Class Difficulty and Fluff sGPA

[Paul3788]

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I'm entering my last year in undergrad, and I want to boost my sGPA up a little bit. It's at 3.4ish and I know I can boost it to a 3.5-3.6.

How do Medical Admissions look at taking lower division courses. For example, I took Human Anatomy which is Course # 150+. My school also offers Human Anatomy and Physio which is Course # ~100.

Same thing with Chemistry. I already took ORGO which is course # 150+. My school offers Concepts of ORGO which is course # 100.

Same thing with STATS, and CALC. I already took all the higher div classes...will it look terrible if I go take some lower div ones?

My plan for fall senior year is to take 20 units consisting of: Research, and 4 Bio classes. I can do the workload if its easier classes mentioned above. Plus, medical schools may like the fact that Im taking 5 bio classes. However, if its like Paristology, toxicology etc, I doubt I can handle the load.

That being said, I already took higher div bios such as genetics, immuno, medicines etc etc.

What's the best plan possible? And please I know Medical school is tough to get into and that one should challenge oneself etc etc, but its my final year, and I need to raise my sGPA. And we all have some fluff in our resumes -_-

 

[argonaute]

i'm not going to pretend to be a definite authority on this, but I can't see how medical schools will frown upon taking lower division classes. You've already taken lots of lower division classes, and almost all the premed requirements are lower division classes.

However, it might be different if you're going to take lower division classes in the same subject as you took a upper division class. It would definnitely raise a "fluff GPA" flag for me if I saw someone took an upper div anatomy class and then a lower div anatomy class. Your school also might even restrict credit, in which case it won't help to take it.

IMO though, if you took easier low div classes in subjects other than the classes you've already taken (e.g. take a lower div physiology/genetics/whatever bio class that you haven't taken upper div yet) it woudl be a good idea.

 

[Moebius]

The question you should ask yourself is how would YOU react if you see a applicant trying to boost his GPA artificially? I am taking 19 credits next semester. 13 Credits of actual science classes not BS classes. It can be done. Just make sure you are preparing it. In medical school, you will need to face far more difficult classes. If your goal is to prove to the medical school admission committee that you can handle the course work, taking one lower level class is not too bad, but if you are taking more than one lower level classes, it might raise eyebrows. Then again, its ultimately up to you.

 

[DendWrite]

I too would shy away from taking a lower division course in a class that you've already taken an upper division course in. Check this list: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=552026 and see if there are some courses you haven't taken.

Although it's debatable, I don't feel that taking a bunch of higher division courses is worth it if it could potentially lower your science GPA. Finally, if the lower-division courses have different course titles and cover somewhat different content, I think it would be less obvious than some other courses...often colleges have lower-division courses that are major requirements some people put off or something, and unless a med school directly asks you about it, I'd doubt it's a huge red flag on your app. Good luck.

 

[argonaute]

The question you should ask yourself is how would YOU react if you see a applicant trying to boost his GPA artificially? I am taking 19 credits next semester. 13 Credits of actual science classes not BS classes. It can be done. Just make sure you are preparing it. In medical school, you will need to face far more difficult classes. If your goal is to prove to the medical school admission committee that you can handle the course work, taking one lower level class is not too bad, but if you are taking more than one lower level classes, it might raise eyebrows. Then again, its ultimately up to you.

would taking lower div classes really be that bad? I would think that it should be okay to take lower div classes, especially if they're in various subjects so he could be like "i just as interested and wanted to get a basic understanding of the subject"

IMO, if you're a non-bio major, lower div classes should be perfectly fine.

if you're a bio major, it might be different. you'll have to worry about your major requirements too (you do need to graduate!), which would mostly be upper div classes. It also might be slightly more suspicious if you're taking lower div bio classes when you should be taking upper div.

 

[ronaldo23]

taking lower division classes is fine. At the end of the day, schools will focus WAY more on that GPA number than actually go through and analyze the rigor of your schedule (if they even do that). If taking a bunch of lower division classes will raise your grade (assuming its not something absurd like taking precalculus after Calc I) then do it.