Pre req Issues

[alsaire]

So I'm currently applying to SMPs and I posted it in the respective forum, but I haven't received that much feedback, and I was hoping you guys would be able to help me.

I'm currently a senior at UCLA in my last quarter here, and there are two remaining pre-reqs that have me thoroughly confused.

The two pre-reqs in question are LS1 (which is an ecology/biodiversity type class), and my last remaining quarter of English. Most med schools that I've seen state that they require a year of LS. I already have my year of LS (LS2, LS3, and LS4), but when I talked to a counselor, they said that LS1 is required, which confuses me because LS1 isn't required for me to complete the series; it's optional. Does anybody have any clarification on whether or not I still have to take LS1? If so, my counselor said that I could just take it at a community college in the upcoming year. However, someone else has brought up that med schools won't accept it unless you take the whole series at the same place...which means that I would have to take LS1 with extension or through summer school.

My second question concerns my english pre-req. At UCLA, they append a "W" at the end of all writing I and writing II classes. It's their designation for what constitutes a writing class or not. On my transcript, I have two of these classes that have the W at the end. However, I took AP complit in high school to get through part of my writing requirement in high school, which is why I didn't have to take a writing I course at UCLA. Additionally, I also have taken other courses at UCLA which are very, very writing intensive (e.g. Classics 42, which had a ton of reading and writing assignments). When I present my transcript to med schools, will they be aware of this? Or will they just look at the "W"s, claim that I only have two, and then tell me to go take it at a community college?

I'm feeling pretty nervous right now because I've gotten conflicting information from my counselor, a med school counselor that I've talked to, and friends and classmates. I was hoping that this thread that I created could be the be-all-end-all to clear up my confusion.

Thanks for the help everyone, I truly appreciate it; this is going to go a long way toward diminishing the number of white hairs I'm going to grow in the coming weeks.

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[EBTrailRunner]

I'd take LS 1. It's a lame course, but get it over with. Both Writing II courses will count toward the one-year English requirement. AP Comp Lit should as well if you received credit for it on your transcript. I recommend talking to Inna Gergel in the Phy Sci department as she's the best pre-med guru on campus.

 

[235788]

So I'm currently applying to SMPs and I posted it in the respective forum, but I haven't received that much feedback, and I was hoping you guys would be able to help me.

I'm currently a senior at UCLA in my last quarter here, and there are two remaining pre-reqs that have me thoroughly confused.

The two pre-reqs in question are LS1 (which is an ecology/biodiversity type class), and my last remaining quarter of English. Most med schools that I've seen state that they require a year of LS. I already have my year of LS (LS2, LS3, and LS4), but when I talked to a counselor, they said that LS1 is required, which confuses me because LS1 isn't required for me to complete the series; it's optional. Does anybody have any clarification on whether or not I still have to take LS1? If so, my counselor said that I could just take it at a community college in the upcoming year. However, someone else has brought up that med schools won't accept it unless you take the whole series at the same place...which means that I would have to take LS1 with extension or through summer school.

My second question concerns my english pre-req. At UCLA, they append a "W" at the end of all writing I and writing II classes. It's their designation for what constitutes a writing class or not. On my transcript, I have two of these classes that have the W at the end. However, I took AP complit in high school to get through part of my writing requirement in high school, which is why I didn't have to take a writing I course at UCLA. Additionally, I also have taken other courses at UCLA which are very, very writing intensive (e.g. Classics 42, which had a ton of reading and writing assignments). When I present my transcript to med schools, will they be aware of this? Or will they just look at the "W"s, claim that I only have two, and then tell me to go take it at a community college?

I'm feeling pretty nervous right now because I've gotten conflicting information from my counselor, a med school counselor that I've talked to, and friends and classmates. I was hoping that this thread that I created could be the be-all-end-all to clear up my confusion.

Thanks for the help everyone, I truly appreciate it; this is going to go a long way toward diminishing the number of white hairs I'm going to grow in the coming weeks.

which smp?

 

[alsaire]

I'd take LS 1. It's a lame course, but get it over with. Both Writing II courses will count toward the one-year English requirement. AP Comp Lit should as well if you received credit for it on your transcript. I recommend talking to Inna Gergel in the Phy Sci department as she's the best pre-med guru on campus.

She was the school counselor that I talked to, and she was the one who told me that I could take LS1 and my last quarter of english at a community college...which was then refuted by both the Temple Univ. advisor as well as a fellow pre-med...


I thank you for the advice, which is still helpful and is most likely what I'm going to do, but I was just hoping that someone had experience/knowledge with a situation like this and could give some insight.

Also, I guess that since I have AP Comp Lit credit (which bypassed Writing I) and my two quarters of Writing II courses, I'm set for my English requirement. Woo!

 

[alsaire]

which smp?

The one that had me freaking out was Temple, because on their app they claim that one requirement is that all applicants have completed their pre-med reqs.

I called in, and they said that for my situation it shouldn't matter. I then asked whether or not I should just take my LS1/English at a community college, and they didn't give me a definitive answer. It's further complicated by the fact that I want to go to that school and just matriculate after one year...but if I don't, I want to have my pre-reqs done so that I can be set when I'm applying to other med schools.

Also, an addendum to my original question: If I can take my remaining prereq(s) at a community college this summer or the upcoming year, would that be enough for med schools? What I'm trying to say is: would med schools be okay with me telling them that I will complete my pre-reqs in the upcoming year while I'm applying to their schools?

 

[EBTrailRunner]

You only have to finish your pre-reqs prior to matriculation, but if you're applying to an SMP, you may want to have them done before you attend.

 

[alsaire]

You only have to finish your pre-reqs prior to matriculation, but if you're applying to an SMP, you may want to have them done before you attend.

I'm curious, why is it more important for me to finish my prereqs before I begin an SMP? Is it because I most likely won't find the time to take the pre-reqs (and do well in them) during my year? I'll admit, I'm not as worried about this because the only difficult part I can see regarding LS1 is that the memorization will be tedious...but that's it.

I'm more worried about whether or not I have to take LS1 at UCLA. My current plans have me leaving the Westwood area to do other things, so if I have to take LS1 at UCLA, that could pose a rather large problem, especially if I'm not able to do LS1 extension/summer school in the summer and I get into an SMP on the east coast. If that's the case it will be pretty difficult to finish LS1; I don't think I can fly back to UCLA for every class.