*** Course Overload? ***

[Lunasly]

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Hey guys,

I am in sort of a pickle and was hoping I can get some advice. So this is my first semester of my freshman year and I decided that I want to write the MCAT in the summer of my second year. I have scheduled everything so that I can finish most of my pre-reqs and some additional courses that will be helpful for the MCAT before I write it. Here is my winter semester:

Biology II (5 credits)
-- Biology II Lab (0 credits)
Chemistry I (5 credits)
--Chemistry I Lab (0 credits)
Physics I (5 credits)
--Physics I Lab (0 credits)
Basic Human Anatomy (This course is required to take Human Physiology I & II) (4 credits)
-- Basic Human Anatomy Lab (0 credits)

So basically it is four courses with 4 labs and I want to work towards an A in all of them. Usually when I take a lighter course load, I procrastinate, but when I am under pressure, I get more done.

I will not be working and I will be volunteering on the weekends for around 9 hours max.

What do you think? Too heavy? Too big of a chance of killing my GPA? I would take English instead of Human Anatomy, but I see that there is sometime a lot of Human Physiology on the MCAT and I am also very interested in Physiology.

Thanks guys.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

That sounds crazy, I just took A&P and anatomy is extremely annoying and boring. It requires you to spend prolonged periods of time looking at muscle man models and remembering so many details. It's a major time sink, so I'd really substitute it for an elective instead unless you're going to dedicate a lot of time for it.
However I don't know how basic that anatomy will be. Is it so basic that you just learn 260 bones and then get a test on them? Or will you need to know tuberocities by name and every foramen? Or when studying muscles will you just need to know major ones or ones so deep behind that it takes 10 minutes to find them? It depends heavily on the course. If it was like my anatomy lab where I need to literally hours studying actively then I don't recommend it. If it's easier then go ahead.

 

[Telomeres]

Are you sure you mean winter, or do you mean spring? Because winter generally consists of a 3-4 week period of classes, in which case I would not recommend such a heavy course load. If you mean the spring semester than your course load seems doable depending on the difficulty of the course work and the amount of time you would have to devote to HW, post labs, and lab write ups. If the course doesn't require any additional assignments and is just based on tests, than I suggest you consider keeping the schedule as is. Otherwise I would consider taking English, because don't forget the MCAT also has a verbal section.

 

[Lunasly]

This is what the course sylabbus says:

1. Basic and general anatomical terminology,
2. The integumentary system,
3. The skeletal system, including anatomical knowledge of bones and joints,
4. The muscular system, including knowledge of the major muscles and their actions,
5. The circulatory system, including blood, the heart, the cardiac cycle and vascular anatomy,
6. The respiratory system, including the mechanisms of inhalation and exhalation,
7. The lymphatic system and a brief discussion of immune function,
8. The digestive system, including mechanical and chemical digestion and accessory glands,
9. The urinary system, including the structure of the nephron and urine composition,
10. The nervous system, including neurons, neuroglia, and the structure of the brain and spinal cord,
11. The endocrine system, including the major glands and their secretions,​

12. The male and female reproductive systems.

You see this is my schedule over the next 2 years:

Spring '11:
- Physics I
- Bio II
- Chem I
- Human Anatomy I

Summer' 11:
- Calculus II
- English I
- Chemistry II
- Human Physiology II

Fall '11:
Organic I
Genetics
Cell Biology I
Human Physiology III

Winter '12:
Organic II
Cell Bio II
Physics II

Now you see. If I do not do it now, I will have to do it later before the MCAT while I am doing Organic and Cell Biology. I need calc II to do Physics II.

I'm screwed 🙁

 

[getright]

4 labs? Freaking crazy.

 

[studmuffin]

I did it (Not the exact classes, but comparable in workload). Calc II, Engineering Physics I (calc based) , General Biology (huge weedout at my school), and Gen Chem II, all with labs. (Yes, even calc II had a lab w/ maple and other math computing software). It's definetely doable, but I would excercise caution due to the fact that this is your first semester. College is just plain harder than high school man. You might want to give yourself a semester to adjust. Just know beforehand that you will work for it. Good Luck!!!!

 

[studmuffin]

Oh yeah, forgot to mention I pulled a 4 that semester

 

[wristbandMD]

Can't you take Calc II this next quarter instead of anatomy?

 

[PreMedder]

"I decided that I want to write the MCAT in the summer of my second year." Change this and you might be able to develop an easier load.

 

[the duck]

"I decided that I want to write the MCAT in the summer of my second year." Change this and you might be able to develop an easier load.

I'm surprised no one else commented on this until now. There is really no point in taking at the summer of your second year, why not wait a little bit longer, and to me, that schedule seems ridiculous...

 

[latrala2300]

I'm surprised no one else commented on this until now. There is really no point in taking at the summer of your second year, why not wait a little bit longer, and to me, that schedule seems ridiculous...

I've taken 18-23 credit hours at my school (15 hrs is normal) every semester, and took the MCAT in the summer after my second year. Believe me, it's worth it to get the stress over with.

 

[rafflecopter]

I'd recommend waiting until your junior year to take the MCAT, there's absolutely no hurry to take it now and in fact it would be to your benefit to wait until you've taken all your pre-reqs/ some upper division courses before tackling that beast of a test.

Also I took 12 units the semester I took the MCAT. I skipped classes to study for the MCAT and ended up getting worse grades than if I had waited until summer. Definitely take it over summer, that way you can study during the semester (lightly only, so that you can still focus on classes) and hit the MCAT prep hardcore once summer break starts.

 

[mvenus929]

"I decided that I want to write the MCAT in the summer of my second year." Change this and you might be able to develop an easier load.

I second (or third) this.

I've taken 18-23 credit hours at my school (15 hrs is normal) every semester, and took the MCAT in the summer after my second year. Believe me, it's worth it to get the stress over with.

I still think it'd be better to take a summer off and take it at the end of the summer following second year. Or even extend it out another semester and take it in January the year you apply. Four science classes, all with labs, in one semester is pretty intense.

 

[s1lver]

4 labs is weak. Add 2 more labs.

Btw, ask students at your school who have taken those 4 labs. At my school, Bio lab is 2 hours but we average only 45 mins + no lab report (easy), Chem is 2 hours and sometimes last the full 2 hrs but again no lab report just worksheets (easy), Physics is 2 hrs but we're always done in 1 but has lab report so kind of easy but time consuming.

I'd be worried about A&P---it's universally time consuming for both lecture and lab.

 

[s1lver]

I'm surprised no one else commented on this until now. There is really no point in taking at the summer of your second year, why not wait a little bit longer, and to me, that schedule seems ridiculous...

Why not? Take it early and see where you stand and get the MCAT stress out of your system. If you get a good score, congrats. If not, you now have taken the test and know what questions are asked etc. so you can be better prepared the second time you take it.

 

[mri5005]

Nothing wrong with challenging yourself. I don't think it's as bad as you and everyone else is making it sound. I took 19 credits routinely and I think I turned out ok.

 

[Lunasly]

The only reason why I wanted to do this is so that I can write the MCAT in the summer of my second year. If I do badly the first time at least I can do better in the summer of my third year. I realised that I might just be rushing things. I want to travel for a bit in my summers, maybe volunteer internationally in Africa, and in general I want to go out with my friends sometimes.

I mean if I am going to school for such a long time, what’s another year or two? Also I realised that I want to be in a good position when I apply. I don't want to rush it and become a reapplicant. I want to have great EC's, solid MCAT and GPA, and enjoy my time at university.

I have changed my course load to the following:

Calculus II
English I
Biology II
Chemistry I

I will finish all my pre-reqs by my third year and begin studying for the MCAT, write it and hopefully do well and then apply.

The only thing is though: Does the whole applying early thing work if you are applying to Canadian Schools?