<p>Most schools require 1 year of English coursework (2 classes). If I can get credit for 1 of these 2 classes should I just take the 2nd class and be done with the requirement or should I still take 2 English classes?</p>
<p>Every school has different requirements. Some will accept AP credit for Eng and some won’t. Some will accept any writing-intensive course, such as Philosophy, so it doesn’t necessarily have to be labeled “English/Writing”.</p>
<p>*Some will accept any writing-intensive course, such as Philosophy, so it doesn’t necessarily have to be labeled “English/Writing”. *</p>
<p>I think Kristin and some others wrote that their schools all accepted some kind of email explanation that some upper level non-English class that had a Writing designation or component was accepted.</p>
<p>My son’s school requires each student complete 6 credits of upper division classes with a “W designation” and we’re counting on those being accepted since he used AP credits to skip Frosh Comp I and II. :)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Like m2ck said, not all philosophy, etc courses are considered to be “writing-intensive” (and, to be sure, not all of them are - e.g. logic) - they have to be designated as such on the official transcript… usually with a “W” or something.</p>
<p>At D2’s school, writing intensive courses are not only designed with a “W” after the course number, but includes a separate grade awarded by the university’s College Writing Program for the writing portion of the class.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>True story. I had English credit for like, Eng 101, through a community college–this transferred to fulfill my university’s freshman English requirement. On top of that, my school requires at least 2 writing intensive classes (1 in your major), which count toward English credit. Essentially, I had 1 English class (from that CC), 1 biology writing intensive class, and a large handful of other writing intensive classes (including 2 unintentional ones, what a nightmare).</p>
<p>Called my schools. Explained it to them. Basically they told me to email them (or use their online “update your file” thing) an explanation of what I just told them and the course description from the course catalog and everything would be fine.</p>
<p>Personally, I hated formal English classes (don’t know why, because I enjoy writing) and wanted to get them over with ASAP. I took it thru the CC and never looked back. You should be fine with either approach, so just do whichever sounds more appealing to you!</p>
<p>@kristin,
</p>
<p>1 in your major? I’ve never seen this before, and I’ve been thoroughly checking all the schools on my list (currently 26). Is this requirement rare?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>[Undergraduate</a> Communication Requirement: About](<a href=“Communication Requirement | MIT Registrar”>Communication Requirement | MIT Registrar) indicates that MIT requires all students take two communication intensive courses in humanities, arts, or social studies, and two more in his/her major, for four total.</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus,
I assumed she was talking about her current MS, not her UG.</p>
<p>Sorry for the confusion–I meant, my undergraduate requirements are as follows: freshman English, 5 credits (which I met through CC transfer credit) + 1 writing intensive, 3 credits (I blew this one out of the water by unintentionally enrolling in a few WIs) + 1 writing intensive in your major, 4+ credits.</p>
<p>As far as I know, medical schools don’t specify where your writing intensive credits ought to come from (that is, if you’re using WIs to fulfill English requirements).</p>
<h1>*my school requires at least 2 writing intensive classes (1 in your major), which count toward English credit.</h1>
<p>1 in your major? I’ve never seen this before, and I’ve been thoroughly checking all the schools on my list (currently 26). Is this requirement rare? *</p>
<p>UAlabama requires 6 upper-division credits with the W designation and at least one class (preferably both) has to be in your major. You are also allowed to use a UHP (honors program) upper-division class with the W or a class in a double major or minor with signed permission. But, you have to have 2 classes or 6 credits with W designation in upper-division.</p>
<p>Older son’s W requirements for Math were fulfilled taking “History of Math” with extensive writing, an honors creative writing class, and a Philosophy class, so he had 9 upper-division credits with a W designation. </p>
<p>Younger son’s W requirement will be a 6 credit ChemE class that has extensive writing. He’s not looking forward to that. lol</p>
<p>I think that more and more colleges are requiring upper division classes with W designations. Too many professionals can barely write a coherent sentence, much less a proper paper using MLA or APA style.</p>
<p>Edited to add…I now see that there was a confusion between UG and med school.</p>
<p>@M2CK,
</p>
<p>My University was one of the pioneers in this area. There is a University wide Professional Writing requirement. </p>
<p>I plan to take English 395 (Writing in the Health Professions) :)</p>
<p>[History</a> of PWP](<a href=“http://www.engl-pw.umd.edu/AboutPWP/HistoryOfPWP.shtml]History”>http://www.engl-pw.umd.edu/AboutPWP/HistoryOfPWP.shtml)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Not necessarily. Some (many?) colleges will designate/list courses in other departments that satisfy the college’s own Writing requirement. But that course doesn’t necessarily have a ‘W’ next to its name.* The point is that if an undergrad college will accept the non-Eng course for fulfillment of its Eng/Writing requirement, the med school is likely to follow their lead.</p>
<p>*A UC flagship, for example, lists courses in French (and other languages), Near Eastern Studies, Women’s and Gender Studies, History, Philosophy, & Anthropology, et al., in addition to the standard English & Writing courses. While those courses fulfill the undergrad Composition requirement, only the latter has a W next to their name.</p>
<p>Sorry, bluebayou, gotta disagree with your post.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I agree that if a college designates a non-English dept course for writing credit, then med schools will accept that for the writing requirement. But if it’s not noted on the transcript in some way - almost all schools do this by a prefix or suffix to the course number such as “W” (at UCLA) or “R” (at Berkeley) - how will med schools know about it? They sure aren’t going to go hunting through the school’s website. And the AMCAS reviewers only allow information listed on the official transcript to get onto the AMCAS application.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Which UC flagship are you referring to? I went to UCLA, and I can tell you that if it doesn’t have a “W” next to the course number, it isn’t accepted for writing credit. UC Berkeley, IIRC, uses “R” for a similar purpose.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>No problem, I’m happy to agree to disagree.</p>
<p>
[quote]
But if it’s not noted on the transcript in some way…how will med schools know about it?
[quote]
</p>
<p>Not sure undergraduate colleges design their transcripts for the few students who apply to med school each year.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Source?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>No, but they do design them (and course titles) to be indicative of the content of courses, especially if that course is valid for credit for writing/composition, etc. And I think my point stands, in that med schools won’t know whether a course counts for the writing requirement unless it’s on the transcript in some way. As they say about medical records, “if it isn’t written on the chart, it didn’t happen”.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>haha fair point - I’ll amend my statement to “I’ve never heard of a school that does not do this in some way on the transcript, usually by a prefix/suffix to the course number/title” :)</p>
<p>just looked up my older son’s online transcript and there isn’t a W designation on the transcript.</p>
<p>MATH 402 UG History Of Mathematics A+ 3.000 </p>
<p>So, I guess when my younger son applies to med school, he’ll have to show a copy of undergrad catalog or something where it shows the W designation.</p>
<p>Edited to add…</p>
<p>Just checked DegreeWorks which is their online degree planning guide and it shows…</p>
<p>Complete Writing Requirements MATH 402, UH 300, PHL 380</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Sure you have to tell them, and appeal if necessary.</p>
<p>This is no different than a college that provides math courses within other academic departments. For example, in some colleges, Econ majors must take ‘stats’ thru the Econ Dept. Ditto Psych or Sociology majors. No Math designation. How about ‘Intro to Behavioral Statistics Research’, which is nothing but applied stats? (Note, the College’s own premed committee ‘certifies’ that such courses meet the med school requirements.)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I can name two off the top of my head. (The two colleges my kids attend/attended.)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>There is at UCLA for such courses where the same course is offered through 2 departments. Usually, you’ll be able to sign up for the course under either department (so you can “choose” which department shows up on your transcript, which is interesting), but either way, it is the same course, and there is a notation on the transcript/course number that indicates that the class is offered through multiple departments. I guess I just assumed that other colleges did things just as intelligently ;)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>If you mean Berkeley, the reading and composition requirement courses all have a prefix R in front of the course number (e.g. English R1A, Rhetoric R1B, South Asian R5A, Anthropology R5B). This is likely for the convenience of the undergraduate student population in general (as opposed to those who may apply to medical school), so that they know what courses fulfill the requirement.</p>
<p>The R prefix in Berkeley course numbers did not exist many years ago, though. But back then, there were fewer courses that fulfilled the reading and composition requirement.</p>