<p>certainly not common, but possible?</p>
<p>don't med schools like unique/difficult majors?</p>
<p>If med-schools "like" anything, they like majors in which you can present top grades. That generally boils down to a combination of what you like to study, as well as how difficult the grading in that major is. </p>
<p>I personally wouldn't study physics just because you think it would look good for med-school. Do it only because you really like it.</p>
<p>Statistically, exactly the same percentages of majors who apply get in. That is, about 65% of the kids who apply are bio majors, and about 65% of the kids who get in are bio majors. This is true across the board.</p>
<p>Sakky is right that if you really like physics, do it. But don't take physics b/c you think that med schools are looking for it.</p>
<p>On the other hand, I wouldn't say sakky is right in that med schools llike" majors where you get good grades. Maybe that's just pharsed weird or something but I don't like it. What it boils down to, at least from my experience and the data I've seen med schools don't really care what your major was, and are looking more towards how you did in whatever field. If you have a unique major you'll probably be asked to explain why you took that course only b/c your interviewers are actually interested on why you weren't a bio major. It may actually appear that you have interests outside of medicine.</p>
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On the other hand, I wouldn't say sakky is right in that med schools llike" majors where you get good grades. Maybe that's just pharsed weird or something but I don't like it. What it boils down to, at least from my experience and the data I've seen med schools don't really care what your major was, and are looking more towards how you did in whatever field.
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<p>What I mean is that med-schools "like" high grades, with relatively little regard for where or how you get them. And the fact is, certain majors grade easier than others. In that sense, one could say that med-schools happen to "like" those easier majors. But It's not really the major that is at issue, it's really the grading that is the issue. There are majors in which you can study extremely hard and understand the material well, and still get bad grades, and there are other majors in which you do very little work, spend little time studying, and basically know little of what is going on - yet get good grades anyway.</p>
<p>I admit that I myself have been on both sides of the aisle. I've taken classes in which I was one of the best students in the class, with some of the top exam scores, yet still got a rather mediocre grade (because almost everybody got bad grades). At the same time, I admit that I have taken classes in which I have done very little work and had no idea what was going on, yet got an A anyway. In my case, after my former class, I felt perfectly entitled to some easy A's in easy classes. But there are some students take nothing but easy classes.</p>
<p>I'm stuck.</p>
<p>Assumption: Physical Science majors have worse grades than humanities majors.
Evidence: Medical school admits majors almost exactly in the percentages in which they apply.</p>
<p>Explanations:
1.) There is some kind of compensation for majors or
2.) Only very high-scoring PS majors bother to apply to medical school, or only very low-scoring English majors, or
3.) Med schools only care about your grades in BCPM classes</p>
<p>I think #3 is the closest to being correct. That takes a large portion of the subjectivity out of the equation...but obviously there's probably more that goes into it than that. Is there date in the MSAR about MCAT scores and major? I think that maybe skewed b/c there are so many bio majors and some of them have to suck...but maybe the ones admitted from the sciences have better MCAT scores?</p>
<p>My MSAR is currently packed away (getting ready to move out), but somebody else on the boards stated that humanities majors actually tend to get higher MCAT scores, on all the sections.</p>
<p>that was a study done in like 1990s i believe -- that humanities majors score higher on verbal but they also tend to study up for physical and biological sections so they do not perform that badly and overall end up better off compared to other applicants with their MCAT scores</p>
<p>i've also heard that people who major in some kind of a health major at their school score the lowest on MCAT :)</p>
<p>mmm, perhaps the physical science majors are more likely to get involved in some kind of research and therefore have better letters of rec and more hands-on lab experience? -- i have yet to see or hear of a pre-med humanities or social sciences major do laboratory research as an undergrad, but that may be my own luck since they are rare overall -- but med schools are also probably looking for people who are simply good scientists -- if med schools take in exaclty same percentages of all majors, then there have to be other factors that make up for lower scores -- but perhaps the difference in MCAT scores is not that significant to grant humanities majors a much easier entry</p>
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i have yet to see or hear of a pre-med humanities or social sciences major do laboratory research as an undergrad
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<p>I can be your first, then.</p>
<p>OMG! they exist!
so what do you think - did your fellow non-science majors get involved in research as often as the pre-med science majors?</p>
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but somebody else on the boards stated that humanities majors actually tend to get higher MCAT scores, on all the sections.
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<p>Yeah, see that's what I thought, but then I was unsure if that was just on average, or if that was for actual matriculants...</p>
<p>My feeling was that there are many people who are bio majors that really have no business trying for medical school, so their scores are going to bring down the average making humanities majors who are perhaps more on top of the game (in that they realize they don't have to be bio if they dont' want) or at least more dedicated towards medicine and thus get higher scores...I don't know really know what I'm getting at here, just kind of thinking out loud.</p>
<p>Not usually lab science, no.</p>
<p>and what about the non-lab science?
i mean do they go and work as part of a research group as often as science majors do?</p>
<p>No surprises. Math and physical science majors get slightly higher science MCAT scores. Humanities and social science majors get slightly higher verbal and writing scores. Mean GPA by major ranges from 3.57 for social sciences to 3.64 for biological sciences.
<a href="http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/2005/mcatgpabymaj1.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/2005/mcatgpabymaj1.htm</a></p>
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My feeling was that there are many people who are bio majors that really have no business trying for medical school, so their scores are going to bring down the average making humanities majors who are perhaps more on top of the game (in that they realize they don't have to be bio if they dont' want) or at least more dedicated towards medicine and thus get higher scores...I don't know really know what I'm getting at here, just kind of thinking out loud.
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<p>Bigredmed has hit the nail right on the head. It's mostly self-selection. </p>
<p>Think of it this way. If you're a bio major, you have to complete the entire premed course selection. Since that's the case, many of them figure that they might as well try the MCAT. This is exacerbated by the fact that people with just Biology BS degrees don't exactly have high-paying jobs waiting for them after graduation. So if they don't get into med-school or some other health-related professional school after graduation, they have a problem. </p>
<p>In contrast, relatively few humanities and social science students will take the MCAT simply because few of them are interested in med-school. None of them have to take biology or OChem or physics as a consequence of their major. Hence, the ones that do tend to be the most motivated and most talented of the humanities and social science students. In other words, the humanities and social science students who take the MCAT are highly self-selected. </p>
<p>If we could theoretically force ALL students to take the premed curricula and the MCAT , including all of the humanities and soc sci majors, then surely the MCAT scores of hum/socsci students would drop precipitously. The fact is, hum/socsci majors have a lot of lazy students who are just trying to get a degree without having to work very hard. These students are not going to take the MCAT.</p>