hours
Calc 1 - 3 hours
Physics- 4 hours
Advanced ENG- 3 hours
HUM - 3 hours

SUMMER OF FRESHMAN YEAR
ORG 1 - 5 hours
PHYSICS 2 - 4 hours
 
addisonda said:
Thanks for all the info. It seems to be a split decision. I want to have straight A's but is it possible to do that with 16-18 hours i wonder?

IF my first semester I took the following would it be ok? or is it suicide? I plan on gettting a bachelors in zoology, because OU doesn't offer a biology major. If i do get a bachelors in zoology and complete all my required coursework is a bachelors in zoology ok in med school or would i be better off majoring in something else? THANKZ
FIRST SEMESTER OF FRESHMAN YEAR.
Chem 1 - 5hours
college algebra - 3 hours
Eng 2 - 3 hours (took eng 1 while in high school)
Am. Fed. Gov't - 3 hours
Zoology- 4 hours

SECOND SEMESTER OF FRESHMAN YEAR
Chem 2- 5 hours
Calc 1 - 3 hours
Physics- 4 hours
Advanced ENG- 3 hours
HUM - 3 hours

SUMMER OF FRESHMAN YEAR
ORG 1 - 5 hours
PHYSICS 2 - 4 hours

I don't recommend doing that to yourself your first semester of college. How about you begin your college education this summer and take

Alg and Eng - Summer (6 units)
Calc, Chem, Zoo and Gov - Fall ( 15 units)
Or
Alg and Chem - Summer (8 units)
Chem 2, zoo, eng, calc - Fall (15 units)
Ochem 1, physics, adv. eng, hum - Spring (15 units)
Physics 2, 2nd term of zoo? - Summer (8 units)

Then the following year you can take things like gov, genetics, biochem, cell biology, anatomy and physiology and stuff towards your major.

just my $0.02
 
ishaninatte said:
Well, I suppose this thread begs the question, "What are the most credit hours ever attempted in a semester by anyone?"

i.e. "Who is the biggest nerd?"

My average was 18 but never surpassed 19. Couldn't be bothered with getting the dean's permission for exceeding 20 hrs.
i.e., "I'm too cool for all you guys, but then again, I am posting on a pre-med internet message board. :cool:"


:rolleyes:

when I took 21 credits, four of them were at a different school, so I didn't need override permission.
 
Code Brown said:
26 this semester. QUOTE]

OMG, that is just insane. :eek: I don't even want to think about what that is like.
 
icebrat001 said:
I don't recommend doing that to yourself your first semester of college.

well, is college algebra really that difficult of a class? Here its like the equivalent of 7th grade math.
 
Taking physics, history, and government during summers, for my fall/spring semesters I had 14, 14, 15, 15, 16, 12 (MCAT semester), and 17 hours. I graduated in 3 1/2 years and my last semester was actually the easiest (electives and fillers like Tennis). Med schools don't care much about the number of hours you take.
 
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