<p>Which is preferred by medical schools... a bachelor of arts in Biology or a Bachelor of Science in Biology.</p>
<p>also curious
bumperr</p>
<p>does. not. matter.
many schools just give out one or the other, so you often will not have a choice.</p>
<p>The last time I checked, Biology was science, not art.
From my experience, medical schools prefer to see students that do well in hard sciences, for example physics.</p>
<p>so, is it bad if you don't major in a science at all? i wanna be premed but i'm thinking about majoring in economics or psychology, maybe even romance languages and literature...</p>
<p>I educate a lot of pre-med students and they all take very hard core science courses. The current trend I have noticed also is that a lot of pre-med students get an engineering degree supplemented by biology courses. Many med schools require physics course since this is something that helps them to see what kind of student you are. I honestly do not think the languages will fly that well.
Medicine is an art, for sure, but you need to know a LOT of science to practice it. I would at least count on having inorganic chemistry for majors (2 semesters), organic for majors (2 semesters), physics for pre-meds (2 semesters), biology for majors (2 semester, maybe more).</p>
<p>well yeah, i realize that all of my electives will be used up with science courses. and physics is no big deal to me, i quite enjoyed the class (i even toyed with the idea of majoring in it but then i figured that economics would give me more flexibility). </p>
<p>so me being an economics major should have no bearing on med school admissions as long as i ace the MCATs (yeah right) and fulfill all the minimum course requirements, right?</p>
<p>Fizik, you are completely off base.</p>
<p>The required premed curriculum is a year of physics, bio, organic, and chem, all with lab. Many schools also require a semester of calc, and two semesters of english. And you do not need to take the chem classes for majors.</p>
<p>The reason for physics is that it is part of the MCAT. Taking the class is not so much a "test" of being able to do it, but that it is a good class that teaches thinking in a process, using information you have and applying it to get a relevant answer.</p>
<p>As for a major, IT DOES NOT MATTER. The statistics show that the majors of matriculants are in nearly the exact same ratios as the majors of applicants. Getting a BA or BS doesn't really matter that much. If you are a science major, then a BS is pretty much assumed. If you are a social sciences/humanities major, then you'll have more options to go the BA or BS route as you choose.</p>
<p>a lot of hard science majors are BA's... Yah I know its crazy.... Molecular and Cell Biology is a BA at my school whereas the business majors at my school are getting BS's.</p>
<p>The BA or BS doesn't matter at all.</p>
<p>At UC Berkeley all Science Majors with the exception of Chemistry and a couple of obscure science majors graduate with a BA, so it really doesn't matter.</p>
<p>BA or BS just depends on the university you attend, it frankly doesn't matter whether you have a BA or BS.</p>
<p>bigredmed, you are 100% right that "fizik" does not know what he is talking about. And his language gives him away; he is most likely chinese, probably just a HS kid for that matter.</p>
<p>Look at his grammar, it gives it away. For starters, he writes "educate a lot of pre-med students and they all take very hard core science courses." No native english speaker would say "very" in this sentence. </p>
<p>"Many med schools require physics course " In chinese there is no plural, so when someone speaks/writes and misses the plural (eg. "physics course" instead of "physics courses" that's another dead giveaway you've got a foreign speaker and not a latin-based language since they have plurals too. Again, shows he's chinese. </p>
<p>"I honestly do not think the languages will fly that well." Again, a marker of chinese speaker trying to impersonate english. In chinese they don't have articles, so chinese speakers have to consciously put them in. Unfortunately they don't really understand the rules, so they often put in an extra "the" where it doesn't belong as in this sentence. I have heard chinese speakers say "what is the IBM doing about this", for another example, because they don't really understand the difference between "the company" where "the" is used and "the IBM" where it is not. </p>
<p>And given the general level of language "fizik" uses he is not a college professor as he implies (eg. "I educate a lot of pre-med students"). He is likely a HS kid from taiwan.</p>
<p>Wow, you told him.</p>
<p>PS: Maybe he's a professor from Taiwan?</p>
<p>I could care less whether he's a professor or a 6 year old, he's giving bad information. </p>
<p>To the original poster, you'll generally get much more consistent and better advice if you post your pre-med questions on the pre-med board of CC. Many people that check this general portion of the site have very sketchy knowledge of medical school admissions and yet for some reason feel the need to post on threads here while otherwise avoiding the pre-med section. At least there you have medical students (myself and one other guy) and a couple of other very knowledgeable upperclassman who have been through the rigors of being a pre-med.</p>
<p>Ouch, that's harsh.</p>
<p>From the birthdate he gave in his profile, he should be in his forties. I think he is probably a professor who teaches in a foreign country, where it might be different. But it's kind of racist to say he is "from Taiwan" or that he is Chinese. Just because someone is Chinese or Taiwanese does not mean they have bad English.</p>
<p>lol, yeah, you guys are right. I'm a FOB from Asia and I don't know how to control myself to use "the"....
lol</p>
<p>When I was accepted to medical school, it did not matter what your undergrad major or degree was, as long as you had the prerequisites. I attended an LAC and graduated with a BA (not a BS.). While I was biology major, fellow med students in my freshman class had BA's and BS's in everything from Biochem and Physics to Psych and English. At the time I attended, it seemed being well rounded was more important than being too focused on just one area, and I had no trouble getting more than one acceptance with a very broad liberal arts background and no specialized undergrad research experience, etc.</p>