Hey CC,
I’m currently wrapping up my Junior year in high school, and have built up a good resume. However, prior to a month ago, I had wanted to go into political science - I now want to go for Pre-Med.
My problem is all I have done to this point (ECs, Volunteering, Internships) have been government, politics or law based. So, I have a very stellar resume, but not one that is relevant to the area I want to go into. (Biology on a Pre-Med track at Cornell)
What do I do?
You can do your undergrad in anything to get into med school. They wish to see good grades in college and a good MCAT score. As long as you get the required pre med course work it doesn’t matter what you major in. Is a Biology major what you want to focus on for four years?
Ideally, yes. Is the fact that my ECs are based around government, law, and politics a hindrance to my acceptance to Cornell for Biology? Should I apply undeclared and then declare Biology?
That may be better off in the ivy league thread or college admissions thread. I do not know. I think it would not be a big hindrance as long as your GPA and test scores are competitive
Amazingly enough, colleges completely understand that you are not a one-note song, and that you are a work in progress. Cornell won’t even care if you apply saying you want to major in Bio / are pre-med and then end up majoring in History. You won’t even have to declare until late in your second year. And although there are a lot of preprofessional supports for med school applicants, there is no ‘pre-med track’.
You might find [url=<a href=“https://www.theodysseyonline.com/what-i-wish-i-knew-about-being-premed-cornell%5Dthis%5B/url”>https://www.theodysseyonline.com/what-i-wish-i-knew-about-being-premed-cornell]this[/url] and [url=<a href=“http://www.forsterthomas.com/admissionsconsultingblog/undergraduate-medical-school-acceptance-rate-stats-are-meaningless%5Dthis%5B/url”>http://www.forsterthomas.com/admissionsconsultingblog/undergraduate-medical-school-acceptance-rate-stats-are-meaningless]this[/url] interesting.
I would probably have the best chance of getting in as a Government major though, no? So would it be smartesr to get accepted as a Government Major, and then change to Biology or attempt to get in as a Biology Major?
If you are planning to apply to A&S, it honestly doesn’t matter which subject you apply to (it does if you apply to Ag&LifeSci):
[quote]
Your major will be one field of study that you find particularly interesting and intellectually challenging, and that you explore in great depth. The college offers more than forty majors and gives you until the end of your sophomore year to make your choice. Most students declare their major at that time and not before; all first-years start as undecided/undeclared students. Don’t fret if you remain undecided for a while, but use your first semester at Cornell to begin exploring your options./quote(from [url=<a href=“http://as.cornell.edu/thinking-about-major%5Dthis%5B/url”>http://as.cornell.edu/thinking-about-major]this[/url] page- also note what student quotes admin chose to put on the page).
The important thing is your story. Until 4 weeks ago you had one line of interest. You can talk about that in an essay. Four weeks ago you threw that over for something different. You can talk about that in an essay. You can talk about how both interests are part of you. You could also talk about completely different things in your essays.
Also, remember that you do not have to major in Bio (or any other science) to get into med school- you just have to take a specific set of classes, which are reasonably easy to fit into your schedule around other majors.