pre-med course load

[davidr]

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I am trying to decide how rigorous a schedule to keep. I am of course a nontraditional - already have comp sci bs degree 3.8 GPA
I am working currently full time or more 50 hrs roughly, but I am going to try to get another job to scale back to take school a little faster.
In order to complete prereqs/get applications out for 2005 admissions, I would have to take
Fall
Bio I, Gen Chem I, Physics I
Spring
Bio I, Gen Chem I, Physics II
Summer I (5.5 weeks)
Org Chem I
Summer II (5.5 weeks)
Org Chem II

MCAT in August (rough because it will be days after OChem final)

Is this too rough of a schedule even with part-time work?
I heard OChem is very difficult too difficult for 5.5 weeks?
Lastly, is taking the prereqs enough to take MCAT because this would leave little MCAT study time. This is not unlike a post bacc program, but I will be working & I don't want to be so unreasonable that I end up w/ a bad grade.

 

[IndyZX]

depends on how part time.

plenty of undergrads take full course loads and also work part time. a lot of time, their grades suffer becasue of this.

i think you have a good course plan there, just be sure you know how tough its going to be. that summer of the mcat is going to be crazy hard, but if you do well in your classes and put time into mcat prep, you should do fine.

 

[davidr]

ok, thanks for the information. I guess worst case I will have to retake MCAT in April and push admission out. I hope that is not looked on poorly.

 

[jennie 21]

Hey David,
I looked at your schedule and went, "wow". That is very ambitious--maybe too ambitious. I was a traditional student (full-tme undergrad, not working) and still found a semester with three hard-core science courses VERY challenging--really too challenging. If I had it to do over, I would have spread things out more. Whether this schedule is feasible for you depends on how difficult the courses are at the school where you're taking them, and on how good of a student you are. Since you were a comp sci major I'm going to assume you're good at science and that the pre-reqs won't be that much of a challenge for you. Still, you're going to be working and you DO NOT want your grades to suffer because you took an overly ambitious courseload. Remember, all of these classes also have labs. Since you're aiming to apply in summer of 2005, you actually have academic year 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 to complete your pre-reqs and take the MCAT. How about this:

Fall 2003:
Gen Bio I
Gen Chem I

Spring 2004:
Gen Bio II
Gen Chem II

Summer 2004:
Orgo I and II

Fall 2004:
Gen Physics I

Spring 2005:
Gen Physics II
Study for MCAT or take MCAT prep course.

Take MCAT April 2005.

Apply summer 2005.
Or, you could take Physics I and II in the summer of 2004 and take Orgo in 2004-2005. Anyway, that's what I would do. Good luck.

 

[All-Star14]

That's an excellent suggestion, jennie 21!