<p>I'm a rising freshmen next year and I decided to take beginning latin instead of intermediate french because I heard it might help me for other premed courses more so than french (which I really don't like all that much). Does latin really help premeds out that much?</p>
<p>I also have the same question. At first, I thought it probably didn't since taking a foreign language isn't even a premed requirement at even the best med schools such as those of Harvard and JHU, but then I read this: <a href="http://www.optimates.us/medschool.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.optimates.us/medschool.htm</a> . It says taking latin is literally "the most important element." I was shocked.</p>
<p>I took latin for 4 years in highschool and perhaps I haven't noticed the difference because I am not in medical school yet but hasn't helped me yet except learning french.</p>
<p>brainmetrix:</p>
<p>There's plenty of crappy advice out there on how to get into medical school. That webpage there is an example of that.</p>
<p>Latin and Greek are nominally helpful. Taking a physiology course would be much more useful.</p>
<p>For learning and making sense of medical terms, Latin or Greek is more helpful than French. For clinical contact, the ability to speak Spanish is likely to be useful in most parts of the country.</p>
<p>For getting into medical school, who knows?</p>
<p>Latin's not very useful. It is much more useful than French. Neither matters in admissions; the only language that matters is Spanish, and even that only comes up at a handful of schools.</p>
<p>I'd say Latin is very useful - I'm not going into med school, but after taking beginning Latin and an AP Latin course, I've already noticed the impact of it. It helped tremendously on the SAT and it helps a lot if you're trying to decipher tricky medical terms.</p>
<p>It might give you a tiny advantage in knowing what a medical term MEANS, as in word origins. And even that really only applies to anatomy. Overall, I don't think there's an advantage when it comes to memorizing all the things you'll be expected to know in med school. I'm talking about details like muscle attachments and innervations, disease processes, and don't even get me started on drug actions. You'd be much better off learning Spanish. At least then you'd be able to communicate with more patients.</p>
<p>I meant that latin helped me learn french.</p>
<p>Which med schools give preference to Spanish during admissions?
My school's chem faculty website was saying grad schools give importance to us taking a foreign language course.</p>
<p>I learned all the Latin for medical applications I needed to know via a self paced computerized medical terminology class my freshman year. I would not have subjected myself to an entire Latin course as most of it would not have been useful for my purposes in health care. But the parts that were helpful were VERY helpful and I still remember and use it to this day 20+ years later.</p>
<p>I agree that speaking Spanish would give you a huge leg up in this day and age in many areas of the country. Also, I have found that at least a basic+ knowledge of sign language has been helpful as well. Deaf people get sick, too. Fingerspelling at a minimum can get you by in a pinch.</p>
<p>Latin is a great course for:
- It will help you on SATs and MCATs for language.
- It is the core for alot of anatomy and pathology (as is German)
- It is the basis for lots of other Romantic languages.
It will not "help you get into" medical school. There are few courses that will. Exceptions: if you are at Stanford, Harvard, etc and take the medical school/graduate course in Biochemistry and get a high A, you will stand out (it often can be transfered too, unlike AP courses)</p>
<p>Taking Spanish will definately help you practice medicine in most parts of the country.</p>
<p>Taking Physiology (unless it relates to your major) will definately not help you get in and may hurt as you have lost the ability to take other "general" courses.</p>
<p>Note. I am a Professor of Surgery and formerly on several medical school admissions committees. Note, my answers (like those of most of my colleagues on adcoms are related to "how it will help you in the future" and not "how it will help you get in". We don't want to hear that. We want to hear "I took comparative religions because I thought it would make me a better citizen of the world", etc.</p>
<p>Which term will it be great to take tht foreign language requirement?</p>