Physucks over the summer

[Prozach]

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Hello all,

Has anyone done a core med school prereq over the summer? I have Gen. Bio I and II and English I and II done at a community college, and I was scheduling my fall semester and I need to take Chem, Physucks, and two other courses. The grand total came to TWENTY CREDITS. Too much. If I could take Physucks at a local four year school over the summer (both I and II), then go in and just take chem and two other classes (16 credits, much better) I would be happy. Does it matter if your prereqs are done in the regular term? THanks guys!

 

[periodic]

Nope, doesn't matter as long as it covers the normal stuff at a comparable depth.

I took physics over a summer at my undergrad, and a friend took it over the summer at one of his state schools. He had to get the course approved by our undergrad for credit, and med schools haven't seemed to have blinked about it. It's never come up in any of my interviews or in his, as far as I know.

 

[Prozach]

Thanks man!

 

[periodic]

Two other things:

Neither of us took it over the summer just to cut below a "normal" courseload during the year. Rather, we wanted to take other classes during the regular school year. It doesn't seem like you're looking to do that, though.

Also, there may be less excuse for doing poorly during the summer, when it may be the only work you have, vs. during the school year.

 

[Prozach]

No I'm not trying to cut below the normal course load. I will probably still end up with about 18 very significant credit hours. I jsut didn't want to add physics to that monster of a semester.

I don't plan on doing bad 😉 (but that hasn't stopped me in the past 😳 )

One more question for you: Did you take both PHysics I and II over the summer? THe school that I'm looking at offers two modules one from may until july and one from july until august. I would take Physics I the first module, and Physics II the second. Is that at least similiar to what you did?

 

[jlee9531]

it doesnt matter when you take it....just take it, learn it and try to do the best you can.

thats all the adcoms care about. did you take the class and did you appear to get a mastery of the material. they dont even really think about if you were trying to "cut" below a normal load. they dont have enough time to even consider that with the 1000s and 1000s of applicants they have to review.

if you can handle a summer full of physics and dont want to take a little bit off for break then by all means take both.

my friends just took one of the classes over summer...never tried to squeeze in two....actually if i think about it...it wasnt possible for us to do both in one summer. just one.

good luck this summer.

 

[periodic]

I meant "cutting below" if you end up taking 3 classes a term for a year when the normal courseload is 4 (not premed courseload, just overall). That might look a little dicey if there aren't other reasons (commitment to a job/other activity/personal situation).

Yep, my friend and I both took the year's worth of physics and lab (I and II). As jlee is pointing out, it's really not a big deal. A lot of people end up taking physics in particular during a summer, and I've seen others do orgo or gen chem.

 

[HawkeyeBFP]

I did the same thing. In my case it was a similar issue; I knew I needed physics, orgo and bio (all with requisite labs) and didn't want to try to do all three during the regular school year.

It's intense taking the whole course over the summer, and I did think that my retention of the material suffered overall (when I prepped for MCAT, physics was far and away the subject I needed the most review in).

OTOH, maybe it was just never going to be my strongest subject in the first place. 😎