Will med school frown upon students who only take science classes?

[nwts]

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Wow, five STEM class at the same time? Did that work out ok for you? I still want a good GPA, my goal is aiming for an A in every class. I know I set my bar pretty high but gotta have confidence right. haha. During your semester with 4 or 3 STEM as well as non-science class. Did you have pretty good GPA? did you have to study incredible much, did you still have time for school events, clubs, and work and volunteering? I am starting to consider taking some humanity and social science class in person like a lot of you have suggested. Just hoping I can handle it.

I do not recommend doing 5 STEM classes in one semester. I did it because I had to, but it was not the greatest. There was definitely one class that I would have done significantly better in if I had been able to devote more time to it, but realistically that was probably also true for 2 more of the courses I took that semester. My GPA suffered that semester.

My GPA overall isn't awesome. I am very confident that it would be better if I weren't constantly taking so many STEM courses. I have had a lot of courses, besides just in the semester where I took 5 STEM courses, that I thought I could've done better in if I weren't so overloaded. And honestly, I spend a lot of time studying and doing homework. I still have a social life and have extracurricular activities that I do for fun, but I think I probably devote more time to school than the average student at my school.

 

[The Real SVB]

Will graduating in three years and having a good GPA puts you at a advantage?

I know the answer here, definitively. The answer is no.

 

[The Real SVB]

What would you say is the biggest deciding factor for med school to accept you?

Common SDN knowledge is that the biggest factor is the full package. Everything is part of a package that is looked at holistically and evaluated in its context.
Don't believe me? @Goro (who is an admissions officer) can attest.

 

[snowflake5]

Would you recommend finishing in three years? since you've been through it all and succeeded. Will I have time to build my application with everything I have to do? research, volunteering, classes, social life, shadowing, working, and other activities? Did your honor program helped you get into a med school? What would you say is the biggest deciding factor for med school to accept you? Will graduating in three years and having a good GPA puts you at a advantage? I know whether I'll make it in three year really depend on me and my abilities but I just want to hear other people's story on how they have made it. Haha.

If money is not an issue, I would suggest that you stay in school for all 4 years. It will give you the opportunity to strengthen your application further! And besides, there's no need to rush! I know I felt stressed out about fitting in all my requirements in time, and it's probably better if you enjoy your time and take classes that you are interested in just for fun!

Personally, I decided to go the 3 year route, for 2 main reasons: money, and because I wanted to take a gap year.

The biggest factor in a med school acceptance ( that I have experienced) is how well you fit with the school's values/mission. And research. Don't forget to do research!

And besides, interviewers only commented on the fact that I graduated early in passing comments. It didn't seem like a big deal to them, just an interesting little factoid.