Full load during interviews.

[nabeel76]

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Optimistically assuming that I get a fair number of interviews, for the sake of argument lets say approx 6, how busy will I be during the fall Semester? I plan on applying to approx 25-30 schools but am hoping to have all of my secondaries complete by late August to early September (July MCAT). Assuming that the majority of my secondaries are complete by the start of the fall semester how busy will the process of interviewing, preparing for interviews, etc. keep me? Will this process make my semester hard to manage?

In my situation I only need to complete 1 course (Biochem II - 3 credits) and 1 laboratory (PChem lab -2 credits) to complete a 2nd degree in Chemistry. Due to personal interest however, I plan on taking a 6 credit intensive spanish course in addition to industrial biochemistry (3 credits) and 2 credits of undergraduate research in chemistry during the fall semester for a total of 16 credits.

 

[GoSpursGo]

I don't recommend it... I had 9 interviews on 15 hours, with 2 science lectures (Molec Bio, 3 hrs, Intro to Modern Physics (an upper division class), 3 hrs) and 2 labs (Molec Bio, 1 hr, Biochem, 2 hrs), and 6 other non-science hours, and I was pretty much completely burned out by the end of the semester--i.e. I averaged 4 hours of sleep for November.

I mean, I really enjoyed those classes, but it was just almost too much for me to handle when I'd missed 9 days of class. Obviously I made it through, but if you don't have to I wouldn't, and I wouldn't do it again--considering how I'm not going to see my college friends again for a while, I wish I could've spent some more time making some memories with them rather than studying.

 

[nabeel76]

Yeah, I had a feeling that it might be too much. I really want to take the spanish course, that's a language I'd really like to learn. Maybe I will drop the industrial biochem, which also seems pretty cool but oh well, and the research. That will bring me to 11 credits which could be more managable if I do get fortunate enough to have a good number of interviews.

 

[GoSpursGo]

👍

I mean, everyone's different; I'm sure some people would be able to handle that load better than me, and if you think that's you, then go for it. But I was seriously sweating that I might get a D in Molecular, which would have jeopardized my acceptances. And let me tell you, it SUCKS to go into an interview exhausted because you had to stay up late the night before emailing off a paper at the last minute.

Any chance you could take some of those classes in the spring?

 

[nabeel76]

No unfortunately the industrial biochem course is rarely taught, I have never seen it on the schedule before. I am graduating in the fall so I am planning on working during the spring. The cool thing about the spanish course is that that course covers spanish 101 and 102 and I can take spanish 201 and 202 in the evenings after work in the spring semester to carry out that sequence. I can also take the upper level 300's and above in the summer prior to med school matriculation to really get a grasp on the language and who knows, maybe I might get an acceptance to a med school that will allow me to do a rotation in a south american country or something.

 

[Arzt67]

I'd recommend just taking it easy while you can - the application process can be pretty nerve wracking. My interviews were at pretty inconvenient times and it made keeping up with classes somewhat difficult. I had one interview that I could only get scheduled the day between two final exams in the fall (the med school being ~500 miles from my undergrad school)...it wasn't fun.

 

[riceman04]

I only took one class during this entire year and I still felt overwhelmed. I ended up going on around 16 interviews...so I was constantly traveling. I do not see how any full time student could manage to NOT fall behind in his/her classes.

 

[Carlin]

I took 14 credits and went on 8 interviews all during last semester. While I was busy, I didn't feel completely overwhelmed. I'd say you could probably manage 16 credits, but you may be doing a lot of your studying on airplanes as you fly back and forth from interviews.

 

[BlueElmo]

I'm going to take 19 units, with 7 units of humanities classes. Should I do them P/NP?
I'm taking Cell Bio lab, Immuno, and Stat as well.

 

[GoSpursGo]

I'm going to take 19 units, with 7 units of humanities classes. Should I do them P/NP?
I'm taking Cell Bio lab, Immuno, and Stat as well.

Yikes.

In my experience, taking classes P/NP doesn't really help; you always wind up neurotically working your butt off to make sure you pass. Do you HAVE to take all of those credits in order to graduate? I think you may find that you have some trouble with that.

 

[RoyBasch]

I did 10 interviews and full courseload all year. It was tough, but not all of the interviews were in the fall like I thought they would be, they were actually pretty evenly spaced out. Try to cluster them on Fridays/Mondays so you don't have to miss as much class.

Other advice, on the very first day of class, explain your situation to your professors, i.e. that you will periodically have to miss class for interviews, that the daters are dictated to you and there is very minimal flexibility. If the professor seems like he/she is taking the doosh bag "zero tolerance" policy towards missing class, it might be a good idea to drop that class for another one.

Telling the prof in advance that you may be missing class makes it easier when you actually do notify them that you will be missing class. Interviewing is stressful, but honestly it doesn't take up that much time, and you can still do a fair amount of homework on the airplane/in airports/in hotel rooms.

-Roy

 

[DoctorDeMan]

I did 10 interviews and full courseload all year. It was tough, but not all of the interviews were in the fall like I thought they would be, they were actually pretty evenly spaced out. Try to cluster them on Fridays/Mondays so you don't have to miss as much class.

Other advice, on the very first day of class, explain your situation to your professors, i.e. that you will periodically have to miss class for interviews, that the daters are dictated to you and there is very minimal flexibility. If the professor seems like he/she is taking the doosh bag "zero tolerance" policy towards missing class, it might be a good idea to drop that class for another one.

Telling the prof in advance that you may be missing class makes it easier when you actually do notify them that you will be missing class. Interviewing is stressful, but honestly it doesn't take up that much time, and you can still do a fair amount of homework on the airplane/in airports/in hotel rooms.

-Roy

I took 17 credits and did 8 interviews. Most were scheduled on Mondays or Fridays. It wasn't too bad, except for the week I had to fly out east on a Tuesday night, fly back Wednesday after the interview, go to a required lab Thursday morning... then turn around and fly east again right after lab Thursday just to come back Friday night. That week sucked.

If you have to do it, you'll make it work. Most professors were pretty accommodating and wanted me to succeed even if it meant missing their class.

 

[GoSpursGo]

I should also note that I made it work as well- I wound up with straight A's except for one B in Molec Bio. I'm just saying I had to work my butt off to make it happen, maybe moreso than I wanted.

 

[amph119]

Did anyone else read the title of this thread and think of something kinda funny, or is it just me?

 

[BJPENNSTATE]

Did anyone else read the title of this thread and think of something kinda funny, or is it just me?

you sick sick man...

 

[chemnerd89]

Did anyone else read the title of this thread and think of something kinda funny, or is it just me?

That's what I thought this thread was about. I was disappointed. I even had good advice...

 

[BlueElmo]

Yikes.

In my experience, taking classes P/NP doesn't really help; you always wind up neurotically working your butt off to make sure you pass. Do you HAVE to take all of those credits in order to graduate? I think you may find that you have some trouble with that.

I agree with P/NP Spurs. I get neruotic too, what I fail or something??

But I have no choice about 19 units. I have to graduate this fall...🙁

 

[BlueElmo]

Did anyone else read the title of this thread and think of something kinda funny, or is it just me?

It briefly entered my mind, yeah.

What would you do though, hypothetically speaking of course, when this happens during interview?

 

[GoSpursGo]

I agree with P/NP Spurs. I get neruotic too, what I fail or something??

But I have no choice about 19 units. I have to graduate this fall...🙁

What's the rush to graduate in the fall?

 

[BlueElmo]

What's the rush to graduate in the fall?

Because I'm sick of school and I want that entire spring and summer after I graudate to just chill and travel. Maybe get a job so I can earn some money.
I don't plan to stay in spring so I can take two more classes (it also means I don't have to shell out $6k).

 

[chemnerd89]

It briefly entered my mind, yeah.

What would you do though, hypothetically speaking of course, when this happens during interview?

Depending on the length of the interview, sometimes you just have to fight your way through it. It's best to take care of these things the night before.

 

[BlueElmo]

Depending on the length of the interview, sometimes you just have to fight your way through it. It's best to take care of these things the night before.

What if the interviewer is like Megan Fox-hot?😛

 

[efitzpat]

I didn't have a crazy number of interviews, and the ones I had were stretched over 2 semesters.

However, since the majority of my classes were upper division, many of the professors made their own disclaimer about going on med/grad school interviews. THey know it happens. I had to move a midterm once, but the professor was very accommodating. A few times I did have to show documentation to get the dates excused, especially if I was missing an assignment or the class had mandatory attendance.