<p>I know taking English classes pass/fail is a topic that is rehashed over and over, and the advice is always "take pre-med requirements for a letter grade," but here is my situation.</p>
<p>I'm a bio major at Brown (rising sophomore). I'm really not into English/writing, so I tend to choose courses that don't require writing very many papers (exams are more my thing). Consequently, I don't feel like I've had that much practice at college-level writing. (I think I'm a decent writer-- I did well in AP lit in high school-- but I don't feel like my writing skills have improved since starting college.)</p>
<p>As a result, I think the English classes that would be at my level and the most helpful to me are the introductory ones: ENGL 0110 (Critical Reading and Writing I: The Academic Essay), ENGL 0130 (Critical Reading and Writing II: The Research Essay), and/or ENGL 0180 (Introduction to Creative Nonfiction). The thing is, at Brown, all three of those classes are mandatory pass/fail. (Other English courses that are more specific and (I guess) more advanced do not have any prerequisites (most Brown humanities classes don't), but I would feel a little apprehensive jumping in.)</p>
<p>Assuming I don't want to take more than the required 2 English classes, what should I do? I'm guessing it's not the best idea to take two pass/fail English classes, even if they're mandatory pass/fail :-</p>
<p>It doesn’t matter if a class is mandatory pass/fail or not - medical schools will not accept pass/fail for a pre-req. Period. (granted, this only applies to medical schools for which English is a pre-req, which is not all of them)</p>
<p>You might consider taking one of those pass/fail classes to bring you back up to speed before taking a few English courses for a letter grade to satisfy the pre-reqs. Otherwise, you could take English courses at a CC during the summer or something (not recommended)…</p>
<p>I once heard from my child that his premed advisor suggested him to take all classes with a grade, not only the pre-reqs. This is what he has been doing so far.</p>
<p>However, I always wonder whether this is somewhat too strict – when you see so many students who are not on the pre-professional school tracks are taking some classes pas/fail once in a while.</p>
<p>His college already enforces the rule that none of the general/core education classes can be taken pass/fail and none of the AP can be used for satisfying any general education requirement. Then his department enforces the rule that none of the classes required for his major can be taken pass/fail (This is very normal at most schools, I think). Now the premed admisor adds the third rule, which is more rigorous than the above two rules. No wonder premed is hard!</p>
<p>I agree :(. I have taken everything for a grade so far, even electives, in spite of Brown’s policy that allows taking unlimited classes pass/fail…</p>
<p>I understand the importance of actually getting a grade in as many classes as possible, but it seems silly to have to avoid classes that are mandatory pass/fail.</p>
<p>I belive it wont hurt you to take a course or two P/F. If you take too many it could look bad. If you take a course P/F once on top of a full course load then I doubt it will be looked at twice. If you are taking a course P/F every semester it will stand out.</p>
<p>As a Brown student you should ask a premed advisor at your school what would be best. I believe they would know what is best and what has been successful in the past for getting Brown undergrads into all those top med schools.</p>
<p>No one says you have to avoid the two english courses that are mandatory P/F. They simply won’t count for med school but you can still take them. Eventually, you’ll still need to take two Engl courses for a grade. This policy makes sense. Otherwise, we’d all be taking our organic chem courses P/F.</p>