Composition/Communications Prereqs

[Clairea11]

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I'm having some trouble figuring out these prereqs. I was looking at the schools and their different lists, and I'm not sure how to fulfill their requirements.

Composition: My school requires all freshman to take a one semester course in composition, but that is the only composition course offered. A lot of the schools require 2 semesters, and some even specifically say "expository writing." The closest thing I can think of is a course in creative writing. Will that count as composition?

Communications: A lot of schools require courses in oral communication or public speaking, etc. I looked through our course catalog, and we have absolutely nothing like this. My contract school, Iowa, says that foreign language and acting do not fulfill this requirement. What am I supposed to do? I don't have time to take the course somewhere else because I need to build up a lot of veterinary and animal experience. And I doubt this is something you can take online.

 

[goldengal]

I can only speak on what I know about NCSU's prereq's, but they stay you need a total of 6 credits and it can be a combination of the following:

ENG 101 Academic Writing and Research (4)
COM 110 Public Speaking (3)
COM112 Interpersonal Communications (3)
COM 211 Argumentation and Advocacy (3)

Also, NCSU does offer a online summer course that starts next Thursday. Not sure if you could be registered in time or if you would be interested, but they offer COM 112.

Sorry I could not be of more help! I am just not familiar with other schools requirements!

 

[variegata]

Is there a nearby community college that has public speaking? That's what I did, since my home school's course didn't work with my schedule.

 

[Clairea11]

There is a community college near me, but I don't know how I'd have time to take a course there AND get enough animal/veterinary experience. And since I committed to volunteer abroad in July, I'm only going to be able to get around 30 hours of animal experience this summer.

I was planning on taking Creative Writing, but I have a feeling it might not count and I'd prefer to find out before I commit to a course. Fitting courses around a biology major is pretty confusing, especially when the major requirements are really vague. I don't want to waste a course slot.

 

[Clairea11]

There is a section in the course list titled "Communication Arts" but there are no courses listed there. I just looked at the courses for our business college, though, and they offer "Business Speaking" and "Persuasion." Do you think one of these courses could count? I could get special permission to take them. There is also a course there called "Business Writing." Could that maybe count for a composition course?

 

[HandD42]

I too had to go back and take an intro level public speaking class at a community college for ISU.

I'm sure it seems overwhelming right now to try to get lots of hours of experience and take a class but honestly this is a lower level class with minimal work expected (we had 4 speeches and a final for example). I could not get into the online class so I took a night class. 3 hours one night a week for a semester.

Really not a big deal.

Take a deep breath, and go look up your local community college's offerrings for fall.

Or email ISU/other schools that need it and see if you can get a waiver.

Ok here is the deal for ISU on the comp portion:
English Composition
One year of composition or writing emphasis courses. May include business or technical writing. Bachelor's degree counts for one-half of this requirement.

Here are the ISU communications requirements (prety open ended)
Oral Communication
May include public speaking, interpersonal communication, group or organizational communication or speaking emphasis courses.

Just email the schools you are interested in with a description of the course (what it says in the catalog about it) and check with them. That way there will be no confusion later on.

 

[Clairea11]

Thanks so much! I emailed my pre-vet advisor about it, and she actually said that in general our courses require so much writing that the vet schools let us get by with just one 'composition' course. And we have a sister school nearby that apparently has a communications course. So now I just need to worry about getting veterinary hours, which should be interesting since absolutely no one will allow me to volunteer because of liability issues...

Thank you!

 

[GellaBella]

Thanks so much! I emailed my pre-vet advisor about it, and she actually said that in general our courses require so much writing that the vet schools let us get by with just one 'composition' course. And we have a sister school nearby that apparently has a communications course. So now I just need to worry about getting veterinary hours, which should be interesting since absolutely no one will allow me to volunteer because of liability issues...

Thank you!

Instead of asking to volunteer, ask if you can shadow a veterinarian. I'm in NJ and here its difficult to find a place that will let you actually do anything due to laws and liability. I've had no prob finding places that let me shadow though and that counts as veterinary experience.

 

[jtom]

I too am having issues with the speech/communcation requirements. I am actually going to call wisconsin and ncstate this week to ask them if the classes I took are sufficient. I took eng composition I and II and took two other classes that fullfilled a florida public university communcations requirement. However, these two classes are not communication courses per say, I took a racism course and a literature course so I am not sure if they will be sufficient. I have read the above discriptions posted but still cannot say for sure whether my classes will count.

 

[Clairea11]

Instead of asking to volunteer, ask if you can shadow a veterinarian. I'm in NJ and here its difficult to find a place that will let you actually do anything due to laws and liability. I've had no prob finding places that let me shadow though and that counts as veterinary experience.

I went around to all the veterinary places in my town and one in a nearby town and asked if I could volunteer OR shadow. Nothing. If my parents let me bring a car to school this year, I can try and shadow on the weekends I guess. It's sooo frustrating. I'm really worried I won't be able to get enough hours. 🙁

 

[Clairea11]

I too am having issues with the speech/communcation requirements. I am actually going to call wisconsin and ncstate this week to ask them if the classes I took are sufficient. I took eng composition I and II and took two other classes that fullfilled a florida public university communcations requirement. However, these two classes are not communication courses per say, I took a racism course and a literature course so I am not sure if they will be sufficient. I have read the above discriptions posted but still cannot say for sure whether my classes will count.

I think that Auburn waives their composition and communication requirements if you have a BS/BA. I really wish more schools took that approach.

 

[jtom]

Yes I am aware of auburn and also a few other schools that waive the gen ed requirements if you already graduated. I just get frustrated by the possibility of having to take gen ed classes in order to get into vet school. I will obviously do it but it is annoying nonetheless.

 

[Clairea11]

Agreed. I understand that they want us to be able to write well and communicate, but I find it hard to believe one could go through college and not develop these skills.

 

[NStarz]

Agreed. I understand that they want us to be able to write well and communicate, but I find it hard to believe one could go through college and not develop these skills.

You'd be very surprised. I am a psych minor and there are people in a 400- level psychology class that gaped at a 3 page paper.

I, for one, think that composition and communications classes are SOOO important. Maybe I think this way because it's already part of my curriculum so I don't have to take any additional classes, but the value of knowing that every veterinary student has at least some level of competency with communication in the English language is a very good safety net. As a professional degree, the DVM should carry with it proof of an ability to effectively communicate, with colleagues, clients, and other professionals.

I do think, however, that the animal science and and animal nutrition classes required by an increasing number of veterinary schools for admission is a bit overkill. Yes, these are important subjects, but they can easily be taken as a correspondence class during the DVM, such as during a winter break or some other gap in required learning. Most schools have a comm/comp class--very schools (unless it's an ag school) have these classes. What UF does is awesome (that you can take them the summer before matriculation), and I wish more schools handled these classes that way (I don't want to take an animal sci or nutrition class and spend extra money unless I know that I'm going to need it and it will be useful--ie, for admission into a DVM program that I've already been accepted to).