I spent the weekend detailing out the classes that I need to take to complete my degree, and had a very startling revelation… I could be done in as little as 2 years. OMG!
Northeastern (CPS side) works on a quarterly basis… so instead of having 2 semesters (Fall/Winter & Winter/Spring) and “summer classes”, there are 4 quarters.
Within that, they have a bunch of classes that are “intensives”… instead of lasting the full quarter, they are 6 weeks long. This means that I can take 2 classes in the quarter instead of just 1.
It does mean that the work is condensed, but instead of having class on both Monday & Wednesday night and having to be out of the house two nights a week, I am just out of the house 1 night a week and the extra work-load from the fast paced can be offset by the lack of the extra commute.
I had been anticipating 6 years - in fact, I had been looking at school entrance reqs to make sure that if I took Bio now and didn’t graduate for 6 more years, if the class was still going to be considered valid because some schools do have time limits.
I am still going to stretch things out (maybe 2 1/2 to 3 years) to make sure I have enough time to tackle things like Orgo and BioChem by themselves, but wow! It just hit me how close I really am 
Moonmaeven,
I’m sure you’re already aware of this fact, but just in case remember that classes taken in a schools that use quarterly schedule are counted differently than those taken during ‘regular semesters’. Usually 3 quarters are equivalent to 2 regular semesters.
And definitely take your time preparing for application. One semester is not going to make such a huge difference in a long run, but can definitely let you become a more competitive applicant. Especially, make sure you’ll give yourself enough time to prepare for the MCAT.
Kasia
Yep, each class is worth 2/3 of a credit, so I have to take Bio1/2/3 instead of Bio1/2. The difference in time comes from the intensive classes, and also because the “summer” classes aren’t any different from the fall/winter/spring classes (as opposed to the semester system where they are seen as “easier”).
Yeah, I will definitely need a lot of time to prep for the MCAT. I’m not so much worried about the VR and essays - those (relatively speaking) will be fairly easy for me. I’m worried about the BS/PS sections.
I’ve always had a hard time with standardized exams because there’s so much on the page that I feel I am running out of time and I rush. I’ll be doing a lot of the practice exams so that I can learn what the timing is that I need to be comfortable so that I can focus on the question and not the time I have to answer it.