Dropping a class vs. MCAT prep

[Suzanna]

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Hello Everyone,

I am sure your heard it before but I need your opinion on this, since I do not know what to do. I heard too many conflicting opinions and I want to see what you guys think.
This coming semster, I want to take 3 classes (Physiology 4hrs, Law 3hrs, and Cell bio 7hrs). Total 11.5 credits. However, I also want to take the MCAT in April.

Thus, my question is...should I drop cell bio in order to prepare better for the MCAT?
Do any of you know how would med schools look at this? Do you guys think that if I get a good MCAT score, but took only 2 classes, will it look bad?

P.S. I am volunteering 4hr/week and I want to do some more shadowing. If I drop cell bio, I will only have classes on Mon and Wed.

Let me know what you all thin and thank you all your help!

 

[MedPR]

Hello Everyone,

I am sure your heard it before but I need your opinion on this, since I do not know what to do. I heard too many conflicting opinions and I want to see what you guys think.
This coming semster, I want to take 3 classes (Physiology 4hrs, Law 3hrs, and Cell bio 7hrs). Total 11.5 credits. However, I also want to take the MCAT in April.

Thus, my question is...should I drop cell bio in order to prepare better for the MCAT?
Do any of you know how would med schools look at this? Do you guys think that if I get a good MCAT score, but took only 2 classes, will it look bad?

P.S. I am volunteering 4hr/week and I want to do some more shadowing. If I drop cell bio, I will only have classes on Mon and Wed.

Let me know what you all thin and thank you all your help!

Cell bio will help for MCAT. Drop Law if you're going to drop anything.

 

[Doctor Strange]

The questions I have for you are 1) do you need to stay a full time student? and 2) do you think you can handle three classes and MCAT prep?

We don't know enough about you to judge for you, but these are the questions you should be asking yourself. I studied for the MCAT on top of nineteen credits and did pretty decent. It's all about knowing yourself and managing your time wisely.

 

[Spinach Dip]

Cell Bio and Physiology are very helpful for MCAT preparation. You shouldn't drop either of them unless you really need to.

 

[Suzanna]

I can't drop law, that's the problem :/

I am not sure if I can handle MCAT prep, 3 classes, volunteering and shadowing. Physio is VERY hard in my school...some student who took it said that if she were to take it again she would not take any other class with it (and she is an A student!)
No, I do not need to be full time. I can catch up with my 2 last classes in summer.

 

[NuttyEngDude]

take a class on dance or something physical. get to relieve stress AND have credits too. and i cant believe your cell bio is 7 credit hours??

edit: something's not adding up for me lol

 

[bob99]

It wont look terrible, and provided that you have a solid gpa and have taken a fairly rigorous schedule up until now it wont matter. The two most important things are your mcat and GPA and if you can do a point or 2 better by spending more time studying then for sure dump the class. I can't personally tell you if cell bio is that helpful because i took the mcat without taking anything besides the basic 4 sciences (non science major), but whatever you will gain by it will be offset by the lost studying time. Save yourself the stress and dont take the class, but make sure you have good solid mcat review material, and if you can a good review course. The difference between a 31 and 33 is huge and taking one fairly easy semester wont really make that much of a difference. Also maybe you should dump physiology instead of cell bio.

 

[487806]

I can't drop law, that's the problem :/

I am not sure if I can handle MCAT prep, 3 classes, volunteering and shadowing. Physio is VERY hard in my school...some student who took it said that if she were to take it again she would not take any other class with it (and she is an A student!)
No, I do not need to be full time. I can catch up with my 2 last classes in summer.

Then drop physio....

 

[Wait For It]

OP, when do you plan to take your MCAT?

I took my MCAT during the spring semester of my junior year in April. I was thinking about taking 4 classes including a very time consuming physics class during that semester but thankfully decided to drop the physics class and ended up only taking 3 classes (I had more pass/fail credits that put me well over the credits to be full time.). I believe taking that class definitely would've hindered my ability to effectively study for my MCAT.

However, I believe going part time would likely look bad and I don't believe MCAT is enough reason to take so few credits [This is similar to the situation that people who take the summer off to study MCATs and do nothing else - this looks bad]. I don't really believe that you will necessarily need the cell bio for the MCAT so I would look into possibly taking other courses (maybe other graduation requirements that are easier than that physiology class) in order to stay a full time student but also not be too stressful that it prevents you from studying effectively. You can also look into lowering or dropping some of your other commitments (maybe hours in volunteering) and you should definitely NOT be looking to ADD to your commitments (however tempting it might be).

 

[Hemorrage]

keep your courses. Theres no reason why you can't do MCAT and those classes at the same time. 11.5 credits isn't that big of a deal