Do I really have to take English?

[AppalachiaGrrl]

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Pitt I believe requires a year of English. Some school I'm looking at does anyway. Here's my deal:

I was exempt from taking the two english classes required because of my Ap English and SAT II scores. I majored in history where I wrote many many papers, I wrote for my college newspaper and no write for a community paper (volunteer), I even got an original research paper (history) published in an academic journal.

Do I really have to go back and take english classes now? (I graduated a few years ago and am taking my remaining pre-reqs now)

Thanks...

 

[dhoonlee]

.

 

[UseUrHeadFred]

There is no consensus among medical schools in this situation.

I know a chemistry major that was taking graduate-level chemistry classes who was required by Stanford to go back and take GENERAL CHEMISTRY TWO since she skipped it.

 

[generic]

I know a Hopkins student who WASN'T required to go back to take the intro Bio's even though she wasn't supposed to have credit for them.

Also, I got in to med school without taking additional English classes. I just took the AP's in high school, and I also took a lot of Anth/Poli/Hist/etc. classes where I had to write a lot.

I would suggest asking the school directly. My undergrad told me that usually if a course is accepted by your undergrad school as English then it counts. But really, if Pitt is going to accept someone who went to Rice and AP'd out of English, why wouldn't they accept someone who went somewhere else and took the same AP's? Give it a shot anyway...

 

[MeowMix]

It is individual by school. In general, you should assume that they will make you take the prereq English classes, and that is probably what they will tell you if you call to ask.

I was accepted to med school with a completed PhD thesis, 27 journal papers, dozens of conference papers, grant proposals, and several years' experience as a professional writer/editor, but zero English courses. The school I'm attending gave me credit for 1 of 3 required English courses and made me take intro lit and intro comp. It really, really sucked to spend nearly $1000 and a couple of months on that, when I could have been learning something useful like anat or physio that would have made my life in med school SO much easier. It especially sucked to get straight As in English and comments from my instructors like, "your writing is far beyond the level of this class".

In retrospect, I would have fought much harder to get the requirement waived once I had been admitted. Those two courses were just a complete pain in the &** and a complete waste of time.

 

[vikaskoth]

yea, i didn't realize until this year that some schools require english so i am taking a writing class this and next semester before i graduate

 

[Dr. Starostik]

Pitt I believe requires a year of English. Some school I'm looking at does anyway. Here's my deal:

I was exempt from taking the two english classes required because of my Ap English and SAT II scores. I majored in history where I wrote many many papers, I wrote for my college newspaper and no write for a community paper (volunteer), I even got an original research paper (history) published in an academic journal.

Do I really have to go back and take english classes now? (I graduated a few years ago and am taking my remaining pre-reqs now)

Thanks...

Thanks for asking that question! I'm in the same situation and I was wondering about that too!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🙂

 

[rockstar2525]

I'm in the same situation, I graduated with a degree in anthro and took numerous classes which were designated "writing intensive." My UG didn't require English, they just required X amt of writing intensive classes. When I went back and did my post-bac this past year I took one intro English class, which was a TOTAL WASTE OF TIME. I already know how to write at that level, but they wouldn't let me take an advanced writing class because I didn't have the intro prereqs 👎
My plan for now is to interview, see if/where I get in, and then decide what I need to do. Some of the schools I applied to don't require it, others do. I told all the schools that I plan on taking that last class this spring (so they'll let me in) but if I do get into a school that wants me to go back I'm gonna BEG LIKE HECK to let me out of it. If ultimately I do have to take it, I'm taking it at some ghetto community college for cheap.

 

[bgreet]

Pitt I believe requires a year of English. Some school I'm looking at does anyway. Here's my deal:

I was exempt from taking the two english classes required because of my Ap English and SAT II scores. I majored in history where I wrote many many papers, I wrote for my college newspaper and no write for a community paper (volunteer), I even got an original research paper (history) published in an academic journal.

Do I really have to go back and take english classes now? (I graduated a few years ago and am taking my remaining pre-reqs now)

Thanks...

If your post is a sample of your writing capability, then yes, you must take English.

 

[gobblety_gook]

I think I listed a Political science class I took as English and schools didn't have a problem with that...English is broad...I mean I don't think they'd like it if you listed history as english...but I'm sure you can finesse a political science or public policy class as english. Just something to keep in mind.

 

[bjackrian]

I asked this question at several schools, and policies definitely vary widely. Most, though, are willing to accept "writing-intensive" classes, and in some cases humanities classes in other areas (religion, philosophy, etc.) as well. Call the schools you're considering and ask what their policy is--in my experience, most have been quite reasonable about the requirement.

 

[jules0328]

I need some help on this. I just realized that English is a requirement for almost every medical school app. Does it have to say exactly the word English on your transcript for them to think its an English class? In other words, I was a Philosophy, Politics, and Law major in undergrad and I am looking at my transcript and realized that while I have taken a billizion philosophy, politics and history classes where there was intensive amount of writing involved, I only took one actual class with the name English. I hope I am not confusing anyone? Will all of these writing classes count as English? I am just not in the mood to take a dumb intro english class while taking my pre med reqs at this point. Anyone have any ideas about how adcoms look at other courses that have tons of intensive writing in them even though it doesnt exactly call itself english? Thanks.

 

[Jeffy]

I never actually took an "English" course at my school. I got by just fine with my freshman intro. class (which was a Literature class) and a handful of "writing intensive" courses at my school. That pretty much satisfies my English requirement and no medical has asked me anything about it.

 

[RustNeverSleeps]

I also did not take any English in college. What one school suggested was to have the director of the English department write a letter saying that my coursework would satisfy the requirement of taking 2 English classes. I wrote to him, explained my situation, and detailed the courses I had taken and what they entailed (I had also written a thesis, which helped). He wrote a letter on my behalf and I sent it to every school to which I applied.

To the OP, you should probably be careful and do something in the same vein. If I remember correctly, you were thinking of applying to only one school and had some other problems. Since you have so little margin for error, you might want to go above and beyond what the secretary tells you to make sure things work out.

I didn't have any problems or any questions about why I didn't take English. I recommend this strategy for anyone else who is worrying about this. 🙂

 

[NERDY]

You may want to take an English course for science/medical professions. It may help in your career! Good luck. 🙂