Med schools care if I take classes like Intro to Astronomy??

[johnwandering]

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My schedule for next semester is as follows:

Developmental Bio
Evolutionary Bio
Korean 201
Swimming
Intro to Astronomy


It should help with my sGPA as well, but more so I'm interested in it (I mean astronomy, how can you NOT be interested)
I was wondering if Med schools would really care that I'm taking this class
Especially since I'm trying rally from a bad year

 

[NeuroChaos]

I donot think they will care. If anything, they may actually look at it positively since you are taking a class just out of your interset to learn more about something that you are not totally familiar with.

 

[FlowLimited]

It wouldn't hurt at all. You're a human, not a robot. You're allowed to take classes you enjoy.

 

[longhorn09]

I just took the class in this semester =]

 

[Arzt67]

I took a few odd classes like Neurotheology, which was basically listening to a bunch of BS, and Astrobiology. I was only once asked about Neurotheology, basically just "wtf is neurotheology?" I'm pretty sure nobody will have a problem with astronomy. It might even be an interesting topic to talk with the interviewer about if he or she brings it up.

 

[ronaldo23]

Take as much astronomy as you can. It's typically easy, generally interesting and counts as Physics in your BCPM.

 

[146233]

Honestly, stop worrying about things like this. Admissions committees have so many better things to do that sit around and reject people because they took Astronomy or other non-science classes. Enjoy undergrad; this is your last opportunity to take classes because you "like" them or because they're interesting.

 

[Mattabet]

I also took astronomy, and they took me! I'm pretty sure that it did not count as Physics though, toward my BCPM GPA. Your experience may vary.

 

[johnwandering]

Wow, thanks for all the responses!!

But I have another question of the same nature:
I'm korean, and somewhat fluent in the language... but can't read or write it at all
I feel that it's important for me to take Korean 201
Not a lot of Americans know, but the language of your ethnicity is your most important one- not only most useful but it'll probably be the only one you'll be exposed to. In all honest, a spanish man is not going to be able to communicate with a doctor who's only taken one year of college spanish 20 years ago. The language of your ethnicity, however, surrounds you everyday and any length you take to improve it will go a long ways.

Howevery, I feel like the medical schools will see the Korean 201 on my application and look down on me, thinking I'm just trying to boost me GPA.
I really feel I should take it, but would it be a smart thing to do??

 

[kac714]

I took a few odd classes like Neurotheology, which was basically listening to a bunch of BS, and Astrobiology. I was only once asked about Neurotheology, basically just "wtf is neurotheology?" I'm pretty sure nobody will have a problem with astronomy. It might even be an interesting topic to talk with the interviewer about if he or she brings it up.

i liked neuroethology! my professor brought in snakes to demonstrate the vomeronasal organ and let us feed them dead mice. it was cool.
OP, just take what you enjoy.

 

[apumic]

Wow, thanks for all the responses!!

But I have another question of the same nature:
I'm korean, and somewhat fluent in the language... but can't read or write it at all
I feel that it's important for me to take Korean 201
Not a lot of Americans know, but the language of your ethnicity is your most important one- not only most useful but it'll probably be the only one you'll be exposed to. In all honest, a spanish man is not going to be able to communicate with a doctor who's only taken one year of college spanish 20 years ago. The language of your ethnicity, however, surrounds you everyday and any length you take to improve it will go a long ways.

Howevery, I feel like the medical schools will see the Korean 201 on my application and look down on me, thinking I'm just trying to boost me GPA.
I really feel I should take it, but would it be a smart thing to do??

Ok... your argument that "the language of your ethnicity is your most important one" seems to me to make some pretty big assumptions. Sure, if you were fluent in Korean and a Korean man comes in only speaking Korean, you may be able to help him moreso than your English-speaking colleagues, but I really do not see how your ethnicity itself plays into that (unless in terms of cultural knowledge). If your family spoke Korean at home and you already have partial fluency, then it may make sense for you to improve your language skills there.
Secondly, a 2nd year in any language isn't going to bring you anywhere near conversational fluency if you're not there already (I'm not really sure what you mean by partially fluent in your post). Studying in-country for a year could do that, but it's very unlikely, esp. as a pre-med, that an extra year of a language would significantly improve your language skills, esp. enough to make a difference 5-10+ years from now.

 

[Mattabet]

Howevery, I feel like the medical schools will see the Korean 201 on my application and look down on me, thinking I'm just trying to boost me GPA.
I really feel I should take it, but would it be a smart thing to do??

Here's the thing. All the Korean I know I picked up watching Arrested Development on Hulu (amazing). If I had decided to take Korean 201, it would seem pretty cool; I'd be enriching my understanding of a second language. You've heard more Korean. To you, it's important to learn more about it - it tells you something about your culture. And this is great; you're also enriching your understanding of a second language (maybe you just have a little bit of a leg up in speaking it - not that adcoms would have any way of knowing that).

A language is a language, and a good skill to have. Take the class. Sure, it might not be as 'useful' as Spanish in this country. But 'utility of second language spoken' is not an admissions criterion.

 

[Arzt67]

No matter what language you take I think it can only help you. I minored in German having already been able to speak it before college. It's definitely not the most useful language for patient care, since most can already speak english. While you might not be seeing many patients speaking an uncommon language here, if its brought up in an interview you can talk about intercultural competence and being able to collaborate with physicians in other parts of the world. It could also help you stand out, since there's definately a lot less people taking korean than spanish. My point is, it definately can't hurt! 🙂

 

[Aladdin]

My schedule for next semester is as follows:

Developmental Bio
Evolutionary Bio
Korean 201
Swimming
Intro to Astronomy


It should help with my sGPA as well, but more so I'm interested in it (I mean astronomy, how can you NOT be interested)
I was wondering if Med schools would really care that I'm taking this class
Especially since I'm trying rally from a bad year

Doubtful. As long as you do well. Let me give you a short list of courses I took: Jewish Women, Shalom Y'all (Judaism in the South), Food in American Culture, Stagecraft (drama course on sets/props), etc.