@ucbalumnus yes there is still some GPA pressure (overall and BCPM) but less than if he wasn’t in the program. The certainty is awesome.
Noted too that if you have a 4.0 in your first semester (and every subsequent one), the GPA pressure gets progressively lower, so by year 3 you could presumably swing at any course and not worry as much about a single B or even one of those nasty Cs.
Agree on meeting requirements of the assured school option. I believe all of the choices spoken of in post #18 would be beyond those requirements. Question is whether the extra rigor could enhance chances at more competitive schools where it is essentially a lottery.
You have so many hypotheticals that’s almost impossible to answer your question.
Med school admission is so idiosyncratic. He may improve his standing with some adcomms but not with others. Adcomms aren’t a universal block. They are a group of individuals who volunteer their time as a service to their institution. It’s impossible to say with authority or certainty how any particular individual will view X, Y or Z or whether their opinions will hold sway with the rest of the committee. My gut feeling–and this is just my gut feeling and not an informed opinion-- is unless your son is applying for a MD/PhD program, the response will be “that’s nice, but let’s talk about those ECs…”
My advice would be the same as @ucbalumnus above–he should concentrate on fulfilling this admission requirements for the program he’s already in and take the coursework you’ve mentioned ONLY if it somehow mets a need or interest that is his own.
Probably most admission readers will not be familiar with specific courses or policies at an applicant’s undergraduate school, unless they themselves by chance happened to attend that school in the past. So your gut feeling that extra rigor in course selection beyond (a) fulfilling required and recommended pre-med course work for that medical school, (b) not having “repeat” courses unless required by (a), and (c) not having any pre-med course work taken in a disfavored situation (e.g. in a summer session at a different school), may have little or no effect may be reasonable since the extra rigor may not even be noticed by the admission reader.
@LOUKYDAD My 2 cents. It is great if he can do some advanced course. But priority wise it should be secondary, Top priority is to have a well balanced profile. Though this forum has repeatably posted a well balanced application should have great
GPA
MCAT Score
Shadowing
Clinical volunteer
Non-Clinical volunteer
Research
etc
it was interesting to note still some students for varied reason not having a balanced profile.
For example, noticed this year a student who has 524 but has 0 hours shadowing. That is not helping.
So first make sure he has time and have a balanced profile. If that is taken care, do advanced courses as long as it is not going to pull his GPA. GL.
Makes sense - thank you. Kind of reminds me of discussions I have seen on here for elite undergraduate admissions with respect to ACT/SAT scores, number of AP courses, etc. Once you have a 35 on the ACT, stressing and spending additional time trying to get a 36 is probably much ado about nothing. If you have taken 11 APs already and question whether or not taking a twelve AP is going to matter, you are missing the bigger picture. Once you have demonstrated the academic credentials, as far as separating yourself it becomes more about the AND (versus who did more advanced coursework or one more point on the MCAT or whatever). Top credentials AND the something else (research, service, leadership, etc.). Good insight - thanks again.
Thank you for responding, this has helped me a lot!
@thumper1 Are you really thinking that, I think that, upper level, more advanced courses will be easier than introductory courses? Really? That’s what you think?
You wrote this. Makes it sound like you think that the advanced courses won’t be at all cut throat…and will be easier to pass than the cut throat lower level courses.
@LOUKYDAD - how can I get in contact with you? DS was invited to interview for the Brown Fellows Scholarship and would love to get your insight.
@COboysmom sure, sent you a message.