BCPM GPA Booster Question

[ArkansasRanger]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

So the nearby community college has a couple classes this spring, offered by the biology department, that I can take: botany with lab (4cr) and nutrition and diet (3cr).

I'm tempted to take them, since there's not a whole lot else going on this spring that I can take (just accept that fact for the sake of this thread) so I figured those two courses should be good A's for me. I know they're not relevant for prereqs...just GPA boosters.

Thoughts?

 

[Isoprop]

The nutrition class may not be BCPM even if it's offered by your biology department.

 

[ArkansasRanger]

The nutrition class may not be BCPM even if it's offered by your biology department.

Lame, but it'd still help the overall GPA so I guess it doesn't matter.

 

[Catalystik]

Have you taken Statistics yet? That's an easy A for most, and actually helpful at the med school level.

 

[ArkansasRanger]

Have you taken Statistics yet? That's an easy A for most, and actually helpful at the med school level.

lol, I can't

Btw, I took business stat in college and made a B. It wasn't that easy. 😳 But of course I'm not "mathy."

Like I said, "...the nearby community college has a couple classes this spring...that I can take: botany with lab (4cr) and nutrition and diet (3cr)." That's all that will fit my schedule, and I just happened to notice. I didn't go looking for them because, like you, I didn't think they'd be all that helpful. Arkansas community college tuition is cheap so I think I'll do it.

Thanks though.

 

[Catalystik]

I think Nutrition would be eventually helpful in a medical sense (and interesting).

 

[canjosh]

If it's applied (like some community college science courses) it won't count towards BCPM GPA. Does the community college have a nursing program? If so, the nutrition course is probably intended for non-science (nursing) majors. I had to retake Micro for that very reason. Just research it carefully. Botany would probably be seen for exactly what it is--a GPA boost only--which might not help your case. You'd better be able to explain it very well if it comes up at an interview.

 

[Isoprop]

Botany would probably be seen for exactly what it is--a GPA boost only--which might not help your case. You'd better be able to explain it very well if it comes up at an interview.

If it did come up at interviews, a simple answer like "I was interested and decided to take it" should suffice. No one is going to hold it against you for taking a botany class as long as you do well.

 

[ArkansasRanger]

If it's applied (like some community college science courses) it won't count towards BCPM GPA. Does the community college have a nursing program? If so, the nutrition course is probably intended for non-science (nursing) majors. I had to retake Micro for that very reason. Just research it carefully. Botany would probably be seen for exactly what it is--a GPA boost only--which might not help your case. You'd better be able to explain it very well if it comes up at an interview.

Why explain anything? Aren't people just allowed to take random courses? If not, then piss on medical school.

Oh, and what do you mean it might not help in my case?!

 

[ArkansasRanger]

If it did come up at interviews, a simple answer like "I was interested and decided to take it" should suffice. No one is going to hold it against you for taking a botany class as long as you do well.

Exactly. 👍

In fact, I'm definitely taking the botany. The nutrition I was always skeptical about anyway. I mean this is the south. We do love our fried stuff. 😉

 

[LingoLaine]

Personally, if I didn't find it relevant (and I don't think these courses are relevant), I wouldn't waste my time. I think you'd be better off using that same time doing some volunteering or such.

 

[ArkansasRanger]

Personally, if I didn't find it relevant (and I don't think these courses are relevant), I wouldn't waste my time. I think you'd be better off using that same time doing some volunteering or such.

I have that component covered.

 

[ArkansasRanger]

Ok, so let it be known I'm taking the classes. End of discussion. 😛

 

[ForrestG]

Personally, if I didn't find it relevant (and I don't think these courses are relevant), I wouldn't waste my time. I think you'd be better off using that same time doing some volunteering or such.

I know, I know, AR said, "End of Discussion." I can't help myself.

Nutrition may be considered a little fluffy and may not be MCAT-relevant, but I think it's pretty relevant to practicing medicine, esp. primary care since so many diseases are obesity-related. Dr. Oz always seems to have plenty to say about nutrition anyway. 🙂

As for Botany, well, I am a big fan of interdiscipline study and you never know when you will have an A-ha moment by connecting two seemingly unrelated concepts.

Good for you for broadening your horizons.

 

[ArkansasRanger]

I know, I know, AR said, "End of Discussion." I can't help myself.

Nutrition may be considered a little fluffy and may not be MCAT-relevant, but I think it's pretty relevant to practicing medicine, esp. primary care since so many diseases are obesity-related. Dr. Oz always seems to have plenty to say about nutrition anyway. 🙂

As for Botany, well, I am a big fan of interdiscipline study and you never know when you will have an A-ha moment by connecting two seemingly unrelated concepts.

Good for you for broadening your horizons.

Yeah, I do too. It was the one big biology area that I never studied. I had to teach that component when I was a teacher, but it wasn't that big of a deal.

 

[BennieBlanco]

I know, I know, AR said, "End of Discussion." I can't help myself.

Nutrition may be considered a little fluffy and may not be MCAT-relevant, but I think it's pretty relevant to practicing medicine, esp. primary care since so many diseases are obesity-related. Dr. Oz always seems to have plenty to say about nutrition anyway. 🙂

As for Botany, well, I am a big fan of interdiscipline study and you never know when you will have an A-ha moment by connecting two seemingly unrelated concepts. Good for you for broadening your horizons.

broadening horizons good, padding gpa not so good.

I think it would be best to take classes you are interested in, I'm sure you can find a science course you would be interested in (if it is whichever class than great). If the #1 motivate is gpa padding, that probably isn't the best.

 

[canjosh]

Why explain anything? Aren't people just allowed to take random courses? If not, then piss on medical school.

Oh, and what do you mean it might not help in my case?!

Wow, ok.

Uh, explain if you're asked...! I said IF it comes up in an interview, you'd have to explain why you took it. You can't plead the 5th if you want to actually get that med school seat. And no, 'random courses' aren't necessarily a good thing. They want to see you making good, productive use of your time. If you just say that you were interested in Botany, they might probe deeper. If you're going to take 'random classes' they usually want to see something challenging and upper division. i.e. Genetics, Biochem, Cell Bio, Molecular Bio, Immunology, etc. I'm not saying you shouldn't take a course you're truly interested in, but just be prepared to defend it well--adcoms and interviewers are not stupid.

Reread my original post...I didn't say it might not help IN your case. I said it might not help your case...'your case' referring to your med school app. You want your app to be squeaky clean, the adcoms look for reasons to toss your app in the later or never box. If your science GPA is really high, they will look for reasons why...and if you have some random lower division sciences that are not required it might raise a red flag.

And you said you've got volunteering 'covered'. Just remember that there are always extracurricular ways to improve your app, and often times those make you stand out quite a bit. You're not just trying to make tick marks next to a list of typical premed activities, you should be trying to really make yourself an attractive applicant. You might very well have a lot of quality ECs, I'm just reminding you that there is almost always room for meaningful improvement with this part of anybody's app.

Good luck with Botany, since you've already decided. I just wanted to go ahead and answer the questions you asked of me.

 

[BennieBlanco]

Wow, ok.

Uh, explain if you're asked...! I said IF it comes up in an interview, you'd have to explain why you took it. You can't plead the 5th if you want to actually get that med school seat. And no, 'random courses' aren't necessarily a good thing. They want to see you making good, productive use of your time. If you just say that you were interested in Botany, they might probe deeper. If you're going to take 'random classes' they usually want to see something challenging and upper division. i.e. Genetics, Biochem, Cell Bio, Molecular Bio, Immunology, etc. I'm not saying you shouldn't take a course you're truly interested in, but just be prepared to defend it well--adcoms and interviewers are not stupid.

Reread my original post...I didn't say it might not help IN your case. I said it might not help your case...'your case' referring to your med school app. You want your app to be squeaky clean, the adcoms look for reasons to toss your app in the later or never box. If your science GPA is really high, they will look for reasons why...and if you have some random lower division sciences that are not required it might raise a red flag.

And you said you've got volunteering 'covered'. Just remember that there are always extracurricular ways to improve your app, and often times those make you stand out quite a bit. You're not just trying to make tick marks next to a list of typical premed activities, you should be trying to really make yourself an attractive applicant. You might very well have a lot of quality ECs, I'm just reminding you that there is almost always room for meaningful improvement with this part of anybody's app.

Good luck with Botany, since you've already decided. I just wanted to go ahead and answer the questions you asked of me.

agreed.

 

[Isoprop]

I completely disagree with above.

Getting an A in a botany class, I assure you, will not raise any red flags for adcoms. It will not hurt the OP to take a friggin botany class. Nor will it hurt OP to take a nutrition class. The only exception is if the class is specifically for non-science or non-biology majors. If a class is not intended for OP (and it explicitly says so in the course catalog), then don't take it. Otherwise, take any friggin class you want.

Can you really see an adcom member saying "gee, this applicant took botany. he will be a terrible doctor." as she tosses the application into the reject pile? Do you really believe someone is not serious about medicine because he took a class on plants instead of molecular biology?

If it ever comes up in an interview, you can always claim that you were interested in the class. YOU ARE ALLOWED TO EXPLORE YOUR INTERESTS IN COLLEGE. IT IS NOT A WASTE OF TIME TO TAKE CLASSES THAT MAY INTEREST YOU BUT DON'T RELATE TO YOUR CAREER GOALS. ADCOMS WON'T PENALIZE YOU FOR TAKING NON-MEDICALLY RELATED CLASSES.

Finally, adcoms like to see diversity in your education. Taking all upper-division biology classes that relate to medicine is cool and all but absolutely not required to make your application strong. In fact, I will bet that your application with biochem and immunology will more likely blend into the crowd even more.

 

[canjosh]

You may very well be correct in saying that it won't raise red flags Isoprop. But the OP himself actually started this whole discussion as a 'GPA booster' thread. Not a thread about how interested he is in botany. So if the OP gets A's in Botany and Nutrition, and applicant X gets A's (or even B's) in Genetics and Cell Bio--you think the rigor of curriculum will be viewed equally?? It might not become an issue--but this sort of situation is a risk you must understand. Of course they're not going to say that the OP won't make a good doctor because he took Botany...hyperbole much??

Of course adcoms support broadening your horizons--in ways that are truly meaningful to you! I am a non-science major, and I believe that helped make my application stand out to the adcoms. You just need to be able to explain (in a thoughtful, honest way) why you did X, Y, and Z. This sort of thing came up more than once on the interview trail for me. One interviewer questioned me very intensely about why I chose certain courses.

Again, good luck to you Arkansas Ranger! I just wanted to give you something to think about as you prepare for med school. 😎

 

[ArkansasRanger]

Ok, enough of this crap. If you'd go back and look at the opening post you'd see that I mentioned "...a couple of classes, offered by the biology department, that I could take." I am stationed in a rural environment so it's a rural, community college. In fact, the school is a satellite campus so it doesn't have genetics and what you call courses of "rigor." Yes, this WHOLE thread was about GPA boosting with "easy" courses. Sometimes you just need some easy stuff. I may take genetics, as someone else mentioned later, but I'm going to have to quit my job and RELOCATE to do that. I didn't mention that because it wasn't necessary. I spelled out that there were a "couple of classes (botany and nutrition)" that "I could take" meaning they were all that was offered applicable to me. I also never mentioned an interest in botany, like the above person noted, because this thread was about GPA boosting thus I wasn't interested in your thoughts on taking courses of interest. If I want to do that I will (and do). Another course that I could take is an introductory organic chemistry course for non-science majors, and I just may even do that even though I wouldn't get credit for the "fluff class." 🙄

 

[ArkansasRanger]

Wow, ok.

Uh, explain if you're asked...! I said IF it comes up in an interview, you'd have to explain why you took it. You can't plead the 5th if you want to actually get that med school seat. And no, 'random courses' aren't necessarily a good thing. They want to see you making good, productive use of your time. If you just say that you were interested in Botany, they might probe deeper. If you're going to take 'random classes' they usually want to see something challenging and upper division. i.e. Genetics, Biochem, Cell Bio, Molecular Bio, Immunology, etc. I'm not saying you shouldn't take a course you're truly interested in, but just be prepared to defend it well--adcoms and interviewers are not stupid.

Reread my original post...I didn't say it might not help IN your case. I said it might not help your case...'your case' referring to your med school app. You want your app to be squeaky clean, the adcoms look for reasons to toss your app in the later or never box. If your science GPA is really high, they will look for reasons why...and if you have some random lower division sciences that are not required it might raise a red flag.

And you said you've got volunteering 'covered'. Just remember that there are always extracurricular ways to improve your app, and often times those make you stand out quite a bit. You're not just trying to make tick marks next to a list of typical premed activities, you should be trying to really make yourself an attractive applicant. You might very well have a lot of quality ECs, I'm just reminding you that there is almost always room for meaningful improvement with this part of anybody's app.

Good luck with Botany, since you've already decided. I just wanted to go ahead and answer the questions you asked of me.

I ignored pretty much everything you said, but as an aside here, I question (interview/interrogate) people for a living, and I often probe much deeper than people would like. A little school class isn't going to raise the kind of red flag that you think it will when someone is trying to get to know you.

 

[QofQuimica]

Folks, let's please not come to fisticuffs over whether the OP should take a couple of CC classes to pad his GPA.

AR, as others have said, there is nothing wrong with taking a couple of CC classes in nonmedical sciences if you want. You may or may not get asked about them as an icebreaker during an interview, but as long as you get As in them, it won't be a red flag. However, the suggestion to take some of the more rigorous upper level science classes like genetics or biochem is a good one; you should give some serious thought to taking them at some point.

As for those arguing against GPA padding, well, hopefully all of you who are doing a postbac to make up for poor college grades are doing some GPA padding. Yes, you will be helped by taking some rigorous upper level medical science classes, and most people do take several of these courses during a postbac. But if your GPA is low, fact is, you need a solid string of As in multiple courses. That's one of the reasons you're doing a postbac, right? 🙂

 

[ArkansasRanger]

Folks, let's please not come to fisticuffs over whether the OP should take a couple of CC classes to pad his GPA.

AR, as others have said, there is nothing wrong with taking a couple of CC classes in nonmedical sciences if you want. You may or may not get asked about them as an icebreaker during an interview, but as long as you get As in them, it won't be a red flag. However, the suggestion to take some of the more rigorous upper level science classes like genetics or biochem is a good one; you should give some serious thought to taking them at some point.

As for those arguing against GPA padding, well, hopefully all of you who are doing a postbac to make up for poor college grades are doing some GPA padding. Yes, you will be helped by taking some rigorous upper level medical science classes, and most people do take several of these courses during a postbac. But if your GPA is low, fact is, you need a solid string of As in multiple courses. That's one of the reasons you're doing a postbac, right? 🙂

Thanks, Q! I absolutely plan to take a few other upper level ones when offered, for the record. They're just unavailable to me right now. Really I only wanted to know if anyone else here had ever taken those classes, lol. Thanks for moderating. 😉

 

[riverjib]

So the nearby community college has a couple classes this spring, offered by the biology department, that I can take: botany with lab (4cr) and nutrition and diet (3cr).

I'm tempted to take them, since there's not a whole lot else going on this spring that I can take (just accept that fact for the sake of this thread) so I figured those two courses should be good A's for me. I know they're not relevant for prereqs...just GPA boosters.

Thoughts?

My advice on community colleges is this: if you took some BCPMs there already and do well on the MCAT, it validates your CC to some degree. I'm one of the people who's spoken about my incredibly positive CC experience, so I'm all for CC credits. However, if you're a university student who hasn't taken classes at CC's, I'd advise against it.

I actually had a few informal discussions with deans of med schools in the NYC area, after they gave "getting into med school" talks. Each one has told me that my CC will not be looked down upon AS LONG AS my grades elsewhere support my grades at the CC. They also prefer to see a year or two (rather than a course or a few) at the same school, CC or not, so they can gauge the consistency of your grades there.

They pay more attention to the individual applicant than the CC itself. So in my case, I did exceptionally well at a CC, graduated with an associates degree, and transferred to a state school's honors college. I've done equally well there. If I take classes (post bacc or in any capacity) at that CC,they'll take them seriously.

But if someone who has been in my school's honors college for four years takes a class at the same CC, they may or may not remember that this school was "legit," and may basically ignore that credit. Likewise, if I take extra classes at another CC, they may not take it as seriously.

My organic chem professor tried to warn everyone about this, when they took our evening (or summer) class. At some CC's, organic chem is an easy "A" which looks bad for everyone. At ours, if you took organic during the summer (which some Columbia and NYU students did in hopes of boosting their GPA's), it's murder. Only 1-2 students there get an A each semester, because he holds everyone to very high standards. It was a rude awakening for private school students who got C's the first time around, and B-'s or worse after repeating it at a CC.