Too Few Credits?

[Plue00]

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I came into college with some AP credits(humanities classes, no pre-med) and after my first year, I'll have 50+ credits. I was wondering if med schools would look down on me for taking 13-14 credits a semester for the rest of my college career? This eliminates me from my school's dean's list as you need 15+ credits to qualify. I'd rather spend the extra time volunteering and and studying for my pre-med classes/other classes/MCATs(when the time comes). I'd still meet my biology major requirements before I graduate if I did take 13-14 credits a semester.

Do med schools care even if I have a good GPA?

Thank you! 🙂

 

[flatearth22]

GPA trumps all. Better to have a 3.9 GPA majoring in Sociology at StateU while taking 13-14 credits a semester than to have a 3.5 GPA majoring in Chemical Engineering at CalTech while taking 20+ credits a semester.

 

[LilKangaroo]

I think/was told that they do. I think LizzyM may have mentioned that adcoms generally look for 30 cr/year on your AMCAS

I came into college in a similar situation: I had 60 credits coming in and could have easily graduated in 3-4 years taking 12 cr/semester. After my first year of only 12 cr/semester, I amped it up because I started thinking about is my preparation for medical school. Medical school is like taking 18 cr/semester, while still being highly involved in research/volunteering/e.c.'s and studying for USMLE's. I wanted to prove to myself (and in essence, to med schools) that I could handle a stressful load. I learned a lot about what I could handle and what type of support I needed.

Given my experience, I would recommend taking 15 cr/semester despite how many credits one has coming into college. Take some fun/interesting classes that you would take otherwise to learn more about yourself and other fields.

That's just my two cents. =]

 

[sector9]

I came into college with some AP credits(humanities classes, no pre-med) and after my first year, I'll have 50+ credits. I was wondering if med schools would look down on me for taking 13-14 credits a semester for the rest of my college career? This eliminates me from my school's dean's list as you need 15+ credits to qualify. I'd rather spend the extra time volunteering and and studying for my pre-med classes/other classes/MCATs(when the time comes). I'd still meet my biology major requirements before I graduate if I did take 13-14 credits a semester.

Do med schools care even if I have a good GPA?

Thank you! 🙂

No one cares if you get disqualified from dean's list due to a technicality as long as you've got a great GPA.

You can take a look at an example of a verified GPA section here (verified GPA screenshot http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=10199693&postcount=1). As you can see, total hours per academic year is noted on there. I don't think it matters too much if you're talking about 28 credits vs. 30 credits per year.

I came into college with a bunch of AP credits so for two of my academic years I only had 14 and 24 credits. No one ever said anything at my interviews (and I did have 2 years with more credits so it was probably clear that I could handle heavier loads). Anyway that's my n=1 example for you

 

[Plue00]

Any other opinions?