G.P.A vs Credit hours, your opinion?

[Baylor2012]

Alright, so I am a bit apprehensive signing up for alot of hours because I fear that I may not be able to handle the load. To give you some perspective this is my situation:
1. Currently I'll be entering my second year of college with a 4.0 GPA
2. As of now I am signed up for 18 hours consisting of the following classes:
***The classes with ~ are heavy load and those with @ are light load.
~Organic Chemistry Honors(3 hours)
~Genetics(3 hours)
~Great Texts(3 hours)---a class required for honors college, we read plato, aristotle, beowulf....all that stuff.
@Arabic(4 hours)
@Sociology(3 hours)
@Research (1 hour)
@PE (1 hour)--fitness class which is required.


Now I'm not here to brag or anything, I just feel apprehensive taking so many hours just because I don't want to mess up my hard work. But do medical schools really care if I just take 15 hours vs 18 hours???
Please give me your honest opinion. Much thanks to you all.

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[Baylor2012]

Does doing research sort of give me an excuse to take a bit less? which would be in my favor...

 

[Poliscidoc]

It's whatever you think, I mean personally what I do is before the semester starts I sit down and map out classes and study times along with whatever else I have going on.. I mean everything (Sleep, meals, working out, class, study time, review time, and social life and parties and the such).. I mean I carry a 23 hour course load with 3 science lab classes a math lab, research class and Psych class, plus 16 hours of volunteer stuff. If you can budget your time and do the work then I would just take the 18..

But it's all up to you.. I mean your in a honors program so I would think that 15 v 18 credit hours is going to look like a big deal.. But make sure you take enough classes to where you are not take a full load in your senior year.. I made this mistake

 

[redlight]

do whatever is in your best interests. no one will care about 15vs18 credits.

if you want to push yourself and test your limits but think you are up for the challenge, i think you should go ahead and take 18.

if you are afraid it will run you over, you could always drop a course or so during the semester.

or, just take 15 from the beginning. i dont think it matters much at all.

 

[FlowRate]

After 4 semesters of 18 credits, I have to say...

MAN UP AND DO IT!

I've had plenty of free time most weeks of my semesters so far. I'll get back to you when I'm trying to do Thermo/PChem/12 more credits next spring.

 

[Baylor2012]

After 4 semesters of 18 credits, I have to say...

MAN UP AND DO IT!

I've had plenty of free time most weeks of my semesters so far. I'll get back to you when I'm trying to do Thermo/PChem/12 more credits next spring.

Alrighty, thanks for the advice anyways.

 

[Omni]

Just do it, dude.
Last semester I had 20 credits.
Orgo II with Lab (3+2)
Physics II with Lab (3+1)
Mammalian Physiology with Lab (3+1)
Differential Equations (4)
Management (3)

It's all about time management. When exams would come, I'd have 4-5 exams in just between 2 weeks, or less. I ended that semester with 1 B+ and the rest A's. After doing this, I'd say that your schedule would seem like cakewalk to me.

 

[oaklandguy]

I'm signed up for 26 credit hours in the Fall, 2 of which are research and 12 of which are an EMT-B course. I'm also going to volunteer 2 days a week at a hospital. I took 16 credits this summer too which wasn't bad at all.

18 is fine and think of it this way, I'm sure med school will be harder than 18 credits. Do what your heart desires, if you have to sacrifice a little bit socially for school then go for it. Just make sure you keep your priorities straight and Orgo and Genetics are your only super tough classes (don't know how hard that great texts class will be).

P.S. arabic class was the best class i've taken so far in college. We had a very inspired teacher and he took us to arabic restaurants and taught us about the culture. Awesome class. I took 2 semesters of it lol, and it was an easy 4.0, the prof told me he'd give me a 4.0 cause he liked me (I don't know why he liked me seeing how I only showed up to 8 class periods).

Good luck though bud.

 

[Druggernaut]

Alright, so I am a bit apprehensive signing up for alot of hours because I fear that I may not be able to handle the load. To give you some perspective this is my situation:

Now I'm not here to brag or anything, I just feel apprehensive taking so many hours just because I don't want to mess up my hard work. But do medical schools really care if I just take 15 hours vs 18 hours???
Please give me your honest opinion.

They won't care at all if you take 15 credits instead of 18. I don't really know why you'd take 15, anyays. 8 semesters at 15= 120 credits, the typically required amount for graduation.

They will, however, care if it hurts your GPA.

What else do you have going on? Do you work, and if so, how many hours? You need to take that kind of thing into account.

I stayed at 15 or more credits a semester through my junior year, and still keep at least 12 a semester to keep myself covered on my parents' insurance. I definately wonder if I should have carried a lighter credit load, as I've always worked 30-35 hours a semester and it has taken a toll on my GPA. We'll see if I get accepted anywhere next year.

If you've got little to nothing to gain from overloading, why do it?

 

[CopToEM]

I know some people can do this and maintain it but are you really learning anything? I mean, it's easy to study the necessities and leave a 15+ credit load semester with a bunch of A's but are you going to remember it when it's time to fall back on it for the MCAT and med school? That's what you really need to ask yourself.

The Pre-Med advisors at my school have all suggested, separately, that when I take the major Pre-Req's (orgo, phys, etc.) that I even consider taking a 7 or 10 credit semester so I can get the most out of it. Is it the quickest way from Point A (undergrad) to Point B (med school)? No. However, there's no sense in rushing through life, there's a lot left to live.

 

[Poliscidoc]

I know some people can do this and maintain it but are you really learning anything? I mean, it's easy to study the necessities and leave a 15+ credit load semester with a bunch of A's but are you going to remember it when it's time to fall back on it for the MCAT and med school? That's what you really need to ask yourself.

The Pre-Med advisors at my school have all suggested, separately, that when I take the major Pre-Req's (orgo, phys, etc.) that I even consider taking a 7 or 10 credit semester so I can get the most out of it. Is it the quickest way from Point A (undergrad) to Point B (med school)? No. However, there's no sense in rushing through life, there's a lot left to live.

If you keep notes and study for the MCAT you should be just fine. A 7 or 10 hour credit semester is a part time student at my school. I mean if you want to spend 5 or 6 years in udergrad then go ahead. But I am doing my undergrad in 4 and studying for the MCAT at the same time..

 

[planktonelement]

I'd say just give the 18 hours a try. My general philosophy with scheduling is that "it never hurts to try." Since you got a 4.0 your first year, you might be able to push yourself even more and still get the same results (or similar. I doubt you'll have a massive drop off to something like 2.5 or 3.0). If you don't get the grades you want, you can always scale back later on.

I'm a rising junior and one of the reasons I've tended toward higher course loads is so I can scale back my course load a lot as a senior. This way, I'll have much more time for applying to med school, work, relaxing with friends, etc. I don't think you should view getting less than 4.0 as "messing up all your work." That was in the past and now you should try to be even more spectacular in the future.

Full disclosure: People say I'm a very calm person (although I definitely do stress out about things) and my school doesn't have a uber competitive atmosphere (but it's top 25).

 

[yoz]

If i were u i would take only 15 credits, i think gpa is more important than credits and i think u will get better grades if you take 15 but thats just my opinion . I dont think taking 15 credits vs 18 is that much of a big deal as long as u can graduate when you want to. plus it would open up more time for extracurricular and friends. I dont know for me, i came in with a lot of ap credits so most of my semesters have been from 13-16 credits and i still only have like 14 and 12 credits for senior semesters. So i would look at it that way too

If you are going to take 18 tho i wouldnt take genetics and organic chem at the same time. It will be a lot of work and why bother with the stress if u can take it separate. Maybe switch with another science class or pre-med requirement.

 

[MacdaddyDaniels]

I know you have worked hard for that 4.0, but you don't need a 4.0 to get into Med School. The average at even the most selective schools like Johns Hopkins and harvard is about a 3.85. So keep that in mind that one B isn't gonna kill your chances.
As far as taking the extra class or not, remember if you only take 15 hours this semester you may have to make up the other hours by taking additional summer school or having another semester with cose to 20 credit hours. My advice is compare this workload to previous semester and pick what feels right. Remember if after a week or so you already feel like you are getting swamped you can probably drop one of your classes

 

[FuturaDocta]

Ask the upperclassmen at your school about the rigor. If they think it is doable, then by all means go for it. Otherwise, you don't want to put your GPA into turmoil. It is much easier to keep a good GPA than to dig yourself out of a crappy one.

 

[Baylor2012]

Ask the upperclassmen at your school about the rigor. If they think it is doable, then by all means go for it. Otherwise, you don't want to put your GPA into turmoil. It is much easier to keep a good GPA than to dig yourself out of a crappy one.

Thanks you guys, I'll definitely take your comments into consideration. Talk about a supportive community on SDN. Thanks. 😉

 

[zayka]

I think you can definitely do it if you work hard! I took 18-20 credit hours every semester (not for "fun" - my program requires it), so it's possible to do well with that course load.

 

[YH5]

I'm a senior at Baylor, but i'm not sure how much I can help.

My advice is always to take less hours (have some fun in college!). But if you are going to eventually need to have a semester with lots of hours, your classes aren't going to get any easier and you don't magically become smarter when your classification changes. I've left too many hours for my senior year. 🙄

Its not the end of the world if you get a B either, it's just bleaker and resembles the setting in Cormac McCarthy's The Road.

 

[Chemdude]

OP:

This is pretty off topic, but are you Arab? Haha, I've noticed that 90% of people that take Arabic are Arabs. 😀