Graduate coursework done at your undergraduate institution, while you are an undergraduate, will be included in your undergraduate GPA’s when you complete your generic AMCAS application as Step 1 of applying to medical school.  As long as you have not yet graduated from college, 500-level course will still be counted as work done toward the completion of your bachelor’s degree. 

Hang in there.  Princeton can be tough—whether it’s the HUM sequence or any one of our many other unique academic opportunities.  We urge you to refine your perspective and not think in terms of how medical schools will view each of your choices (and the schools are all “competitive,” by the way!).  They do respect the challenging course selections that students make, but we believe that it’s very difficult to survive four years at Princeton without demonstrating your courage in the face of academic challenges—and the possibilities are endless.  You seem already aware of the value of your liberal arts education.  Make the most of it by going after intellectual endeavors that excite you and work as hard as you can to perform well.  That’s all anyone can ask.

There seem to be at least two questions here: are intro-level courses OK and is variety OK? The answers are “yes, in moderation” on both counts. While medical schools have been known to look at the trend in both performance and rigor on a transcript (with the ideal trend being upward from freshman year to senior year), the very nature of your departmentals and independent work requires you to engage in higher-level work as a junior and senior. The level of your courses will naturally rise as you progress through Princeton. Med schools do value academic challenges; they also value breadth of knowledge, risk-taking, and cultural competence. Among your electives, it’s fine to have some 100-level courses if they serve to diversify your education. It’s also fine to PDF a couple of courses that might be higher-level. All in all, you may be worrying a bit too much about how you will be perceived as an applicant.

It’s not so much that medical schools prefer applicants with Spanish but that students at many medical schools these days are asking for Spanish classes to be added to the course offerings at their schools. Many of expressed frustration over not knowing basic Spanish when they have begun having patient contact.  Med schools do their best to offer Spanish, especially if their hospitals treat a high number of Spanish-speaking patients, but these courses tend to fill up quickly.  We do not see your situation as an “either/or” dilemma.  If you have some talent and love for German, and already have some of your language requirement done in that subject, then by all means stick with it.  Don’t forget that some knowledge of Spanish can be gained through summer course work, often through study abroad programs, and can also be gained during the “glide” year that many people take before entering medical school.  Do not worry so much about what medical schools “prefer” and think more about the subjects you love—or, in this case, the cultures and countries that spark your curiosity.