Medical Is this 4 year course schedule as premed viable/ okay for med school?

[tantacles]

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Hello,
I am an incoming freshman this fall and I am going in to an education&human development school of an university. I am planning on majoring in applied psychology in the education school but also considering double majoring in biology from arts and sciences and minoring in public health.

I am planning on applying to med school my 4th year and I was worried if I could finish all my core requirements, intended majors and minors requirement and prereqs for med schools so I planned out a four year course schedule.

I know it won’t be carried out exactly how I planned and there must be some changes made along the way (like course offering changes, taking same level but different course in same subject matter or something) but I just wanted to have a brief outline and see if I can fit everything into my schedule.


Based on my school’s major, minor, and core requirements, I would have to take 45 courses over 8semesters and I took one course for my applied psych major this summer so 44 courses over next 4 years.


Our school’s regular course load is 5courses( considering a course and its lab and discussion as one course)
per semester but it seems like I would have to overload take 6 courses per semester for my sophomore and junior years.. (this would be possible if I could maintain a good GPA in my first year)
I attached a photo of my intended/planned 4year schedule.

Do you think this schedule is viable and would look okay for med school?
Would overloading courses impact my GPA in a negative way although not all of them is a science course?

I am volunteering at a cognitive neuroscience lab at our school this fall and planning on continuing this for all four years.
I am also joining a school’s leadership program for 50 freshman where we will be learning about leadership and volunteer at a local elementary/secondary school for couple hours per week.
I also applied for a community service program at our school but idk if I’ll get it or where I’ll be placed if I do get in. I can be placed either in clinical or nonclinical site and would volunteer for four-five hours per week if I do get in.

In my sophomore year I am planning on starting clinical volunteering and continue that till senior year, and I am planning on joining bio lab on top of the neuroscience lab in my junior year.

I participated in medical mission trip to Mongolia last summer with doctors and volunteered at a hospice unit of non profit hospital in Korea and would like to continue those summer once the virus situation gets better.

I would like to shadow doctors during summer or winter breaks but idk if I’ll have time for working in a clinical position like EMS or CNA.


Would the course schedule and these planned extra curricular activities together be viable/ look good for med school app?

I know this is a lot to plan ahead before four years and some people told me that there’s no way I can follow the schedule I made as freshman for the next four years and its’s kinda dumb and useless to do that, and I know that there will be some changes made along the way, but I just wanted to have better picture of what I would have to do for the coming years and prepare ahead...

Also one last question, considering my this fall’s courses (in the picture of excel) and my planned extra curriculars (neuroscience lab, volunteer four hrs per week, leadership program) what do you think is a good amount of study time per day other than classes??
I’m planning on studying 4-5 hrs per day including the time I would take my gen chem1 course through online asynchronously.Would this be a right amount or is it too little?


Just to give you a sense of my academic/science course background I got 5’s in Bio Chem CalculusAB Psych and 3 in Lang for my APs and my SAT score was 1540 (Math 780 Eng 760). For SAT 2 I got 800in Math2C 770in Bio , etc. No background in physics at all...


Sorry for such a long post and thank you so much for reading all of them!!
I would really appreciate if you can answer my questions, even some of it... it would mean a lot to me... Thank you in advance!!!!!

It's hard for me to comment on your schedule and tell you what's viable. That ultimately depends on you.

What I will tell you that the most important thing for medical school is not what major you are or what course schedule you have. What matters is that you do your best to get great grades in every course you take. If your schedule includes all of the pre-medical pre-requisites, you can literally take whatever other courses you want provide your college lets you graduate with a major and you get great grades.

So my suggestion: You don't need to stress about how admissions committees are going to look at the individual courses you take. Just do well, and make sure you do well in all of your pre-medical courses. And of course, do well in all of your other courses as well.

And when I say do well, all I mean is get a grade as close to A as possible. All A's is, of course, ideal, but very few people have a 4.0.

Best of luck.

 

[MusicDOc124]

Don't know you personally to really say, but the schedule is do-able for some, and not do-able for others. Depends on you. As tantacles stated, you have to do well. Double majoring with a minor is not worth it if you feel overloaded, and/or your course work takes too much time away from being able to study for the MCAT when the time comes, which is equally important. Minors mean nothing in the grand scheme and are generally only 4 courses long. Don't feel you need to stress to do all of that - it won't matter if your grades are poor. And MANY, MANY people get in without a double major or minor, just so you know. If these are true interests of yours and you're a high performer, sure.

Good luck with everything. Don't stress too much.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Here is my opinion:

What is your main goal? If your goal is to get into medical, I would not do what you’re doing. Double majoring and minoring and trying to keep your grades up and do ECs and sleep, and research, and eat and poop? Somethings gotta give.

Med schools care that you do WELL. I would much rather see you take all this extra energy/time you seem to have and place it in your ECs, grades in a single major (and maybe a minor) and your MCAT and become a doctor. Don’t screw up your chances by overloading yourself. You can look at it now and say you are good and can do it, but 2-3 months in you may be hating your life.

Again, this is just my opinion and suggestion. Feel free to throw it away.

 

[tantacles]

Thank you for your insight! I really appreciate everyone’s response..

Considering what everyone said, maybe double majoring and minoring won’t be a great idea. But I have a couple of questions.

1. Maybe for public health minor, it wouldn’t help me much in MCATs or other parts of med school apps but wouldn’t Biology major help since it would help a lot in MCAT if I master/retain the concepts? Or is neither of it worth doing??

Maybe. It might be helpful for you and it might not. Many people who do not major in biology do well on the MCAT, and many people who major in biology do poorly. It's truly personal.

2. I have a passion in global public health and my dream is to volunteer abroad at medically underserved countries.. in organizations like Doctors without Borders..
i thought minoring in global public health would help me in the long term and give me background knowledge. I also thought I can show in my med school app that I am doing what I’m passionate of, etc.
Would this be of no use since, as many of you said, minor doesn’t give you indepth knowledge/ will I have chance to learn about public health in med school??

I don't know the exact answer to this question, but I do know that when I look at what someone is interested in, a college minor is not what convinces me. It's the depth and breadth of what they do with that minor. If you want to learn about public health for its own sake, take the minor. But getting into medical school and practicing medicine has to be your main goal if you go to medical school.

Many medical schools also offer an MD/MPH option in 4-5 years, so that is also a possibility.

Really, the only advice I have for you is do well in all of your classes no matter what you major in.

If I choose between double majoring in applied psych and bio vs majoring in applied psych and minoring in global public health with completing prereqs for med schools,
what would you recommend?

I recommend you do whichever has the highest likelihood of getting you the highest GPA as the GPA is going to be the main thing that matters for your medical school application.

Thank you for your help!!!

Best of luck.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

1. Sure. If you are a biology major that would help with the biology portion of the MCAT, but there are also many other sections of the MCAT and you are going to be taking physics, chemistry, etc as well. You don't need to be a biology major to do well in the biology portion of the MCAT. There are art majors who kill the MCAT and then there are biology majors who bomb miserably. It all depends on how you prepare. I wouldn't choose a major based on how you think it will help you because it will play such a small role.

2. Again, I don't think you need a MINOR/MAJOR to show your interest in something. 99% of people who travel abroad don't have a minor in global health but still, do what they want. It is much more advantageous to SHOW through your actions that you have an interest in rather than just piling up courses.

It won't matter how many majors or minors you have if you bomb your courses or MCAT you won't get in. Gotta play the game!