Premium Classes such as Calc Based Physics

[javandane]

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I was told by the UW- Madison admin. director that she considered Calc based physics a premium class. What are the other premium classes ? What other difficult classes catch the attention of the admin. departments ? Any ideas ?

 

[hnbui]

I was told by the UW- Madison admin. director that she considered Calc based physics a premium class. What are the other premium classes ? What other difficult classes catch the attention of the admin. departments ? Any ideas ?

physical chem
any advance bio class
calculus III

 

[Fermata]

Biochem. 😀

 

[Pinkertinkle]

Eh, better to avoid B's than to have more premium classes, so choose wisely.

 

[Fermata]

Eh, better to avoid B's than to have more premium classes, so choose wisely.

But why not take it because you find it interesting?

I understand that GPA is important, but grade whoring has to stop sometime.

 

[Pinkertinkle]

But why not take it because you find it interesting?

I understand that GPA is important, but grade whoring has to stop sometime.

I guess I hate physics and pchem and the like so much that I can't comprehend how anyone can enjoy them.

 

[Fermata]

I guess I hate physics and pchem and the like so much that I can't comprehend how anyone can enjoy them.

Fair enough.

I've always thought that classes would be so much more enjoyable if you didn't have to get grades for them.

 

[javandane]

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[WatchingWaiting]

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[kylahs]

But why not take it because you find it interesting?

I understand that GPA is important, but grade whoring has to stop sometime.

i got loads of "premium" classes, but my gpa suffered. and consequently Im not getting much love from adcoms, despite my relatively high MCAT score. I think if i could do it all over again, i would still keep the courseload, but try harder in maintaining the GPA

 

[DianaLynne]

Calc 3 wrecked my GPA and I didn't make it through PChem. I had possibly the worst professor in the world in Calc 3 and it kinda spoiled me on math. There I was kicking booty in Calc 2 and I could barely get through 3. Then I was completely unprepared for PChem. I am saddened by that and would love to someday succeed in those classes but I prefer not to do that level of mathematics at this point in my career.

I'm taking Biochem now and will be taking Molecular Bio next semester just to prepare. (I'm a few years post degree so I've just been filling some gaps for the pure education of it.) Plus, I'll be taking them pass/fail since I'll be (hopefully!) travelling for interviews. I'm finding that now I study for the sheer enjoyment of learning and satisfying my curiosity and I do not miss scrapping for A's. It's pretty cool.

 

[Pinkertinkle]

Looks like the unfortunate truth is if you want to get into medical school, grade whoring works.

 

[drguy22]

i slept through calc 3, it took that dumb class by mistake, and got a B 🙁, but on the bright side...66% of the class got C or C+, 20% got D's, 6% F's, 4% B's and 4% A 's...so i guess it wasnt sooo bad...

 

[bbtbay]

I have come to the conclusion that "grade whoring" is the best way to get into medical school. I had the hardest major at my university, one of the top public universities in the country, and because of that my GPA suffered. I thought that medical schools would understand this, and look past it, but by the way I am getting rejected left and right...they haven't. Even though it is above the average for medical school matriculants, I could have gotten a much higher GPA with an "easier major" and taking the pre-med req courses on the side. Had I done this, I would have had a higher GPA and many more interview invites than I have right now...

 

[Sam Fisher]

Currently taking Calc III and I'm finding it much easier than Calc II. Calc III is basically multivariable and vector calculus which isn't too bad while the nightmare called Calc II had those Taylor series expansion and other stuff that I will never see in my lifetime again.

As for biochem and p-chem, i'll find out next year.

 

[Pontifex Maximus]

This thread went from somewhat informative to totally hilarious. Please continue!

 

[faradayampere]

I don't think premium classes matter at all .... I have a lot of those classes in schedule, and somehow I managed to get A+'s at most of them (p-chem, linear alg/diff eqns, ochem, vector calc, ...) ... have an okay gpa (3.81) ... go to a good school (Berkeley) ... have good LORs from the profs who teach those premium classes... but only had 1 interview so far (no more invites since Aug). So the grades and the number of premium classes you have do not matter at all ... I do not think they will catch the attention of the adcom, and I don't believe the level of difficulty your classes are and/or how good your gpa/mcat is will help you much in this process... adcom treats all classes the same I think ... all it matters is luck =)

 

[ellia08]

As far as premium classes go, there are the typical ones: P-chem, A-chem, upper-level math, etc.

But it is also interesting if you have taken graduate level courses outside your field of interest. (ie: physics major with grad class in poetry, poetry major in upper division physics class)

That being said, I dont really know anything about anything so take it for what its worth. 🙂

 

[PostalWookie]

I took calc-based physics. Best call ever. We have a standard physics class, and three levels of calc-based physics - I took the easiest one. Rather than having to deal with ultracompetitive premeds in the standard physics class, I was up against lazy freshman engineering students. And the amount of calc I had to do was nothing compared with the work I'd have to do to stay ahead of the premed curve.

 

[vicinihil]

I'm just going to run with the fact that med schools like 2 things, numbers and race. You can be asian (including indians...way to go... atul gwande wannabes) with the good scores and get less interviews than an URM with ok scores.
However, I think taking harder classes may allow your transcript to look better, only if you get those A's. If you're taking a B in calc based physics which most of the time is 5 credits, go for that easier A in alg based. A 4.0 is better than a 3.5 regardless if you took harder classes. Look at engineers, they aren't better off with a lower gpa though they are taking it up the behind in fluid mechanics and digital signaling.

However, here is where taking "harder" classes come in handy such as taking med school classes before med school. It's like AP's. Say Biochemistry, it's prevalent on the MCATs and its a good preview to med school since you do have to take it in most med schools M1. Why not? Or a class on Endocrine system or Physiology (though make sure they are applicable toward a BS or BA in Biology or anything). These will appeal to the ADCOM more than Calc III or Lin Alg ( which is whopping my buttocks) or Calc Based Physics or P-Chem.

 

[kapnut]

so is engineering or math a "premium" major?

 

[faradayampere]

yep, med admission is random

however, I would not say fluid mech is useless. I'm sure there are many intelligent engineers out there, not all of them are lazy or have low gpa. One of my engineering friends has 3.95, and taking classes like fluid mech, quantum physics, electrodynamics, etc.... By the way, I think fluid mech has a lot of applications in biological system. Hagen-Poiseuille flow is named after Poiseille, a French physician -- so who says doctor doesn't do fluid mech??

 

[vicinihil]

it's very unusual to find an engineer with a gpa as high as that...kudos to your friend. Personally, I'm BME and im thinking of switching over to Biochemistry. It sucks to B. ME. It restricts one from exploring other fields such as history english philosophy int'l affairs etc etc. there are guides out there that tell you which major has "statistically" a higher acceptance rate into med schools, seeing history and philosophy leading the list, I would begin to think the humanities. Maybe it's just because it's either an easier major or a less popular one. However, how "premium" can history or philosophy classes get? What's happened has happened what's said has been said, unless they expect you to make some great discovery on your own, it's just pure memorization, which med schools like.

 

[faradayampere]

Ah, I'm a bioengineering as well ... I think I read somewhere (prob after my senior yr in high school) that bioE has a pretty high acceptance rate as well (maybe not as high as history)???

it's very unusual to find an engineer with a gpa as high as that...kudos to your friend. Personally, I'm BME and im thinking of switching over to Biochemistry. It sucks to B. ME. It restricts one from exploring other fields such as history english philosophy int'l affairs etc etc. there are guides out there that tell you which major has "statistically" a higher acceptance rate into med schools, seeing history and philosophy leading the list, I would begin to think the humanities. Maybe it's just because it's either an easier major or a less popular one. However, how "premium" can history or philosophy classes get? What's happened has happened what's said has been said, unless they expect you to make some great discovery on your own, it's just pure memorization, which med schools like.

 

[faradayampere]

so is engineering or math a "premium" major?

surely yes, no one doubts about it ...just kidding 🙂

I would say that all majors are equally important in the society .... no major is more "premium" than the others, just as medicine is not the most prestigous job in the society (b/c some of my friends think this way), all careers are equally important

 

[Nutmeg]

yep, med admission is random

however, I would not say fluid mech is useless. I'm sure there are many intelligent engineers out there, not all of them are lazy or have low gpa. One of my engineering friends has 3.95, and taking classes like fluid mech, quantum physics, electrodynamics, etc.... By the way, I think fluid mech has a lot of applications in biological system. Hagen-Poiseuille flow is named after Poiseille, a French physician -- so who says doctor doesn't do fluid mech??

Actually, I think fluid mech has a lot to do with medicine. Circulatory and lymph systems, paracrine signaling, action potentials/graded potentials, pharmacodynamics, respiration... all were subjects facillitated by my understanding of fluid mech.