Graduate in THREE years....Anything ELSE I SHOULD DO????

[GoSpursGo]

Really? I'm awesome, bro.

You have a picture of Bill Belichick as your avatar.

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[BlueElmo]

You have a picture of Bill Belichick as your avatar.

Hey, spurs, haven't talk to you in a while. Come visit 2014 thread sometimes, will you?

Poor Spurs, 3-1.

 

[GoSpursGo]

Hey, spurs, haven't talk to you in a while. Come visit 2014 thread sometimes, will you?

Poor Spurs, 3-1.

Haha, be careful what you wish for... ESPECIALLY if you're gonna go there...

 

[neil100]

I have to disagree with most posters who say it's not a good idea to graduate in 3 yrs. and apply.

What are you going to miss? Being worst than a russian alcoholic, crazy sleepovers with strange girls, blah blah blah. I really don't see how this is suppose to be "fun"?!?!
That is what you all are talking about when you say that missing college life can be a bad thing.

Why in the heck would you want to waste your money to get a piece of paper with a BS degree which is basically useless. Logically, you would want to get that stuff out of the way first. You can always do more clinical work, research, medical missions, etc. if you don't get in the first time. There really isn't any problem with this at all.
By graduating after the usual 4 yrs. and then having to take 2-3 yrs. off is frankly a waste of your time. Because you will never get that time back. Ever.

Plus, the whole marriage issue is different for different people. Especially for people who aren't from this part of the world. You will find the time to socialize if you are a smart thinker and manage your time wisely. Trust me, I have seen this happen.
There is no such thing as missing life because that college "life" that will be missed isn't anything to be cherished or to be proud of when you have to share your college experiences with your children.

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~So the idea here is that you want to be doing everything possible to increase your chances of getting into a med school but at the same time start ASAP. No need for silly breaks just because when you aren't doing something that would be useful in your med school app.

 

[Brent8927]

What are you going to miss? Being worst than a russian alcoholic, crazy sleepovers with strange girls, blah blah blah. I really don't see how this is suppose to be "fun"?!?!
That is what you all are talking about when you say that missing college life can be a bad thing.

...Why in the heck would you want to waste your money to get a piece of paper with a BS degree which is basically useless. Logically, you would want to get that stuff out of the way first. You can always do more clinical work, research, medical missions, etc. if you don't get in the first time. There really isn't any problem with this at all.
By graduating after the usual 4 yrs. and then having to take 2-3 yrs. off is frankly a waste of your time. Because you will never get that time back. Ever.

Everyone has their own experience in college, but generally the highlight isn't related to Russian Alcoholics or crazy sleepovers. I may be labeling myself as a geek/loser but I didn't drink or have sleepovers. I enjoyed my faith-based retreats, putting on a senior art show, and working on my senior project, which included traveling around CA for the whole summer. I enjoyed being able to put extra time into each of my classes because I wasn't overburdened, and enjoyed learning for the sake of learning. And I enjoyed rewriting my art history term paper the day before it was due because when I showed it to my professor, he said my rough draft was too much of a book report. I rewrote it overnight and received the highest grade in the class--my professor was incredibly proud of me (and even more impressed). Yes--I made a huge mistake there--but gosh I enjoyed fixing it!

College is about intramural sports, attending games, hanging out and playing cards with your buddies late at night in the dorms, discussing politics with those same buddies, yelling at the fratboys who pull the fire-alarm on your 11-story freshman dormitory at 3Am, and chatting with your physics professor about the "Great Breast of Knowlege" prank he pulled at MIT. It's about just hanging out in the sun (at least in CA!) and pretending to study, while you really watch the girls walk by.

I really enjoyed chatting with my professors. I got to know 80% of them well enough to ask for an LOR, and the ones I did ask for LORs from I knew for 3-4 years, and visited them at least weekly, just to chat. My primary mentor/advisor, who I knew the longest (the whole 4 years) was a math professor--we never chatted about math. It was always about art, politics, history, architecture, or the fact his library seemingly really did hold up the building he worked in--his office looked like it could be in a Harry Potter movie.

With all the other professors who weren't advisors/mentors, I would just chat about what inspired them to chose their discipline and teach, or how they met their spouse. I had a study group with one of my professors, and together with two friends we just hung out. I met an engineering professor whose basis for becoming a structural engineer was because of how many people died in the Mexico City earthquake--he wanted to help design buildings that would save lives. How wonderful! Professors all have great stories, and it's incredibly hard to get to know people such that they can open up to you if you're in a big hurry.

To me, college is mostly about two things--personal growth and developing a love for learning. These are the things that stick with you and enrich your life. We all forget how to do titrations and how to use the chain rule, and we forget most of the foreign language we learn. But if we did things right, we don't forget how to re-learn them, and how to learn other things.

Everyone has different perceptions of how to live their life, and ultimately we're only responsible for how we lived our own life. I would recommend that others not accelerate the pace of their undergad education, but not everyone shares with me the same views about what college should or shouldn't be--which is good! If we were all the same then college wouldn't be the great melting pot of new views and ideas that it is supposed to be.

Ultimately, I hope the OP does what's best for him/her, and graduating in three years could be it. I really don't konw what their reasoning for graduating in three years is, but my hope is doing so won't detract from how wonderful of a learning and life experience college can be.

 

[MightyDucksMan]

OP = i feel like I'm in a unique position to comment here, having gone to OSU for undergrad and finished in 3 years and one quarter (I never took summer classes). I had a friend who took the 3 years path, though I think she took some summer courses and came in with a crapload of credit. She seemed to think it was a good experience going through college quickly, but she was in a longterm relationship the whole time and was very committed to getting straight to med school. I saw her out a couple times but she definitely lived a life that was very dedicated to school and those things that help round out your application. At the same time, she always seemed happy and when I was interviewing at OSU she seemed pretty happy to already be done with that part of things.

On the other hand, I have absolutely loved the path I've taken. I've gotten to have 6 months off from school without feeling like I was wasting a whole year - it's amazing how great it's been to just work and not deal with the nonsense of the academic schedule. Moreover I've been able to travel and spend a lot of time with friends. I didn't feel the pressure that I know many do feel when they try to squeeze into 3 years (especially the ECs will just make you feel like a robot when it's all about building an application and not about finding things you really care about and getting involved there). I've been able to work at the OSUMC as a nurse's aide and get a wealth of clinical experience that would NEVER have come from shadowing - not that you should necessarily do it, but do something that really engages you and challenges you and improves you. If there's one thing I've learned from the med school process, it's that there's always going to be more school. I took physics, bio, and chem my freshman year (it gets harder 2nd year and easier 3rd, for reference) and kind of wish I would've chilled out on the gunner path, but whatever.

Anyway, point being that you are at the biggest university in the country, with an incredibly diverse student body and possibly the most opportunities for extracirricular involvement. Get out and make the most of it. I will be at UVA next year, but I know I'm going to sit there my first football Saturday out there and wish I could be walking past mirror lake to the Shoe one more time - or the fact that I was able to play like 4 intramural sports/quarter, or start my own organization to get connected into global health missions. Just don't miss out because you're so focused on medical school. I'm about to take out 250,000 in loans for med school, so that 2500/quarter tuition for OSU doesn't seem quite so hefty. You're in a great position to get well-prepared for medical school at OSU, but take the chances to live your life that really do start to decline with med school and then residency (my brother's in year 5 of a gen surg residency and trust me, it will run you ragged). Anyway, pm me if you've got any questions, and good luck!

 

[NiCad089]

I think it is extemeley unlikely that the OP's GPA or MCAT would go down if they take more time. Unless they did have a ton of AP credits, which is possible, graduating in three years requires overloading, which often comes with lower grades. Overloading also means more cramming and less retention of material, which can mean a lower MCAT. IT doesne't necessarily mean these things, but it increaes the chances of them.

I agree with you. If you have to overload to graduate in three years, then you shouldn't do it. However, all this talk about "College is the best four years of your life" that I'm seeing is a load of monkey poop. For me college has been okay, but I wouldn't extend it. When I realized I would be graduating in three years during my sophomore year (It wasn't planned. It just happened), I remember my advisor told me it would be a major mistake, something about the "college experience". I think the whole idea of the college experience is kinda stupid. What does that mean exactly? Does it mean I should party for four years? I'd rather do what I came here to do, which is to learn material, make new friends, meet new people, etc. I don't really see how I or anyone else would better served by staying an extra year.

 

[NiCad089]

I have to disagree with most posters who say it's not a good idea to graduate in 3 yrs. and apply.

What are you going to miss? Being worst than a russian alcoholic, crazy sleepovers with strange girls, blah blah blah. I really don't see how this is suppose to be "fun"?!?!
That is what you all are talking about when you say that missing college life can be a bad thing.

Why in the heck would you want to waste your money to get a piece of paper with a BS degree which is basically useless. Logically, you would want to get that stuff out of the way first. You can always do more clinical work, research, medical missions, etc. if you don't get in the first time. There really isn't any problem with this at all.
By graduating after the usual 4 yrs. and then having to take 2-3 yrs. off is frankly a waste of your time. Because you will never get that time back. Ever.

Plus, the whole marriage issue is different for different people. Especially for people who aren't from this part of the world. You will find the time to socialize if you are a smart thinker and manage your time wisely. Trust me, I have seen this happen.
There is no such thing as missing life because that college "life" that will be missed isn't anything to be cherished or to be proud of when you have to share your college experiences with your children.

-----
~So the idea here is that you want to be doing everything possible to increase your chances of getting into a med school but at the same time start ASAP. No need for silly breaks just because when you aren't doing something that would be useful in your med school app.

 

[Eklipse113]

I'm a freshmen at OSU. I will be able to graduate in three years and I'm about to finish my first year. I have a few ECs so far besides volunteering at my local YMCA around 100 hrs. I plan on shadowing and volunteering at a hospital this summer. I'll be able to get 100 hrs of volunteering and 50 hrs of shadowing. I will start research at the beining of my second year and apply at the end of my second year. My GPA should be 3.7+ and I think I'll be able to get above 30 on the MCAT. Will I get in to OSU Med School? Should I do more?

I got a 30O, 3.78 GPA, 100+ hr of volunteer experience in an ER, 500+ hours of EMT-B experience in a private ambulance service, and first-responder experience on my campus. I graduated in 3 years (had 34 credits of AP); I'm walking in about a week.

I'm still not into med school- waiting for my last interview's decision in the next couple of weeks. Out of 10 applications, 3 interviewed me, one waitlisted and one rejected; the other interview as I said I am waiting for the result.

Just take the extra year man. I wish I did because you have a) more time for volunteer/shadow/working in a clinical setting, b) more time to enjoy yourself in college, c) more college courses to back up your GPA.

 

[indiasfinest]

You guys advice has helped. I will see how the course goes and apply if I feel its necessary. If I don't think I'm ready I'll go for some post bacs...
But I still want to grad in 3 years, I will just think what to do at the time of applying....Maybe i'll have a change of mind....who knows....

Thanks