<p>I really enjoy the humanities, but I also want to become a doctor since I like to help people and i've kinda been biased by my parents and many aunts and uncles, who are all in the medical field</p>
<p>If I were to major in bio or chem, I could probably do premedicine and double major but since psychology and philosophy have no overlap with premed, I'm probably going with just psychology but i really regret I can't take the chance in my undergraduate school to discover my passion.</p>
<p>So my questions are
1. If I take a philosophy course over the summer in UCLA, would it give more or less an accurate picture of philosophy courses at Cornell? I'm interested in the material but I may not be able to handle all the reading and writing
2. Is a minor useful? With the amount of Spanish courses I'm taking for the foreign language as well as degree requirements in A&S, I may as well take some more classes and get a minor</p>
<p>I don’t think any one school can give you an accurate depiction of what philosophy courses will be like at another school, especially during the summer. Different schools offer different courses, and different courses can be taught differently and also have different requirements(in regards to reading and writing).
From my experience, the philosophy courses offered during the summer sessions at UCLA aren’t even an accurate depiction of what UCLA regularly offers during the regular sessions. I find that the topics/subjects offered during the summer sessions are much more interesting than the classes offered during regular sessions. The course load is the same, if not less(but again this might have to do with the fact that the topics/subjects aren’t classes typically offered on a regular basis during an academic school year).
Having taken a couple of philosophy courses at UCLA, I can tell you that the reading and writing shouldn’t be an issue. The classes I’ve taken don’t have huge course loads(compared to other course loads you find in other departments). You usually don’t read more than 50 pages per week, and papers tend to range anywhere from 3-8 pages. Depending on the structure of the class, you usually end up having to do 1-2 papers, a midterm and a final, or 2-3 papers, and no midterms or finals, or if you’re lucky just a midterm and a final, or a paper and a final. The only philosophy class where I did have to read a book per week, and submit a paper of over 10 pages was a seminar that is rarely offered, and was taught by a visiting professor.</p>
<p>By the way, you do know that you don’t have to be a chem or bio major to enter medical school. As long as you have the medical school requirements(or pre-med classes) completed on the side, you could major in just about anything? </p>
<p>Also, regardless of your summer plans, look at Cornell’s regular class offerings(as in their schedule of classes, not their school catalog) during a normal school year. If you see that some classes are repeated or offered every semester, than most likely than not, taking a similar class at UCLA could give you better insight of what you might be getting yourself into in terms of a major, than say taking a class on Existentialism. Most US schools with top philosophy departments are analytical, as opposed to continental. If your interest lie in continental philosophy, your best bet is to look at other majors, like Literature(world, comparative, english, german, french, etc) or other majors that have loose or liberal requirements.</p>
<p>I know that already I just mentioned chem/bio because the overlap allows me to double major (chem/bio + something else) whereas premed w/ psych has no overlap.</p>
<p>Is it advisable to take a 101 course in philosophy? If I am really to go into premed, I seriously cannot take any course that does not fill either distribution requirements or major requirements</p>
<p>Generally it’s preferable to start philosophy with an Intro class. Philosophy has its own methodology and vocabulary, and most people really need to practice thinking like a philosopher before they tackle advanced material. </p>
<p>There are exceptions, of course. You might be well situated to take a more advanced course in medical ethics (or applied ethics generally), or even philosophy of science (which I encourage ALL science majors to take).</p>