One year of English required- will other classes suffice?

[kaj]

Hello all

So I've heard about the "recommended" one year of English for med schools. Schools like UCLA almost require it. My question is, do the courses have to be listed as ENGLISH courses on your transcript? I'm also a Study of Religion double major so I've taken many classes that are writing intensive but not listed as such on my transcript. For example, would a class on Biblical literature that's listed as Hebrew suffice or does the course have to say English.

I know there's no black and white rule for this but I wanted to see what the general consensus on this topic.

Thanks!

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[274631]

There is no black and white and its best to check with schools individually. Most have this info on their admissions website, under FAQs or Requirements. The general consensus I've gotten is that most writing intensive courses would be ok for most schools. I'm not sure how you would have to present this on your AMCAS application, if it doesn't say writing intensive on your transcript though. I didn't have this problem, so hopefully someone else with more info can help you out.

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[mik30102]

I've been asking schools that question and general consensus appears to be writing intensive courses seem to be fine, though most said upon acceptance they would need to examine the syllabus of the courses in question. My school doesen't even have a English department.

 

[turayza]

Email the admissions of schools you're interested in who ask for a year of English to see what their take is.
To save you an email (potentially), Columbia said writing intensive counts. 😀

 

[kaj]

Thanks! I emailed a bunch of schools and you're right, they all have varying responses. But generally it seems that any course that's humanities based or reading/writing based will suffice (except for a few Texas schools grr)

 

[hmockingbird]

Did you have to take an intro composition class freshman year? That should count towards the requirement.

 

[Jennyfishy]

Our school accepted courses in English, Composition, and Comparative Lit to fulfill the 1 year requirement. I think (a very specific) Linguistics courses were also okay, but you'll definitely have to check with your university + pre-med advisers to confirm.

 

[molecularmolly]

This one could be interesting for me too ...I seriously don't know if my school has anything equivalent to English 101, etc. Everything is multidisciplinary and outside of the science it's seminar based. Hopefully I'll be able to spin those courses as sufficient for schools that care (The other half of my strategy is looking for schools that don't care, and applying there).

 

[Great White Buffalo]

I was a computer science major, and my writing courses were designated in the course catalog, and require for graduation, but not denoted on my transcript. Just noted it in my pre reqs the 2 writing classes (one was a Ancient Civ Class, and one was a Computer Science Tech Comm Class). No "English" department class seems to be the requirement at most of the schools I looked at this application cycle.

 

[kaj]

Did you have to take an intro composition class freshman year? That should count towards the requirement.

No I passed out of it with my AP credits, some med schools even said that they would accept AP credits towards the English requirement so that works for me!

 

[kaj]

This one could be interesting for me too ...I seriously don't know if my school has anything equivalent to English 101, etc. Everything is multidisciplinary and outside of the science it's seminar based. Hopefully I'll be able to spin those courses as sufficient for schools that care (The other half of my strategy is looking for schools that don't care, and applying there).

You could try taking an English course at a community college? Honestly it didn't seem like they cared what kind of class you took as long as you established that you can read and write at an advanced level. Which MCAT verbal should prove anyways....

 

[molecularmolly]

Oh that's good to know that they want it before matriculation, not application. I will gladly take an English class to make them happy, I'm just running out of time for this season!

 

[SolarMed]

Hello all

So I've heard about the "recommended" one year of English for med schools. Schools like UCLA almost require it. My question is, do the courses have to be listed as ENGLISH courses on your transcript? I'm also a Study of Religion double major so I've taken many classes that are writing intensive but not listed as such on my transcript. For example, would a class on Biblical literature that's listed as Hebrew suffice or does the course have to say English.

I know there's no black and white rule for this but I wanted to see what the general consensus on this topic.

Thanks!

I called MD schools... they just follow the AMCAS and as long as it's "English - focused" they will count it. My school doesn't have formal English classes so I had to count some Ethics class (essays once a week) as an English course.

 

[boomshaketheroom]

I used a literature class that studied some epic poems as one of mine. So yes I assume that's fine. If your school has some sort of pre-med adviser that person should know.