does it look bad if you take a light courseload every year?

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Do you think med schools will think your taking the easy way out if you take 12-13 credits a semester and then make up for it by taking a class or two in the summer?

 

[leechy]

Do you think med schools will think your taking the easy way out if you take 12-13 credits a semester and then make up for it by taking a class or two in the summer?

Nawww, I did the same and so far it hasn't seemed to matter to adcoms. I'm kind of lazy, so I took fewer courses but focused on doing well in those courses.

 

[leechy]

Wanted to add: I think one of the worst pre-med mistakes you can make is biting off more than you can chew. I know people who deliberately loaded up on courses and took the more difficult options to fulfill pre-reqs, all to "look good" when applying. My advice is, do what you can to make your life easier, and rock the courses you do take.

 

[schoolgirl]

-

 

[MEG@COOL]

Good job keeping it gay. Many get gay, but decide not to keep it. My girlfriend was a lesbian at one point.

 

[ajnak182]

Good job keeping it gay. Many get gay, but decide not to keep it. My girlfriend was a lesbian at one point.

Goddammit, choke yourself for this post!

 

[45408]

Do you think med schools will think your taking the easy way out if you take 12-13 credits a semester and then make up for it by taking a class or two in the summer?

They might wonder if you'll be able to hack it in med school. why so few credits?

It is better than taking too much and failing, but this approach may take a while to graduate.

 

[fairy]

Good job keeping it gay. Many get gay, but decide not to keep it. My girlfriend was a lesbian at one point.

what? wrong thread maybe....

 

[superdevil]

what? wrong thread maybe....

if you read under the OP's name, it says "keepin' it gay". it was a joke. i don't think anybody got it.

 

[CanIMakeIt]

Wanted to add: I think one of the worst pre-med mistakes you can make is biting off more than you can chew. I know people who deliberately loaded up on courses and took the more difficult options to fulfill pre-reqs, all to "look good" when applying. My advice is, do what you can to make your life easier, and rock the courses you do take.

i second that......don't take more than you can handle just to "look good"......

 

[superdevil]

i second that......don't take more than you can handle just to "look good"......

i third that! come to think of it, i wouldn't even be surprised if some adcoms just ignore your transcript altogether if your grades are good. i know some at my school only look at specific classes you've taken in each term if you had a disaster-term (i.e., straight-C's or worse). i was never asked about any classes i've taken or why i chose to take so many credits in quarter-X in any of my interviews.

oh well.

 

[AsianDoc816]

i third that! come to think of it, i wouldn't even be surprised if some adcoms just ignore your transcript altogether if your grades are good. i know some at my school only look at specific classes you've taken in each term if you had a disaster-term (i.e., straight-C's or worse). i was never asked about any classes i've taken or why i chose to take so many credits in quarter-X in any of my interviews.

oh well.

Uh...and I fourth that. I took 13-15 hours every semester, while most of the pre-meds at my school take 17-18. However, I also worked, volunteered, and was involved in a number of school organizations while taking classes. I think balance is better than making yourself sick being an ESS (eat, sleep, study) student. Unfortunately, some schools only look at GPA (and MCAT) for screening purposes; they're not going to rationalize that your 3.4 would have been a 4.0 if you took one less class per semester.

 

[Psycho Doctor]

Nawww, I did the same and so far it hasn't seemed to matter to adcoms. I'm kind of lazy, so I took fewer courses but focused on doing well in those courses.

are you serious? so my 18-22 credits a semester won't help me at all?

 

[Pinkertinkle]

Don't worry, if it comes down to the GPAs of two candidates, and those gpas are close or equal, they'll favor the guy with the heavier courseload. However, if you have below a 3.4 or so and took a lot of courses, it'll look more like bad planning and overestimation of one's own abilities to be taking 18+ unit/hours/whatever.

 

[Psycho Doctor]

Don't worry, if it comes down to the GPAs of two candidates, and those gpas are close or equal, they'll favor the guy with the heavier courseload. However, if you have below a 3.4 or so and took a lot of courses, it'll look more like bad planning and overestimation of one's own abilities to be taking 18+ unit/hours/whatever.

and it's not below a 3.4, and the reason i actually took such a heavy courseload is i was an engineering major and switched to neurobiology and needed to get in extra classes

 

[Pinkertinkle]

and it's not below a 3.4, and the reason i actually took such a heavy courseload is i was an engineering major and switched to neurobiology and needed to get in extra classes

You should have no problem, and having a heavy courseload and a decent gpa definitely will help.

 

[Neuronix]

Nobody will notice your courseload except maybe in the final decision making steps (post-interview) when they're trying to decide between applicants. This means it hardly matters. I did exactly what the op is asking about (light courseloads with winter and summer work) and I did just fine. I hate to break it to those of you with insane courseloads, but it probably won't matter unless you graduated in 3 years, got 3 degrees, took the extra time to do stuff, or did something else really noticeable.

You all have to remember, adcoms have a ton of applications to make decisions on. The coursework variations (credits per class, course difficulty, major difficulty, etc) between schools are huge, so they just use that GPA as their indicator. They don't have time to sort out minor parts of your app like courseload.

 

[Psycho Doctor]

Nobody will notice your courseload except maybe in the final decision making steps (post-interview) when they're trying to decide between applicants. This means it hardly matters. I did exactly what the op is asking about (light courseloads with winter and summer work) and I did just fine. I hate to break it to those of you with insane courseloads, but it probably won't matter unless you graduated in 3 years, got 3 degrees, took the extra time to do stuff, or did something else really noticeable.

oh well...at least i learned valuable information in the process including how to exist on 10 hours of sleep in a week; i'm sure it will come in handy when i'm resident on call

 

[Neuronix]

Resident? Hah, they have 80 hour work week rules. Those don't apply to medical students 🙂

 

[ElKapitan]

Not to toot my own horn, I had about a 20 credit hour average per semester. I believe they will not consider the fact that I overloaded and I'm annoyed about that. Do you think that you could bring it up in an interview, like ask, "Do you take course load into acount during the admissions process". What do you guys think, too presumptious?

 

[kylahs]

Not to toot my own horn, I had about a 20 credit hour average per semester. I believe they will not consider the fact that I overloaded and I'm annoyed about that. Do you think that you could bring it up in an interview, like ask, "Do you take course load into acount during the admissions process". What do you guys think, too presumptious?

in my PS i asked the adcom to please take into account my course load before snickering at my relatively low GPA. i think u should bring it up during the interview only if you GPA is < 3.4. but in any case, if your ECs are lacking, that is, if your course load precluded you from having ECs, then you shouldnt feel proud that u were able to handle 20 credits average/semester

 

[Psycho Doctor]

Resident? Hah, they have 80 hour work week rules. Those don't apply to medical students 🙂

well yea that's why i said resident; i figured they got no sleep (like 10 hrs a week); i assume a med student gets minimal sleep (maybe 4 hrs a day)

 

[Psycho Doctor]

Not to toot my own horn, I had about a 20 credit hour average per semester. I believe they will not consider the fact that I overloaded and I'm annoyed about that. Do you think that you could bring it up in an interview, like ask, "Do you take course load into acount during the admissions process". What do you guys think, too presumptious?

i think it sounds presumptuous but that's just me; i don't intend on mentioning it and i had many semesters with heavy courseloads and plenty of ECs and volunteer work at the same time, not to mention personal issues i had to deal with. i'm just hoping it speaks for itself or it comes up in general conversation on the interview (eek, what interview??) without having to force the issue.

 

[shawty ya'head]

i had a hardcore set of majors;
bioengineering
electrical engineering
and a couple minors

took an ish load of classes per semester...

140+ something hours on AMCAS overall for my coursework..

ANYWAY, i've only had 1 interview so far since i took the august mcat and they def commented on that and how they were impressed.
so taking a heavy courseload can work to its benefits..

but i must say, it has to be an eye opener...

-A

 

[kylahs]

i had a hardcore set of majors;
bioengineering
electrical engineering
and a couple minors

took an ish load of classes per semester...

140+ something hours on AMCAS overall for my coursework..

ANYWAY, i've only had 1 interview so far since i took the august mcat and they def commented on that and how they were impressed.
so taking a heavy courseload can work to its benefits..

but i must say, it has to be an eye opener...

-A

your minors must have been outside science, right?

 

[RustNeverSleeps]

Do you think med schools will think your taking the easy way out if you take 12-13 credits a semester and then make up for it by taking a class or two in the summer?

I think that should be fine. I never really loaded up on credits -- my max was around 17-18, and I had 12-14 credits several semesters (never did summer school). However, you may want to take a fair number of challenging courses -- ex. some graduate level courses -- so that it doesn't look like you are slacking. That is basically what I did, and I was never questioned about the semesters when I had a light courseload.

 

[leechy]

are you serious? so my 18-22 credits a semester won't help me at all?

You would be seriously angry if you knew how few courses i took

But, I'm sure adcoms value your high course load too... it's all good. 👍

 

[Psycho Doctor]

You would be seriously angry if you knew how few courses i took

But, I'm sure adcoms value your high course load too... it's all good. 👍

why should i be angry? i don't really regret what i did. how many credits did you take?

 

[Iwy Em Hotep]

I'll put in my two cents for this thread.

When I went to interview, one of my interviewers (at my top choice school) did remark that I had a very tough courseload and that he was impressed at how I had accomplished it all so quickly. I was a double major in computer science and neurobiology, and I finished it in 4 years.

However, the topic quickly got off of my sheer courseload, and went onto the breadth of classes that I had taken. My interviewer was particularly interested in my hieroglyphics class and we talked for several minutes about that.

The gist of all this is: Sheer number of credits will not impress anybody. Take a lot of diverse classes - they'll make you more interesting and will be good for you in the long run.

 

[SanDiegoSOD]

My thoughts: a medium to light courseload with many accomplishments outside of school is better than a heavy courseload with few accomplishements outside of of school.

 

[pillowhead]

However, the topic quickly got off of my sheer courseload, and went onto the breadth of classes that I had taken. My interviewer was particularly interested in my hieroglyphics class and we talked for several minutes about that.

BINGO!! My interviewers way back when (I'm an M2) were far more impressed by my history minor and asked me way more questions aobut my Nuclear Age, Logic, and Cog. Psych courses than any of my science major courses. And if you're interested in Phi Beta Kappa at all (truly the only undergrad honors society anyone really cares much about--let's face it, you're all probably Golden Key if you're applying to med school), then remember that it's breadth of courses that matter.

 

[Psycho Doctor]

I'll put in my two cents for this thread.

When I went to interview, one of my interviewers (at my top choice school) did remark that I had a very tough courseload and that he was impressed at how I had accomplished it all so quickly. I was a double major in computer science and neurobiology, and I finished it in 4 years.

However, the topic quickly got off of my sheer courseload, and went onto the breadth of classes that I had taken. My interviewer was particularly interested in my hieroglyphics class and we talked for several minutes about that.

The gist of all this is: Sheer number of credits will not impress anybody. Take a lot of diverse classes - they'll make you more interesting and will be good for you in the long run.

that's what i would hope and expect....not sure if mine lives up to it. i have two years worth of engineering classes, then i was a neurobiology major, but i have a few diverse classes thrown in there involving creative writing, astronomy, religion, etc.