Imperativeness of "recommended" courses

[UCDavispremed92]

I am a 2017 graduate from UCD, political science major with 3.88 sGPA

I have recently decided to take a second gap year due to some health issues. I could have applied this cycle, but it may have been in a somewhat haphazard fashion that it is possible to see regretting, with my burning only shot as 1st-time applicant under non-ideal circumstances.

With my additional year, my plan is to get an unreasonably high MCAT score (yet to take) and fill in some deficiencies in my application that I would have previously said were necessarily "baked in." This includes non-clinical volunteering/tutoring and...

"Recommended" (required in small number of cases) courses I have not taken, offered at local CC
- Psychology (took "political psychology...could this be made to count?)
- Computer science
- Genetics
- Medical spanish

Questions
- Just how strongly "recommended" are these courses? - am I wasting my time with all this, or could not having one or more of these courses preclude an acceptance from a school?
- Does it "look bad" to take all of these courses online and/or P/F?
• P/F: not sure I'm willing to open up my high GPA to downward trend, though I would get an A if I did non-P/F, but perhaps with undue time investment
• Online: less credible?
- How should I rank these courses in terms of priority if I am not able to do all of them?

Any other 2nd gap year recommendations appreciated. I'm scribing and a couple other things right now, but I should have time for low-hanging fruit. Thanks

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[sunshine859]

It is not imperative at all that you take these courses. No school is going to deny you an acceptance simply because you didn't take a recommended course (nor, I would argue, will taking these courses help you from an admissions standpoint). You are already a fairly unique applicant as a political science major.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

A recommended course is a recommended course. They will help you on the MCAT and/or to get a wider foundation for medical school and/or in clinical practice later (in the case of Spanish). You won't be rejected for not taking them, as they are not required. Not everything is a hidden test.

 

[UCDavispremed92]

In the case that, hypothetically, there is utility in taking these courses for me (need to do some more research on specifics) are any of my concerns about the manner in which the course is taken relevant?

For example, Michigan State (large, relatively high OOS proportion for public) essentially has a genetics requirement for me in that they have upper division science requirement (I lack this, as non-science major - unless biochem/ochem counts but I believe it does not as separately listed) and genetics is only CC course that checks that box. (there are other examples, though they are relatively few)

What is the point of these courses being listed as "recommended" on the MSAR then?

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

What is the point of these courses being listed as "recommended" on the MSAR then?

Those schools maybe find that people who take those courses do better on the MCAT/in med school.

 

[UCDavispremed92]

Those schools maybe find that people who take those courses do better on the MCAT/in med school.

Right, I figured that if it was related to performance in med school or consistent with good matriculant "profiles" then making a point of taking the course signals "I am going to do well at your medical school in the event that you accept me."

Don't get me wrong, I like the idea that I don't have to do this, just trying to eliminate any basis for bias against me as an applicant relative to others who have done taken these courses.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Right, I figured that if it was related to performance in med school or consistent with good matriculant "profiles" then making a point of taking the course signals "I am going to do well at your medical school in the event that you accept me."

Don't get me wrong, I like the idea that I don't have to do this, just trying to eliminate any basis for bias against me as an applicant relative to others who have done taken these courses.

If you have good grades in your prereqs, I wouldn't worry. It's not a zero sum game.

 

[sunshine859]

Yes, you may look like you're taking the easy way out by enrolling in an upper division science class at a community college. Others on this forum can better advise in this regard, but it's generally recommended that you take pre-reqs at a 4-year college. Would this be a possibility for you? In addition, pre-req courses should not be taken pass/fail. (By pre-req, I'm only referring to the genetics course. I really see no utility whatsoever for you to take the other courses you listed. Why fill your transcript with unnecessary community college courses?)

 

[UCDavispremed92]

Yes, you may look like you're taking the easy way out by enrolling in an upper division science class at a community college. Others on this forum can better advise in this regard, but it's generally recommended that you take pre-reqs at a 4-year college. Would this be a possibility for you? In addition, pre-req courses should not be taken pass/fail. (By pre-req, I'm only referring to the genetics course. I really see no utility whatsoever for you to take the other courses you listed. Why fill your transcript with unnecessary community college courses?)

That's not applicable for me, I'm a graduate. Also, this is not a prereq, but a "recommended" course. My prereqs are entirely complete.

 

[UCDavispremed92]

The other element of this is that "continuing education" may assuage concerns related to two-gap year student, so in this sense it kills two birds with one stone. This is just me attempting to get in their heads, baseless assumption putting out there for comment

 

[sunshine859]

That's not applicable for me, I'm a graduate. Also, this is not a prereq, but a "recommended" course. My prereqs are entirely complete.

I thought you said you had not completed the upper division science requirement.

 

[sunshine859]

The other element of this is that "continuing education" may assuage concerns related to two-gap year student, so in this sense it kills two birds with one stone. This is just me attempting to get in their heads, baseless assumption putting out there for comment

Med schools will not care that you have taken two gap years; many applicants will have taken that many or even more.

 

[UCDavispremed92]

I thought you said you had not completed the upper division science requirement.

It's an "upper-division science requirement" (beyond general required courses of ochem/biochem etc) as a requirement for admission to michigan state specifically. Michigan state is an outlier in this regard, they may be the only one but I have to check. So this would be a course that only a science major would take or a non-science major could take as an elective, which is outside of more "universal" pre-med requirements. Genetics both fits this description and is offered routinely at community colleges, so essentially taking this course P/F would allow me to apply to Michigan State and give me the "recommended" genetics course (it may be required elsewhere, have to check MSAR again)

If you're wondering why all this about michigan state, they are appealing as a safety school for CA resident given low MCAT requirements.

 

[Lucca]

In my opinion, if you don’t need evidence of taking a course on your transcript (like the prereqs for example) then you should not go out of your way to take them. You can learn the material you need from those courses on your own. If your goal is an absurdly high McAT then everything you do until you get that score should be MCAT, MCAT, MCAT.