English Requirement

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

Hey,

So I need to pick my classes for the upcoming fall semester at Cornell and I plan on being a pre-health engineer. I’ve been choosing my courses so that they satisfy both my desired major requirements and med school pre-reqs. The only problem I have is choosing the right English course. Most med schools simply say they want two semesters of “writing-intensive” courses, specifically in the humanities and social sciences. What exactly does that mean?

2

Furthermore, the classes that I’m currently interested in is called “Short Stories” and according to the course description there research component and workshop discussions regarding student work

3

Med schools want freshman composition-type classes. “Writing intensive” means any humanities, social studies or other course designated by your college as fulfilling freshman writing requirements.

In general, med school want freshman composition-type classes, not literature classes. (And never, ever creative writing classes!)

It appears that Cornell requires 2 semesters of “First Year Writing Seminars” for all freshmen. These classes fulfill your writing requirement for both graduation and for med school admission.

http://www.arts.cornell.edu/knight_institute/fws/fws.htm

If your short story class is a topical class offered by one of these seminars–then you’re fine; otherwise look at the FYWS options of pick something from there.

4

Thank you so much WayOutWestMom. Your response was extremely helpful.

5

Typically, that means that more than 50% of the course grade must come from writing assignments, and can include courses not in the English department. If you sign up to matriculate at a med school and they do the audit to ensure you met the prerequisites, they can ask for the syllabi of the courses you intend to use to satisfy the requirement. You can email the admissions office with the syllabus and ask if a certain course is acceptable. Make sure you keep their email response so that in case something is later questioned, you can pull up that email to show them what you were told.