Do adcoms care more about some classes than others?

[Nontrad_FL_LGBT]

Thus far in my post-bacc (only in my second semester, got a couple more to go), I have a 3.7 GPA with everything except my math classes being As. In my math classes so far, I've been getting B-B+ grades. I've taken Trig/Pre-Calc, and intend to take Stats 1 and Calc 1 as well. I assume that my results in those courses will be similar.

Is that going to be a big problem, having one specific subject that's clearly my weak point? What can I do to alleviate this? Do I need the extra math classes to try for semi-competitive schools or is Pre-calc/Trig enough?

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[Nontrad_FL_LGBT]

Clarification, Calc and Stats are recommended and not required at most schools on my current list (subject to change). I'm just not sure if "recommended" means "if you don't do it you probably won't get in" or if it is actually just a nice to have. The ones it's not recommended for, it's not mentioned at all so I assume they don't care about math that much.

 

[RollScanner]

it doesnt seem that way, most admission officers DONT seem to look at your individual classes all that closely and rely more on your grades to gauge your academic performance - at least thats what they said on medschoolkey

 

[KnightDoc]

Thus far in my post-bacc (only in my second semester, got a couple more to go), I have a 3.7 GPA with everything except my math classes being As. In my math classes so far, I've been getting B-B+ grades. I've taken Trig/Pre-Calc, and intend to take Stats 1 and Calc 1 as well. I assume that my results in those courses will be similar.

Is that going to be a big problem, having one specific subject that's clearly my weak point? What can I do to alleviate this? Do I need the extra math classes to try for semi-competitive schools or is Pre-calc/Trig enough?

What you can do to alleviate it is to do well in everything else.

People get Cs in orgo and still get accepted. Schools care about cGPA and sGPA. Not so much each specific class. And your intuition is pretty good -- "recommended" is really a soft requirement. When they recommend something, most people do it, and not doing it doesn't help you. As you've noted, when they really don't care, they don't recommend.

Schools generally want to see either calc or stat, sometimes both. If they are going to bring your GPA down, your choices are to either get extra help so you can do better, OR accept that your school choices are going to be limited to those that don't either require or recommend these classes, OR take enough additional classes and do well enough in them to mitigate the effect of your grades in these classes. Good luck!!!

Edit: I just pulled this off the website of one of the schools you mentioned you were interested in in another thread:

While no specific college math courses are required, some college work in calculus is strongly recommended; familiarity with the principles of statistics for analysis of data is also important.

TBH, I read this to mean that you won't be competitive without calc and stat, especially when you are presenting with Bs in trig and pre-calc. They clearly want to see them, and I don't think Bs would be disqualifying, but if it looks like you are avoiding them to avoid Cs or worse, that could be viewed as a red flag. JMHO.

 

[GoPenguinsGo]

There's been several ADCOM members on here who have literally stated they look at your specific courses taken.

 

[zorcandpals]

Try to get As in Calc and Stat and you'll be fine. If not, it I still wouldn't lose too much sleep over it. People might notice but I doubt that it will be a major factor as long as your overall sGPA is at the schools requirements.