Help! Trimesters are screwing me!

[krebse]

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Ok guys, I need some insight from those that have been through the process of applying to schools with courses that were taught in trimesters...3.3 semester credits according to AMCAS, but what about the fact that lots of schools require 8 semester credits? Also, I read in a thread elsewhere that someone was getting 4.3 semester credits for courses with labs, but my courses with labs didn't get that...What should I do? I applied to 24 schools? Should I contact each school? Should I just include an explanation of how we were told by our premed advisor that 2 trimester courses will fulfill the premed reqs? help! thanks

Liz

 

[krebse]

bump

 

[dartty]

check with your premed advisor.. i went to a trimester school and regular classes for us were worth 3.3 and courses with labs were worth 4.5.. so i think its school dependent

 

[Xandie]

I called the schools I was accepted to (they just told me what I needed to matriculate, it was up to me to confirm) that our intro organic chem sequence was two classes, with labs, and under our quarter system, that only equated to 3.3 credit hours. That was sufficient for all four of my schools.

 

[jlee9531]

yeah you better call or email the schools to make sure.
and talk to your advisor again.

 

[pushkin]

Krebse, are you really in Minnesota? I think there's only one trimester school in the state, so if it's the same one I'm thinking it is, you should be fine. I've been told that trimester courses count as semester courses for the purpose of fulfilling pre-reqs, even if they only get 3.3 semester hours. Ask the pre-med advisor to be sure. You could call the U of M or Mayo or some other place that would be familiar with this situation and ask what their policy is too. I doubt you'd need to call all 24 schools.

 

[pushkin]

Also, if it IS the same school, those aren't technically "trimesters", they are "terms." It's technical, but when I was a student there we kept being told that our term courses were the equivalent of semester courses, not of trimester courses. Of course that is only hearsay, and I don't know who chose the 3.3 conversion, but it may be more of a formality than anything else. I'm pretty sure your classes will count.

 

[no-see-um]

Trimesters? Sounds like preganancy. I've never been through that before, luckily.

 

[krebse]

Also, if it IS the same school, those aren't technically "trimesters", they are "terms." It's technical, but when I was a student there we kept being told that our term courses were the equivalent of semester courses, not of trimester courses. Of course that is only hearsay, and I don't know who chose the 3.3 conversion, but it may be more of a formality than anything else. I'm pretty sure your classes will count.

Yeah, it's most definitely that school...good to hear...I dropped a note to the chair of the premed committee so I'm waiting to hear how I should address it...right now I'm thinking that I'm just going to include an addendum with my secondaries to make sure everyone knows of the whole term status - that's what I recall being told as well, just need to know how to best put it on paper and make it sound legit. Thanks for all the responses all, as much as SDN makes me crazy it's incredibly helpful/reassuring at times

Liz