<p>Is it better to get an A in easier level classes rather than challenging yourself in harder classes and possibly getting Bs? do med schools prefer students who take all of the most challenging and higher level classes?</p>
<p>It depends on what the rest of your transcript looks like. If you always get A’s in easier classes, you’ll get rejected. If you always get B’s in harder classes, you’ll also get rejected.</p>
<p>Brilliant strategy: to get A’s in classes that appear hard, but actually are easy.</p>
<p>Terrible strategy: to get B’s (or worse) in classes that appear easy, but actually are difficult.</p>
<p>The truth of the matter is that some classes are easier or harder than they may seem according to the description, and med-school adcoms don’t have the resources to figure out which ones they are.</p>
<p>^^^^ Can’t they just tell by course numbers, (ie 400,300,200, 100).</p>
<p>No .</p>
<p>Gettin a 4.0 in a fluff major isn’t going to be thrown in the trash. The determining factor will be the MCAT. I’d rather have a 4.0 and a 36 from the easiest major at the easiest university than a 3.0 and a 36 from the hardest major at the hardest university.</p>
<p>If this is just a single class that we are talking about, it really won’t make a lot of difference. A’s are always better. A hard major and a hard schedule is only nice when you do well, otherwise its a liability. A couple B’s in classes like advanced physical chemistry for majors will be understood, but there is a limit to such tolerance that will depend very much on the rest of your application.</p>
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I’ve found little correlation between course number and difficulty.</p>
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<p>Some of the most difficult courses, in terms of grading, I have ever taken in my life were intro-sequence courses, because that’s where the weeders are often times located. One particular course comes to mind where upwards of 2/3 of the students ended up with C’s or worse.</p>
<p>On the other hand, admittedly, some of the easiest classes I’ve ever had in my life were also intro-sequence courses.</p>
<p>It depends on whether it is obvious to the medical schools that these were easy classes. If you are taking the same courses as athletes who are not expected to really act like students (some football powerhouses still do this), then you are in trouble. If it is simply “everyone at this college knows that is an easy class”, but it looks perfectly respectable on a transcript, then it will be no problem.</p>
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<p>This is true in many majors, not just science classes. At my school (many years ago) one of the toughest classes for an English major was History of the English Language which while not an intro level, was a required course. More than 50% dropped the class after the midterm and most prayed for a B if they stuck it out.</p>
<p>it really depends on prof on whether class is easy or not. Also, remember there may be a nice curve despite the class being very hard</p>
<p>So, is the consensus that there are certain obviously easy classes, while everything else is a wash?</p>
<p>It depends on the situation. If you are choosing between algebra based physics for premeds and honors physics for majors then taking the tougher class will not significantly help and getting the better grade is more important. If it’s underwater basketweaving 001 versus a legit course, take the legit course. I doubt one obviously bs course will sink an application, but if you are in an obviously bs major or taking a lot of obviously easy courses then it’ll probably come back to bite you.</p>