first year electives?

[ghostgirl123]

hi, i'm a new student registered in the bio-med program. i was just wondering if taking english lit.(020E) would be a good idea. the professor at my academic orientation thing advised against taking an essay course in the first year, but i thought taking an english course would help me on the verbal reasoning and writing component on the MCAT, would it? if anyone has taken this course, what was it like? Thanks!!

[ashlay]

hey,

i would say NO. listen to what they tell you at SAO! i did the same kind of thing, i was advised against taking an Arts and i ignored it. i took complit 020 as my first year elective, and it was the worst idea of my entire life. I regret it to this day as it is still hurting my GPA.

i took it because i was strong in english in high school and i thought it would be interesting.

 

it was comparative literature, it wasn't even an essay course but it still involved essays, a lot of reading, and it was not fun. it's also hard because for science courses you'll be getting used to the multiple choice exam style/ problem solving and it's a different way of thinking than the essay questions that will be on your english exam.

 

if you're worried about getting your essay requirement done, don't be because you have to take bio 290f/g in 2nd year which is 0.5 essay credit, and in 4th year you can do a 1.5 essay credit thesis project.

if you really, really, really want to take an english course, wait until 2nd or 3rd year so you can take a 100-level one. those don't have any pre-reqs. if you're still not convinced and really, really want to take an essay course in 1st year, then take Film (i think it's 020E).

 

most science students take psych 020 as their first year elective. i took food and nutrition 021 at brescia as a 2nd year student, there were a lot of science students in it as well. I also wish i would have taken classics 047.

 

people say that university is for learning and you shouldn't just take "bird" courses, you should take courses that you're interested in. honestly i think i did poorly because i got frustrated with the class and spent all my time hating it, although the subject matter did interest me. that being said, med school may care about taking a variety of courses but they care even more about GPA. if you don't make the GPA cutoffs it's game over. so you have to choose your courses carefully and make sure that you can get the highest marks you can (what you deserve for working hard!). i guess if you really like english then go ahead and take the plunge.

 

I'm writing the MCAT in august, and i've been taking a prep course. i can honestly tell you verbal reasoning is nothing like english. VR is all about mind games . it's reading comprehension for facts - not character analysis or style or anything that you'd be learning in English. also, the writing sample isn't about fancy writing techniques, they mark you on your reasoning. when you prepare for the MCAT you'll learn that the writing sample is just a test of how well you can put together an argument (with concrete examples) in a short amount of time. kind of like debate. if this is the only reason you want to take English then don't.

 

anyways... that was my rant! good luck!

[ghostgirl123]

thanks! yeah, i am pretty anxious about taking english. i mean, i liked it in highschool, but definitely don't enjoy writing essays(does anyone). i really don't know what elective to take now, since i already took psych 20 this year throught the WISE program. classical studies sounds pretty interesting, or maybe philosophy 021, reasoning and critical thinking? anyone has any suggestions? any suggestion would be appreciated!

[Isosceles]

I really don't think you should be dissuaded from taking English first year just because it :might: be hard...

 

As the last poster said, you may be really good at and really like English... and you have nothing to go on with regards to that other than how you felt about it in high school at this point.

 

English was my forte, but I started out in the sciences, with one English course and one econ course in my first year - they were my best marks.

I also disagree that English can't help you with verbal... being able to read quickly and intelligently, to recognize different tones and points of view, and to see the structure of a piece of writing quickly WILL help you.

I didn't study for verbal much at all - I wrote practice tests, but I didn't study for particular MCAT stategies... I used the same test-taking strategies I would have on any timed exam...

However, I had read ALOT - and I did well and extremely well (wrote twice) on verbal.

 

Anyway... if you like and are interested in English... TAKE FIRST YEAR ENGLISH! alot of med schools DO require it... and waiting a couple more years to get indoctrinated into a science degree mode of thinking is unlikely to help you do better in an essay course...

 

Just my experience/opinion.

[The Law]

The thing is, to me - first year was a difficult time. I found it really difficult adjusting to university life and one thing I liked though - was that my courses were all in similar subject fields. I didn't have to think of different ways to study for a course, they were all similar... so I learned to somewhat master a strategy throughout first year to tackle my undegrad program. The elective I took was psych, which was a good course (just 1 assignment and then all the other tests were multiple choice).

 

English is a subject that I really love. However, it is an essay course and you're going to be adjusting to university style marking and university life. I don't know if you want to take on a big work load (where you'll have to be reading quite a bit and having essays due in between your exams) when you could take something that might be easier. There are subjects that might be easier (some classics courses I hear are not too bad, not too much reading and fair exams). Maybe you might enjoy taking something like that.

 

Whatever you decide, I'm sure you will be able to adjust. I just think that having minimal written assignments due in first year might make your workload a bit easier while you adjust.

[rogerroger]

Yeah, stay away from first year English. Law is giving good advice. Out of my three years at Western thus far first year was the hardest. Make life as easy as you can for yourself, stay away from the essay courses in first year. Believe me your core sciences will keep you plenty busy. Play it safe first year. Get your feet wet and if you want to bite off more then go for the English next year.

 

I too liked English in high school I was receiving a 90 something, but I wouldn't dare touch an English course at Western unless I was forced too. English profs are known for being pains in the ass when it comes to giving out "pre-med" grades of 80+. I scored well on the MCAT VR and it wasn't because of my love of English. The VR is a beast of its own, you will figure it out when you get to that hurdle.

 

I took that Classical Studies course in first year. It was a good course. You even get to write a little bit on the Dec. exam. I would say that would be a good choice in my opinion. After first year there are lots of cool courses that allow you to write but won't kill your GPA, they are the 100 level courses. Just somthing for you to look into.