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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I have a relative who did first semester in Spain with a different school not knowing Spanish and they had a good experience— used it as a base for visiting all over Europe too (low cost airlines mean for $50 you can fly lots of places for the weekend and find a fun hostel)

I actually think it might be good timing for pre-med (if you want a semester abroad) because [b]by junior year it may be difficult to go away and still meet all your requirements?[/b][/quote]

Actually the opposite for a pre-med bio major.  The most important years are freshman and sophomore because those are the years you take the pre-med classes. 
You actually get more liberty the final two years.

I would never do this (Madrid) as a pre-med major.  People are talking about travel and fun and all that comes along with doing a semester abroad. 
Pre-meds that are successful at matriculating to medical school (because statistically the vast majority are not) really have to put their nose to the grindstone out-of-the-gate freshman year.  Sure, there are non-traditional students who decided junior year to go to medical school after studying French  or modern dance but that is not most kids.  If you want to go to medical school, you have to really, really focus on grades from the beginning of college.  There is not much grace and your fellow students will be focusing on one thing: grades and medical school.  Not finding the best night club and museum in Madrid and catching the next train to Barcelona.

This kids' peers (and eventual competition for getting into medical school from his undergrad class) at CWRU will be putting their noses down to the grindstone.  I went to Case.  It is a serious pre-med culture.

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OTOH aren’t Spanish skills important in the medical field these days? The kid could get a leg up on internships back in the US serving a Spanish speaking population. Seems like the decision would turn on how much they want to go to CW and developing a plan to make up for any issues with missing premed coursework, like doing summer school. [/quote]

sure, but frankly which medical school applicant doesn't have Spanish skills these days?  I'm not joking. My brother sits on a medical school admissions committee and we were actually recently talking about this.  
It's the most common foreign language AP and most of your pre-med population has reached the AP level in language in high school.  Then many of these kids do study abroad to a Spanish speaking language country in college, volunteer in Spanish language clinics along the way, etc.  It's. not really anything that helps an applicant stand out. 
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