How to Build a 3-Year Undergraduate Curriculum For Accelerating Premeds

We've covered Plan A (BS/MD) and Plan B (Early Assurance Programs) already in this newsletter. Today we're talking about Plan C: the 3-year undergraduate curriculum. (Learn more about the Fast Track Plan A-E system here).

Plan C is for students who arrive at college without a guaranteed med school seat but still want to get through premed and medical training faster than the traditional 8-year route. It's not a shortcut. It's a system designed to compress the timeline without sacrificing competitiveness. And like all systems in the Fast Track framework, it only works if the pieces are set up correctly from the start.

Let's get into it.

What "3-Year Curriculum" Actually Means

A 3-year undergraduate curriculum is not just taking 21 credits a semester and hoping for the best. It is a deliberately engineered course sequence that allows you to:

Everything in the Fast Track Plan C system flows backward from one fixed deadline: the MCAT must happen by spring of sophomore year. That single constraint determines your major, your course sequence, and even which undergrad school you should attend.

Most students pick a major, then try to fit premed requirements around it. Fast Trackers do the opposite, they pick a major based on the timing of the premed requirements.

So let’s talk about it!

Just so you all understand, this is a huge topic that I cannot possibly cover in one newsletter post. So I’ve made this newsletter topic two parts, but also, I encourage anyone who is interested in understanding the full acceleration framework to take my course: Fast Track Intensive.

All of you reading this have a unique advantage: you get access to the subscriber special pricing. The course is valued at $279, but for all of my subscribers, you can take advantage of the Founder’s pricing of $149.99. This offer will be expire by the end of the summer.

Now, let’s dive into the good stuff:

First: How to Choose a Major

This is where students make expensive mistakes. Here is the framework I teach in FTI:

Three questions to filter every major:

1. Pre-reqs: Does it satisfy the med school prerequisites? You need biology, chemistry, organic chemistry, biochemistry, physics, math, and English on your transcript. The question is whether your major naturally includes these courses or forces you to take a separate pile of requirements on top of your major coursework, extending your timeline.

A biology or biochemistry major often satisfies most prerequisites within the major itself. A computer science or engineering major might require you to take every premed prerequisite as an add-on, which is a timeline killer.

Fast Track Tip from FTI: Look at the total credits you need to complete and see how soon you can complete them.

2. Passion: Is there a personal connection you can deepen? Your major will drive your personal statement, your research angle, and your CV narrative. A passion major with real depth — public health, history, psychology — can be valuable. That said: will the passion interfere with your GPA or your prerequisite sequence? If it does, it may not be worth it unless the passion can be used advantageously in your med school application. Consider a passion minor instead.

3. Flexibility: Does the major allow "dual credit" with CV boosters? The best accelerated majors let your coursework do double duty. A biochemistry major doing research in a lab earns science credits AND builds the research section of their CV simultaneously. An English major volunteering in a hospital has a disconnect. Look for majors where courses can serve both your transcript and your CV.

Don't pick a major that "looks good" if it deflates your GPA or adds courses you don't need. For more about how to pick a major, read the prior post on this topic here.

Second: The Organic Chemistry Bottleneck

Here is where the 3-year plan either succeeds or fails.

To be MCAT-ready by spring of sophomore year, you need to have completed biology and chemistry in high school (via AP or dual credit), organic chemistry in freshman year, and biochemistry in the fall semester of sophomore year. This allows you to start studying for the MCAT in November or December of sophomore year after biochem, and sit for the exam in the spring.

That means organic chemistry has to happen freshman year.

Yes, I know. You’re all wide-eyed at this.

But it’s not impossible. I took honors organic chemistry as a freshman when I was 16 years old.

No, I’m not a “genius,” and I bet many of you reading this newsletter have the same academic acumen, if not better, than I did at that age. Believe it or not, honors organic chemistry freshman year in Rutgers was easier than the general chemistry class just because of the professor teaching the course, the smaller class size, and the quality of the materials presented.

College is not like high school. The difficulty of a specific course has nothing to do with the material itself and everything to do with the environment of the course.

If you want to accelerate, this is not optional. This is the entire architecture of the 3-year plan. If organic chemistry gets pushed to sophomore year because you didn't come in with the right AP credits, because your school doesn't allow freshmen to enroll, or because you chose the wrong undergraduate institution then your MCAT gets pushed to junior year, your AMCAS submission gets pushed to June of junior year, and you're back on a traditional 4-year track. The whole compression collapses.

This is why you cannot wait until you arrive at college to plan this type of sequence. The decisions that make or break the 3-year curriculum are made in high school, specifically around AP credits and undergraduate school selection.

By the time you're sitting in freshman orientation, the window is already closing on some of these options. The students who succeed with Plan C started planning it sophomore or junior year of high school (when they were simultaneously executing plans A and B). Learn more on simultaneous execution of Plans A-E in Fast Track Intensive.

MCAT Timing: The Non-Negotiable

A traditional 4-year premed timeline looks like this:

A 3-year Fast Track timeline looks like this:

By second semester of sophomore year, you need to have completed chemistry and biology (high school), organic chemistry (freshman year), and biochemistry (sophomore fall). There is no flexibility in this sequence.

Taking biochem right before MCAT prep is actually advantageous, the material is fresh and directly tested on the MCAT.

I know you are all wondering “but I was told not to use my AP credits because medical schools like to see ‘rigor.’”

I won’t sugar coat it: for many high achieving students (especially those considering BS/MD) - that’s the wrong advice. Like I say, take traditional advice, get traditional results.

BUT the topic about AP credits is way too big to talk about here, so that’s going to be part 2 of this email sequence. Make sure you stay subscribed for next week’s email about how to leverage AP credit for the accelerating premed.

Or, you could “get ahead” and just get the answers from my course.

Here's where most students fail to accelerate.

You understand the problem: orgo is the bottleneck, MCAT timing is everything, major selection has downstream consequences, but you don't have a system that accounts for all of it at once.

That's exactly what the Fast Track Intensive was built for.

FTI talks about BS/MD and EAPs, but more than that, it is about designing a system that gets you ahead, even if you don’t get into BS/MD from high school. It helps you map your entire 3-year undergrad curriculum as a function of your premed strategy. Major selection, AP credit optimization, orgo sequencing, MCAT timing: it's all in there, and it's all connected. The mistake isn't choosing the ‘wrong’ major. The mistake is choosing your major without knowing how it fits into the full acceleration system.

If Part 1 of this series made you realize you've been planning in pieces, FTI gives you the complete picture.

Fast Trackers to MD Timeline (May):

9th-10th Grade: This is where Plan C is actually won or lost. The AP courses you take now — Bio, Chem, Calc, English — are what allow you to enter college with credits already counted. If you're in 9th or 10th grade and haven't thought about which APs you need for a 3-year curriculum, start here.

11th Grade: You are in your BS/MD primary application window, but you should also be selecting undergraduate schools with one eye on Plan C. Does the school accept your AP credits for prerequisite entry into upper-level science? Does it allow freshmen to register for organic chemistry? These are not optional questions. Research your schools carefully.

12th Grade: If BS/MD didn't pan out, your undergraduate school selection this year is your Plan C setup. Look specifically at which schools have EAPs and also which accept AP credits for science prerequisites and allow you to enter organic chemistry in freshman year. Don't pick a school based on prestige if it blocks your acceleration.

College Freshmen: You may not have been able to take organic chemistry, but you’re not stuck on a traditional 8 year post-HS medicine track. Find out what your options are. In an upcoming newsletter post, we’ll talk about 3 year medical schools and who they’re for.

College Sophomores: If orgo is behind you and biochem is this semester or was last semester, you're on track. MCAT prep needs to start no later than November. Confirm your timeline here.

PS: If you are applying to medical school this cycle, AMCAS is open and the personal statement is likely staring you down. I have opened a limited number of personal statement review spots. Reply directly to this email for more information.

-Dr. Samarrai

Fast Track to MD

Next week — Part 2: How to use AP credits to engineer your 3-year timeline, the mistakes that wipe out months of progress, and which medical schools won't accept AP credit even with upper-level science on your transcript.

You cannot leverage pathways you don't know exist.

If this resonated, don’t let it be a one time insight.

Subscribe to our email newsletter to get important timeline alerts, early assurance and accelerated program updates, and practical guidance on when to act at each stage of the medical path. We send information when it matters, not noise.

BS/MD programs are one way to accelerate your premed journey, but they are not the only way. I got my MD at 23 and now I teach students how to leverage systems and pathways to help them accelerate.

Find my full course here where we discuss strategies to implement accelerated medical pathways including BS/MD, EAPs, 3-year undergrad curriculums, international acceleration, and 3-year med schools.

Let’s get you on the Fast Track to MD!