<p>Hey guys. I'll be attending Georgetown in the fall and, although I was accepted for physics, I'm strongly considering switching gears and going Spanish with pre-med coursework. </p>
<p>Languages are a great passion of mine, and they come very easily to me (A+ in AP Spanish, anyone?) I spent last summer in Honduras, teaching in a rural kindergarten and living with a host family, and I am, at this point, pretty close to fluent--my vocab, etc isn't at a native speaker level, of course. I promised myself that I'd take the time to learn all the languages that I can while I still have the chance, so I think I'm going to go for this major. It gives me ample room to take classes in Italian and Portuguese, as well--two languages that I've always wanted to learn.</p>
<p>My main question, though, is: what do you do as a Spanish major? I know what classes you take, like lit, writing, linguistics, etc. But what do you actually do in the class? Is the workload (generally) heavy? Will I be having to write lots and lots of papers? How hard is it to get the As that I would need for med school? I'm afraid that native speakers would waltz on in and kill a curve...</p>
<p>Kind of late, but I thought I’d share a little.</p>
<p>As a languages major, you will generally take lower level classes focusing on grammar and acquisition of the language. Judging by what you say, you could probably test out of some of these if your university offers the option to. The higher level classes will focus on literature and culture of the areas in which the language is spoken. I’m sure that your actual coursework depends on the school and the instructor, but you should expect essays, short answer tests, class discussions, and presentations. There were native speakers in most of my classes, but we weren’t necessarily graded against other students but what we’re capable of individually, at least in the higher level classes where the tests weren’t standardized. Georgetown is certainly more academically rigorous than my school, so any or none of what I’ve mentioned may apply. If your goal is to get as high a GPA as possible, then you would be more likely to get better grades with Spanish than Physics, if those are your two options and your primary concern.</p>
<p>I like spanish as well. I got A’s in high school and in college. It used to be my major but I had to move it to my minor. The reason that I say and warn you not to do this is because with a degree in Spanish, it seems that it is not respected and valued as say a degree in English. It does make a very good minor though</p>
<p>The other reason that I say it’s not a good idea is that the majority of schools do not have a big language department unless its University of X state. Make 100% sure that you check the schedule and that they offer enough classes EVERY semester. Alot of schools just offer a “generic set” for a minor and then offer like 1-2 upper classes a semester and it will take you forever to graduate. This is a big deal, especially if you want to get out as soon as possible. My other question is what do you want to do with that degree exactly? Teach?</p>