jukixel Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 Hi everyone, So I'm currently a pre-PA student and I'm trying to decide on my spring schedule. Should I take a harder elective that might look more impressive or an easier one? My schedule's pretty dense so I'm kind of scared I'll do poorly in the harder elective. The classes I'm trying to decide between are chemistry of drug action and something like medical sociology or intro to healthcare in the U.S. The chemistry of drug action would be the harder course. I'm not sure which class would be more related to the PA profession either and I feel like that should affect my decision as well. Any thoughts? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briepm Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 I definitely vote for Medical Sociology - that sounds awesome. My program told me directly that they don't care about what classes I took beyond the required pre-reqs. Just focus on doing well and really grasping the material that you need to learn - your PA program would ask for a specific class if they wanted you to take it. Enjoy what time you can and get more HCE if possible rather than killing yourself with the academics at this point :=D: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Duper Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 I would just take things you are interested in. I took a few electives that I thought might come in handy, but mostly I took stuff that interested me. And to be honest, the non-science classes I took for fun came up in interviews far more often than say my parasitology or histology knowledge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
just_me Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 My degree was liberal studies so it allowed me to take whatever I wanted. Everything I chose was healthcare related but NON-SCIENCE. I would recommend any of these courses especially med term. With med term, if you have no real solid experience with it then a structured course really helps and if you have a great foundation tehn that could be an easy A. I also recommend epidemiology -not all programs may teach it, but all the ones I applied to did and taking this course really gave me a heads up on material since we zipped through it so quickly. Also will help when it comes down to doing my research paper. medical sociology sounds good but most intro courses go over that information and then some as its meant to give a broad/generalized understanding so I would vote for that as well. Here are some of the courses I took: [TABLE] [TR] [TD]Med Term (took this twice once in undergrad and later to refresh later) [/TD] [TD]Intro to Infectious Disease [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Health Care Ethics Applied [/TD] [TD]Gen Pharmacology for Hlth Prof [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Personal & Community Health [/TD] [TD]Science of Nutrition [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Healthcare Delivery Systems (AS level) [/TD] [TD]Healthcare Delivery in the US (BS level) [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Managing Cultural Diversity [/TD] [TD]Ethics in Health Care [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Community Hlth & Epidemiology [/TD] [TD]Contemporary Issues in Hlth Care [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Health Care Finance [/TD] [TD]Ldrshp & Mgmt in Hlth Rel Org [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Research Methods in Health Science [/TD] [TD]Health Care Risk Management [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Grant Admin & Resource Dvelpmt [/TD] [TD]Health Care Law [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Pathophysiology [/TD] [TD]EKG Interpretation [/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bike mike Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 Immunology - helps immensely in PA school......at least it did for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 Immunology - helps immensely in PA school......at least it did for me. YES! Studying infectious disease in pathophys right now... it's like a review! yay! :) To the OP: I always vote for harder classes because IMO the more of them you take, the easier PA school will be. If your schedule is really full it IS safer to take an easier class, but maybe plan on taking some harder ones later. I also vote for biochemistry and some kind of advanced anatomy class. If you can find a legit advanced anatomy with cadaver labs, you will be golden. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Steve Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 I wish I had a better understanding of genetics Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will352ns Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 I wish I had a better understanding of genetics So would I, especially being that I have a final on it next week. :;;D: Not confident. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lancer_dancer01 Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 I was a history major before I switched to respiratory therapy so a lot of my elective courses were in the liberal arts and humanities field. I would advise you to take courses that will challenge you to think and also strengthen your studying skills. That medical sociology class sounds very interesting and I personally would take that course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.