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Summer School Pre-Reqs
Started by sakura741
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What year will you start this fall, and when did you hope to apply (the year before graduation or the year of graduation)? And what is your current GPA?
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Could you clarify?
If you're aiming for "Top Schools," which on SDN means the T-20s that are research-oriented, do you think you could fit in 2+ years of research so as to appeal to those schools? Those schools also like to see leadership roles; their mission statements often state that they aim to train future leaders in medicine. You'd need to get in a substantive experience to cover that expectation as well, besides the usual and customary clinical experience, shadowing, and nonmedical community service. Planning on an extra year might be your best option to fit everything in and have a nicely meaty application.
If OTOH you are prepared to be less picky and want to stay on track to graduate in 4 years, taking some summer coursework would be perfectly understandable. Preferred options for summer coursework would be to attend your current university > a 4-year school closer to home > a community college > on-line classes (a very-low-on-the-list, to-be-avoided-if-possible option). I doubt any school will get bent out of shape over one intense summer sequence equal to a year's worth at an equivalent institution with the explanation being "To graduate on time" or "My school only offers the class when work keeps me from registering for it" or "The fall sessions are full and I'd be behind a year in the required sequence otherwise." Less-selective med schools won't even quibble over CC credits. I think the concern comes more 1) if you are perceived to repetitively be taking tough classes at easier schools to protect your GPA, and 2) that easier coursework won't prepare you as well to excel on the MCAT.
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And I'm here in Orgo... 🙁
I just mean I hope medical schools don't look down on summer prerequisite classes, because I'm currently taking Gen Chem 2 and it's Summer. I also plan to finish the rest of the prerequisites ASAP, even if that means another summer session.
Depending on your goals for where you want to attend, I think you should be fine. Honestly, I'd make the argument that Summer sessions are more intense and show the ability to handle increased workloads. But that of course is relative to what institution you're at.
If the rest of your application is strong, you both have nothing to worry about.
If your transcript is filled with B's and C's in science prereqs, and the only ones that are A's are coming from your community college summer adventures... Then you actually should have some concern.
Medical schools only really look down on summer prereqs when they are used to protect GPA and/or used too often.
tl;dr One or two summer prereqs won't kill you
What about 3-5? How many is too many, if I'm taking all of them at my home institution?
At a home institution, given a life-focus change, I think you will be absolutely fine as long as you dominate them.
It's kind of like pass/no pass or any other minor oddity on an application... If the rest of your app is solid, no one will care. If the rest of your app is crap, it will look bad.
1) It's the Research you've already accomplished at the time of application that will matter, and not what you project forward to the next year. And total time is less an issue as how much creative control you had in the most recent project. Adcomms would like to see a progression of learned skills, more responsibility, problem solving, and then proposing your own ideas and moving forward with them. Some applicants won't get that far with even 4 years in the same lab, where they just follow someone else's protocols. Resulting Posters/Prsentations are a good thing. Publications are icing on the cake and relatively rare for a med school applicant.
2) Those with a leadership mindset see a need and act to fill it, mobilizing peers to help achieve goals and taking responsibility for the results. Running meetings, alone, will not impress anyone, whereas using your "power" to effect change and do good is application gold.
3) Multiple majors don't add any benefit to a med school application. Maybe you could drop one of them to take some pressure off your timeline.
True, I'm taking them at my university/same professors/same curves, but I feel like I'm screwing myself over.
