Pre-Med while studying a foreign language. Feasible?

[MichaelC]

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Basically, I'll be majoring in Biophysics and minoring in French soon as an undergrad. (Sophomore.)

Is this feasible when I don't have any prior experience in the French language?

 

[rlplucien]

I am also interested in this. I would like to major or minor in French as well as study abroad for at least a semester in France, Luxembourg, or Belgium.

I actually just posted a question about this. What I'm considering is majoring in French, and then doing a post-bacc after I graduate to finish up the science prereqs.

Since you already know what you want to do, you can probably do that major/minor with careful planning and maybe an extra semester or some summer classes.

 

[MichaelC]

To be honest, an extra semester or two and summer classes wouldn't phase me. I've kind of already resigned myself to ten more years of school.

 

[Entadus]

I've taken a lot of Spanish classes, though I doubt I'll be able to get the minor. This would be different if I had started sooner, though.

I'm currently studying abroad for a quarter in Oaxaca, Mexico, and this will mean I'll need an extra quarter before graduation. Not that I care, this experience has been more than worth it so far 😍

 

[ssahjm]

Yeah, my friend did it and it worked out very well. She was interested in public health and potentially working in Francophone countries, so I think it helped her overall as a medical school applicant.

 

[Ranna]

I managed a double major in psychology and a language + my pre-med requirements. It may take some planning to ensure you can complete all the courses you need to in time, but I think it's definitely doable.

 

[apumic]

Es seguro..xq no?

If you already have some level of fluency in the language, then you should have no problem. If you are only somewhat proficient in the other language, it'll be tougher, but probably still doable. If you've never heard the language before (except in movies), you might want to steer clear (for one thing...if you've never spoken the language at all prior to college, it's unlikely you'll be able to achieve a sufficient degree of fluency to really make all that studying of the language worthwhile in the long-run).

 

[Suenya]

Shouldn't be a problem at all unless you are struggling with your premed classes or other academics. Good luck

 

[Janieve]

Very doable. It also grants a lot of opportunity to travel and study abroad, which is spectacular. If you want to major in a language, do it. It won't be a problem if you manage yourself well.

 

[rlplucien]

What would happen if someone was to major in a foreign language and not get into medical school? What type of career options would be available to a French major? It seems to me that even a degree in Biology might yield better job opportunities than a degree in something like French.

 

[MichaelC]

If I didn't get into medical school, I would go to grad school (and either apply again afterwards or not), or go out into the working field. If at least for a while. My science degree is what I want to turn into a career.

To be honest, I'm not depending on my French minor to do much for me. I want to study French merely because I'm interested in it and I feel it is something I'm passionate enough about to buckle down and study. When it comes down to it, can anyone see any problem with that reasoning?*

*Not a rhetorical question.

 

[oldyogurt]

French is a great language. I passed the foreign language proficiency test in college for french, but I took it anyway for fun and ended up getting an award from the department. I'm not saying you should do something for an award, but if you are truly interested in something you should do it and go all out.

 

[fizzgig]

if you're interested and willing to work, AND you're willing to independently pursue it after you don't have classes, then it's worth it and great. you can learn a great deal of vocab and grammar and pronunciation etc in a couple of years BUT if you learn a language and dont' use it, it'll deteriorate, and if you learn it in a compressed time i am telling you it'll deteriorate that much faster. even if you lose it, it's easier to pick up later and work with, so still not a total loss, but keeping up with it in ANY small way (very easy for french auditorily, if that's a word - get dvds dubbed in french and watch them, will reinforce grammar and vocab and listening skills) is really key... getting it back after totally abandoning it after a number of years is especially tough when you learned in an accelerated setting.

 

[Klemptor]

I majored in Biophysics and minored in French. I loved both. I did have some prior experience in French (I took four years of it in high school), didn't remember much of it (because I had about eight years between high school and college), and did great anyway. I was even able to do a study abroad in Paris one summer. It was never hard to keep up with my French classes as a minor (they barely took any time at all) and the most time consuming of anything were my physics courses. It's absolutely doable and having the minor in French is probably something you'll enjoy, academic reasons aside. So I say go for it!

 

[Barcu]

It's not only feasible but should be required as well.

 

[DocBell]

Es seguro..xq no?

If you already have some level of fluency in the language, then you should have no problem. If you are only somewhat proficient in the other language, it'll be tougher, but probably still doable. If you've never heard the language before (except in movies), you might want to steer clear (for one thing...if you've never spoken the language at all prior to college, it's unlikely you'll be able to achieve a sufficient degree of fluency to really make all that studying of the language worthwhile in the long-run).

For the record I agree with you in most cases (like my own) but I had a friend with no previous french experience who know tests as fluent on international proficiency exams after only a year abroad and lots of study.

 

[apumic]

For the record I agree with you in most cases (like my own) but I had a friend with no previous french experience who know tests as fluent on international proficiency exams after only a year abroad and lots of study.

And that's the key. The yr abroad can bring up one's fluency exponentially but most people studying a language -- incl. many in foreign language majors -- will not spend much or any time abroad or if they do, it may not be effectively spent in terms of learning the language. Simply going abroad doesn't do much. It is engaging the culture (AND NOT engaging Americans/American culture) while studying abroad that assists in learning the 2nd language.

 

[Janieve]

And that's the key. The yr abroad can bring up one's fluency exponentially but most people studying a language -- incl. many in foreign language majors -- will not spend much or any time abroad or if they do, it may not be effectively spent in terms of learning the language. Simply going abroad doesn't do much. It is engaging the culture (AND NOT engaging Americans/American culture) while studying abroad that assists in learning the 2nd language.

Most definitely. I hadn't realized that studying abroad had improved my verbal and non-verbal communication so much until I took an "advanced" Japanese class at my university. Half the students couldn't even complete a grammatically correct introduction, and when spoken to generally responded with completely un-Japanese answers.

Studying abroad is by far the best thing I've ever done. If given the opportunity, I recommend anyone even remotely interested does it.