Yet another question about prereqs

[travelbug73]

I know, I know, everyone is probably hitting the ignore button as soon as they see a post about pre-reqs. Inspite of the many posts about pre-reqs, I still do have a couple of questions.

1) I understand calculus is not required by most schools. However, I'm contemplating taking the course so I can increase the number of schools I can apply to. I will be at a disadvantage to begin with since I'm international and I do not have a US undergrad. Anyway, my question is, is it ok for me to take an online calculus course offered by the same university that I'm taking most of the other (in class) prereqs at? Both in class and online options are available for this course, but given my already full schedule I was wondering if an online course would be ok or it would be frowned upon and not be considered.

2) Should I do a physiology course or a humanities or even a language course (such as sociology, psychology, Spanish etc) since I'm a science major and I have really not had any exposure to humanities? I understand physiology will help me with MCAT, but, would I be at more of an advantage for adcom purposes if I took a humanities course? If yes to humanities, what would be a good course to take. I reiterate, I have not had any exposure and I'm really not comfortable with non-science courses, so an interesting course (in your opinion) would make it more fun. Can a language course be taken in lieu of a humanities course (I love learning languages).

Sorry for the long post and my probably incoherent ramblings, but I'm really trying to make the best of my situation. All suggestions and advices are welcome and appreciated.

Thank you

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[Uncle_Tbag]

Generally schools want you to be well rounded and not just focused on sci courses completely. Some require a year of english, some require or encourage 1 or 2 semesters of psych or sociology. It varies by school but you can see the trend of what they want.

I would take calc for the reason you said, some schools require it and some encourage it. But again, it varies by school and you will end up applying to some that don't care whether you have it or not.

About the online thing, I would avoid it if possible. It doesn't require a lab so you could get away with it maybe, but I think many schools would frown on it.

 

[blee]

Hi travelbug,

I'm assuming you have an undergraduate degree from somewhere. If you took some humanities courses at that time, you should be okay.

You should look at postbac programs or pre-reqs in general as a way to show adcoms that you're able to take on the heavy science courseload in medical school. They may not require calculus, but I think calculus would be very helpful in understanding some of the pre-req material, particularly physics. Calculus would allow you to avoid memorizing everything and focus instead on the concepts and basic formulae. If you don't have any calculus under your bealt, you might want to consider it.

 

[QofQuimica]

If you never took any English courses, definitely take two of them. A lot of schools require this. You don't have to go through the English dept. necessarily; any lit courses or other courses with lots of writing will suffice at most schools. One good option, since you like languages, is to study foreign lit. I took two semesters of Renaissance Spanish lit (in English) since I was a Spanish major, and listed those as my English courses on AMCAS. No school hassled me about this. But the courses do have to be taught in English if you want to count them as lit. I took some other lit courses taught in Spanish, but on AMCAS those get classified as foreign language, not literature. Other humanities: I'd actually suggest that you consider philosophy of science if it's offered at your school. I took that class in college, and since I was the only science major (and the only person who had ever DONE any science!) in a class full of philosophy majors, it made for a very interesting class for everyone. I can tell you that their ideas about how science ought to be done aren't very commensurate with how science is actually done.

I agree with the previous posters that you should take calculus to improve your app and also your understanding of physical science concepts. And that probably it's better to take a live class rather than on-line. You may also want to take biochem if you haven't already; some schools require that as well.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

I agree with the previous posters that you should take calculus to improve your app and also your understanding of physical science concepts. And that probably it's better to take a live class rather than on-line. You may also want to take biochem if you haven't already; some schools require that as well.

You know, in this situation I think the online class would be fine since it's offered at the same university and identical to the realtime class. I'm skeptical of online classes from places like University of Phoenix (I'm sure you learn a lot, but it still probably looks a little iffy to adcoms), but most major universities offer tons of online courses along with their regular courses, and they're done within the same department. Honestly, I don't even think they're distinguished on one's transcript as being online. I would only caution against taking the online course if the op thinks her performance would be hurt by the format.

English, yes, the bane of my nontrad existence. Most schools require two english courses, which I have. Some specifically want a composition course, which I don't have because my undergraduate school had a thing called "writing across the curriculum" where writing was integrated into most courses. I'm working on seeing if one of the courses I took that was labeled "writing intensive" will count for that requirement -- it probably will, but I don't know yet. One school I'm applying to (University of Oklahoma) wants three english courses. Again, I'm hoping that "writing intensive" course will cover that.

As for humanities, if you feel uncomfortable taking them, then you probably should. It's good to expand your academic horrizones and go outside of your comfort zone.

 

[remo]

I was going to take an online English class but UC Davis said they won't accept any online coursework so you might want to check with the schools you will be applying to.

 

[travelbug73]

I will probably take Calculus only because it is required by some schools such as Duke. I have already finished my physics pre-reqs. Yes, this calculus course is offered by the same department and has the same course number as the one offered in class. The only reason I would like to opt for this is because I can meet the requirement without having to wait an extra year. I can only only take so many hours of classes a week given my work schedule and I cannot go part time given my immigration status.

As far as English is concerned, I have 2 semesters of English (English composition and analysis). It was pretty writing intensive but it is considered a freshman class. Will this suffice for the English requirement or will I have to take more?

I have several upper level biology courses (biochem,, mol. bio, cell bio etc) because I have a graduate degree in molecular biology.

Like one of the posters said, I have had courses in sociology, economics etc during my undergrad. However, since schools will not consider my undergrad GPA, I don't know if those courses will count. My question therefore is, do I have to take some humanities courses or will these undergrad courses plus English suffice?

Thank you all for your responses and please keep them coming.

 

[nonlethal]

So, I've already taken Calc I. And I took it online. And did pretty well (A-). But I get to take it over again for those schools that want me to have at least a semester of Calc. Imagine my glee and excitement when I found out I get to take it again....
The majority of the schools I've been looking at applying to (next year for me) dont' accept online classes, including the state's med school.
Which is fine I suppose, but come on adcoms... it's a math class, you're going to be doing math problems anyway, it's a difference of whether you do them on line or on a piece of paper, I think. No online chemistry or anatomy, I can understand, but english and math?
Someday, when I'm in charge of the world....
Enough with the sarcasm. Avoid online classes. End of story.

 

[supersash]

i disagree w/the online class haters. like exlawgrrl said, if you are taking the online class at your regular university, it probably wont even be an issue on your transcript.

but of course, it is wise to check with your university about how it looks on the transcript, as well as at the schools you want to apply to. where do you plan on applying? i have taken 2 classes online, and thought they were great. i'll agree chemistry shouldnt be taken online, but it seems calc would be fine.

do your research though.