calculus courses or humanties/social science courses

[ruxia]

Hi,

I wanted to make a decision as to whether to take a calculus course or a humanty/social science course in summer session 2.

I got my B.S. from China. I have taken advanced math in college.

The pros for taking calculus: I'm confident that I could get a good grade. calculus is a pre-req. My transcript in China only says "advanced math."
The cons: I'm retaking something that I had already taken before, although it was said that only credits in U.S. schools were accepted.

The pros for taking humanites/sciences courses: I can learn something new and they are helpful for MCAT verbal.
The cons: Difficult for me and I may get a bad grade.

Could you guys give me some opinions?


Thanks a lot!

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[CougarMD]

Hi,

I wanted to make a decision as to whether to take a calculus course or a humanty/social science course in summer session 2.

I got my B.S. from China. I have taken advanced math in college.

The pros for taking calculus: I'm confident that I could get a good grade. calculus is a pre-req. My transcript in China only says "advanced math."
The cons: I'm retaking something that I had already taken before, although it was said that only credits in U.S. schools were accepted.

The pros for taking humanites/sciences courses: I can learn something new and they are helpful for MCAT verbal.
The cons: Difficult for me and I may get a bad grade.

Could you guys give me some opinions?


Thanks a lot!

I think if I were you, I would take Calc over the summer. You can get a good grade and you're wiping out a prereq.

It is unclear to me if you are ESL (your writing skills are better than 99% of the native English speakers on this board) but even if you're not, if you think that the Verbal section is something you will struggle with, it may be better to take a humanities/social science class in a full semester. That will give you a longer time of reading regularly for content and distinguishing between important and non-important information.

If you want even more help with Verbal AND the Writing section of the MCAT, I highly recommend taking either History or Political Science classes. Those types of classes are especially beneficial for the writing section, in my opinion.

Summer is short....the perfect time to wipe out a prereq versus learning something new.

 

[ruxia]

Thanks for the reply. The summer is the probably the last time I will take a course. I will have a baby in Oct, and I'm planning to take the MCAT before the next application cycle.

 

[CougarMD]

Thanks for the reply. The summer is the probably the last time I will take a course. I will have a baby in Oct, and I'm planning to take the MCAT before the next application cycle.

Congratulations on the baby! Then maybe the social science class/humanities class really would be of more use to you. Good luck!

 

[ruxia]

Thanks!

 

[InLocoAbsentia]

I recommend taking the calculus course. It will increase your PS score (you do physics problems during a normal calculus course), and it will impress ADCOMs a wee bit more than a lit course.

Of course, I would trivially recommend taking calculus independent of the situation: I'm a math major, and I'm totally biased.