Too much of a Red Flag to take a light semester during MCAT?

[esob]

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There is no need for me to take full time semesters until graduation, as I have a bunch of hours and am mostly doing prereqs and classes required for my major. If I were to take 12 hrs each semester, I would either be ready to graduate in the fall of 2018 (doesn't help me get to medical school any faster) or in a worse case scenario need to take 1 class in the spring of 2019.

It sounds like a great idea right? Why not have a few months to blow off or only need to take one class before going to med school? The problem is I'm still working a lot as I wind my company down and still have 4 kids to take care of now (two of which will be graduated by 2019).

So, I have been planning to just take a couple classes during the spring of 2018 and spread the rest of my courses out, since that is the semester I will be prepping for the MCAT and the extra time will be beneficial as study time. I am worried however that my MCAT score might be "discounted" to some degree since I see that a lot of applicants study while taking full time classes. For me to do that means I would have to stop working a year early and the the amount of $$ lost will be significant.

So is it a big deal or not a cause for concern?

 

[futurephysician57]

Not a big deal. You're fine I did it got accepted. 11 credits

 

[Welshman]

Why not just graduate in the Fall 2018 and take the MCAT in the Spring 2019?? I would consider taking a light/no load more as getting even with the average applicant considering you are a non-trad with your own company.

To think about it another way, the biomedical engineer who does poorly well doesn't get any kudos for a harder major.
The consensus on SDN seems to be that medical schools care about success, not the attempt

 

[esob]

Why not just graduate in the Fall 2018 and take the MCAT in the Spring 2019?? I would consider taking a light/no load more as getting even with the average applicant considering you are a non-trad with your own company.

To think about it another way, the biomedical engineer who does poorly well doesn't get any kudos for a harder major.
The consensus on SDN seems to be that medical schools care about success, not the attempt

Because I plan to matriculate in 2019 and that would push me back a year

 

[Altius Premier Tutor]

I've advised all of my students to take fewer credits during at least one semester to focus on the MCAT and they've always performed extremely well in the admissions game relative to their score and other metrics. Here's my take on it, in terms of general principles to consider:

1) ADCOMS are very much "on the lookout" for students who show signs of being "unable to handle" the intensity of the firehose med school curriculum. Thus, they pick apart your transcripts pretty carefully and may well discount you for taking GPA-booster classes, consistently taking fewer credits than most students, etc.

2) The above trend is OVERALL. It isn't likely to be applied to a single semester. That's why I'm not worried about my students taking one semester to focus on the MCAT, especially since the risk-reward is highly favorable. Once you have that solid MCAT score I've never heard of a student having their high MCAT discounted because they didn't take 5 hard science classes that exact same semester. On the other hand, I've seen PLENTY of cases where a student had hard science classes that made it very hard for them to dedicate time to MCAT prep, go get a poor score, and the committee doesn't think twice about discounting them for the low MCAT score...It seems entirely out of their nature (the ADCOMS) to "look past" a low MCAT score because of a heavy load. In that case, they'll be more prone to say "Everyone has heavy loads...this guy/girl just may not be able to handle it." Thus, I read it as a no brainer that you a) Make sure your load is above-average most of the time, and b) give the MCAT its due when the time comes.

So, the real question is, Does your transcript show the committee that you have what it takes to handle 15-20 credits, with at least 3-4 of those being solid science classes, while still getting good grades? If so, you're fine. Slow down to focus on MCAT.

 

[esob]

I've advised all of my students to take fewer credits during at least one semester to focus on the MCAT and they've always performed extremely well in the admissions game relative to their score and other metrics. Here's my take on it, in terms of general principles to consider:

1) ADCOMS are very much "on the lookout" for students who show signs of being "unable to handle" the intensity of the firehose med school curriculum. Thus, they pick apart your transcripts pretty carefully and may well discount you for taking GPA-booster classes, consistently taking fewer credits than most students, etc.

2) The above trend is OVERALL. It isn't likely to be applied to a single semester. That's why I'm not worried about my students taking one semester to focus on the MCAT, especially since the risk-reward is highly favorable. Once you have that solid MCAT score I've never heard of a student having their high MCAT discounted because they didn't take 5 hard science classes that exact same semester. On the other hand, I've seen PLENTY of cases where a student had hard science classes that made it very hard for them to dedicate time to MCAT prep, go get a poor score, and the committee doesn't think twice about discounting them for the low MCAT score...It seems entirely out of their nature (the ADCOMS) to "look past" a low MCAT score because of a heavy load. In that case, they'll be more prone to say "Everyone has heavy loads...this guy/girl just may not be able to handle it." Thus, I read it as a no brainer that you a) Make sure your load is above-average most of the time, and b) give the MCAT its due when the time comes.

So, the real question is, Does your transcript show the committee that you have what it takes to handle 15-20 credits, with at least 3-4 of those being solid science classes, while still getting good grades? If so, you're fine. Slow down to focus on MCAT.

Well, it shows me taking 12+ hrs per semester with at least 2 science (4 this semester) (4.0 BPCM, 3.96 cGPA) while working sometimes 60+ hrs and raising 4 kids while volunteering (clinical + community) and shadowing and participating in student activities. I'd gladly swap that schedule for 15 hrs and no other responsibilities. 😀

 

[Altius Premier Tutor]

Well, it shows me taking 12+ hrs per semester with at least 2 science (4 this semester) (4.0 BPCM, 3.96 cGPA) while working sometimes 60+ hrs and raising 4 kids while volunteering (clinical + community) and shadowing and participating in student activities. I'd gladly swap that schedule for 15 hrs and no other responsibilities. 😀

Be sure to help ADCOMS "see clearly" your many other adult responsibilities. They'll reward you for that. For what it's worth, I think that if what you describe is true, most ADCOMS will like what they see. They have become more and more friendly to non-trads and gap-years over the years.

Remember that you always have to do that in a way that "shows" rather than "tells." Otherwise, a lot of ADCOM readers start questioning you: "Well, he seems to think he was so darn busy...but I did x/y/z/q when I was a premed, and lots of premeds were busier than he was..." They kind of have a chip on their shoulder due to so many students trying to rewrite reality to make it look harder than it was; so you have to toe a line of making your reality impressive, while avoiding the impression that you are in any way overstating things.

 

[BerkReviewTeach]

Well, it shows me taking 12+ hrs per semester with at least 2 science (4 this semester) (4.0 BPCM, 3.96 cGPA) while working sometimes 60+ hrs and raising 4 kids while volunteering (clinical + community) and shadowing and participating in student activities. I'd gladly swap that schedule for 15 hrs and no other responsibilities. 😀

You have an amazing profile. With your GPA, it is highly unlikely that anyone will be scrutinizing anything in terms of units.

Put yourself in the shoes of an adcom member who has a full plate outside of the committee. If an applicant has a GPA or MCAT score at the lower end of what they want, then they will likely scrutinize. But there are not enough hours in the day for them to take a magnifying glass to the application of 4.0. I also assume that they will see your age and transcript and will be impressed knowing everything you were juggling while getting those great grades. Truly impressive!