What was your LEAST fav course and why?

[snowgirl]

anyone know how to best approach this potential interview question? i dont know if it's appropriate to just say, i did not like such and such class because i didn't like that way of thinking or i didn't like the way the material was presented, etc. i just feel like any of these answers puts an applicant in negative light. any suggestions?

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[gdbaby]

anyone know how to best approach this potential interview question? i dont know if it's appropriate to just say, i did not like such and such class because i didn't like that way of thinking or i didn't like the way the material was presented, etc. i just feel like any of these answers puts an applicant in negative light. any suggestions?

That is a tough question. I may try to answer it as a way to show some strengths of mine. So, "I found all of my classes to be a contribution to my learning, however I didn't feel like Physics II allowed me to use my problem solving skills. I like questions presented to me like puzzles which is hard to do with circuits and magnetism."

 

[CerealBox]

That is a tough question. I may try to answer it as a way to show some strengths of mine. So, "I found all of my classes to be a contribution to my learning, however I didn't feel like Physics II allowed me to use my problem solving skills. I like questions presented to me like puzzles which is hard to do with circuits and magnetism."

?My circuits/magnetism class had its fair amount of puzzles to work out... not yours?

I had a HORRIBLE Abstract Algebra class my senior year. The professor mumbled and was impossible to understand... and the class was just painfully dry. I hated every second I sat in that classroom.

 

[medhacker]

My least favorite class was Humanities

 

[StritchMD2011]

I'm in Physics II (E&M) right now. Absolutely hate it with a passion. Professor is pretty poor and I just find it extremely boring. Physics I was pretty easy to get through and I found it at least somewhat interesting. I have trouble seeing how what i'm learning will apply to anything in my future (Although, I wouldn't ever answer the question that way, because obviously there's lots you learn in med school that you may never use, depending on what area you go into).

 

[tigress]

My least favorite course was probably Survey of English Literature II. Not because I didn't like the literature; I did. But in my papers I actually wrote my own opinions, rather than just repeating everything the professor said, so she gave be Bs on all of them. I should have just been less stubborn and caved in, writing essays that were verbatim transcripts of her lectures, but somehow I couldn't bring myself to do it.

I also hated my Hebrew language classes, because the teacher I got stuck with was horrible. He made us do the stupidest drills, and we learned approximately nothing in his class. It was so bad that I got special permission to take fewer classes than required, and made them up with other classes instead.

 

[CuddlyKumquat]

Hated, loathed, crapped out on.....

OCHEM

 

[PreMedMommy]

Women's History and Philosophy. Philosophy is a waste of time, and women's history was too much feminism for one woman to take.

 

[75969]

I dreaded going to my racism class EVERY week....the professor had distinct ideas and did not appreciate anyone else's opinion---and he was full of himself. <---Probably not a good idea to bring this one up in interview since it can easily be taken in a different direction....

 

[shibby1983]

Quantum chemistry. Self-explanatory.

 

[Will Ferrell]

all english classes.. they are teh suck!

 

[snowgirl]

so how are you all planning on explaining WHY these courses were your least favorite? is it okay to blame the professor or otherwise?

 

[tacrum43]

Women's History and Philosophy. Philosophy is a waste of time, and women's history was too much feminism for one woman to take.

I think that a student's experience in Philosophy depends a lot on the teacher. I had a great teacher, and it was easily my favorite class in college.

My least favorite was probably my Public Speaking class, because the teacher was a biased a-hole. O-chem II and "Applied Statistics for Life Sciences" get dishonorable mention too though.

 

[tank you]

all english classes.. they are teh suck!

yes! 👎

 

[Messerschmitts]

Human anatomy. Ha ha, just kidding, it was actually my favourite class (obviously, since I'm here 😛). Least favourite? Probably second semester of organic chemistry. The material of that class just got real ugly, real fast.

 

[crazy_cavalier]

all english classes.. they are teh suck!

haha that was going to be my response as well... stoopid englesh clases.

 

[Em1]

I'd have to say physics II. The prof just put up slides of figures from the book and talked about equations and when to use them. He NEVER explained any concepts, so I never really understood anything. Also, the tests were 10 questions, multiple choice, no partial credit. Looking back on it, it's amazing I got a B... but then physics for the mcat was by comparison SOOOOOOO easy.

 

[Saluki]

P-chem and I don't understand any of it. I don't know whether it's my professor's strong Chinese accent or my own stupidity but I'm leaning toward the latter.

 

[robotsonic]

so how are you all planning on explaining WHY these courses were your least favorite? is it okay to blame the professor or otherwise?

It's not ok to blame the professor. You don't want to sound like a complainer and you don't want to sound like you blame others for your problems. It may sound somewhat fake, but go in to the interview saying that you liked all of your classes because they were all educational in some way... but if you had to choose one that was your least favorite, you would choose _____ because of some relatively innocuous reason. Maybe it was your first semester and you were still adjusting to college, or perhaps advanced chinese literature became the least favorite because you just weren't able to devote enough time to it when you were also taking bio, chem, physics, and intermediate russian. You get the idea. Sounds corny and fake, but it's a job interview.

 

[tomorrowgirl99]

transport phenomena. I don't know what's going on and the teacher doesn't seem to get that most of the class is in the same boat. 🙁

 

[Risa]

It's not ok to blame the professor. You don't want to sound like a complainer and you don't want to sound like you blame others for your problems. It may sound somewhat fake, but go in to the interview saying that you liked all of your classes because they were all educational in some way... but if you had to choose one that was your least favorite, you would choose _____ because of some relatively innocuous reason. Maybe it was your first semester and you were still adjusting to college, or perhaps advanced chinese literature became the least favorite because you just weren't able to devote enough time to it when you were also taking bio, chem, physics, and intermediate russian. You get the idea. Sounds corny and fake, but it's a job interview.

I don't think any interviewer is going to believe that you truly didn't dislike ANY class EVER--how unrealistic is that? Be honest; if you're that clearly phony, it won't reflect well on you.

 

[Apparition]

I hated economics. In most classes, you find out what an amazing being is a human either on a physical level (sciences) or spiritual (humanities). In Eco, a person is just a consumer. It makes me sick.

 

[Dave_D]

I don't think any interviewer is going to believe that you truly didn't dislike ANY class EVER--how unrealistic is that? Be honest; if you're that clearly phony, it won't reflect well on you.

I'm going to second this. I mean I know there's supposed to be some BS in an interview(IE don't say you hated classes) but saying you didn't dislike any class is so over the top I'd think they'd grill you about it. Also to be blunt sometime the problem is so blatantly and demonstrably the "professor" that it's understandable you wouldn't like the class. For anybody that cares my hated course was french.(Of course I've mentioned this before.) My major reason was through out all the French courses I took not even one girl(Yes, no guys ever ran a french class when I took it and true professors were rare. Guess they were too busy swilling wine or something.) mentioned the most major mistake you can make. Don't translate everything into ENGLISH! (Gee, I didn't do that in italian and what do you know, I did better and didn't despise the lady running the course.)

 

[RayhanS1282]

My worst class and least fav class has to be Philosophy III: Metaphysics. I had no idea what the hell was going on it that class. I tried to keep up with the reading and stuff but that was a waste of time.

A special mention should go to my Christian Marriage class. That same semester I was taking Physiology and Physics I. I somehow managed to pull of A's on all my classes that semester, only to get screwed out of a 4.0 by Christian Marriage.

 

[robotsonic]

I don't think any interviewer is going to believe that you truly didn't dislike ANY class EVER--how unrealistic is that? Be honest; if you're that clearly phony, it won't reflect well on you.

I used to think this way also. Sometimes being fake is what is required.

When my school was giving us information sessions on residency applications, we had a meeting in which one student did a mock interview with a PD. The PD asked him what his least favorite rotation in med school was, and the guy said, "well, actually, I have had positive experiences in all of them. I can't think of any negative experiences... I guess the only one that was less positive was my experience in psychiatry, and that was mostly because it was my first rotation and I hadn't really gotten the hang of being independent on the floors." This is what he said, almost word for word.
Sounds pretty fake, right? I didn't love all of my rotations, and I can't possibly see how what this guy said is true - no negative experiences in your rotations? Give me a break. But the PDs and deans at this meeting all agreed that his answer was perfect. I mean, the PD gushed about how perfect it was.
There are times when lying is appropriate. Just try not to make it too obvious that you are lying.

 

[osli]

Engineering Analysis... the first semester it was taught at my alma matter without a particular language emphasized or utilized. So everything was in the form of psuedocode - a generalized non-code specific language... but by its nature one which can also be written different ways and still contain the same meaning. That's its purpose - to be neutral and generalized. But our professor was still stuck in FORTRAN mode, and wanted all of our psuedocode to be written in essentially FORTRAN sans some specific symbols and quirks that are specific to FORTRAN. Correct psuedocode was not acceptable... it had to be his brand of psuedocode. Drove me nuts. Didn't help that this guy was agreat thermo and heat transfer teacher who was way out of his area of expertise teaching any programming at all.

 

[riceman04]

anyone know how to best approach this potential interview question? i dont know if it's appropriate to just say, i did not like such and such class because i didn't like that way of thinking or i didn't like the way the material was presented, etc. i just feel like any of these answers puts an applicant in negative light. any suggestions?

general chemistry!