How much english and/or history required in college?

[Manbean2]

Hello everyone, I'm currently a high school junior. I'm taking the highest level courses available for each subject, and make good grades. Currently I have high A's in every class except for AP US History and AP English III, in which I have 92s in both classes. They are both very rigorous.

I find that I don't really enjoy the work for these two classes; the subjects are boring to me. On the contrary, I enjoy my science and math courses, and I look forward to the day when english and history are out of my curriculum.

My question is: How many courses of history and english are required for pre-med?

Note: This year I'm taking AP US History and AP English III, and plan on passing the AP tests. Next year I will be taking AP government, and either dual-credit English IV at the community college or AP English IV (which one should I take?).

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[orthomyxo]

Pre-med is usually not a degree, but rather a specific set of courses taken to boost the chance of success on the MCAT and to satisfy requirements for med schools. I think most med schools require two english classes, and I don't think you have to take history.

Take the dual-enrollment English class. It will make your freshman year that much easier since you won't have to take English Comp. 1 or whatever it may be.

 

[schrizto]

Keep in mind that many colleges still make you take history and other such classes as gen ed requirements. It might be possible to place out with AP credit though.

 

[Manbean2]

Pre-med is usually not a degree, but rather a specific set of courses taken to boost the chance of success on the MCAT and to satisfy requirements for med schools. I think most med schools require two english classes, and I don't think you have to take history.

Take the dual-enrollment English class. It will make your freshman year that much easier since you won't have to take English Comp. 1 or whatever it may be.

Thanks for the correction, I edited my first post.

Passing the AP test of English III will give me the credit for English Language and Composition, and passing the AP test of English IV will give me the credit for English Literature and Composition. I'm not quite sure what I'll get credited for if I take the dual-credit course for English IV at the local college, but I assume it will be the same as AP english IV. However, the dual-credit course will be in a real college environment and without the AP test at the end. With that information, would you still recommend dual-credit over AP?

 

[orthomyxo]

Thanks for the correction, I edited my first post.

Passing the AP test of English III will give me the credit for English Language and Composition, and passing the AP test of English IV will give me the credit for English Literature and Composition. I'm not quite sure what I'll get credited for if I take the dual-credit course for English IV at the local college, but I assume it will be the same as AP english IV. However, the dual-credit course will be in a real college environment and without the AP test at the end. With that information, would you still recommend dual-credit over AP?

Definitely. In my opinion, AP course =/= College course. Taking a real college class will give you some good exposure to what you'll be in for when you get there yourself, and besides, students who take AP classes are a dime-a-dozen. I think that dual-enrollment looks much better on an app or resume.

 

[SDSU EB]

AP's are great for normal undergraduate degrees. But you will have to repeat a bunch of courses in college to obtain credit for medical school entrance.
Most medical schools either have a blanket veto on AP credit fulfilling their pre-requisites or only allow one or two AP courses (with either a 4 or 5 score) to cover those pre-requisites.
Usually English is one of those course sets that medical schools state that they will not accept AP credit for. So you're looking at two semesters (1 year) of English for most medical schools.
History makes no difference for med school, but may help with your undergrad GE requirements.
Get ready to retake any AP science courses you took to fulfill your pre-requisite requirements though.

 

[xnfs93hy]

Definitely. In my opinion, AP course =/= College course. Taking a real college class will give you some good exposure to what you'll be in for when you get there yourself, and besides, students who take AP classes are a dime-a-dozen. I think that dual-enrollment looks much better on an app or resume.

Uhm, a lot of my community college dual enrollment classes are easier than my AP classes and I go to a pretty average high school. Just saying.

 

[xnfs93hy]

AP's are great for normal undergraduate degrees. But you will have to repeat a bunch of courses in college to obtain credit for medical school entrance.
Most medical schools either have a blanket veto on AP credit fulfilling their pre-requisites or only allow one or two AP courses (with either a 4 or 5 score) to cover those pre-requisites.
Usually English is one of those course sets that medical schools state that they will not accept AP credit for. So you're looking at two semesters (1 year) of English for most medical schools.
History makes no difference for med school, but may help with your undergrad GE requirements.
Get ready to retake any AP science courses you took to fulfill your pre-requisite requirements though.

This.

 

[Manbean2]

This.

This is something my school has neglected to tell us. 🙁

Usually English is one of those course sets that medical schools state that they will not accept AP credit for.
Get ready to retake any AP science courses you took to fulfill your pre-requisite requirements though.

Wait, so what AP courses give college credit then? Just math and social studies? ..

Thanks for all of the responses, by the way.

 

[xnfs93hy]

This is something my school has neglected to tell us. 🙁



Wait, so what AP courses give college credit then? Just math and social studies? ..

Thanks for all of the responses, by the way.

In regards to your first comment, I don't know if you are referring to your HS or college. Either way, you should retake any AP sciences you took in HS. It just looks better, and some schools don't even accept the AP credits.

And all AP courses give college credit.

 

[scattun]

In regards to your first comment, I don't know if you are referring to your HS or college. Either way, you should retake any AP sciences you took in HS. It just looks better, and some schools don't even accept the AP credits.

And all AP courses give college credit.

I am going to have to disagree with you here. I took AP credit for my 2 semesters of Gen Bio, and that was one of the best decisions of my undergrad career. Now, it is true that many medical schools do not accept credits gained from AP credits alone, but there are only very few which will not accept AP credits combined with upper level coursework in the subject area. So given that, for me it was a much better choice to avoid the agony that is general biology (invertebrate classification anyone?) and take upper level classes which increased my knowledge base and thus avoided two semesters of repetition. So as long as you don't mind taking upper level classes in the subject areas, take the AP credit and run with it.

To answer the OP's original question, the question isn't so much how much english and history is required for premed, but rather who much english and history is required for your undergraduate degree. As far as medical schools are concerned, I am unaware of any that explicitly require history and I would estimate that about 50% require a year of english and the other 50% don't explicitly require it. In contrast, where you decide to go to college and what you decide to major in can mean you have to take more english and/or history classes. For example, at my university the Life Sciences college requires one academic writing course, one literature course, and maybe one history course, whereas the humanities and social sciences college requires the same academic writing course, two literature courses, and two history courses.

As for which english to take, I think it is pretty much a toss up. I would look into which universities you think you might want to attend and see what kind of credit you would get via both courses, and decide from whichever will give you helpful credit. Either way, I there is a good chance you will still have to take a lit class in college.

 

[jvanewportnews]

Hey to the OP, I, too am a junior and am currently enrolled in APUSH and AP English (but my grades are more-so half As and half Bs). I'll take dual enrollment english this summer, and hopefully I will never have to take an English class again!
I'm not going to say they are easy, but they really are straightfoward to me, esp. history-take notes, read the chapter, test next class (well that's how we do it).
Do you plan on taking any more APs in your senior year? I'm debating whether or not to take AP Chem or Bio for the pre-dent track. Not worrying about credit too much; I'd rather have an A in the class.

 

[Manbean2]

Hey to the OP, I, too am a junior and am currently enrolled in APUSH and AP English (but my grades are more-so half As and half Bs). I'll take dual enrollment english this summer, and hopefully I will never have to take an English class again!
I'm not going to say they are easy, but they really are straightfoward to me, esp. history-take notes, read the chapter, test next class (well that's how we do it).
Do you plan on taking any more APs in your senior year? I'm debating whether or not to take AP Chem or Bio for the pre-dent track. Not worrying about credit too much; I'd rather have an A in the class.

I'll probably be taking more AP classes to prepare for college. Might as well up the GPA, you know?

I'm in AP chem this year and it's a great course. I would recommend taking it so you'll be better prepared for organic chemistry in college, which I heard is a weed-out class.

Thanks for everyone's responses, I'll look into the course requirements that my colleges of choice require.

 

[jvanewportnews]

Is AP Chem one of your harder/time consuming classes?

 

[Manbean2]

Is AP Chem one of your harder/time consuming classes?

Actually AP English is the most time consuming one. It really depends on your teacher. My AP english teacher is crazy with handing out projects, so that's why. But like I said earlier, I actually don't mind doing science work compared to english or history, which bore me to death.

It would be best to ask people at your school what they think.👍

 

[jvanewportnews]

Thanks will do. And btw my AP eng. class is the exact opposite; it's a challenge to stay awake every day for hour and a half discussions on annotating.😴