I have to take an extra semester for Calculus, should I go for a second degree?

[BrownEMS]

My BS in bio degree needed calculus and I had to take the placement exam to get into it. Unfortunately, the placement exam only allows you to sign up for classes next semester.

So now I will be graduating in 4.5 years. How bad does this look?

Should I just go for my psychology BA as well (I only need 3 more classes) to make this look better.

Graduate with 2 degrees vs. 1 in 4.5 years?

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[eteshoe]

4.5 yrs is nothing to worry about. If you can do both degrees w/o hurting your GPA, might as well go for it

 

[ab_kaka8]

I agree, I graduated in 4.5 years as well. Most important thing is your GPA. If you can handle the additional course/work load, go for it. Being a double major is definitely a plus on an application

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

I hope 4.5 years isn't bad. I started college in 2004 and just finished in June.

 

[Doctor-S]

My BS in bio degree needed calculus and I had to take the placement exam to get into it. Unfortunately, the placement exam only allows you to sign up for classes next semester.

So now I will be graduating in 4.5 years. How bad does this look?

Should I just go for my psychology BA as well (I only need 3 more classes) to make this look better.

Graduate with 2 degrees vs. 1 in 4.5 years?

If you want a second bachelor's degree, and you're going to be enrolled as a continuing UG student anyway, feel free to complete your psychology degree. Maybe it will be a degree you use sometime in the future - e.g., if you choose to pursue research related to psychopathology or decide to apply to PhD program in psychology, etc.

However, I definitely agree with @gonnif: most medical school adcoms do not pay too much attention to a second bachelor's degree in psychology, if any attention at all.

 

[Goro]

It doesn't look bad.

So now I will be graduating in 4.5 years. How bad does this look?

Adcoms don't care if you have dual degrees or not. Just that you do well, period.
Should I just go for my psychology BA as well (I only need 3 more classes) to make this look better.

 

[gyngyn]

Being a double major is definitely a plus on an application

We don't care about your major or how many you have.
We don't care about your minor(s).
We care that you have distinguished yourself in your chosen field of study.

 

[DingoPingo]

get a BA in biology and drop the calculus, save yourself half a year of life time

 

[SwordOfTheMorning]

get a BA in biology and drop the calculus, save yourself half a year of life time

That's what I did. Except that I dropped calc II (even though I took calc I). My school requiring students to take up to calc II for a BS in biology is ridiculous, but it sure did deter me lol.

 

[RangerBob]

I double-degreed (BA & BS like the OP is talking about--that's different than a double major some other posters refer to). I had a minor too. Programs weren't that interested in the fact I was a double degree (and non cared about the minor). They were more interested in the fact one of those degrees was in art--it gave an interesting topic to discuss.

I bothered for the second degree because I really love art and the only way to register for art classes as an underclassman was to be a major, since then you got to pre-register for them. So I was a double-major and that let me taking an art course every quarter, including over the summer. Then I realized I was on track to meet the minimum number of units for the second degree (I think we needed 20 or 40 additional units in addition to the minimum for a single degree to get the second degree)

If you think there's a possibility you may want to use that psychology degree in case you don't get into medical school, that's where having that second degree would come in handy. Though I'm not sure what a bachelors in psych will actually let you do--serve pizza? Everyone I know that majored in psych and wanted to go into the field went on for a master's or PhD/PsyD.

If you're stuck there for an additional semester anyway, I think it really comes down to what would would you want to do with that extra time? If you want to take those psych classes anyway, you may as well get the second degree. But, think about what courses you'd like to take before you graduate--whether for fun (acting, music, p-chem...) or because you want to learn more (additional upper-division bio, etc.)

Or just take only calc and pay part-time tuition.

 

[Dagrimsta1]

That escalated quickly lol. Trust me dude if your goal is Med school and you don't care about anything else, drop that nonsense. 3 classes cost money and a lot of time. Unless you get some personal gratification from having 2 degrees, I recommend not doing it. Remember in EVERY class you the run the risk of dropping your gpa. If you wanna do it to raise it, then do it.

Personally I would do it because More degrees keep me warm at night. (Kanye west reference)

 

[QuantumMan]

It doesn't look bad.

So now I will be graduating in 4.5 years. How bad does this look?

Adcoms don't care if you have dual degrees or not. Just that you do well, period.
Should I just go for my psychology BA as well (I only need 3 more classes) to make this look better.

I'm in the same boat as the OP.

I believe the general consensus here is that graduating in >4 years with one degree looks exactly the same as graduating in >4 years with two degrees? I have a hard time believing this. Lets say an ADCOM looks at a student and notices that they took >4 years to graduate. They realize that it is because they were taking up a second degree so the ">4 years" doesn't look so bad? They needed extra time to take the second degree.

What do you think, Goro and all? Does what I said hold any water?

 

[Goro]

We told you, we don't care.

Life sometimes intrudes on people's plans...this does mean that they cannot handle medical school, nor do we compare person X to Y in this regard.

I'm in the same boat as the OP.

I believe the general consensus here is that graduating in >4 years with one degree looks exactly the same as graduating in >4 years with two degrees? I have a hard time believing this. Lets say an ADCOM looks at a student and notices that they took >4 years to graduate. They realize that it is because they were taking up a second degree so the ">4 years" doesn't look so bad? They needed extra time to take the second degree.

What do you think, Goro and all? Does what I said hold any water?