For my University's Honors program, we're not restricted to the liberal education plan of prereqs, so I never took any English or writing classes...however I took several writing-intensive courses in History, Philosophy, and Religion, and thus completed any requirements for my school in that regard. I am applying this cycle, will school accept this? Would I be something I can explain in an interview?
No English classes
- Thread starter 2NiceNos
- Start date
- Joined
- Jul 27, 2011
- Messages
- 882
- Reaction score
- 33
This is going to be school-dependent. In my experience, most schools will count a writing-intensive course toward the one-year English requirement if it fulfills your university's writing requirement. Do any of these courses you've taken have a W or similar designation attached to the course number?
Nope, that's the thing...
I fulfilled my school's requirement but the program I'm in made it so there was no writing required. If that makes sense. So basically by not having a writing requirement, there was nothing to fulfill. I always figured that the amount of writing that I was doing in the courses would fulfill any reqs that med schools wanted.
I fulfilled my school's requirement but the program I'm in made it so there was no writing required. If that makes sense. So basically by not having a writing requirement, there was nothing to fulfill. I always figured that the amount of writing that I was doing in the courses would fulfill any reqs that med schools wanted.
- Joined
- Jul 27, 2011
- Messages
- 882
- Reaction score
- 33
If they're not specifically designated as writing-intensive courses by your university, I doubt you'd be able to convince schools to count them toward the English requirement. You can always call a few schools you plan to apply to and ask, but my suspicion is that you're going to have take those courses during the upcoming year.
Not necessarily true, though, as stated above this is school specific. I didn't have courses in the English department specifically--however my undergrad did require writing intensive courses, of which I took seven. The premed adviser at my undergrad wrote a letter to my med school explaining the circumstance and it all worked out. For the record, however, I'm a non-trad, so it's possible they gave me some leniency since I didn't actually know I wanted to pursue medicine until 5+ years after graduating...
Better to take some English courses before applying.
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using Tapatalk
If you look at the admissions pages of the schools you want to apply to, they will tell you what they require. For instance some schools require one English Comp type and One non English Writing Instensive. Some require Two writing intensive of any type, etc. You're just going to have to look. Some schools want proof, while others allow you to designate any Philosophy, Anthro, etc as writing intensive if you wrote a lot in it. Good Luck navigating the murky seas of pre-reqs.
- Joined
- Jul 27, 2011
- Messages
- 882
- Reaction score
- 33
I didn't say they had to be from the English department, but they do have to be considered writing-intensive. At my school, these courses were distinguished by a W following the course number. Almost all courses in the humanities and social sciences require you to write 1-2 papers, but that doesn't necessarily make them writing-intensive. Based on what OP has said, it sounds like these are the type of courses he's hoping fulfill the English requirement and my suspicion is they won't count.
I'm going to be applying to a bunch of schools, so I guess I'll just have to cover my bases. Is this something that will prevent a school from sending me a secondary/interview? In that regard, would they simply not see English and dismiss my app, or would they ask me if I plan on taking any English prior to matriculating? For example I'm also going to be taking Biochem and Stats next year, and those I know can be required at some places.
