Q: I’m hoping to take a course to fulfill the English/Writing requirement for medical school. Would American Television (ENG 275) be okay? How about Touching Books (ENG 400) or Early Modern Amsterdam (ENG 448)?

A: In our years advising applicants, we haven’t seen a school not accept a course whose primary department was English, although we’ve had some applicants who had to argue their case for such courses. If a school was being very picky about what they consider writing-intensive, they might take issue with ENG 400 being only 40% written papers. Similarly, if they don’t believe that television can be considered as a literary genre, then they could argue that ENG 275 is writing-intensive, but not a literature class. So, if you want to stay on the most conservative side, look for a course that’s at least 50% written work and clearly focuses on literary analysis (not on cultural studies, history, or other disciplines) within literature (not movies/television/music). But, if you’re really excited about any of these classes and feel that you could make an argument for why they should fulfill the requirement to a school that might tell you they don’t, then take that course and we can work with you to craft that argument if it becomes necessary. 

For more FAQs and our “does it meet the requirement” flowchart, see the HPA English Requirements FAQ.

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