Do medical schools look at how long it took to complete your undergraduate degree?

Question

Because I am going to be in school for six years after I graduate next year. : ) I do have a 3.77 since I replaced 20 cr of B's and 6 cr of C's on my transcript.

Answer 1

Yes, it could matter. Once they select all the brilliant students (a small group), the will look at the outstanding students. Then the bright students. By this point there will be people who have lower GPAs but extenuating circumstances, higher GPAs but repeated many of their classes, etc. It all depends at that point on your other factors, how well you sell yourself to the med school, etc.

For the best med school, you probably will not get in, but you never know.

Answer 2

The real question isn't whether it took four years or six years. The question is, when they compare you against the six to ten other people who are competing for your seat, will they end by believing that you are the best, the most dedicated, the smartest, the hardest working of the applicant group. If you are competing for a seat at Harvard, Columbia, Johns Hopkins, Pritzker at UChicago, or the other very elite schools, then there will be 40 to 50 of you lined up for that one seat.

Where do you stand compared to your competitors? That is the question. If it took you six year to do what other kids did in four (or less) then you should have a long list of other accomplishments... you had six years to volunteer, six years to do research, six years to take other courses beyond the basic level of prereqs. What else have you got to show them?
If you can't show that you did something constructive with that extra time, then you are going to have a hard sell.

Answer 3

It depends really. They might question it if you've taken breaks in your education. A lot of people take six years to complete their studies. Most medical schools would rather take someone who took six years and graduated with a 3.77 than someone who took three years and graduated with a 3.0.

Answer 4

They might ask, but they will accept a good answer. Not everyone skates thru 4 years of undergrad work.