What weight do medical schools put on languages?

[azhockey]

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[Drrrrrr. Celty]

It's just a good extra you can put. However being fluent in Spanish is overall extremely useful as a doctor.

 

[charju]

i assume the school you're referring to is UCLA? anyways im sure language will help but it definitely won't be the breaking factor.. the funny thing with the whole app process is everything is almost useful but then you need the whole package to sell.

i think it will be bigger in states like california... im pretty sure speaking chinese sells these days as well. (at least i hope since i speak it)

 

[organdonor]

Yes there is a part for you to enter all your spoken languages. Be sure to list Afrikaans as that is actually pretty unique to med school applicants unlike nearly everything else anyone does lol. I would read your application just like it says, it helps but it's not necessary. I wouldn't learn a language just to be able to get into med school, but if Spanish or any other language interests you go for it.

I consider myself "conversant" in Spanish and I have a degree in it. I wil be the first to caution you though; it wasn't what I expected. I expected to take Spanish classes to help me speak Spanish better, but instead nearly every 3-400 level course is some form of Spanish literature. I mean it makes sense in retrospect; noone majors in English to learn how to speak English. Spending some time (at least ~2-3 months) in total immersion (i.e. moving to a different country) is the best thing you can do to improve your speaking abilities.

 

[azhockey]

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[Vadoff]

I wouldn't try to relearn Spanish just for the sake of being able to put it on your application. It's not THAT impressive.
Unless you really want to learn Spanish for other reasons, I'd put my time elsewhere.

 

[thelight]

well i got into a program that sends students that are taking a year off before entering a health professional program to a country in central america for six months to learn spanish and immerse the students into the culture to create more competent physicians/health professionals....at the same time i should be volunteering through the program also.

I'd think my intentions to learn spanish after having difficulty communicating with certain spanish-speaking patients in my experiences as an EMT should hold some wieght no? I expect to come back speaking fluently, and so this would be my third language i can speak

 

[familyaerospace]

Yes there is a part for you to enter all your spoken languages.

Is that exclusively spoken or reading as well? I can read several languages at the intermediate level (French, Latin, Romanian) but I can't speak anything other than English unfortunately.