<p>Hi, I am a senior in high school and I am applying for colleges. I am currently completing a UCF application, but I don't know which major I should pick. I want to study to be a doctor, either a anesthesiologist or a pediatrician. I know that after my first four years of general college, I will then go to medical school. Which major should I choose? And does my major during my first 4 years of college matter?</p>
<p>Your choice of major is less important than your performance in the MCAT and also the pre-med class requirement set by the med schools you want to attend. </p>
<p>You could go down a biology, biochem or chemistry route if you’re into hard sciences anyway with some classes in communication and psychology and how society affects health. However, you can do any major you like so long as you have your required classes for admission. Philosophers have got in. Literature majors have got in. Pick a major that will enable you to get the highest grades you can as your GPA is also a major factor in admissions decisions. And majors can be changed once admitted so don’t sweat it too much.</p>
<p>I agree with that advice. My wife is a physician, and she was a psychology major.</p>
<p>I was a geology major in college. At that time, my friends and I discussed at the time the notion that geology would be a really good major for a premed who was outdoorsy. It involved a lot of camping, and everything you needed to take for medical school would also count for the major.</p>
<p>I think that for one thing, you should delay picking any major for as long as you can, and for another thing that when you do have to choose, you should look for the best combination of “something you want to study” and “easy to fulfill both the science requirements for medical school and the requirements of your major.”</p>
<p>Thank you so much! That was really helpful. I am really interested in sociology, so I think I might major in that area. I will probably end up changing my major along the way to biology when I get closer to entering med school.</p>
<p>I think it is VERY risky to take up majors such as pre-med or something like “anesthesiology” (if that even exists) as an undergrad. Many, many, many undergrads will never get into med-school. If you major is something like the aforementioned subjects, your degree is essentially worthless out in the real world if you don’t get into med school or end up changing your mind. It’s much safer to major in something more employable and just take the prereqs for med school on the side.</p>
<p>“Pre-med” isn’t a major (except, perhaps, at a handful of colleges and universities, and those institutions tend not to be very distinguished); it’s an advising program for students aspiring to go to medical school. Lots of pre-meds major in one of the sciences, but it isn’t necessary that they do so.</p>
<p>And “anesthesiology” isn’t even an undergraduate program; it’s a medical specialty that doctors may train for after they’ve finished medical school.</p>