Will I really get rejected from schools for not having a year of English?

[sstrunks5555]

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So I'm a weird case. I'm a Music major, Education minor, who is also taking pre-med courses. Needless to say, I have a lot of courses to take without having to worry about a year of english...I passed out of the first half of my school's english requirement through APs, and I'm planning on submitting a waiver to get the 2nd half waived without having to take the courses.

I'm a junior, going to be a senior soon. I'm already pressed tight because my school is giving me the single major's unit cap, instead of a double major's (raised) unit cap. I'm trying to stay under so I can stay an extra semester to be able to take all the extra courses I need to fill (Stats, Biochem, Spanish, etc etc).

My question is, how imperative is it that I REALLY have this darn year of English classes? Even if I have a year of Spanish classesm and Music and Education seminars with lots of writing involved? Do these really count for nothing? Will I seriously get rejected, even with a high GPA (haven't taken MCAT yet, so I can't speak for that) and breadth of courseload just because I didn't take a year of English?

;_; I don't even want to think about having to take two english classes, hahaha. Oh god, I hate writing.

Anyhow, cheers.

 

[Anonymous01]

Some schools let you substitute a semester of English with a writing intensive course. Other schools only require one semester. Obviously, the best way to go about doing this is to research the individual schools that you're interested in and see what they specifically say.

With that said, for most medical schools, you don't have to have all of your prerequisites finished before applying. You have to have them done before matriculating. That means that you can be accepted into medical school and then take the cheapest, easiest English class you can find the summer after you're accepted and before you start medical school. I'm pretty sure some schools even let you do so online.

The main issue I see is that it looks like you've had no college English. I'm not so sure how this would be looked upon...

 

[kcin]

So I'm a weird case. I'm a Music major, Education minor, who is also taking pre-med courses. Needless to say, I have a lot of courses to take without having to worry about a year of english...I passed out of the first half of my school's english requirement through APs, and I'm planning on submitting a waiver to get the 2nd half waived without having to take the courses.

I'm a junior, going to be a senior soon. I'm already pressed tight because my school is giving me the single major's unit cap, instead of a double major's (raised) unit cap. I'm trying to stay under so I can stay an extra semester to be able to take all the extra courses I need to fill (Stats, Biochem, Spanish, etc etc).

My question is, how imperative is it that I REALLY have this darn year of English classes? Even if I have a year of Spanish classesm and Music and Education seminars with lots of writing involved? Do these really count for nothing? Will I seriously get rejected, even with a high GPA (haven't taken MCAT yet, so I can't speak for that) and breadth of courseload just because I didn't take a year of English?

;_; I don't even want to think about having to take two english classes, hahaha. Oh god, I hate writing.

Anyhow, cheers.

Take them at a community college to avoid any problems at your university. I doubt you'll get an exception from med schools.

 

[Kaustikos]

My question is, how imperative is it that I REALLY have this darn year of English classes? Even if I have a year of Spanish classesm and Music and Education seminars with lots of writing involved? Do these really count for nothing? Will I seriously get rejected, even with a high GPA (haven't taken MCAT yet, so I can't speak for that) and breadth of courseload just because I didn't take a year of English?

It's a requirement...

 

[HSUReddie]

I originally thought I was in the same boat, but turns out I opted for concurrent highschool credit through a community college instead of it showing up on my transcript as AP credit. However, by this point, I had already looked into it. Seems to me like it all depends on what schools you are applying to. This information seems to be in their catalogs. For instance... this is from the UAMS catalog:

"Advanced Placement credit may be used to satisfy pre-matriculation course requirements listed above, provided the AP credit is accepted by your university/college and posted on your transcript . One AP credit will be the equivalent of one semester of coursework . However, the Admissions Committee strongly encourages those using AP credit to satisfy the pre-matriculation requirements to pursue the opportunity to take more advanced level courses leading to the baccalaureate degree . The Admissions Committee looks favorably on the advanced level courses an applicant successfully completes during his/her undergraduate training . CLEP, exempt, correspondence courses, or online courses cannot be used to satisfy the pre-matriculation requirements."

I'm sure there are schools who do not accept AP credits, but some do. If you can't find the information online, it probably wouldn't hurt to just call. 👍

 

[alwaysaangel]

My question is, how imperative is it that I REALLY have this darn year of English classes? Will I seriously get rejected, even with a high GPA (haven't taken MCAT yet, so I can't speak for that) and breadth of courseload just because I didn't take a year of English?

You won't get rejected. They will accept you assuming that you are planning to complete the required courses prior to matriculation.

The issue will be the summer before school starts or at orientation when you haven't taken a required course.

A classmate of mine thought he could get away without taking Stats (a required course at my school - and many others so you may want to find a way to fit that in too). During the summer they contacted him wondering when they would receive the transcript for the required course - he had to scramble and find a summer online course that would cover it and spent a bunch of money and a big part of his summer completing the requirement.

Summer school, local community college - just find a way to fit it in.

Your alternative is to ONLY apply to schools that don't require English but that could seriously limit your application cycle and affect your chances of getting in.

 

[sstrunks5555]

You won't get rejected. They will accept you assuming that you are planning to complete the required courses prior to matriculation.

The issue will be the summer before school starts or at orientation when you haven't taken a required course.

A classmate of mine thought he could get away without taking Stats (a required course at my school - and many others so you may want to find a way to fit that in too). During the summer they contacted him wondering when they would receive the transcript for the required course - he had to scramble and find a summer online course that would cover it and spent a bunch of money and a big part of his summer completing the requirement.

Summer school, local community college - just find a way to fit it in.

Your alternative is to ONLY apply to schools that don't require English but that could seriously limit your application cycle and affect your chances of getting in.

Hrmm, okay. I just feel like it's odd that they don't care that it's done at a CC. It makes me feel like they just want you to do it so you can say you did it, not that you're actually going to get something really meaningful out of it :-\

Thanks for all the quick feedback and stories, everyone!

 

[Kaustikos]

Hrmm, okay. I just feel like it's odd that they don't care that it's done at a CC. It makes me feel like they just want you to do it so you can say you did it, not that you're actually going to get something really meaningful out of it :-\

Thanks for all the quick feedback and stories, everyone!

It's required...what part of that didn't you understand?

 

[fizzgig]

well i'm sure they'd love to see it at your 4 year too, given the option, but yeah you're right, to some degree they just want you to check the boxes so that they're not evaluating 5000 exceptions to the rule every app cycle. some schools your workaround may be ok for, but you'd have to know ahead of time where you want to apply and clear it with them all first (and some don't even do that, they just say apply and explain yourself and we'll either be ok with it or it won't). i ended up doing the 2 English classes at CC also just to make sure i didn't shoot myself in the foot. :/

 

[Seven of Nine]

Hrmm, okay. I just feel like it's odd that they don't care that it's done at a CC. It makes me feel like they just want you to do it so you can say you did it, not that you're actually going to get something really meaningful out of it :-\

Thanks for all the quick feedback and stories, everyone!

surprisingly, it is possible to have a meaningful experience despite it being in a class at a community college.

and even then, focusing on reading/writing for an entire 10-14 weeks will result in you working on your english skills in some capacity.

a requirement is a requirement. want to play the game? follow the rules.

 

[Big Dog]

how imperative is it that I REALLY have this darn year of English classes? Even if I have a year of Spanish classes...

........

 

[Slowpoke]

is it really worth it to find out first hand for yourself, instead of just taking English?

 

[Mahliah]

Ive read from many sources, including some medical school websites, that they don't consider AP courses to fulfill their prereqs.... I would look into that if I were you. Call the med schools you're considering.

 

[lisi326]

I'm so with you here - I got exempted from English classes in my major because of my SAT score, and I took 62 credits in 1 year so I could start med school right after I finished my Masters, so taking an English class just wasn't going to happen. Therefore, I only applied to schools that didn't have the English requirement - which really restricted the schools I could apply to, and took away many of the ones I'd really like to have applied to.

Bottom line - I'd figure out a way to fit it in now or do it over the summer at a CC. Why lessen your chances of getting in to a school you really want to go to for such a silly reason?

 

[Signifier]

I took a year of introductory writing at a community college, one term of advanced writing (Eng 461), one term of World Lit (Eng 351) and one term of Literature of Science Fiction (Eng 253). I never took a "standard year of English." I am hoping these courses will work for medical school.

 

[sstrunks5555]

........

Lmao, look man, if I can write coherent essays in a Spanish class, I should darn well hope I can write coherent essays in English! Hahaha

 

[LizzyM]

Lmao, look man, if I can write coherent essays in a Spanish class, I should darn well hope I can write coherent essays in English! Hahaha

Along with those English classes, you might try to fit in a course in Logic, too.

 

[NewEngland21]

Lmao, look man, if I can write coherent essays in a Spanish class, I should darn well hope I can write coherent essays in English! Hahaha

That's like saying if I can drive a car, I should be able to fly an F-16

 

[Long Way to Go]

Along with those English classes, you might try to fit in a course in Logic, too.

OP, if any of those classes count as writing intensive, that should be OK for a good number of schools. You have to do your research on which ones though.

 

[BiopsychStudent]

Do you really want to risk standing out in a bad way, and quite possibly rejection, over an easy 4 credit course you can even take at a community college over the summer?

 

[Maeby Funke]

I was wondering the same thing. I don't plan to apply until fall of '12 so I may just end up taking 6 weeks of summer courses beforehand to fit it in. I've taken a semester of English and other courses that have required a lot of writing though so I'd like to hope I can just squeeze by on that.

 

[Big Dog]

Along with those English classes, you might try to fit in a course in Logic, too.