Graduating in 5 years, no GAP year, for Medical school

Hi everyone,

My name is Matt and I’ll soon be a sophomore at Oakland University for Biochemistry. As I was planning out my future classes, I noticed that if I were to take the MCAT in the April and May of my Junior year, I would have to take the following classes my Junior year:
Fall 2019 Winter 2020
BCM 4254-Biochem 1 3 credits CHM 3420-Physical Chemistry 1 4 credits
PHY 1520 and 1110-Physics 2 w/h Lab 5 credits CHM 4256-Biochemistry 2 3 credits
BCM 4257-Biochem lab 3 credits BIO 3400-Genetics 4 credits
BIO 3210- Biology of the cell 4 credits BIO 3500-General Microbiology 4 credits

This, however, is a bit high with 15 credits per each semester as I would rather do 12 credits per semester since it would allow me to fit in extracurriculars while doing optimally in my classes. I would also consider taking the MCAT in my 4th year as opposed to my 3rd year. However, I’m not sure if medical schools will think that I’m not challenging myself and I’ve personally never heard of anyone going to school for 5 years, instead of, e.g., going to school for 4 years and taking a gap year thereafter.

If anyone has any insight I would greatly appreciate it.

Are you doing a double major in those 5 years or just stretching the regular 120 credits over that time?

No, I would just be extending the 124 credits over 5 years instead of 4 years.

I think that it would be hard to justify taking 5 years to do something that most other people do in 4, unless you’re working full-time to put yourself through schiol or have some other extenuating circumstance. But I could be wrong. How about balancing out your course load with some easier courses so that you can bump it up to 15 a semester and stay on track? Maybe throw in your school’s gen ed requirements, like a history or English course, and take some of your other sciences senior year.

Hi mdono9089,

No problem going to undergrad for 5 years, especially if you’re doing two degrees/majors! Not everyone needs to go through the same 4 year degree straight to medical school. Do what you want and make sure you succeed in your courses and I’m sure you’ll be fine.

Cheers,
Jay