Elective Courses at MSU

At MSU, major requirements and university requirements usually add up to around one hundred credits, but you need 120 credits to earn a degree. Those other 20 credits come from electives. Some students decide to do a minor which concentrates their elective courses to that minor. Some students just take courses that sound interesting to them.

Elective courses give you the freedom to test out different career paths. My favorite elective courses have been psychology courses. I have taken two PSY courses at MSU and I enjoyed them a lot. I took Abnormal Psychology (PSY 280) and Health Psychology (PSY 320). They both helped me with my MCAT studying so that was a good bonus in taking a PSY elective.

I have also taken other elective courses that have helped in many other parts of my life. For example, I took Human Communication (COM 100) during the spring semester of my freshmen year. In the recitation period, every two weeks we would do presentations over Zoom. Zoom is a professional setting skype call. This class taught me to overcome my public speaking fear and it gave me a lot of practice for future presentations. especially as a PPA.

Another elective course I enjoyed is Disease in Society (EPI 390). I took it over the summer, online and it has to be one of my top five courses that I have taken at MSU. The material of the course was very interesting and it was presented in an engaging manner. I enjoyed the topics so much that the following semester I reached out and started doing research under an epidemiology professor. I love what research I do and that is why I have decided to take a gap year to get a Master’s in Public Health before going to medical school.

Elective courses are a blessing in disguise. I have learned many important skills from these courses, which I do not think I would have received from taking only the science courses required for the Human Biology major. I am grateful that MSU has so many different options for elective courses.  

If you are looking for some health-related elective courses, check out the options on the Health-Related Electives webpage.

By Bhumi