too few credits?

[g2daizh]

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I'm a sophmore Mircobiology major and chem/zoo minor. I'm ahead in credits due to concurrent enrollment in highschool and summer/intercourse classes and can basically do 12-14 hour semesters from here on out and finish my degree on time. and all the classes I have left are science classes.

I'm currently planning on doing that, but am wondering if thats too few credits. This semester I'm taking:

OChem II-3 credits
Cell Bio- 3 credits
Microbio Fundamentals w/ lab - 5 credits
Physics Lab I - 1 credit
Intro to health Careers- 1 credit

I volunteer at two different clinics for ~7 hours a week and work ~20 hours.

I realize that 13 hours is frowned upon, but are my work and volunteering enough to make up for it or should I add another class?

Tanks a bundle!

 

[2nite]

I don't know the answer to that, but how many years do you have left? I'm just thinking that if you were to take the normal amount of credits, you might graduate a semester early and have some time off before med school + save a semester's tuition. I don't know how adcoms look at that, though.

 

[RevMD]

Most premeds could do the same thing you are considering, but I think it generally frowned upon. Maybe for one or two sems, it might be okay to take a bare minimum of 14hrs. Ideally, they prefer to see that you can handle full course loads (15-18hrs) while maintaining a medium-high level of activity with ECs. This will show you are capable of managing time well and handling the difficult/busy lifestyle that is eventually expected as a doctor. Also, I would only graduate early if you have severe financial constraints because you want to be in a position to continue improving your application in case you have to reapply the following year (hopefully not).

 

[metallica81788]

I only needed about 12-14 hours per semester from the beginning to graduate in 4 years, and that's what I did. It's never been an issue at any of my interviews.

Just make sure you do well, because although the load is lighter, you have less room for error - things count more on your GPA.

 

[Toastayy]

Are you equating credits with hours? Because at my school credits does not equal hours, say for instance a class is 3 credits, then it would be around 6hrs or so...

Just to piggy back on the question you asked, Do Med schools consider 12-14 credits bad, or is it 12-14 hours?

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

i dont really think medical schools really care..
my sop,junior,senior year will all be 12- 14 credit hours a semesters..
i mean why would they frown upon it.. think of this hypothetical situation
if you can get away taking 12-14 credits a semester and still graduate with all the classes you need..
then it shouldn't really matter..

i mean in my situation after my freshman year is over.. i'll have 50 credits from 2 ap's and summer courses...
which means.. i'll still graduate with over 131 credits
yah..
so take as many credits as you need to graduate..

 

[Toastayy]

The only reason I think it would matter how many credits you are taking is from Med schools to see how you handle having multiple coursed at the same time, and also your time management skills...but I could be wrong

 

[Arjuna]

i dont really think medical schools really care..
my sop,junior,senior year will all be 12- 14 credit hours a semesters..
i mean why would they frown upon it.. think of this hypothetical situation
if you can get away taking 12-14 credits a semester and still graduate with all the classes you need..
then it shouldn't really matter..

i mean in my situation after my freshman year is over.. i'll have 50 credits from 2 ap's and summer courses...
which means.. i'll still graduate with over 131 credits
yah..
so take as many credits as you need to graduate..

Haha. I am still a sophomore and have 90 credits. Ill have over 220 by the time I graduate. Call me crazy 😛.

 

[BigRedDeal]

Two of my semesters were 15 credits, 4 semesters were 12-14. I also had large time commitments outside of class. In my case, low number of credits didn't hurt. I got into medical school just fine.

 

[gmreed2]

I agree. I think you'll be fine with a low number of credits, but only if you get 4.0's and a competetive MCAT. This will especially make it easier for you to make more committments in your EC's. However, you're going to have to show that you were challenging yourself somehow.

Alternatively, it would be more wise to graduate early and save your tuition money. This is the number one factor for graduating early among my friends.

 

[Dral]

Heh, I had like 4 semesters in a row of 12 credits iirc. Two of them were T,W, TH classes only.

I remember a few med school interviews where they told me outright they wouldn't accept me because of that.

Wait...that last part didn't happen. Chill and take the number of credits it takes to graduate, unless there are classes that interest you above and beyond what is required.

 

[RevMD]

Hmm...interesting. Yeah, I guess taking 14hrs is alright as long as you are taking reasonably difficult courses and maintaining ECs commitments to compensate for the time that would otherwise be spent taking another class or two.