Is this a full schedule?

[Denver89]

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So I am just starting my sophomore year at my university and have what I think is a pretty full schedule. I was just wondering if you guys would even consider this to be a full or busy schedule and if i need to be doing anything else to stay competitive..

I am taking molecular biology I, General Chemistry I, Accounting 200, and Economics 200. Plus labs.. I also play varsity lacrosse for my school which is a 10-15 hour/week commitment and will be about 25hours or so during the season (spring 10'). I have also been shadowing a few docs every other week or so to gain some clinical experience.

Am I on the right track? Any suggestions on what I should try and get involved with as a sophomore? I plan on graduating on a 5 year track so i can potentially double major, do med schools care if you graduate in 5 years?

Thanks for any help

 

[JJMrK]

Sounds pretty full to me. I wouldn't add any classes or anything, if that's what you're asking.

 

[Tin Man]

Sports? Eh, whatever works for you, but that time could certainly be put to use doing something that actually futhers your dedication and understanding of medicine.

There's a reason most doctors are nerdy scientists, and not former sports stars. 🙂

 

[JonathanMD]

So I am just starting my sophomore year at my university and have what I think is a pretty full schedule. I was just wondering if you guys would even consider this to be a full or busy schedule and if i need to be doing anything else to stay competitive..

I am taking molecular biology I, General Chemistry I, Accounting 200, and Economics 200. Plus labs.. I also play varsity lacrosse for my school which is a 10-15 hour/week commitment and will be about 25hours or so during the season (spring 10'). I have also been shadowing a few docs every other week or so to gain some clinical experience.

Am I on the right track? Any suggestions on what I should try and get involved with as a sophomore? I plan on graduating on a 5 year track so i can potentially double major, do med schools care if you graduate in 5 years?

Thanks for any help

That sounds average.

As long as you don't have to withdraw from any classes during your time there, you should get all the way to graduation by taking 2 science classes and 2 non-science classes.

It's when you have to repeat when things get rough. Just keep up with your work and if you can handle this semester you can handle all of college.

 

[FrickenhugeMD]

Sports? Eh, whatever works for you, but that time could certainly be put to use doing something that actually futhers your dedication and understanding of medicine.

There's a reason most doctors are nerdy scientists, and not former sports stars. 🙂

I couldn't disagree more with you 👎thumbdown👎

There is a good number of varsity athletes in my class (myself included) and from what I've gathered, this aspect of our applications was looked very highly upon. Collegiate level varsity sports shows many, if not most of the traits medical schools are looking for. Some examples being teamwork, leadership, commitment, ect.

The thought that you are encouraging someone to drop something they are clearly good at and keeps them active to do whatever you perceive is "something that actually furthers your dedication and understanding of medicine," is ludicrous. Living in a lab or the library makes you more dedicated to medicine? bologna! Sounds like sports envy to me... Just because we get all the women AND are able to get into med school doesn't mean you need to hate on us

To the op, you schedule sounds full and a good mix of classes. Don't change a thing

 

[Tin Man]

The thought that you are encouraging someone to drop something they are clearly good at and keeps them active to do whatever you perceive is "something that actually furthers your dedication and understanding of medicine," is ludicrous. Living in a lab or the library makes you more dedicated to medicine? bologna! Sounds like sports envy to me... Just because we get all the women AND are able to get into med school doesn't mean you need to hate on us

🙄

I did my share of working out, and in doing so earned a few nationally-recognized awards (which I'm not going to name only because they can easily be linked to my identity through a Google search). Regardless, I think it's safe to say that I don't have "sports envy."

I actually stopped doing sports and other "things I was good at", because I decided it was time to get good at things I wasn't already good at that would actually help me in my career.

Doing things you're good at is easy and, in my eyes, unimpressive. Putting in the extra time to get good at things you aren't already good at (like the sciences, for instance) is what shows the dedication not only to medicine, but to learning new things and expanding your horizons.

And the whole "getting the women" comment was so beyond ridiculously immature that I think you could win an award.

 

[WhizoMD]

you may want to add some volunteering at some point, but aside from that your schedule looks solid.

 

[Denver89]

Thanks for the input everyone..

And I just have to say Tin Man, if you really competed at anything at the varsity level then you would know that it's anything but "easy". But you can think whatever you want.

 

[Tin Man]

Thanks for the input everyone..

And I just have to say Tin Man, if you really competed at anything at the varsity level then you would know that it's anything but "easy". But you can think whatever you want.

That's not really what I said.

What I said is that if you like what you're doing, and you're good at what you're doing, then it's not hard (ie, easy) to get motivated to do it all day and all night, regardless of how physically or mentally hard it is. That IS easy. I had no problem getting up every day to do what I was doing, despite the fact that I found it physically and mentally challenging. I loved doing it, and would still be doing it if I had the time (which, unfortunately, I do not).

But doing what you LIKE to do very well, despite what would be convenient to believe, is not nearly as impressive as mastering something that you aren't particularly good at and don't feel the same motivation for. For instance, if you were never a math person (like me) and you struggle with physics (like I did), then taking all that time doing sports (which you're good at) and dedicating it instead to mastering physics is going to be a LOT more impressive and a LOT more helpful to you down the road.

If you can ace every class, get lots of volunteering, shadowing, research, and still have time to dedicate several hours a week to sports, then all power to you. But if you're human, you're going to need to, at some point in your college career, partition your time out. My point was that dedicating time to something not clearly related to making yourself MORE ready for medical school when there are other areas of your application that are lacking is not generally a good sign, and I can almost guarantee you that no matter how hard you work, you will have somewhere in your application that you wish you could have put more time into.

Take it or leave it. It's your application.