Med Schools and Summer Classes

[saffronrain]

Hi I'm new to this whole forum thing on here, but I have a question regarding Medical Schools and what they "like."

If I were to take Physics or Genetics (some science course) over the summer, would Med Schools frown upon that? Or do they not mind?

I've asked my advisor and even he seems to be quite uncertain.

Please let me know, as I'm very confused!

Thanks!

 

[Skichic56]

I highly doubt this would be frowned upon, unless you were trying to take them at a community college or something. I took physics 2 and a few other elective bios over the summer because it freed up time for research, etc. in other semesters. If nothing else it allows you the freedom to take more classes (advanced bios/chems/whatever), start preparing for the mcat earlier, and gives you the most time to study and really do well. I don't think it will look good if you get C's with only a few classes, but just do well and don't worry about it. I really can't see any disadvantage to doing this.

 

[Dr Who]

Hi I'm new to this whole forum thing on here, but I have a question regarding Medical Schools and what they "like."

If I were to take Physics or Genetics (some science course) over the summer, would Med Schools frown upon that? Or do they not mind?

I've asked my advisor and even he seems to be quite uncertain.

Please let me know, as I'm very confused!

Thanks!

The short answer is NO.
They dont care when you took the requisite courses so long as you took them. More important than that is your GPA and MCAT scores. So go ahead and take summer courses. I took organic chem and physics during summer and I did good. In the end I was accepted to 5 med schools and non made an issue out of it.

 

[hooniedee]

I took physics I and II at a community college the summer after my freshman year to lighten my soph load so I could do other things like get a job and be involve my StudentGovt.

My premed-advisor advised against going to a community college but my parents both worked there. I went for free and it ended up being taught by a UPenn graduate.

It was never mentioned in any of my interviews so far 4 interviewed and 5 more coming.

 

[DianaLynne]

I was thinking of taking Anatomy again (probably P/F or audit, it doesn't make a difference to my admission status). If I did it would be just to reaquaint myself, but I'm thinking I might rather rollerblade, go hiking and camping, and kayaking before M1 starts.

Though I agree with some of the other folks, it doesn't appear to matter if you take prereqs in the summer. An A is an A. Summer classes can be super intense, so make sure you can put in the time to get adcom approved grades.

 

[saffronrain]

Thanks so much guys; your feedback really helped!!

 

[OSUdoc08]

Hi I'm new to this whole forum thing on here, but I have a question regarding Medical Schools and what they "like."

If I were to take Physics or Genetics (some science course) over the summer, would Med Schools frown upon that? Or do they not mind?

I've asked my advisor and even he seems to be quite uncertain.

Please let me know, as I'm very confused!

Thanks!

As long as you make a B or an A, they won't care. They may look down upon the course being taken at a community college in the summer, but if you take them at your main University, then it will be fine.

 

[eralza]

I took o-chem last summer, and about 80% of the class was pre-med. The bad part was there was no curve. No interviewers even batted an eye about when the classes were taken.

 

[saffronrain]

yeah I'm planning on taking classes at the school I go to, so I'm hoping it won't affect me in the long-run- in a bad way, I mean.
Thanks for all your replies!! I appreciate it.
~S~

 

[PreMedPoohBear]

how many hours would be too many hours during the summer time? I wanted to take 18 hours this summer, but someone told me this would be way too many hours during the summer, but the only thing I would have to do this summer was take classes because I don't work or anything that would take time away from studying. Any advice?

 

[MoosePilot]

how many hours would be too many hours during the summer time? I wanted to take 18 hours this summer, but someone told me this would be way too many hours during the summer, but the only thing I would have to do this summer was take classes because I don't work or anything that would take time away from studying. Any advice?

Summer session is about half as long as Fall or Spring semesters. So you can take half as many classes... I think I took 7 one Summer and 8 the next.