I have no college credits but I’m planning on not taking summers off in college. I’m going to be majoring in something in natural sciences(pre-med)
I would contact an advisor and ask. However, you need 120 credit hours so if the courses are available, then in theory, with 18 credits a semester for 3 years, you’d be at 108 - and then 6 credits for two summers. Sure.
Of course, that might impact your grades and ability to study for MCAT, etc.
Best of luck.
This is what I am most concerned about.
Premed classes are tough. If you are serious about being premed, then you will want to get very good grades in very tough classes, and get medical experience, and avoid debt for your bachelor’s degree. I can see how graduating in three years might reduce the cost. However, if you pile up the classes this could impact your grades.
This is not a race.
@BlueSkies21 what Major were you admitted to at A&M? Were you admitted thru Blinn TEAM or straight A&M?
Is there a reason you don’t have any AP or DC?
Without the rigor of either, taking 18 hours will be tough, and summer classes are accelerated-also very tough.
Many intro level classes will be weed-out, you’ll have zero time for fun/social (attend athletics, join campus orgs). Medical schools don’t want a transcript filled with community college/juco courses, so you’d need to plan to take summer courses AT A&M…which are terribly during summer, and you run the risk of not everything being offered.
There’s no way A&M advisor will let you sign up for more than 15 hours in the fall, especially if you haven’t taken any AP or DC.
Why do you want to graduate early from college as a premed? Do you plan to apply for medical school admissions after your second year of college, or will you be taking some time after your bachelors to get your medical school applications, MCAT, ECs done?
Making it to med school is a marathon. You need to measure your effort and remember that most will not make it to the finish line, let alone win.
If you treat the race as if it were a dash race/200m sprint, it’s over for you very quickly.
Successful premeds take 13-14 credits their 1st semester (typically, Calc1, Gen Chemistry 1, Freshman English, Psychology or Sociology, sometimes a 1-credit “intro to college” required class). They take time to adjust to college, meet with professors during office hours, do everything in their power to get straight As (including tutoring well before midterms).
2nd semester is Stats or biostats, Gen chem 2, Gen Bio1, Psychology or Sociology. Plus, again, office hours&tutoring.
They plan their summer as early as November to make sure they can volunteer someplace in addition to whatever summer job they can have.
They maximize their 4 years to build a strong record of clinical&community involvement and (for the vast majority) take the MCAT senior year and/or plan a glide year.
In short, taking summer classes and having 16-18 credits during the year is a surefire way to sink a premed as early as their 1st year.
How come you don’t have any DE or AP credit (school didn’t offer?)
What’s the highest Math you’ve taken? What science classes?
Do you want to graduate in 3 years from A&M for financial reasons? If so, it means the school is not affordable
Where else have you been admitted?
Did you get into the Honors college anywhere?
I agree with all the advice above about NOT trying to do this in 3 years but would add that A&M Neuro (which OP is considering) is 16 credits fall semester freshman year. I don’t see how you could add to that!
I’ve taken 11 APs but haven’t taken the tests for them. I know there’s CLEP tests i can take that might clear like 3 credits but I’m not sure when i can take them or if it’s too late. I was considering graduating in three years since I thought if I didn’t get in the first time, I’d be able to take a gap year and try again and still be on track. It seems like it’s a better idea to just graduate in 4 years tho.
If you graduate in three years, and plan to apply to enter medical school the fall after you finish undergrad, you will need to apply near the end of your second year of college…and the expectation is that ALL of your required courses for medical school admissions plus patient facing work, shadowing, volunteering with some underprivileged group, taking the MCAT, etc. will ALL be done by the time your application is submitted.
@WayOutWestMom i might have this timeline a little off…so can you clarify what this student would need to do to apply directly out of three years of college?
Actually I just checked and I passed ap lang which I could test out of composition first sem for, but on common app I put that I had no college credit because I previously thought that so idk if they’re going to take it
Just curious and it’s not relevant now - but why no tests ? Were you TO to A&M too ?
Why three years ? What is the rationale ?
I was considering graduating in three years since I thought if I didn’t get in the first time, I’d be able to take a gap year and try again and still be on track. It seems like it’s a better idea to just graduate in 4 years tho.
On track for what?
The average age for first year medical students is mid 20’s.
Why haven’t you taken AP exams?
What major were you admitted to? And straight A&M or Blinn TEAM?
Do you plan to take 11 AP exams in one year? I’m not sure that is even possible.
You should reach out to Pre-Health advising office to see if they can help map out a 3 or 4 years plan for undergrad before applying to med schools.
Here is the link for Pre-med courses requirement:
https://students-residents.aamc.org/system/files/2023-11/MSAR_Premed_Course_Requirements_11.29.23.pdf
You will also need hundreds of hours for research, doctor shadowing, clinical & non-clinical volunteers, and preparing for MCAT. Some activities can be done during school years, but you may have to dedicate summers for some.
Good luck.
That’s not how it works for med school. You have to build the absolute best application you can and see it as a one shot. Hence the glide year and applicants being in their mid-20s.
(Re applying is possible but raises the bar significantly compared to the 1st application round’s already extremely high bar).
Can you answer these questions ^
Does your school district not pay for the tests or were you planning not to take the credits anyway (good call for premeds)? How used to high-stakes testing are you?
11 AP courses is quite a lot and should prepare you well. Do make sure to review AP chem before Gen Chemistry and thr 2nd half of AP Calc before Calc1.
Taking a gap year is very common. If you graduate university in four years, and then take a gap year or two, assuming that you then get into medical school, you will be very close to the median age for medical school students, and there will be plenty of students who are older than you.
We do not have any medical school students in our family. Both daughters however had majors that overlapped a great deal with premed classes and have friends who were premed. Between all of their friends I think that there was one who went to medical school immediately after graduating with her bachelor’s. Another took a couple of gap years and is currently in medical school. Another took three gap years and is currently applying (she had great grades but very little medical experience at the time that she got her bachelor’s). One daughter took 3 gap years, and then applied to and got accepted to multiple DVM programs. During her gap years she got a lot of experience that was very relevant and helpful for her DVM applications, and verified that this was what she wanted to do, and established residence in a different state (which turned out to be very helpful).
You do indeed need (at least) hundreds of hours of relevant medical experience. You will need to invest quite a bit of time on this.
Medicals schools generally will NOT accept CLEP edits as fulfilling admission requirements.
Gaining a med school admission is as much about having the expected ECs as it is about having the pre-reqs classes. You need both.
As @thumper1 alluded to above. the med school application process takes a full year. You will apply in May for admission the following summer. This means will need to have completed all of your pre-reqs AND have taken the MCAT by early/mid spring of your sophomore year of college. Can you really be ready by then?
Also you should know if you are a TX resident that TX med school admissions favor those with very high GPAs.
Here’s the TMDSAS webpage of med school admission requirements. L:abs are required for gen chem, ochem, bio, and physics. Few colleges grant lab credit for AP scores, None grant lab credits of CLEP exams.
From that page:
Please note that some TMDSAS partner schools do not accept AP/IB credit. Please contact each of the schools to which you are applying regarding their specific policies on AP and IB credit.
Here are couple of other documents you need to review if you are sincere in wishing to attend med school–
You must have activities/coursework/experiences that clearly demonstrate you have all of these qualities. If you are taking classwork year round, when are you going to have time to get the necessary experiences that demonstrate your competencies?
Using MCAT® Data in 2024 Medical Student Selection
On p.15 thee is a a table of what characteristics med school adcomms expect in applicants.
Community service, physician shadowing, clinical experiences and holding leadership roles in your activities are rank ed as just as important as your GPA and MCAT scores.
Not having the expected activities and ECs is just as lethal to your med school application as have a sub 3.0 GPA oa MCAT below 500.
Sorry last question, the document says that med school requires English. I found out that I passed English AP test and I don’t have to take English in college. Should I take it anyway?