hydralisks

Hi,

I'll be attending UC Berkeley (as an undergrad) this upcoming fall as a bioengineering major (non-premed). I have quite a bit of AP credit and, with the addition of a few summer courses, I could graduate in 3 years.

Should I opt for this path or go with the normal 4 years? After my undergraduate degree, I plan to pursue at least a Masters and possibly a PHD in bioengineering. Then, I may consider going after an MBA.

What path (3 vs. 4 years) do some of the brightest and most accelerated students at Harvard choose to do (ie. Presidential Scholars with 10+ 5's on APs)?

Any opinions/advice/words of wisdom would be well appreciated.

hawkphoenix

Most students I've heard about do the typical 4 years. It just makes more sense to me. I understand if money is a big factor or something, but if not, then take the 4 years. Don't cram everything into 3, you'll just be overwhelmed with work. The extra time you will get by spending the extra year will help you participate in extracurriculars, possibly get internships,etc.

dilksy

Unless you have monetary concerns or are going to a school where you've pretty much run out of classes to take, there's no real reason to finish in 3 years.

hydralisks

Money isn't an issue, but I think I have a lot more to do than the average college path: Masters (2 years) + PhD (1 year) + MBA (??)

Anyone have any friends that have 10+ 5's on AP exams? Are they still on the normal four year path?

karipac07

Who wants to graduate early? How much longer are parents going to pay for us to go to school and have fun? Get to college before you think about graduating early and I'm sure your decision will change. College entails the 4 best years of your life, stop wishing your life away and enjoy the present.

hydralisks

I wish it were that easy, but I have to plan my schedule early. That's the mistake I made in high school - I didn't plan my route ahead of time and ended up not getting to take many of the courses that I wanted to.

And regarding graduating early, I'll still have another 3+ years of graduate school. Are grad school and undergrad that different? (<- that's an actual question btw)

Erin's Dad

First, I don't know anyone who gets a PhD in a year. And why would you want an MBA after that? What you're saying is you want to be a professional student.

hydralisks

Actually, I've interned three years in a row at very successful startups in Palo Alto. Many of the people there have a solid engineering degree + MBAs. Some even have multiple engineering degrees.

smallbadwolf

actually I have teh same question as the topic poster. I'm gonna be a BME major at Umiami and I plan to become a physician. My case is the same as the topic poster since I have to go through about 8 more years of training (4 medical school and 4 residency) for postundergraduate studies. Is Biomedical/bioengineering too difficult to complete in 4 years?

molliebatmit

It is exceedingly rare for anyone to finish a PhD in fewer than four years in any discipline. The average in science and engineering is probably closer to six years, though many programs are trying to cut down to about five and a half.

Generally graduate schools would like to see students complete a full four years of undergrad. It's difficult enough to get into a PhD program straight from undergrad, since straight-from-undergrad students are perceived by graduate school admissions committees as being less sure of what they really want to do than students who took time off before graduate school. In addition, professor recommendations and research experience are extremely important for graduate school admissions, and it's more difficult to have an outstanding research resume and close relationships with professors if you graduate early.

Graduate school and undergrad are very different -- undergrad is about taking many broad courses and doing research on the side, while grad school is about doing in-depth research on a narrow topic. They involve very different skills.