One class away from a minor in bio... worth it?

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genericpremedstudent

genericpremedstudent

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As the title suggests, I'm one class away from having a minor in bio. The class I would need to take is Evolution. I really have no interest in taking the class, and if there isn't any added benefit to having the minor, I would rather just save the $1,000 it costs to take it. Opinions?
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genericpremedstudent said:
As the title suggests, I'm one class away from having a minor in bio. The class I would need to take is Evolution. I really have no interest in taking the class, and if there isn't any added benefit to having the minor, I would rather just save the $1,000 it costs to take it. Opinions?
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Personally, I wouldn't take it if it costs a dime beyond my normal tuition costs. That's just me though. There's no added benefit to doing a minor.
 
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Ok thats what I figured. I signed up as a bio minor just so I could get first dibs at bio classes during registration with the intent of dropping it when I completed them. Thanks
 
^^ This.

But in all seriousness, minors are not even listed in AMCAS. Only majors.
 
I have a minor and it's completely useless, doesn't even show up on your diploma or anywhere other than your transcript
 
Everyone in this thread is being systematic, so I'll try to deviate. What I'm about to say may not directly apply to your situation.

Evolution is an upper level science course. If the class applies as an elective to your major, personally, I would do it. If it's a financial burden, do not do it. But, if finances are not an issue, challenge yourself, take the class. Go a little out of your comfort zone to accomplish something, this time NOT for the sake of medical school. Don't make your academic career about how good things will look to admissions committees. "Yeah, I didn't do a minor because it wouldn't show up on my AMCAS." That actually sounds pretty dumb. So what if it shows up on your AMCAS? Do it for yourself, not to impress anyone.

Right now, I'm taking an extra organic chemistry course that many of my peers elected to not take. It is completing my chemistry minor. Not for the sake of adcoms, but because I wanted to explore more organic chemistry. I was told prior to taking it that it would be difficult, and I would have diminished free time this summer. Both of those are true.

Do I regret it? Absolutely not. The professor of this class caters to pre-health students and runs the class in a way that encourages critical thinking; forming "differentials" based on spectra analysis and chemical testing. This class is the closest thing I've found to my job (scribe) in the medical field. I'm not saying an evolution class will do that, but what I am saying is, I went outside of the lines. I tried something different. And guess what? Everything is turning out alright, and I'm getting a chance to appreciate science.

Is this class guaranteed to make an impact on my application? Nope. That's not why I did it.

tl;dr Stop box checking. Stop worrying about how things "look" on your application.
 
Hospitalized said:
Evolution is an upper level science course. If the class applies as an elective to your major, personally, I would do it. If it's a financial burden, do not do it. But, if finances are not an issue, challenge yourself, take the class. Go a little out of your comfort zone to accomplish something, this time NOT for the sake of medical school. Don't make your academic career about how good things will look to admissions committees. "Yeah, I didn't do a minor because it wouldn't show up on my AMCAS." That actually sounds pretty dumb. So what if it shows up on your AMCAS? Do it for yourself, not to impress anyone.

Is this class guaranteed to make an impact on my application? Nope. That's not why I did it.

tl;dr Stop box checking. Stop worrying about how things "look" on your application.
Click to expand...

I completely agree with this. Take the extra class only if you really want and are interested in learning more about the subject matter of the course. If you don't want to, don't do it. If you can speak to a passion to learn for the sake of bettering yourself and furthering your education, you will look more impressive to medical schools. It is a win-win, so do it only for the right reasons.
 
I actually had a bio minor per my school's definition because I took so many bio courses due to the overlap of my major: biomedical engineering (BME) and premed requirements. I didn't even know I had a bio minor until another BME pre-med told me he declared a bio minor.

True Story:
In may (literally two weeks before commencement) of my senior year, I go to the bio professor who is in charge of declaring minors and I give him the form for declaring bio minor and he pulls up my transcript. He looks at me and is like you know your major has "bio" in it? And I'm like yeah but I'm applying to med skl and I think it'll help me if I declare a bio minor. He shrugs, shakes his head, and says alright and signs the form. He goes when you get into med school let me know if it made any difference.

Idk but maybe what the professor said got to me so long story short, I never handed that form to registrar. Things turned out fine in the end. 🙂
 
If evolution is an easy A and will boost your science GPA, then why not?
 
I also had the option to purchase a minor for $2000 for the last needed class. I decided not to and saved the money for a summer mission trip and the time for more tutoring hours and extracurriculars.
 
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