That course Load

[Titus Times]

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If a student is taking a solid 2 pre reqs a semseter with a math class thrown in and PE class, totaling 13 credits is that considered easy to adcoms.

Will the courseload matter much if you get all A's anyway. Whats you guys take on this I get all A's but I dont see the need to take 5-6 classes with 3+ sciences a semester does that place me at a disadvantage.

 

[MedPR]

If a student is taking a solid 2 pre reqs a semseter with a math class thrown in and PE class, totaling 13 credits is that considered easy to adcoms.

Will the courseload matter much if you get all A's anyway. Whats you guys take on this I get all A's but I dont see the need to take 5-6 classes with 3+ sciences a semester does that place me at a disadvantage.

Idk about your school, but I needed 120 credits to graduate. It would take 10 semesters if I only took 13 credits.

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[AestheticGod]

Idk about your school, but I needed 120 credits to graduate. It would take more than 8 semesters if I only took 13 credits.

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Most students takes summer classes

 

[CrimsonKing]

Take more classes and show that you can still get all A's. Keep in mind that med school is going to be like taking 20+ hours a semester, and that's just in first year and excluding the lab courses like Histo and Anatomy.

 

[MedPR]

Most students takes summer classes

Really? I didn't know anyone in UG who took summer classes.

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[mimelim]

Most students takes summer classes

I certainly don't have the stats on this, but my gut feeling is that this is incorrect. Most people don't have the time nor the money to spend taking classes when you have ample time in 4 years of UG.

 

[Stumpyman]

People often take summer classes at different institutions (ie- their hometown), but I don't know about "most" students doing so. I'd say it's more common for people to graduate in 9 or 10 semesters, rather than kill summers.

 

[Titus Times]

Well I took summer classes last summer and im signed up for summer classes this summer. Im a sophomore and I am actually going to be a few credits ahead of most of my peers. I wouldn't have asked if it would require me to graduate later.

I plan to up the course load a bit junior year but at this rate It won't be mandatory hence the question. So will this place me at a disadvantage later. It's like I can shoot myself in the foot now and possible get a B in a class by taking an extra science or two, or I can keep doing what I've been doing and apply with something in the range of a 3.93.

Wich do you guys think ADCOMS would look more favorably on.


Thanks for the helpful advice btw.

 

[IslandStyle808]

If a student is taking a solid 2 pre reqs a semseter with a math class thrown in and PE class, totaling 13 credits is that considered easy to adcoms.

Will the courseload matter much if you get all A's anyway. Whats you guys take on this I get all A's but I dont see the need to take 5-6 classes with 3+ sciences a semester does that place me at a disadvantage.

All that matters is getting As and adcoms vary on what is a good enough credit load. Some may think 13 credits is fine and others may think not. In the end, getting all As is most important so do the credit load that will lead to all As.

Really? I didn't know anyone in UG who took summer classes.

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I was taking 15+ credits during my ug days each semester. Then I would take around 6 credits total in the summer and I mean every summer. So I had credits amount (124 credits) needed graduate by the summer of my senior year. However, I did not finish all my required courses until the spring of my 4th year. I think I was crazy back then because I felt I would be off my game if I did not do courses during the summers.

 

[MedPR]

Well I took summer classes last summer and im signed up for summer classes this summer. Im a sophomore and I am actually going to be a few credits ahead of most of my peers. I wouldn't have asked if it would require me to graduate later.

I plan to up the course load a bit junior year but at this rate It won't be mandatory hence the question. So will this place me at a disadvantage later. It's like I can shoot myself in the foot now and possible get a B in a class by taking an extra science or two, or I can keep doing what I've been doing and apply with something in the range of a 3.93.

Wich do you guys think ADCOMS would look more favorably on.


Thanks for the helpful advice btw.

I think 13 looks light when there are people getting As with 15+.

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[Mako555]

are we sure that adcoms even look at course load? of all the things on an application, and the fact that its impossible to know how much work a certain class is, don't you think many adcoms would barely look at all? I bet many adcoms just look at gpa by semester and then cumulative, science, and non-science.

thoughts on this?

 

[MedPR]

are we sure that adcoms even look at course load? of all the things on an application, and the fact that its impossible to know how much work a certain class is, don't you think many adcoms would barely look at all? I bet many adcoms just look at gpa by semester and then cumulative, science, and non-science.

thoughts on this?

Mine has come up at interviews.

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[Stumpyman]

are we sure that adcoms even look at course load? of all the things on an application, and the fact that its impossible to know how much work a certain class is, don't you think many adcoms would barely look at all? I bet many adcoms just look at gpa by semester and then cumulative, science, and non-science.

thoughts on this?

LizzyM has mentioned that it's better to take 13-16 credits a semester and get a high GPA rather than take 18+ and risk a lower one. I like to stick to 14-15, as I'm not one of those people that can take 21 credits, work a couple part-times, and whatever else.

 

[Lollygag]

Most students takes summer classes

I'm sure it depends on the school, most often summer tuition is much more expensive than taking the same class during the school year. If its a private institution where tuition is already expensive then you may see less students taking summer classes.

At my school though, I think the majority of my friends have taken at least 1 summer class; its definitely popular and people take a lot of winter sessions classes too. I've personally taken more than 10 classes over the summer because ts convenient and helps lighten up the load during the semester.

Plus (at least at my school) the pesky general education classes are usually only 3 weeks long and much easier in the summer than they would be during the school year because there are less assignments.

LizzyM has mentioned that it's better to take 13-16 credits a semester and get a high GPA rather than take 18+ and risk a lower one. I like to stick to 14-15, as I'm not one of those people that can take 21 credits, work a couple part-times, and whatever else.

Agreed, if someone has taken 13 credits each semester and has a 4.0, adcom's might notice they have always had a light load, but they would prefer that over a low gpa

 

[Titus Times]

Yeah I mean when someone says hey I have a 3.4 gpa and unknown mcat what are my chances at MD, the first thing people say to them is sorry bud that GPA is a bit below the average. Not well did you take 18+ credits a semester because that'll make up for it, so if it does'nt work that way I dont think it should work in reverse am I wrong.

 

[BABSstudent]

Idk about your school, but I needed 120 credits to graduate. It would take 10 semesters if I only took 13 credits.

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I ended up going for two degrees. 160 credits and 4.5 years later, I got them both. That averages at 17.7778 credits per semester (no summer classes).

Now let's look at the OP's method and how long that would take.

160 credits at 13 credits/semester = 12.3 semesters = 6.15 years. You could probably get that to 6 years if you took more classes a semester.

Now if you and I both got the same grades and same degrees, wouldn't it look better to have someone take the 4.5 years versus 6 - 6.5 years to graduate?

 

[Titus Times]

I ended up going for two degrees. 160 credits and 4.5 years later, I got them both. That averages at 17.7778 credits per semester (no summer classes).

Now let's look at the OP's method and how long that would take.

160 credits at 13 credits/semester = 12.3 semesters = 6.15 years. You could probably get that to 6 years if you took more classes a semester.

Now if you and I both got the same grades and same degrees, wouldn't it look better to have someone take the 4.5 years versus 6 - 6.5 years to graduate?

Your question is too far off base and allows for confounding variables and it applies to getting 2 degrees so it isn't very helpful here. Example of confounding variable is I could have done a crap ton more EC's than you, see my point. Your question does not really answer my question but its a decent analogy for some other argument.

 

[Microglia]

are we sure that adcoms even look at course load? of all the things on an application, and the fact that its impossible to know how much work a certain class is, don't you think many adcoms would barely look at all? I bet many adcoms just look at gpa by semester and then cumulative, science, and non-science.

thoughts on this?

I think they look at it very minimally. The vast majority of my semesters were under 15, usually 13-14 (I had a lot of AP creds), and it never came up at interviews. If you take light courseloads I think you should have a lot of extracurriculars though, it helps justify that you were doing something with that time. I had about 20 hrs a week of extracurrrics every semester. But yea, overall I'd say if taking lighter courseloads makes it easier to ensure a 4.0, it's definitely better than stretching yourself and ending up with a lower GPA. Don't think # of credits will make or break you at any school including top 20.

 

[BABSstudent]

Your question is too far off base and allows for confounding variables and it applies to getting 2 degrees so it isn't very helpful here. Example of confounding variable is I could have done a crap ton more EC's than you, see my point. Your question does not really answer my question but its a decent analogy for some other argument.

True, but lets just look at one degree. Taking fewer classes would allow more time for ECs and better grades than someone graduating early. This is well known. That's why we tell people to not worry about it.

However, LizzyM said that she looks at the schedules people take and she looks for 30+ credits per year. Anything less is frowned upon. This was said in her ask me anything thread.

Just try to do that class load and do ECs to match it. You will get in somewhere.

 

[gettheleadout]

Most major scholarships require 15 hours a semester, what does that tell you OP?

 

[Stumpyman]

To give you an overall consensus: 14-18 credits is more ideal, however no heads will turn at 1-3 semesters with 13 credits.

 

[Microglia]

Most major scholarships require 15 hours a semester, what does that tell you OP?

👎 Absolutely nothing about medical school admissions haha.

To give you an overall consensus: 14-18 credits is more ideal, however no heads will turn at 1-3 semesters with 13 credits.

👍 Agree.

 

[gettheleadout]

👎 Absolutely nothing about medical school admissions haha.



👍 Agree.

Two years of below average hours per semester is odd. Take a look over in the 4.0 competition thread and see how many hours people are taking while maintaining the OP's GPA and doing EC's.

 

[doit4themunki]

I read a lot of the applications that come through for my school. I've never once taken the time to look at a student's course load, only the grades for each course / GPA by year.

 

[Titus Times]

Most major scholarships require 15 hours a semester, what does that tell you OP?

The Scholarship that's covered my schooling for the first 2 years requires a 3.5+ and 12+ Credits, I just don't see how your question really helps us come to a sound conclusion.

Two years of below average hours per semester is odd. Take a look over in the 4.0 competition thread and see how many hours people are taking while maintaining the OP's GPA and doing EC's.

Hey im not saying I can't manage to ace a 20 credit semester because im actually quite sure that I can. I came down with the flu and possibly Bronchitis a few days ago and I had to break my perfect attendance, but I will bounce back, if I were taking 6-7 classes I may have ended up in a permeant hole. Hence my original question why take such risk if not necessary let alone if it's barely beneficial.

 

[KnuxNole]

Really? I didn't know anyone in UG who took summer classes.

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A lot of people in my undergrad took summer classes. Especially the huge amounts of peeps that take 12-13 credits a semester. Taking 15 credits(which I mainly did) resulting in people thinking I was insane, or had a "rough semester" cause 5 classes is apparently unheard of. I wanna say the most common amount of credits that were taken were in that range, but I could be wrong. Also, a lot of science majors that took a sequence class that started in the spring would take the next class in the summer. Or start a sequence class in the summer and continue in fall(eg. Physics I+II, Orgo I+II)

 

[KnuxNole]

People often take summer classes at different institutions (ie- their hometown), but I don't know about "most" students doing so. I'd say it's more common for people to graduate in 9 or 10 semesters, rather than kill summers.

This too. Especially if people switch majors, withdraw a few classes, or take 12-13 credits without any summer classes.

 

[gettheleadout]

The Scholarship that's covered my schooling for the first 2 years requires a 3.5+ and 12+ Credits, I just don't see how your question really helps us come to a sound conclusion.

It's just commentary on the load expected of the highest academic caliber of student.

Hey im not saying I can't manage to ace a 20 credit semester because im actually quite sure that I can. I came down with the flu and possibly Bronchitis a few days ago and I had to break my perfect attendance, but I will bounce back, if I were taking 6-7 classes I may have ended up in a permeant hole. Hence my original question why take such risk if not necessary let alone if it's barely beneficial.

I understand, but what do you want? We've told you what LizzyM has said, and now we're just commenting based on our personal experiences.

Just as an FYI Lizzy's reasoning is that the course load of a medical student is much greater than that of an undergrad, so while A's are nice, what does a 4.0 with below full-load hours tell the adcom about your potential for performance in medical school? Not much, necessarily.

 

[Titus Times]

It's just commentary on the load expected of the highest academic caliber of student.



I understand, but what do you want? We've told you what LizzyM has said, and now we're just commenting based on our personal experiences.

Just as an FYI Lizzy's reasoning is that the course load of a medical student is much greater than that of an undergrad, so while A's are nice, what does a 4.0 with below full-load hours tell the adcom about your potential for performance in medical school? Not much, necessarily.

Oh ok no biggie, I do appreciate your comments and everyone else's I think it's very insightful.

and idk bro when it comes to gaining an acceptance I don't think that one will assume a 4.0 with a 13 credit load means they will fail if they add in another class. Say if I took 1 class and Aced it, I still have the ability to ace 4 or 5 at a time as well. Now if I took 1 class and got a B or a C then we have another problem on our hands.

Do you think ADCOMS would look any higher of you if you took 20 creds but had a 3.4, versus taking 13 creds and having a 3.8. When it comes to getting accepted that higher GPA just looks so much better on paper, because you're looking at a total student. Maybe this is the test lol know yourself and how many classes you can handle to keep ADCOMs on your side otherwise who cares if you could handle 20 creds because you won't be accepted.