Is a writing course required to graduate university?

[rawan1408]

I'm choosing my IB courses today and you either take Math HL or English HL

so the combinations are Math HL & English SL, Math SL & English HL, Math Studies SL & English HL.

I was going to choose Math HL & English since I really don't like english and I'm stronger in math. 

Then my friend told me that in university you needed like a writing course in english or something like that and that English HL would count as a credit for that and I wouldn't have to take a writing course in university.

 

I live in Canada and will most likely go to university here.  I'm still not sure what I'll be taking in university but it will probably be something in science. My friend asked the IB coordinator and she said you do need a writing course in uni. But I went to a couple universities' websites and looked at Bachelor of Science requirements and an english/writing course wasn't required.

 

I really HATE english and if it is a required course in uni then I'll switch to English HL so I wouldn't have to take it in university.

So do you really need a writing course/english to get a degree in university?

[kw0573]

Writing courses are often much easier than literature courses, ESPECIALLY HL LIT. I took a writing course last semester it was so easy, I just TOK'd my way out of it. I got an A (90%+) and I basically have never gotten an A in Writing or English as the final grade in high school. Basically unless you are going into History or Journalism or something HL Literature will probably be the hardest writing/language/literature class you are going have to take. 

Therefore taking HL English just so you can get out of writing in college may be not worth it because in a university writing class you might be able to learn something more practical rather than specific literary analyses.

Most importantly, it should depend on the school. I was able to get transfer credit exempt for literature class, but not for the writing course.

[QuestionableWay]

I'm not sure about Canadian universities but in the US, almost every school has a mandatory writing class that you cannot get out of. On the other hand, a very good score on AP Lit, AP Lang, IB English HL, or some combination of the three would likely exempt you from general ed courses in literature. In my experience, as a humanities kid who has taken both Maths HL (in the form of AP Calculus BC, which is the exact same class as IB Maths HL at my school) and English HL, I would say that English HL is remarkably easy - even easier than my sophomore and freshman English classes - while Maths HL was among the toughest classes I've ever taken. 

 

In the end, I would suggest looking into your school(s) of choice and seeing how much credit you would receive for each course, and then decide from there which would be better to take.