<p>I heard that many medical schools often encourage, but do not require, foreign language classes in undergrad. I want to learn Mandarin Chinese because my mom is Taiwanese. There is also a significant Asian population where I'm from in California, and I want to work there.</p>
<p>The foreign language classes at my school are very time-consuming, but, from what I've heard, not too difficult. They are worth five units each semester. These classes are not required for graduation and will also fulfill no graduation requirements at all; if I take them, it would simply be for the sake of learning the language, at the expense of time to focus on other pre-med classes. I have taken four years of Chinese in high school, but I feel like I learned very little; the teacher gave out so much extra credit that we could pretty much ace the class without studying too much. I also feel like I don't know enough to hold even the simplest conversation.</p>
<p>There are two options:
1. Take Chinese classes, even if they are time-consuming. It might look better on a transcript for medical schools to see that I have taken some foreign language, even if it means a much heavier course load.
2. Learn Chinese at home with my mom and with relatives in Taiwan. Because of summer commitments, I can only go to Taiwan for a week or two at a time, and, in the past, I was fearful of sounding ridiculous if I attempted to speak Chinese to relatives, so I always relied on English. It made me feel kind of bad because that meant that those who knew some English had to translate for me, which wasn't easy for them. Also, I previously avoided learning Chinese with my mom, and she didn't force it on me. I could try to step it up, though, but I know it will be hard at first, and I'm unsure of my ability to keep it up. Then, instead of taking Chinese in college, I could do research instead. Research is easy to come by at my school, and I'm fairly confident that if I try hard enough, I can find some. On my med-school applications, I could indicate that I have background in Chinese, although I haven't taken classes in it.</p>
<p>Option 1 would probably give me more experience in the langugage than option 2.</p>
<p>So which looks better on an application: Chinese classes or lots of research?</p>
<p>Research would look better than FL classes.</p>
<p>That said, it’s good to learn a FL. If you can do so without taking formal classes that might be too demanding of time, then do so.</p>
<p>My older son (not pre-med) took a Spanish class this spring and while he said it wasn’t “hard,” it required a lot of time. Luckily this was an easy semester for him, so the time demand didn’t affect his other classes. </p>
<p>Is there a way to “test out” of some Chinese credits?</p>
<p>Thank you! I rarely see foreign languages mentioned in pre-med requirements, so they must not be a big deal, then.</p>
<p>There are placement tests for the classes, but I won’t get credit for them. Even if I took one, I doubt I’d place into upper-level classes anyway.</p>
<p>D1’s BF is fluent in Polish. (He’s a 1st gen, Grew up speaking Polish at home.) He put that he was bilingual on all his med school applications. Not a single school ever mentioned it or asked him about it. (Except for one school where they asked why he learned Polish and not Spanish…)</p>
<p>Proficiency in Spanish is very important; it’s virtually a requirement at UCLA and is highly favored at the Texas medical schools. I assume UCSD is similar. Otherwise I don’t think anybody cares.</p>
<p>Notice also that classwork is neither necessary nor sufficient for proficiency.</p>
<p>Okay, thanks! That’s very interesting about the Spanish; it does seem to be a regional thing, even if a student may end up doing residency and working outside of heavily Spanish-speaking areas.</p>
<p>In this case, would not knowing Spanish be a disadvantage for someone trying to find work in California? As opposed to some other foreign language, even one that is also widely spoken there?</p>
<p>I think it would be useful to try to get some basic proficiency in FL however you can get it, especially if you may work with that population. That said, I agree that med schools do like to see RESEARCH in your app rather than FL. </p>
<p>Spanish is considered very important for many healthcare practitioners. I know someone who had to take a course in Spanish for healthcare professionals so she could do her internship & residency in LA (she had no background in that language).</p>
<p>Sure if the FL class is req’d for Core/Gen Ed or can cover a humanitites req’t, then fine. But, the student should start at the “bottom” unless quite fluent, so as not to hurt the GPA. </p>
<p>My younger son took Conversational Spanish this year that he tested into. Luckily, he’s quite fluent from having excellent native speaking teachers in high school and from a part time job where he worked with nearly all Spanish speakers. So, he did fine. However, some other kids who tested into that 300 level course struggled because while they tested into that level, they really weren’t fluent enough to be there. </p>
<p>I totally agree that if the student wants to go to a Calif med school, then taking Spanish could be a plus. The student can learn Mandarin informally from family or one of those systems like Rosetta Stone.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for the insight, everyone! This is indeed very helpful!</p>
<p>bluebayou: I have created a course plan for each of my semesters in college (I am nearly finished with freshman year now) with three years of Chinese. I will have to take five classes each semester to fulfill requirements for everything. It’s going to be hard, and my GPA so far isn’t too good. Doing more research as well as Chinese means taking six classes every semester (research can be counted for class credit toward my major, biology), each of which is by itself very time-consuming.</p>
<p>If you want to get into med school, do try to lighten your load and get good grades, even if it means an extra semester or year of school. From all I’ve heard/read, low GPAs can be deal-breakers in getting into med school. If your GPA is already low, it’s even more important to lighten your load so you can bring up your grades.</p>
<p>Isn’t it your UG major requirement? D. was not allowed to register for her first semester of freshman year before she took placement tests in math and foregn language. D. was required to take one semester. It was an awesome class with prof. using strictly Spanish in class after which D. was able to communicate in Spanish (could not believe my ears witnessing her conversation in Mexico, although her class was 2 years ago), but she placed into 3rd year. It was also easy A. However, Chinese is most likely much harder, as Spanish is considered the easiest foreign language.</p>