Early Graduation

[ttwil117]

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Hi guys,
Thanks for taking the time to read this. I'm a freshman in college and I just found out today that I'm in a situation where I can graduate early (3 years instead of 4) if I take classes over 2 summers. I've thought about this and it seems like something I want to do because:
Pros:
-Cheaper
-Can get easy classes out of the way so I can focus on harder ones during the school year, or vice versa
- If needed, I could take a gap year and improve my application (MCAT, ECs, grades if needed)

However,
Cons:
-It's summer
-Accelerated classes, meaning it's the same material covered during a normal semester in half the time

To me the pros outweigh the cons, but I have a question: would it be frowned upon if I took hard courses during the summer of my sophomore year so I had an easy junior year and could focus on studying for the MCAT better?
Also, any advice/recommendations/suggestions or anything else I should consider concerning scheduling classes would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

 

[deleted407021]

Admissions won't (as I know of) care when you take your classes, as long as you get it done before you matriculate. I can also graduate early but I decided to take the full 4 years and stack up on my ECs and take time to finish my research. I recommend doing the same but there are pros to early graduation, as you stated. Don't worry too much about the difficulty of summer courses, aside from not having summers off like you normally would.

 

[kyamh]

If money is a major concern for your family - definitely graduate early.

If money is not...absolutely do not graduate early.

1. College is fun, enjoy it
2. You have fewer years to build up your resume
3. Your summers will be taken up with classes that, typically, students don't do as well on because the material is condensed - as you mentioned.
4. Summers are perfect times for resume boosters like internships, vounteering, and research - you will be at a disadvantage compared to the other applicants because you won't have had the time to do these activities during the summers (seriously, my one college regret is that I went home and didn't do anything the summer after my first year - after that, each summer, wintersession, and spring break was packed.
5. You can (and often should) take a gap year even if you take 4 (or more) years for college.
6. Your academic experience will be somewhat worse because you won't have the luxury of taking the classes you want, you will have to jump on whatever courses are offered/open such that you can finish all your requirements.
7. You won't be able to study abroad (amazing experience!)
8... I can come up with more 🙂

Again, money is super important - consider your situation seriously - that said, also remember that you only get to live once and there is no reason to rush through life 🙂

 

[ttwil117]

Thanks for all your replies! I have a lot to consider! How would adcoms view this?

 

[Crymzon]

I would say it depends. If you're doing extracurriculars (shadowing, clinical volunteering, research, etc) for all 3 years (which would amount to a large number of hours), then you'd have 'competitive' experiences for a lot of mid/low tier schools. If you only plan on racking up experiences during certain times, then you'll be less competitive. Adcoms won't be forgiving of you not having a lot of experiences just because you've graduated in 3 years. You'll be expected to have the same amount of experiences.

In terms of age, they obviously look for maturity. I'm graduating early so I'm in the same boat as you and everyone I've talked to says that they don't filter you out because of age but they'll look more closely for signs of maturity and they'll also question your motives/decisions/etc.

That's just my two cents.

 

[snowflakes]

Thanks for all your replies! I have a lot to consider! How would adcoms view this?

Early graduation in itself will be viewed as neither a pro nor a con. Your experiences and maturity at time of application are what will count. You won't be given bonus points for finishing early, and will still be held to the same standards of competitiveness as other applicants. I wouldn't recommend applying at the end of your second year (to matriculate right after your early graduation) because then you will only have two years of college experiences on your application while you'll be competing against people with 3-4+ years of experiences. If you apply at the end of your third year, you'll be applying alongside people who apply without a gap year--with 3 years of experiences, so you won't be disadvantaged compared to them (as long as you're productive during your three years!). You will, however, need to show that you're doing something productive in the 4th year while you're applying to med schools. This will come up in secondary questions and during interviews.

 

[snowflakes]

4. Summers are perfect times for resume boosters like internships, vounteering, and research - you will be at a disadvantage compared to the other applicants because you won't have had the time to do these activities during the summers (seriously, my one college regret is that I went home and didn't do anything the summer after my first year - after that, each summer, wintersession, and spring break was packed.

Great point. Taking summer classes for both summers may place you at a disadvantage since summers present great opportunities to gain productive non-coursework experiences.

Also, have you thought about graduating 1 semester early (in 3.5 years?). This would be a good compromise if money is the issue. Plus, if you're an early applicant, it's very possible to finish all of your interviews/gain acceptances before you graduate in December, giving you a lot more freedom to enjoy your semester off without having to be as productive as you would have to be if you're not in school when you're interviewing.

 

[ttwil117]

Thanks for the advice snowflakes! I'll have to talk to my advisor about graduating in 3.5 years, that seems like a reasonable compromise to me. I never thought about how I would be competing against people with more experiences than me if I applied at the end of my second year either. Really good points, thanks!