Humanities/Social Science class requirements

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obgyny

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I haven't taken a whole lot of humanities/social science classes. I was a Neurobiology major and a CC transfer student. Additionally, I had to take a bunch of math classes (had to start from College Algebra --> Calc 2). So I didn't have a whole lot of room to take extra classes outside of GE or my major requirements, sadly.

Although most med schools don't seem to list a specific number of units, I saw on USC's website that they require 30 semester units of humanities/social science classes. I've calculated that I have 29.67 semester units of humanities/social sciences (the .67 is due to the fact I've attended both quarter system and semester system, so I had to convert the units).

My questions:

1. Does speech count? If speech (small group discussion) is included in that category, then I would have 32.67 semester units of humanities/social sciences.

2. How many humanities/social science classes are bio majors expected to take? Is what I've taken sufficient?

Here is my list of hum/ss classes: Logic (Philosophy), English Comp I, English Comp II, Critical Thinking (Writing/Philosophy), General Psychology, Child Psychology, Speech Small Group Discussion, Art Appreciation, Social Problems, Survey of Philosophy, Advanced Expository Writing

Thanks for any advice!!!

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wait 30 semester credits of humanities/social science?
that cant be right.. if that was true no one would major in biology...
most med schools just need 6 to 12 credits.. 6 credits of english comp/lit + 6 credits of social sciences.. usually..
of which you should you have enough..

check the site again because idk.. having 30 social science/humanities classes.. that'd just can not be..
 
wait 30 semester credits of humanities/social science?
that cant be right.. if that was true no one would major in biology...
most med schools just need 6 to 12 credits.. 6 credits of english comp/lit + 6 credits of social sciences.. usually..
of which you should you have enough..

check the site again because idk.. having 30 social science/humanities classes.. that'd just can not be..

http://www.usc.edu/schools/medicine/education/admissions/mdp/mdp_adm/require.html

Required Courses

General Biology + Lab 2 semesters/ 3 quarters
General Chemistry + Lab 2 semesters/ 3 quarters
Organic Chemistry + Lab 1 semester/ 2 quarters
Physics + Lab 2 semesters/ 3 quarters
Biochemistry 1 semester/ 1 quarter
Molecular Biology* 1 course
Social Sciences, Humanities, and English Composition 30 semester hours
* Molecular Biology requirement met by following courses: molecular genetics, cell and molecular biology, advanced cell biology or the equivalent

wait, 30 semester hours is the same thing as semester credits, right?
 
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Sorry to hijack, but does humanities/social science refer to everything else that is not science? Eg. linguistics, archaeology, etc.?
 
id think that semester hours = semester credits..

i guess yah you'll need another class ..
speech.. if its offered by the english department.. it might be humanities..
but idk.. speech is writing too.. so i guess it could be comp...
check with usc..
 
oh... it also says that all the required classes must be for a letter grade... two of the classes I listed were P/NP... so that only leaves me with 23.67 semester units or 26.67 sem units (if I include Speech).

Does anyone know how lenient USC is on this Humanities/Social Science requirement??
 
id think that semester hours = semester credits..

i guess yah you'll need another class ..
speech.. if its offered by the english department.. it might be humanities..
but idk.. speech is writing too.. so i guess it could be comp...
check with usc..

I already graduated :(. It seems silly to just take a class for that... I work full-time and am studying for the MCAT.

And I'm not sure the speech class is from the English department (course code is SPEECH 102).
 
Sorry to hijack, but does humanities/social science refer to everything else that is not science? Eg. linguistics, archaeology, etc.?

I'm not sure, they're pretty vague. I just used Wikipedia's definitions of "Humanities" and "Social Sciences" (they list classes under those categories) lol.
 
all i can say is.. this is a ridiculous requirement..
btw.. any art credits? art counts as humanities..

but your applying to university of south california..
a pretty high up school.. well the undergrad is..
 
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It's probably worth contacting the school directly, the sooner you figure out what you have to do the sooner you can resolve it and prob pick up classes in the summer to finish up and not delay your application. That is pretty surprising though my friends bio major is almost 90 credits which really doesn't leave much room if he were to take science electives.
 
Are you sure it's worth spending an extra few hundred / one thousand dollars just for USC? USC is a horrible school and most of your tuition will go towards paying the football team athletes' salaries and bribes to the NCAA.

*note I might be biased, being from UCLA
 
Are you sure it's worth spending an extra few hundred / one thousand dollars just for USC? USC is a horrible school and most of your tuition will go towards paying the football team athletes' salaries and bribes to the NCAA.

*note I might be biased, being from UCLA

LOL :p USC isn't my top choice, but I thought I'd apply (I'm a CA resident). Don't worry I'm also applying to UCLA. My dad's entire side of the family are all bruins, it would be interesting if I got into USC med school... :)

I was using USC as an example, I don't know if any other schools have the 30 semester unit requirement or something like it.

I did send an email to the school out of curiosity. I'll post the answer when they get back to me. If my classes don't fulfill the humanities requirement, then I'm not applying there. Like I said, it's silly to pay money to take a class JUST so I can apply to USC.
 
all i can say is.. this is a ridiculous requirement..
btw.. any art credits? art counts as humanities..

I took art appreciation, but I included it in my original post and when I calculated my units.
 
hmm..
well idk..
i guess maybe you should try some other school..
you cant always work with every single school..
 
US is one of the only schools at which I have seen this requirement, and from what I understand they are not lenient about the 30 semester hours. However, they are pretty lax about what counts. Pretty much any non-science class, including foreign language, counts.

I'm totally in love with USC and after I first found out about that requirement I was SO glad I majored in political science and minored in philosophy, lol. I have over 100 humanities credits. Of course, I think the requirement is a great thing--it's good to take classes outside of the sciences!
 
So USC emailed me back. They said they would accept my speech class, luckily bringing my semester units of humanities above 30. They did not care to comment how lenient there are on their 30 unit humanities requirement.

Btw, I also found out that Johns Hopkins requires at least 24 semester units of humanities/social sciences. I guess USC isn't the only one with a specific humanities requirement.

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/admissions/apps.html
 
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