Course load distribution?

[golfyfan]

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I am in my junior year of university and I will be applying to med this coming summer. Last semester, I took 6 courses and I am currently taking 5 (one of which is the course load and length of a 6 credit course, but my university only classified it as a 3 credit courses). Anyways, I am taking a science elective that is very time consuming and I want to drop it. The problem is that then I will only be taking 4 courses. Although I am still considered full time by my university, would this be looked upon unfavorably by medical school? I took 6 courses last semester, so I am still taking 10 courses per year. Would the weighing be unfavorable if I drop one course?

Thanks in advance!

 

[236116]

no, go for it.

 

[Kaustikos]

I am in my junior year of university and I will be applying to med this coming summer. Last semester, I took 6 courses and I am currently taking 5 (one of which is the course load and length of a 6 credit course, but my university only classified it as a 3 credit courses). Anyways, I am taking a science elective that is very time consuming and I want to drop it. The problem is that then I will only be taking 4 courses. Although I am still considered full time by my university, would this be looked upon unfavorably by medical school? I took 6 courses last semester, so I am still taking 10 courses per year. Would the weighing be unfavorable if I drop one course?

Thanks in advance!

Absolutely not. As long as you keep your grades up, you'll be fine.

 

[golfyfan]

Thanks Jurassicpark and Kaustiko for the quick replies! I'll also be studying for my MCAT during this time so any spare time would be really good.

 

[redlight]

uhh, also, if i recall correctly, med schools don't see grades/courses by semester. high school is lumped together, then the rest is broken down by years (frosh, soph, etc.) and grad school is lumped together

besides, as long as you are full time and still do well, no one will care.

 

[AH11]

Wait... they look at High School?

 

[redlight]

lol oh sry, college courses taken while in high school. ex. taking a intro to comp science over the summer at the local CC.

 

[Wants2give]

Yea brother its my understanding ( as my father, whom is an M.D. puts it) that it is actually better to take it easy and get the best grades possible, than to overload your self and have your grades suffer.

Hope this helps!!

 

[HammockUp]

uhh, also, if i recall correctly, med schools don't see grades/courses by semester. high school is lumped together, then the rest is broken down by years (frosh, soph, etc.) and grad school is lumped together

besides, as long as you are full time and still do well, no one will care.

Amcas does report classes/grades by semester but an adcom member would have to add them up by hand. The report does not give how many credits per semester, just the semester that you took that class.

I overloaded every semester for my first 3 years (19-22 credits) but my GPA suffered. No one seems to care that I took alot courses at once but they do care that my GPA is not what it should be. I origionally did it so I could go to PT school a year early but recently decided to apply to med school.

So to answer your question from a pre-med point of view, take fewer credits and do better. However, to answer you question from a senior who currently is taking 4 credits point of view, overload and have really fun senior year.