Community college course?

[Maigret Man]

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Folks,

I am thinking about taking a stats class this summer at a community college. I can't take the class at my post-bacc school because of scheduling issues. I am moving into a new position at work that will be research oriented. I figured a course in stats will help me interpret study data or at least better understand studies.

Now, would that class count towards my post-bac/science/math GPA? I am a little concerned adcoms may think I took the course to fluff up my GPA. Also, do you think taking a stats course would be helpful from a knowledge perspective?

I would appreciate any of your insights.

 

[MossPoh]

I think it counts..especially since I've seen a lot of schools at least "recommend" taking stat....

 

[windycitycassie]

Folks,

I am thinking about taking a stats class this summer at a community college. I can't take the class at my post-bacc school because of scheduling issues. I am moving into a new position at work that will be research oriented. I figured a course in stats will help me interpret study data or at least better understand studies.

Now, would that class count towards my post-bac/science/math GPA? I am a little concerned adcoms may think I took the course to fluff up my GPA. Also, do you think taking a stats course would be helpful from a knowledge perspective?

I would appreciate any of your insights.

I'd just make sure that you are goin to take a science stats class. They do have stats classes at some schools that won't get counted as a science class ... Stats is good to take, it will help with biology, etc. Some med schools want you to have taken statistics, although that is only 'some' of them.

On the same note, some med schools don't like cc classes, but I think they are in the minority.

 

[vtucci]

I would not worry about it as stats is not a required class. If it improves your GPA, so much the better.

 

[relentless11]

For some schools, statistics can partially fullfill the math pre-med requirements (e.g.: UC Davis). Therefore it should count towards your math GPA.

I agree with the previous posters, make sure it is statistics for science (or biological sciences) majors. However at the community college level, there may only be one class, and in my opinion lower division statistics is a waste of time (other than partially fullfilling that math req, and being an easy A). Stats may also be a major requirement. Over here at UC Davis, they require taking 1 class of stats. It can be either lower or upper division.

I took lower division stats back in 2002, and learned absolutely nothing. Not until taking our med school's stats course did I learn enough to appreciate and apply statistics to class and research. Statistics is a wonderful tool.

In my opinion, if you wish to pursue more statistics in the future, I suggest taking a better course. Given the lower division level of the class, it may not be in its scope to cover non-parametric statistics which you will find quite useful (in addition to parametric stats) in biomedical research. I think the only useful thing you can get out of lower div stats is their introduction to descriptive statistics (mean, median, mode, variance, std dev).

But hey if you got nothing else to take, go for it. Should be an easy A.

 

[kate_g]

I am thinking about taking a stats class this summer at a community college.

Take it. I have no idea how it will affect your app, but my opinion is based on the larger benefit to your career and practice, especially if you think your inclination toward research might persist through med school. (Side rant: I hate that professional school admission processes are so consuming that people are forced to make decisions based solely on how it will look on the app rather than what they like or will actually be useful later.)

There are SO MANY abuses of statistics out there, many of them committed unintentionally by people who just don't know better. You as a doctor will be asked to recommend or not recommend procedures or drugs based on numbers in publications or (worse) given to you by sales representatives from companies. I think knowing how to interpret statistics - more importantly, knowing how to debunk statistics - should be required for just about everyone with a job that requires making decisions.

(It may be quite obvious that I know next to nothing about med school curricula. If you're going to be required to take a stats class in med school, then taking one now is maybe of less long-term importance and you should judge instead on how much benefit you think it will bring to your current job. At worst, schools will completely ignore the CC credit.)