course selection advice?

[aeuphemism]

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What classes would look better to med schools? I have a choice between:

- Grad. level neuronal plasticity
- Grad. level bioinformatics
- Grad. level central dogma (molecular biology literature reviews)
- Grad. level environmental health
- Undergrad level epidemiology

I know that med schools might not really pay attention to specific courses, but what would best fit in a pre-med education?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Lannister]

Dude. They won't care. Take whatever class interests you most. You don't have to do everything according to "what looks best to med schools".

 

[Medic5522]

Dude. They won't care. Take whatever class interests you most. You don't have to do everything according to "what looks best to med schools".

Amen.

 

[efle]

I suggest underwater basketweaving

 

[RaspberrySlushy]

If you haven't taken MCAT yet, I vote for the molecular bio journal article class. If you've already taken MCAT then take whatever class you want that satisfies reqs or draws your interest, including things like Efle's suggestion!

 

[Shirafune]

Medical schools won't care, but I'd personally take bioinformatics or molecular bio. You'd get enough/some exposure in medical school for the other topics. I don't know if medical schools have bioinformatics or in-depth molecular biology courses for their students, perhaps only as electives for research-minded students.

 

[123456123456]

I would take whichever one you think you can do well in and interests you. I would definitely keep in mind grad courses are more expensive though

 

[moisne]

Won't make a diff for med school admission... however... what may help you in med school:

- Grad. level neuronal plasticity - maybe... sounds really focused on a relatively small field (as in, you will probably spend 2 days on this in a neuro block in med school - it was mentioned in 4-5 lectures to the extent of "we can remove an entire hemisphere of a kid's brain for seizures - because their brain is highly plastic" or something.
- Grad. level bioinformatics uh what?
- Grad. level central dogma (molecular biology literature reviews) entire semester of literature reviews. Sounds boring to me... Way more than you need for med school. We have DNA > RNA > Protein and a few enzymes (quite a bit) but superficial broad knowledge.
- Grad. level environmental health Ok. we don't really talk about that very often. We mention some work place hazard for health and stuff.
- Undergrad level epidemiology Stats... Well maybe you should take this class. As a class, we score the lowest on epidemiology in each block lol. We spend very little time reviewing it in class but we also haven't taken step yet.

If you have not taken the following classes... select one of these:
- cell biology/physiology
- microbiology
- biochemistry
^ I did not take any of these three - and when we learn them - it's like hell on earth for me.

- anatomy/physiology
- psychology (MCAT has it, and step 1 has it - and many schools don't cover it in enough details)
- other psychology like classes (what are they called? Sociology or something?)

Or take a class you want for fun - art (and don't fail it like I did).

 

[aeuphemism]

I would take whichever one you think you can do well in and interests you. I would definitely keep in mind grad courses are more expensive though

i'm on a full scholarship haha

 

[aeuphemism]

If you have not taken the following classes... select one of these:
- cell biology/physiology
- microbiology
- biochemistry
^ I did not take any of these three - and when we learn them - it's like hell on earth for me.

- anatomy/physiology
- psychology (MCAT has it, and step 1 has it - and many schools don't cover it in enough details)
- other psychology like classes (what are they called? Sociology or something?)

Or take a class you want for fun - art (and don't fail it like I did).

i've taken all of them so far, which is why i'm looking into taking graduate classes now. i think i may just go for bioinformatics, but yeah i understand that med schools won't care either way. i guess i was mostly looking into which classes would help me most/prepare me for medical school.

 

[aeuphemism]

thanks all!

 

[Satire5Texul]

bioinformatics out of all of those, to me at least, is the least appealing. But I guess this is why its a personal decision. I just never heard of any graduate student in my lab say they like it - but its going to be highly specific.

central dogma sounds like it would help. But plasticity sounds most interesting.

Again choose whichever one one you like the most. And make sure your scholarship doesnt cover just the undergraduate course selection. Sometimes they are super specific because of things like a drastic increase in per credit price.

 

[Slave to the Game]

Epidemiology/environmental health.

Everyone's too busy telling OP things he already knows to answer his question. smh

 

[aeuphemism]

i guess it's also worth mentioning that i'm a pretty research focused student and plan to go through the MD-PhD track. i'm currently working on an undergraduate honors thesis, and i believe that bioinformatics would be helpful in that sense (i will also be doing biostatistics next semester)

anyway, thanks for all the advice!