Courses "labelled" as English

[theITcrowd]

Hi all,

When fulfilling English requirements for med school, how important is it that courses be "officially labelled" as English courses? Many of my classes in undergrad were writing intensive and in the humanities, including religion, history, and poli sci, and my undergrad also required us to take seminars specifically intended to foster writing skills. Only one of the courses I took, however, is clearly labelled as a literature class. I feel like it could be a waste of time for me to take additional English classes if I don't need them, since I'm a non-trad and trying to get into med school at a (fairly) reasonable age.

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[Catalystik]

Some schools specifically require a year of English not simply writing intensive courses. You need to look at the specific schools you intend to apply to in the MSAR and cross reference with each school’s website to see what you need

And sometimes you can call the admissions office of a school and successfully petition/get permission to have a course like you've mentioned substitute for another listed as "required."

 

[theKingLT]

Unfortunately this is hit or miss. A few years ago, one of my non-trad applicants, a former journalism major who worked a feature length non-fiction writer, text book editor, and education material specialist for a medical specialty society, got accepted by a school. However, despite her extensive writing background would not waive the the specific English requirement even appealing to the dean. She was scheduled to sit in some summer CC English class when she got off WL to another school that waived the requirement over the phone. So you never know what will be and shouldnt rely on luck.

That seems crazy to me that a school would limit their matriculants that extensively. Do you know if she already preferred the 2nd school, or did she switch to the waitlisted school because of the English requirement at the first?

 

[Catalystik]

Unfortunately this is hit or miss.

I agree. Some schools are "hard-core" about their requirements to the point of ridiculousness.

Schools do this due the way the LCME may “ding” a school not adhering to their approved and published admissions policy. If they give too many waivers then that can be an issue at reaccreditation

And here's why.

 

[theITcrowd]

The accreditation piece makes sense, however annoying it might be. I don't actually mind taking the class(es) in and of itself, as English and writing are my relative strong suits, but the fact that it could interfere with my ability to knock out science courses instead is what gnaws at me. Might try to take them online or at my local CC.

 

[theITcrowd]

And sometimes you can call the admissions office of a school and successfully petition/get permission to have a course like you've mentioned substitute for another listed as "required."

Do you think this could be done during the application process? The one big issue I see with this strategy in my particular case is that I no longer have any of the syllabuses for those classes.

 

[theITcrowd]

I will say, too, that what makes this requirement confusing is that no post-baccs I've heard of or researched include English courses in their curriculum. I was considering Scripps for a while, which seems like a program with a pretty high success rate, and their entire schedule of classes is in the sciences.

 

[theITcrowd]

Most colleges have some sort of English requirement so most applicants fill this prereq without even trying

True. My college had one of those requirements where you need to fulfill a set of general/core courses in certain areas. One of those was literature/fine arts, which is what my writing-intensive classes fell under. I suppose, if needed, I could try to highlight those courses on my transcript, since they get categorized as such.

 

[Oso]

I know this is not a helpful comment, but I thought you were @sinombre posting and got SO confused.

 

[theITcrowd]

I know this is not a helpful comment, but I thought you were @sinombre posting and got SO confused.

I'm just glad someone else likes that meme, too.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

I'm just glad someone else likes that meme, too.

We used it at my last command a lot. It's solid.