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Finishing Undergraduate Degree


JKT

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Hey guys, 

So this may be a silly question, but if I apply to medical school in fourth year (my undergraduate degree is five years) then does that mean that I won't be able to finish my undergraduate degree as I will be starting medical school in the upcoming year? Also, considering my degree is five years long, when do you suggest that I apply to medical school (I will be beginning my second year in the fall). 

Thanks

 

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I was in this same boat as you. I enjoyed my undergrad and wanted to complete my bachelor's but my end goal was medicine. If you get an offer to medical school, it is specific to a specific school and a specific year, so you will have to withdraw from your undergraduate degree. you cannot be enrolled in medicine and another distinct program at the same time- the medical school will make you choose between your undergrad program and medicine. 

Schools can let you defer your admission, but not usually for the sake of getting your bachelor's. At the end of the day, there's a huge applicant pool for a limited amount of spots & if you're not dead-set on starting medical school, your spot will get passed over for someone who is. Also, I am not too sure if rejecting an offer holds any bearing on future application cycles. The schools will definitely know that you rejected their offer in the past, but whether this results in any prejudice is something I cannot confirm. 

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3 hours ago, shankarpro said:

I was in this same boat as you. I enjoyed my undergrad and wanted to complete my bachelor's but my end goal was medicine. If you get an offer to medical school, it is specific to a specific school and a specific year, so you will have to withdraw from your undergraduate degree. you cannot be enrolled in medicine and another distinct program at the same time- the medical school will make you choose between your undergrad program and medicine. 

Schools can let you defer your admission, but not usually for the sake of getting your bachelor's. At the end of the day, there's a huge applicant pool for a limited amount of spots & if you're not dead-set on starting medical school, your spot will get passed over for someone who is. Also, I am not too sure if rejecting an offer holds any bearing on future application cycles. The schools will definitely know that you rejected their offer in the past, but whether this results in any prejudice is something I cannot confirm. 

So what did you end up doing? Did you end up withdrawing from your undergrad degree or did you defer or did you enrol to medicine right away? Wouldn't it be wasteful to do 5 years of undergrad working towards a degree/program only to drop it? What would you end up having at the end? No degree at all or simply a general science degree? 

I'm in the process of doing a 5th year for my degree (had fairly rocky start and I want to try to improve on my GPA) but I also wanted to apply during my 4th year but will I simply be wasting my time?

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I don't think applying is a waste of time - going through the applying process is a great experience, especially if you get an interview. Accepted or not, decline the acceptance or not -  no matter what you'll end up either in medical school or in a better position to be accepted to medical school. At least at my medical school, there is no formal prejudice against declining an offer  and reapplying the next year.

I accepted my offer prior to finishing my undergraduate degree. At the time I was a bit sad I didn't get to complete my degree, but that feeling was completely overwhelmed with the excitement for starting medicine.  I didn't think it was wasteful - it got me to being on track for an amazing career.

I have heard that some schools will offer you an honorary general bachelors of science once you complete your first year of medicine (McMaster maybe?) but at my school it was up to my undergraduate program director & I never received a science degree.  I guess now that I've completed my MD, I don't regret not having a couple of other letters beside my name.  While it was a bit odd when I published a paper in med school & was the only one on the author list without at least a BSc, I got past it.  Best of luck!

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I agree that going through the application process is a valuable experience. I applied during my 3rd year and received one interview (but never got off the waitlist). Although I didn't get in that year, the process helped me identify my weaknesses (ECs, CASPER, and communication skills) and made me a much stronger applicant when I applied again the next year. 

 

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I personally advocate apply as soon as possible, assuming you meet the admission criteria and at least has a slim chance.

The reason being admission criteria and applicant pool is unpredictable. Sometimes it work for you, sometimes against you. For example MCAT cutoffs, casper marking, interview scores, scoring your EC, they are all subject to variation. 

In the end I think there's not much to lose if you apply in your 3rd year. 

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Many people apply a year earlier than their planned undergrad timeline.   If you are lucky enough to get a Med acceptance, you will take it and forego finishing your undergrad.  You may never get another Med acceptance again so do not play with fire.  I'm not aware of Med schools allowing you to defer to complete undergrad.  

Otherwise,  going through the application, MCAT, Interviews,  is good prep to open your eyes to the process and your relative strengths and weaknesses.  Do ensure that you have a realistically competitive GPA/MCAT before doing an early application as the real benefit is the interviews.  Don't waste your time if you do not atleast meet the Interview GPA/MCAT averages.

What undergrad are you taking that is pre-defined at 5 years long ?  Is it co-op or some sort of double major ?   Likely take the MCAT summer after second year if you are in sciences.

 

 

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5 hours ago, Meridian said:

Many people apply a year earlier than their planned undergrad timeline.   If you are lucky enough to get a Med acceptance, you will take it and forego finishing your undergrad.  You may never get another Med acceptance again so do not play with fire.  I'm not aware of Med schools allowing you to defer to complete undergrad.  

Otherwise,  going through the application, MCAT, Interviews,  is good prep to open your eyes to the process and your relative strengths and weaknesses.  Do ensure that you have a realistically competitive GPA/MCAT before doing an early application as the real benefit is the interviews.  Don't waste your time if you do not atleast meet the Interview GPA/MCAT averages.

What undergrad are you taking that is pre-defined at 5 years long ?  Is it co-op or some sort of double major ?   Likely take the MCAT summer after second year if you are in sciences.

 

 

I was in regular health studies, but now I am in co-op. The reason why I transferred into co-op was because it would give me the opportunity to apply to all schools in fourth year and then apply again if I don't get in. I plan on taking the MCAT in third year because I haven't taken orgo yet and I think I will apply in 5th year and if I don't get in take a gap year because I would like to have my bachelor's degree. 

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On 7/9/2017 at 2:35 AM, confuse-pre-med said:

So what did you end up doing? Did you end up withdrawing from your undergrad degree or did you defer or did you enrol to medicine right away? Wouldn't it be wasteful to do 5 years of undergrad working towards a degree/program only to drop it? What would you end up having at the end? No degree at all or simply a general science degree? 

I'm in the process of doing a 5th year for my degree (had fairly rocky start and I want to try to improve on my GPA) but I also wanted to apply during my 4th year but will I simply be wasting my time?

I applied the year before graduating just to test the waters. I actually got an interview but rejected post-interview, but the experience helped me understand the application landscape better. It is wasteful to not complete a bachelor's degree but it's not a huge loss because medicine is like a bachelor's degree in the sense that you are back to square 1. So with a bachelor's or without, you still go back to square 1. 

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