How many years were you in college?

[godsfshrmn]

How many years did it take you to get your bachelor's and your pre-requisites done? I have been running under the assumption that most do it in 4 years. This semester I have been breaking my back with a horrible course load: organic II + lab, physics + lab, calc II, political science.
Do you feel it would make an applicant look bad taking 12/13 hours per semester and graduating in 5 years? I didn't want to look like I was slacking off and breezing my way through with a light load, so I've had 15-16 hours per semester.

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[Brainsucker]

I usually had 18 credits or so, 20 a couple times and 24 once. (This is on the quarter system.) But, I did get myself through in 4 years and was complimented on it while interviewing. It may (or may not) have made up for the fact that my ecs were pretty standard and unimpressive.

I believe that I read some med school's website when I was applying that said that they like to see a full course load. If you're doing a huge amount of other stuff, it should be fine.

 

[Krazykritter]

I went to a private college that had a "4 year gaurantee" but from what I understand, 15-16 credits a semester is almost the minimum load and I would be very surprised if you could get all of your major/minor classes + pre-reqs in and still be done in 4 years.
In the end it was nice (albeit expensive) to go to a school where you don't have to worry.

18-22+ sounds like where you need to be.

 

[akpete]

I'll admit it. I was in undergrad for 5.5 years. But I was a double major, 1 minor. So I don't feel too bad about it. Not that much in my 2 majors lined up, so even though I was in school that long. Had 15-17 credits every semester and even a couple summers in there too. Never had is mentioned in any interview about being in school for so long.

 

[ms. a]

3.5 years. I had 4 credit hours coming into college, then managed to squeak in a little extra each semester to come up with a full semester's worth of credits.

 

[fenixwbp]

I'll be graduating this year after being in undergrad for three years. I came into college with 28 AP credit hours. I never took more than 18 hours. I intend to take a year off before med school, do some serious travelling.

 

[Ypo.]

Heh. I never took more than 16 credits per semester. i must be an underachiever.

 

[QofQuimica]

Does grad school count? I figure I'll have spent about the equivalent of twelve full years in school during the time between graduating high school and starting med school....It definitely gave me a LOT to talk about during my interviews. But I did get my BA in 4 years. I definitely wouldn't have minded staying in college a year or two longer, except that the money ran out after four years.

 

[Perrin]

Sh1t, I spent 8 years in undergrad. I had to write the state financial aide office a special letter promising them I was going to graduate this year. The story is that I did architecture school for 4 years before bailing. I ended up getting degrees in molecular biology and microbiology.

My interviewers loved it, granted it would have been different if I had been screwing around for 8 years. I had a lot to talk about.

 

[DVLDOC]

Biochemistry/Molecular Biology from a private liberal arts college in 3 of the fastest flying years of my life. I took 4 classes both summers and an extra class one semester of each year. The only time that it was really rough was at the very end of my third year when my wife was very pregnant and having complications. But I enjoyed having my daughter at my graduation.

 

[G'ville Nole]

13 years. 5 as a music major, dropped out for 6 without a degree but remained a student in good standing, returned for 2 years of biochem and a B.S.

 

[odrade1]

I took 5 2/3 years to finish my undergrad degrees (BS & BA), then took a year of grad school before returning as a post-bacc to do my pre-reqs, which took 3 more semesters. I always took a full course load. I guess that makes just over 8 years.

I'm not sure how much an adcom cares about how long you took, unless it is obvious from your transcript that you can't handle a full courseload or that you never seemed to have clear academic goals.

 

[deuist]

I did it in 4 years; but I also took 18 credits a semester and did a summer to get a double major.

 

[aparecida]

I took 7 years. I did just fine in the application process. NO ONE is going to look down on you for taking 5 years instead of 4. Why kill yourself studying now? You'll be doing plenty of it later.

 

[Blade28]

4 years...though I had a ton of credits from my high school AP classes.

 

[DocNickRiviera]

4 years, but had almost 30 credits coming in... Those <15 credit semesters are awesome.

 

[dr.z]

4 years.

 

[Daichi Katase]

2 years. 14 credits/semester.

You just gotta know the right people. I am not kidding.

 

[werd]

4 years. in the depths of college i once had biochem II, pchem + lab, molecular bio, instrumental analysis, macroecon II, and history of US economics for a semester. threw in ta'ing two courses and playing club tennis for good measure. but what i wouldn't give now for such a care-free load...

i'd recommend kicking your ass a little bit, so you can at least get your feet wet before they throw you into the water at med school. sorry if i sound a little pessimistic, i'm an MSII.

 

[nebrfan]

I spent 4 years...15-18 credits/semester..although my last semester consisted of 6 credits and a whole lot of drinking. Great semester. I wish I was still in college.

 

[annamoo]

i took 5 years and 5 summers, BS Microbio and BJ Photojournalism, and then took 2 years off to be a Fulbright scholar living in Austria. Take your time, do a LOT of traveling if you have the chance, and then buckle down again Taking 2 years off is the smartest thing I ever did, I travel all the time and speak another lang, and in general it's great not to go straight through. I was a dual degree person the whole way through, since 2nd semester, just to be clear, but it wasn't a bachelor of arts in history and philosophy or something with overlap, my 2 degrees had almost nothing in common and many semesters I took like 19 hours, and did like 15-20 hours of research a week for 2.5 years. It was wonderful and packed, but did I mention that I am loving having a normal job in Europe with lots of time to travel??

 

[jonathon]

I will have been in college for 4 years and a semester. Most students today take 5 years to get done with college. What really sucks is that many degress are now asking you to complete 125 credits and even doing an internship. So really, depending on your degree, it can take students up to 6 years to be all completed. However, stats show that most students take 5 years, regardless of what the degree is in.

 

[AStudent]

4

Technically I could have graduated in Winter (3.5) but who wants to graduate in December when you can spend another semester up at school taking classes like Golf and Scuba Diving and going drinking w/ buddies everynight?

 

[jonathon]

Why graduate in Dec.? Well, for starters, school is not cheap. What if your school cost 8,000 per semester? What if your school even cost 4,000 per semester?

Quote: "going drinking w/ buddies everynight?"

I don't really see the social structure of why going out and drinking with friends is so common in peoples thoughts about what young adults should do when the statistics show that the number of young adults who do drink alcohol is less now then it was 5 years ago.

 

[AStudent]

Why graduate in Dec.? Well, for starters, school is not cheap. What if your school cost 8,000 per semester? What if your school even cost 4,000 per semester?

Quote: "going drinking w/ buddies everynight?"

I don't really see the social structure of why going out and drinking with friends is so common in peoples thoughts about what young adults should do when the statistics show that the number of young adults who do drink alcohol is less now then it was 5 years ago.

You don't have many friends do you?

At that point I was already into medical school, as were most of my friends, so we just went to hang out at the bar and watch basketball and knock down a cold one or two. Personal choice there Carleton

Secondly, I would gladly pay even 8k to be back up at school for the rest of my life to be with all my friends. Undergrad was some of the best times of my life and you will never again meet as many cool people or be in different circumstances as you are when you're in college. 10, 20, 30 years from now when you're working 50 hour weeks with kids and a mortgage payment you'll really understand how great you had it. So keep on hittin' those books dweebzilla maybe the cool medical students will buy you a Shirly Temple someday to celebrate passing the boards.