English Requirement Question

[ilybeemine]

Hi everyone, I'm pretty new on SDN and I had a question that I hope you all could answer for me.
I'm currently a pre-med student at UCSB planning ahead for applying to medical school in 2017. I've seen that a lot of schools require a year of English Composition and AMCAS even states that: "At a minimum, students will likely complete the following types of courses: One year of English..."
This doesn't mean that they REQUIRE it to apply through AMCAS does it? I'm just unsure of their wording (or maybe I'm just being dumb). I've taken writing courses but no English at all :/ should I be worried and take a year of English? Halppp!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[moemoekyun]

Check with schools you're interested in. Sometimes they will substitute English courses with writing intensive courses. If website doesn't make it clear, contact the admissions office, especially if you're unsure you're class is "writing intensive" enough.

 

[NotASerialKiller]

AMCAS doesn't have course requirements, schools do. As @moemoekyun said you have to find out what each school wants, but English is a common enough prerequisite that you'd be closing a lot of doors by not taking it. You can, however, get the credit prior to matriculation. This means that you could take it after you apply and it would not influence your GPA, if that's what you're worried about. Some schools might want an update, but if you get a conditional acceptance you'd just have to pass it.