Classes that will help for med school, or those that will make me well-rounded?

[tennis1234]

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Hey everyone. I was just wondering about people's opinions about the two. Should I take undergraduate classes that are broad, or classes that will better prepare me for med school. I like both types of classes/subjects (or learning for that matter); I feel it's essential to be well-rounded in all subjects - since they all relate to one another in some way, and helps you understand how society operates (and much much more). Also, I feel that undergraduate is for learning about what you want to become, while med school is for learning how to be a doctor. So, if I take classes that relate to medicine, I'll probably be learning it again in med school (but more in-depth and applicable). So I'd rather spend my time learning new stuff, making myself educationally well-rounded (saving med school material for med school).
Here's the catch. I do worse in terms of grades in these subjects that make you well-rounded (literature, history, business, I.R., Spanish, etc.). In fact, my gpa for just science and math classes is a 4.0, while that of geneds and liberal arts classes is closer to a 3.6. I really want to "expand my horizons," but will that be costly to my chances of making med school?... I want to take lots of liberal art type classes, but my grades will suffer. If I were to take science intensive classes, I would be sure to get near a 4.0 gpa. Any opinions about what path I should take? Thx!

 

[beancounter21]

On this year's university of michigan secondary, under the pre-reqs section it states "Exposure to areas of study such as ethics/philosophy, economics, statistics, psychology and computer science is considered to be valuable." It's only one school's opinion, but maybe you can go for one of these less liberal arts type subjects and get your A's.

 

[umean2tellme]

If you want some classes I recommend taking some anthropology courses (i'm an anthro major lol). Seriously medical anthropology would be something interesting that will make you well rounded, and you can tell med schools that you wanted to know the effect of culture on health

 

[WinterLights]

Hey everyone. I was just wondering about people's opinions about the two. Should I take undergraduate classes that are broad, or classes that will better prepare me for med school. I like both types of classes/subjects (or learning for that matter); I feel it's essential to be well-rounded in all subjects - since they all relate to one another in some way, and helps you understand how society operates (and much much more). Also, I feel that undergraduate is for learning about what you want to become, while med school is for learning how to be a doctor. So, if I take classes that relate to medicine, I'll probably be learning it again in med school (but more in-depth and applicable). So I'd rather spend my time learning new stuff, making myself educationally well-rounded (saving med school material for med school).
Here's the catch. I do worse in terms of grades in these subjects that make you well-rounded (literature, history, business, I.R., Spanish, etc.). In fact, my gpa for just science and math classes is a 4.0, while that of geneds and liberal arts classes is closer to a 3.6. I really want to "expand my horizons," but will that be costly to my chances of making med school?... I want to take lots of liberal art type classes, but my grades will suffer. If I were to take science intensive classes, I would be sure to get near a 4.0 gpa. Any opinions about what path I should take? Thx!

What year are you in college? I would avoid sacrificing my GPA in the name of well-roundedness.

 

[spospo]

keep in mind i applied 2 years ago, so secondaries may have changed BUT i only remember one question asking specifically about classes i took ("what was your favorite non science and why" or something like that). it was never brought up in interviews. if you are a non science major, then yes, it may come up in interviews, but not in a bad way. i went to a liberal arts undergrad though so i had to take the "well rounded" course.

in terms of classes that will prep you for med school, i wouldn't really worry about that. we covered about 3 semesters of bio in less than 3 weeks i would say.

 

[Dienekes]

I will agree that you should just take a variety of classes. This can be a double-edged sword if you take anything too oddball just to take it. You could always wind up with the question of "Why did you take that and what did you get from it?". This happened to one of my friends who applied last cycle. He had taken a series of women's studies classes to fill his general ed requirements for social studies, etc. His interviewer turned out to be a well regarded "expert" on advancing the role of women in the leadership roles of medicine. She asked him what he took from the courses and he dropped the ball big time as he had no interest in the topic and had basically skated by. Stick to things that are not science but aren't likely to draw fire like a soldier with a Dayglo helmet.

I am not applying this cycle, but have visited several schools and at three of them I was asked during my tour what sorts of classes I was taking beyond the prereqs. All of the persons seemed quite interested by the fact that I took a playwriting course and have a play about to be put on at my university late this year or early next year. It is certainly not something they see very often among applicants and the fact that it is a historically accurate piece that required a lot of background research to ensure quality seemed only to increase their interest in it. Two of them mentioned that I would definitely be foolish to not highlight this on my application and I should be prepared to speak about it during any interviews I get. It just goes to show that if you truly put effort into things outside of science it can catch and hold the attention of the right people just as much as a laundry list of scientific publications (which I also have, but those were overshadowed during the previously mentioned conversations).

 

[Raryn]

I'm suffering the same dilemma picking classes for my senior year.

Either I keep my double major in Chem and Bio, and take a bunch of bio classes (I'm one course away from the chem major), or I drop the bio down to a minor and pick up a minor in something else I enjoy, like history. Lots of plusses to the latter, including 4 day weekends every week in the Fall, no more !@#$ing bio labs, and I get to learn about stuff that I probably won't have another chance to be exposed again. The minus is I'll be slightly less prepared for med school than I would be otherwise...

 

[Law2Doc]

Hey everyone. I was just wondering about people's opinions about the two. Should I take undergraduate classes that are broad, or classes that will better prepare me for med school. I like both types of classes/subjects (or learning for that matter); I feel it's essential to be well-rounded in all subjects - since they all relate to one another in some way, and helps you understand how society operates (and much much more). Also, I feel that undergraduate is for learning about what you want to become, while med school is for learning how to be a doctor. So, if I take classes that relate to medicine, I'll probably be learning it again in med school (but more in-depth and applicable). So I'd rather spend my time learning new stuff, making myself educationally well-rounded (saving med school material for med school).
Here's the catch. I do worse in terms of grades in these subjects that make you well-rounded (literature, history, business, I.R., Spanish, etc.). In fact, my gpa for just science and math classes is a 4.0, while that of geneds and liberal arts classes is closer to a 3.6. I really want to "expand my horizons," but will that be costly to my chances of making med school?... I want to take lots of liberal art type classes, but my grades will suffer. If I were to take science intensive classes, I would be sure to get near a 4.0 gpa. Any opinions about what path I should take? Thx!

There are no undergrad courses that will help you with med school all that much. The folks who just take the prereqs generally tend to do fine. Med school teaches you all you need to know and then some.

As for courses to take that would make you more well rounded, or be useful in life, take a business course and lots of foreign language courses (esp. Spanish). An ability to communicate with foreign language speaking patients proves invaluable and will make you worth your dead weight to attendings during third year.

 

[diosa428]

I'm suffering the same dilemma picking classes for my senior year.

Either I keep my double major in Chem and Bio, and take a bunch of bio classes (I'm one course away from the chem major), or I drop the bio down to a minor and pick up a minor in something else I enjoy, like history. Lots of plusses to the latter, including 4 day weekends every week in the Fall, no more !@#$ing bio labs, and I get to learn about stuff that I probably won't have another chance to be exposed again. The minus is I'll be slightly less prepared for med school than I would be otherwise...

An extra few classes in bio is really not going to help you overall in med school. Most schools have a very short course that reviews cell bio, molecular bio, genetics, etc, and it's only to make sure you know it. The majority of medical school focuses on pathology, which you're not going to get as an undergrad. The only course worth taking past the basic bio requirements would be biochem and a human physiology course. You guys should take whatever classes you enjoy, because you're not going to get the chance to take them again. But you'll be taking science classes for half of med school, and learning about science for the rest of your life.

 

[rowerlauren]

If your undergrad has a business school that allows you to take classes from it then do that. Most B-school classes are way easier and they give you something more unique than bio bio and more bio. I took B-school classes and now have an accounting minor on top of a chem major and psych minor.

 

[tennis1234]

I find it interesting that you think I should take business classes. After all, that's what spurred my interest in take "well-rounded" classes. I just finished a GBUS class and got a B+ (3.3) in it, but I found the information I learned invaluable. I mean, before I took it, I didn't know anything about management, accounting, economics, the Fed and their messing with interest rates, etc. Just thinking this intro class, I believe, will help me in the future so much. I know a 3.3 GPA average will make it difficult to get into med school (especially since I come from a lesser known college where I need to get a high gpa), and that this is probably the last time in my life, that I get to learn so much (probably should've thought about this in high school...when I didn't care about learning). I'm going to be a sophomore this fall, and currently have a biology and chemistry double major (I chose to do both because they overlap a lot). But thanks to your opinions, I'm seriously considering dropping the chemistry major which will allow me to take maybe a years worth of classes.

Well, Happy 4th of July to everyone. Thx for the comments.

 

[TarHeelEMT]

I will only say this once...


TAKE THE CLASSES THAT INTEREST YOU MOST

That is all.