GPA Booster... Chem or Bio?

[fayevalentine]

Hello fellow pre-dents,

I am thinking about cramming an extra class or two in this summer to boost my GPA and also show the adcoms I can do well in higher level science classes (had low grades in micro and biochem). Would it look better to take upper level bio or chemistry courses?

I'll be honest, I am much stronger with chemistry (4.0'd orgo I and close to it in all other chem courses... with the exception of biochem obviously, though I don't know if that is technically bio or chem!) so I think chem is more likely to actually boost my GPA. However, being that dentistry has more of a basis in biology, I wonder if biology courses look better.

Thank you for any and all opinions!

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[mpatel24]

It honestly doesn't matter. If you are better in chem, by all means take an upper level in chemistry. Dental schools just want to see if you are challenging yourself.

 

[Glimmer1991]

If you *know* a chem class is going to boost your GPA and are less certain that a bio class will, it might be better to take the chem class purely from a GPA standpoint.

However, a lot of schools have a list of "highly recommended" biology courses past the basic ones. If you can take one of those courses, it will probably look better than an upper-level chem. Not that those classes aren't hard, but you just don't see many upper-level chems being "highly recommended."

 

[Jerm174]

So summer school courses count towards your GPA in the US? (I'm assuming that is where you are writing from)
In Canada, I've heard that most schools do not count it towards our GPA, but I'm curious as to whether summer school courses will count towards my GPA when applying to American schools.

 

[2thsaver]

I'm Canadian as well, and yes, for American schools they take every post secondary course you've ever taken and include it in your gpa. Canadian schools only take ones from your fall/winter semesters. Some even penalize you if you don't take a full course load (UWO).

 

[fayevalentine]

Thank you very much Mpatel and Glimmer! I suppose it wouldn't hurt to take both chemistry AND recommended biology courses.

I had no idea Canadian schools didn't accept summer work. I honestly can't understand why that would be the case. I would be completely out of luck in Canada! I've taken at leave one summer class every year in undergrad! Interesting !

 

[sacapuntas]

Bio will be more useful for the future, I would go with Bio for that reason unless you know you can't get an A.

 

[sbdento]

I was told by a number of schools to specifically take any upper division bio courses.

 

[2thsaver]

I hear you @fayevalentine! I love how the American schools look at applicants (don't just look at numbers, they look at EC's, volunteering, shadowing, etc.). In Canada all they look at is GPA and DAT. Nothing else really. No shadowing required or anything. That's why it's so competitive. It's all a numbers game. And the fact that they don't incorporate classes taken in the spring or summer into your GPA sucks. For example, the one class in my winter semester I was forced to drop because it was full (got de-registered the first week of class because the prof forgot to tell the registrars office that I was granted an override, then when I went to re-register it was full). This caused me to be a class short for the semester, so I took a spring course to make up for it. This wasn't by choice, but I'll still get penalized All in all, you guys have a good system, and I hope to be a part of it in the upcoming years

 

[fayevalentine]

I've heard how much more competitive Canadian schools are @2thsaver, and now I understand why. That is really crumby about your spring course. Best of luck to you! Maybe I'll be seeing you in dental school here in the states in the next few years!

Thank you everyone else for the great advice. I have decided upon endocrinology and neurobiology.