Challenging Courseload or Great Grades?

<p>This is a rather grey area I assume. </p>

<p>I am an International who will be applying to Ross in my freshman year. As I have studied the ISC - an Indian syllabus , we have covered the same portion which I will cover in my freshman year in university , if I take the easier courses. </p>

<p>So the question is - Should I take the easier course and be assured of good grades? Or do I take a challenging courseload and run the risk of getting lower grades? </p>

<p>Its my freshman year , and adapting to life in American and college for that matter would be tough. Which of the two is more valued in an admissions process. </p>

<li>A 4.0 Gpa with a not so difficult courseload. </li>
<li>A 3.3 Gpa with a very challenging courseload</li>
</ol>

<p>?</p>

<p>Is it possible to go inbetween? I'd personally say a 4.0 is better, but... you can't take ALL BS classes.</p>

<p>If you take a pretty hard schedule, with nothing too bad, and get a 3.7 or so, I personally think that's better than 4.0 in BS classes, and a 3.3 in really really hard classes</p>

<p>No they wont be BS classes , they would be what others are taking. But since we've covered this syllabus before , I assume it would be easy. Students I know who have also studied this syllabus nd gone to U Mich tel me the same. The first year will be a breeze. Apparently:S!</p>

<p>But I was thinking of going for a harder courseload than what they had taken. Now to find the right combination of classes would the course advisor be able to that?</p>

<p>In college as an undergrad I was very focused on getting good grades and determined to get above a 3.75. </p>

<p>As a result, I know that I passed up on some great, and notoriously difficult, courses. I certainly didnt take fluff, but if I could do it all over again I would take the courses that would benefit my education, and not my GPA, the most.</p>

<p>My .02</p>

<p>After you apply to Ross, your first-year GPA resets anyway, so there's no point in getting a 4.0. Take courses you know will help you succeed at Ross (i.e. more quantitative courses). Of course you still need a good GPA to get into Ross, and that easiness/relevance balance is just something you need to decide. You don't want to be one of those people that took blow-off class for a 4.0 and then has a 3.0 at Ross because of lack of preparation. And at that point, your 4.0 is reset and no longer counts as cumulative.</p>

<p>Take the challenging course-load... ;) (But you know where I'm coming from, don't you? :))</p>

<p>Courses which will help me succeed at Ross. Im aware of the prequisities. Which are the other courses which would help?</p>

<p>on a similar note, what about med school? generally, do schools look more favorably upon harder courseloads or better grades? also, what would u consider the minimum gpa to be for a med school?</p>

<p>i heard most engineers with >3.3 GPA gets in ross anyway...and since most engineers take hard classes... that means hard classes with 3.3 work? LOL just my logic</p>

<p>For pre-med, you must take all the required pre-med classes, but you can major in whatever you want. Just like in college admissions, GPA is arguably most important, but other things like standardized tests (MCAT) and essays matter too.</p>

<p>This is what I heard from a pre-med student: If you are an easy, non-science major and have a high GPA, your chances of getting in are better than a hard science major (think biochemistry) with a lower GPA. So GPA will be looked at regardless of what you study. However, a science major will be better preparation for medical school once you're in. This is something I heard. It's kind of like the GPA balance vs. challenging coursework balance you do as a pre-business student.</p>

<p>Can someone post what are considered "challenging courses" for a pre-business student? I am not talking about the requirments.</p>

<p>Actually challenging, or relatively challenging compared to Ross prereqs?</p>

<p>The hardest available (the one you can learn something from).</p>

<p>engineering and hard physics i imagine?</p>

<p>Different people are good at different things, but I say for business the more quantitative, the better. So physics and mathematics would be obvious choices. It's not that you'll necessarily be using the things you learn in those classes. It's just that you learn to think in a more appropriate mindset (analytical, logical, etc.) when dealing with numbers. I doubt that anyone will be good at OMS or accounting if all they took pre-business was geosci or anthro. Engineers tend to do very well in business school (both BBA and MBA).</p>