Current 7 year accelerated BS/MD student in need of immediate advice!

[neelyboy]

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*Note, I'm reposting this from the pre-med forum, as I'd like advice from current med school students too to see what they think. And sorry for the wall of text lol, just wanting to give you all my information and hopefully get some good advice.

Hey everyone, I'm a junior at UCF. I'm in an accelerated 7 year (3+4) medical program between UCF-USF. I got the MCAT score I needed to matriculate to USF's medical school (needed a 30 or greater, got a 31; 11/10/10). As long as I keep my GPA above a 3.7 this year (I have a 3.92), I'll be accepted into USF's medical school next year (the missing credits I have won't matter as my degree would be conferred after my 1st year at USF). However, I have the option to decelerate and stay for my 4th year at UCF, and I would only have 5 classes left overall to take for my senior year and my acceptance would still be valid at USF following my hypothetical 4th year if my GPA again stayed above a 3.7.

The deadline to tell my advisor for the program whether I'm starting med school next year or staying one more year is in 2 days. I've thought about it a lot, and I started to learn towards starting at USF next year but then I realized I was only thinking that because my parents and relatives/doctor friends have been telling me "just to get it over with" and to "save money in the long run". These are valid points, but then again I think staying one extra year would allow me to not be burnt out and even take a few fun, unique "college" classes I haven't had the chance to take since I've been pigeon-holed into being a Molecular Biology & Microbiology major by my program. I've taken pretty much 3 science classes and a couple labs every semester and a gen ed. Therefore, I'm wondering if you all could give me any advice or input on my current situation. I know it is a good problem to have, and I'm not trying to gloat or sound like I have a huge dilemma...I just want to know if it's worth sacrificing a year of your youth to start medical school early. I don't know what I want to specialize in yet, so I can't totally factor in the years an intensive one would take into my decision.

As for what I would be planning to do if I stayed an extra year:
-Take 1 class in the summer, then 4 in the fall and have the spring semester off to study abroad or volunteer/take chill classes
-Possibly apply elsewhere, but I'm truly fine with going to USF as it's in a great location for me (only 2 hours away from home) and their integrated curriculum/pass-fail system seems ideal and not cut-throat at all to me.

Any advice/anecdots/opinions are more than welcome! Thank you.

 

[DoctwoB]

*Note, I'm reposting this from the pre-med forum, as I'd like advice from current med school students too to see what they think. And sorry for the wall of text lol, just wanting to give you all my information and hopefully get some good advice.

Hey everyone, I'm a junior at UCF in orlando. I'm in an accelerated 7 year (3+4) medical program between UCF-USF. I got the MCAT score I needed to matriculate to USF's medical school (needed a 30 or greater, got a 31; 11/10/10). As long as I keep my GPA above a 3.7 this year (I have a 3.92), I'll be accepted into USF's medical school next year (the missing credits I have won't matter as my degree would be conferred after my 1st year at USF). However, I have the option to decelerate and stay for my 4th year at UCF, and I would only have 5 classes left overall to take for my senior year and my acceptance would still be valid at USF following my hypothetical 4th year if my GPA again stayed above a 3.7.

The deadline to tell my advisor for the program whether I'm starting med school next year or staying one more year is in 2 days. I've thought about it a lot, and I started to learn towards starting at USF next year but then I realized I was only thinking that because my parents and relatives/doctor friends have been telling me "just to get it over with" and to "save money in the long run". These are valid points, but then again I think staying one extra year would allow me to not be burnt out and even take a few fun, unique "college" classes I haven't had the chance to take since I've been pigeon-holed into being a Molecular Biology & Microbiology major by my program. I've taken pretty much 3 science classes and a couple labs every semester and a gen ed. Therefore, I'm wondering if you all could give me any advice or input on my current situation. I know it is a good problem to have, and I'm not trying to gloat or sound like I have a huge dilemma...I just want to know if it's worth sacrificing a year of your youth to start medical school early. I don't know what I want to specialize in yet, so I can't totally factor in the years an intensive one would take into my decision.

As for what I would be planning to do if I stayed an extra year:
-Take 1 class in the summer, then 4 in the fall and have the spring semester off to study abroad or volunteer/take chill classes
-Possibly apply elsewhere, but I'm truly fine with going to USF as it's in a great location for me (only 2 hours away from home) and their integrated curriculum/pass-fail system seems ideal and not cut-throat at all to me.

Any advice/anecdots/opinions are more than welcome! Thank you.

Save the 50k and go to medschool next year. Take some of that money and enjoy the hell out of this summer.

 

[maninthemirror]

6 year BS/MD here. So keep in mind that I may be biased on "moving ahead".

I say go for med school. Unless you're actually really tired/stressed from undergrad, there is no reason to let a perfectly good year go to waste. In fact, I think the good thing about an accelerated program is that you DON'T get burned out. You don't kill yourself in undergrad, don't go through the hectic admissions process, and make your way to med school. And despite what everyone says about med school being tough, hard, lot of memorization (mostly true), the stuff you learn is SO interesting/challenging. I never got that feeling in undergrad, where the classes (even the bio ones) focused on memorizing tiny details that aren't really important. One thing though is that I did study abroad for one semester in undergrad. So unless you really want a good study abroad experience, have a burning desire to try something new (climb a mountain/work in an African village kinda thing), just go to med school.

PM me if you want any other advice/help.

 

[Siverhideo1985]

Most importantly, do you feel ready to go to med school?

Also, are you concerned about debt?

 

[xanthomondo]

Yeah there's good arguments on either side. Financial advantage is one huge factor to consider. But maybe it is my small n, but I've seen that a lot of the accelerated BS/MD people tend to be immature and act very entitled when they hit medical school. Maybe this is confounded by the high proportion of BS/MDers having physicians in the family, who knows.

But it really is up to how you are feeling. Do you need a year to explore life or are you just trying to rush through the process as fast as you can? When you're 40 you're not going to be thinking "gee, I'm sure glad I was able to finish my residency at the age of 28 vs 29" but you might be happy if you slowed down and created some memories while you are still young.

 

[swamprat]

I would advise to go on to medical school.. an extra years tuition is not worth it.. i dont rlly get it, isnt it the point to get your degree and move on? Not take your sweet as* time.. because in general your college degree is a means to an end. Anyway I will say a few things against the idea.. but at the same time idk how much 1 year difference will have as I think med school would mature you up moreso than taking an extra year in college drinking and hanging out or w.e. you end up doing.. a lot of the 7 years from wat i have heard don't do as well for whatever reason? Some people say its cause they never had that app cycle stress and the mcat score cut offs arent as rigorous as those in the regular cycle so like a previous poster said they feel entitled and don't appreciate the fact that most people don't get in. This is in contrast to a few of my friends who took 2 or more app cycles to get in and are very aware of the "privelege" to b there. That could all just bs and it really varies by person obviously. Moral of the story is go to medical school and move on with your life.. if anything if your interested in a very competitive specialty and you want to take a year off for research you won't feel as bad because your alrdy accelerated and most of us are on the 8 year track.

 

[Morsetlis]

I would advise to go on to medical school.. an extra years tuition is not worth it.. i dont rlly get it, isnt it the point to get your degree and move on? Not take your sweet as* time.. because in general your college degree is a means to an end. Anyway I will say a few things against the idea.. but at the same time idk how much 1 year difference will have as I think med school would mature you up moreso than taking an extra year in college drinking and hanging out or w.e. you end up doing.. a lot of the 7 years from wat i have heard don't do as well for whatever reason? Some people say its cause they never had that app cycle stress and the mcat score cut offs arent as rigorous as those in the regular cycle so like a previous poster said they feel entitled and don't appreciate the fact that most people don't get in. This is in contrast to a few of my friends who took 2 or more app cycles to get in and are very aware of the "privelege" to b there. That could all just bs and it really varies by person obviously. Moral of the story is go to medical school and move on with your life.. if anything if your interested in a very competitive specialty and you want to take a year off for research you won't feel as bad because your alrdy accelerated and most of us are on the 8 year track.

Perhaps not all people share this philosophy.

It is good that you all exposed him to different opinions, though.

 

[medstud87]

If you have instate and tuition is less than 3k per semester, I'd say do it. Perhaps get a job.

 

[OneTyme]

Keep this in mind.... Even if you do the lowest paying specialty, you will still be loosing out on about $150,000 by starting med school one year later and thus your career one year later.

I'm not saying that money is everything but it is SOMETHING. That 150k you make by starting your career a year earlier could pay for a lot of stuff sayyyyy..... Your entire medical education maybe.

Just think about it, I know carrying on without a break sucks but you will be incredibly thankful when you are 150k richer 7 years down the road.

 

[deleted248403]

I say decelerate. I raced through my undergrad and then worked for a few years before returning to med school.

I wish I hadn't skipped my 4th yr of undergrad to graduate; everyone else was having fun and I was working.

Life isn't a race, if you decelerate - make sure you enjoy the year you've reclaimed. Med school will always be there.

 

[45408]

Keep this in mind.... Even if you do the lowest paying specialty, you will still be loosing out on about $150,000 by starting med school one year later and thus your career one year later.

I'm not saying that money is everything but it is SOMETHING. That 150k you make by starting your career a year earlier could pay for a lot of stuff sayyyyy..... Your entire medical education maybe.

Just think about it, I know carrying on without a break sucks but you will be incredibly thankful when you are 150k richer 7 years down the road.

That's not how it works. It's not like he's just throwing away $150K. You have to take out taxes, increased expenses at that stage of life, loan repayments, life/health/car insurance, blah blah blah.

I say take the year off. As a guy who blasted through college, med school and right into residency, I wish I'd had some more time to smell the roses. Get a job doing something you kind of like, go on a sweet vacation to Europe or something, spend time with friends, etc.

Everybody complains about throwing away your 20s for this career - and there's plenty of validity to that - so reclaim some of it.

 

[neelyboy]

Thanks everyone for the replies. I have until tomorrow now and I still don't know what to do! I think my dad would be extremely disappointed if I didn't start this upcoming year, and I actually am lucky enough that my parents have enough money to likely pay for most if not all of my medical school tuition. Therefore, I'm thinking I should just be grateful and start now. I'm pretty sure he'd "accept" that I wanted to wait another year but I don't think he'd be happy.

I don't really have a burning desire to do a ton of research or apply elsewhere, but I am interested in studying abroad or, as I said, taking it easy for my last year before transitioning in. Then again, I still have this upcoming winter break and summer if I were to start next year.

This is a hard decision :/

 

[Dharma]

Dude, this may not be the best place to ask this question. Seriously, SDN is loaded with a lot of neurotic, tight-wads who make statements like "you'll be losing one year of salary" (which is a load of garbage). What you need to do is stop analyzing and simply ask yourself what YOU really want... and be completely honest with yourself and then make the decision. You already know what you have to do. So do it.

That said, don't let fear play a factor in your decision. Reading your initial post, I think it is obvious what you really want to do. You just have to figure it out yourself and then find the balls to do it...

 

[OneTyme]

That's not how it works. It's not like he's just throwing away $150K. You have to take out taxes, increased expenses at that stage of life, loan repayments, life/health/car insurance, blah blah blah.

I say take the year off. As a guy who blasted through college, med school and right into residency, I wish I'd had some more time to smell the roses. Get a job doing something you kind of like, go on a sweet vacation to Europe or something, spend time with friends, etc.

Everybody complains about throwing away your 20s for this career - and there's plenty of validity to that - so reclaim some of it.

Well obviously it's not like he is lighting 150k on fire and then flushing it down a toilet full of gasoline. (Although that would be awesome to watch.) But, there is something to be said for having an extra year's worth of earning potential during your life.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a neurological basket case that is totally way over amped and solely focused on 'coming out on top'. It's important to balance out living life well and working. I was just hoping to make sure the OP balances out both since having a good financial perspective is hard to do as an unemployed undergraduate.

 

[OneTyme]

Thanks everyone for the replies. I have until tomorrow now and I still don't know what to do! I think my dad would be extremely disappointed if I didn't start this upcoming year, and I actually am lucky enough that my parents have enough money to likely pay for most if not all of my medical school tuition. Therefore, I'm thinking I should just be grateful and start now. I'm pretty sure he'd "accept" that I wanted to wait another year but I don't think he'd be happy.

I don't really have a burning desire to do a ton of research or apply elsewhere, but I am interested in studying abroad or, as I said, taking it easy for my last year before transitioning in. Then again, I still have this upcoming winter break and summer if I were to start next year.

This is a hard decision :/

If you do start next fall, do something EPIC over the summer.

I rode my bike from Canada to Mexico. It was totally worth it and it made me waaaayyyyy refreshed for taking on first year.

 

[Ras Tafari]

Although, ultimately, what you read on hear won't really make the decision for you, I personally encourage taking that extra year. I took a few years off between undergrad and med school and am happy I did it. The one regret I do have, however, is not studying abroad when I had the chance. It came down to a choice between graduating on time or studying in Argentina and graduating a semester late. I picked the former and then decided to take time off anyway. Studying abroad for a semester or year is an amazing experience that I think everyone should take advantage of given the opportunity.

Whatever you do though, just enjoy what you're doing and you'll have made the right decision.

 

[Jolie South]

This thread is cross-posted in Pre-Allo. Closing. Users can respond here.