Do med schools care about a Spanish minor?

[700825]

Sorry if this question has already been asked elsewhere ( I didn't find anything when I did a search), but does having a Spanish minor have any positive effect on your application? I enjoy studying Spanish, but unless I take 2 summer classes I will not be able to formally get the minor. I don't mind paying for the summer classes to get the minor if it will help my application, but if not then I'd rather put many money towards something else (like more applications). Thank you in advance for your help!

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[prehealthadvisor55]

No. If you're looking at a school with a large Hispanic population, having a proficiency in Spanish will be nice. But a formal minor wouldn't necessarily lean you one way or the other.

 

[FlowLimited]

Your Spanish minor will not impress medical schools. That said, the ability to speak Spanish may be an asset depending on your location.

 

[700825]

Thank you guys for your responses (and @gonnif for the data). I greatly appreciate it. Sounds like more applications it is then.

 

[PB&Jam]

Do a minor if you're interested, not because you want a leg up. I did a Spanish minor because I love the language and the culture, and would be interested in working with hispanic populations as a physician. The most it ever came up in an interview was a one sentence acknowledgement that learning about the language and culture is a passion of mine and that I've used my Spanish fluency while volunteering in an inner city hospital. Definitely not a negative, but it won't garner you an acceptance on its own, either.

 

[PB&Jam]

Just to add, so using the language ability in a volunteer or community service setting or as part of healthcare experience, then it would be really worthwhile.

Oh, absolutely. Was kind of unclear in the last sentence–the minor on its own won't get you many brownie points, but using the skills in a clinical setting looks quite good. You can also do the latter without getting a minor–it's the application of the skill that matters.

 

[LizzyM]

I think that, overall, being multilingual is of "lowest importance" because the languages that are common among applicants are not the languages for which their is a strong demand among non-English speaking patients in the US.

The major or minor doesn't matter very much. Fluency matters and a track record of having used the language in clinical and other service setting matters a great deal, from what I've seen.

 

[700825]

Unfortunately, I still have not reached fluency (my abilities are at best conversational). And as I stated in the post, I wasn't planning on stopping my study of Spanish if the minor didn't matter, I just was not going to worry about taking the two elective classes that are required for a formal minor. I definitely still plan to continue to take Spanish coursework regardless.

 

[PB&Jam]

Unfortunately, I still have not reached fluency (my abilities are at best conversational). And as I stated in the post, I wasn't planning on stopping my study of Spanish if the minor didn't matter, I just was not going to worry about taking the two elective classes that are required for a formal minor. I definitely still plan to continue to take Spanish coursework regardless.

The continued coursework will do you just about as much good as a minor will, so if you're not terribly interested in the two required electives, eschew the minor and take the spanish classes of your dreams. If you really want your foreign language speaking skills to factor into your app, find a volunteering gig that will put you in contact with spanish-speaking patients! It will be a much bigger positive on your app, and you'll get to improve your spanish-speaking abilities! Most students studying spanish aren't native speakers, and most of us aren't perfectly fluent either. But speaking with real patients in their native tongue helps tremendously–it makes patients more comfortable, it helps you practice your conversational skills, and it prepares you for potentially working with spanish speaking patients in your career as a physician.