Should I mention audited courses?

[TehTeddy]

Hello SDN,

Next year I was planning to audit some classes while doing my undergrad thesis, in addition to working part time. Auditing in this sense would mean sitting-in on classes, but not registering officially and not paying. This is, of course, with the professor's permission and assuming there's room. At my school doing this is generally frowned upon by administration because they don't get any money for it. They do have an official auditing option, but you have to pay.

Now, I haven't applied to medical school yet, but I often hear questions like "what have you been doing since graduation" being asked on secondaries and during interviews. Besides my work and other activities, would it be unwise to mention the classes that I've been taking but not "taking" officially? I'm unsure if this would reflect poorly on my part or not. It seems as though professors have no problem with me auditing classes when I ask, so I assume it's just something administration cares about. But I wanted to double check here, in the case it turns out med schools care as well.

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[Catalystik]

Hello SDN,

Next year I was planning to audit some classes while doing my undergrad thesis, in addition to working part time. Auditing in this sense would mean sitting-in on classes, but not registering officially and not paying. This is, of course, with the professor's permission and assuming there's room. At my school doing this is generally frowned upon by administration because they don't get any money for it. They do have an official auditing option, but you have to pay.

Now, I haven't applied to medical school yet, but I often hear questions like "what have you been doing since graduation" being asked on secondaries and during interviews. Besides my work and other activities, would it be unwise to mention the classes that I've been taking but not "taking" officially? I'm unsure if this would reflect poorly on my part or not. It seems as though professors have no problem with me auditing classes when I ask, so I assume it's just something administration cares about. But I wanted to double check here, in the case it turns out med schools care as well.

If it's not on your transcript, informally attending lectures at a college without having accountability is no more interesting than voluntarily attending lectures in another setting (eg, grand rounds, YMCA, community building). IMO bringing them up would just be "fluff." Attend the classes because you want to, not because med schools will care.

 

[TehTeddy]

Thanks for the responses everyone. Perhaps I should have been more clear in my OP. When I ask if I should mention audited courses, I meant if it would look bad considering it's frowned upon by my university. Not as any sort of accomplishment. Obviously I wouldn't take extra classes just for admissions (unless my GPA needed a boost). I'd be taking them because 1) I work close to my school, and 2) after switching majors had to rush through my major requirements, missing out on some classes I wanted to take but couldn't fit in my schedule.

 

[Catalystik]

When I ask if I should mention audited courses, I meant if it would look bad considering it's frowned upon by my university.

I can imagine there might be some hard-liners out there who would be miffed on behalf of your institution's bottom line, but they'd have to notice (a highly-unlikely event, IMO) that your theoretical, mid-cycle, sorta audited courses weren't on your final pre-matriculation transcript, by which time it wouldn't matter anyway.