<p>^^^…sorry guys…now I got it right… :)</p>
<p>Physician here. Increasingly medical schools are recognizing that “soft skills” like teamwork, empathy, communication, and leadership are as important, if not more so, than mastery of technical knowledge for future success as a practicing physician. I would advise majoring in your area of interest but getting significant exposure to the humanities and liberal arts. I was a psychology major who took only the most basic course requirements for admission to medical schools.</p>
<p>The science portions of the MCAT are taken directly from the most basic core requirements for admission to medical school. Majoring in a science will not necessarily give you an advantage in scoring well on the test. Your best chance of admission to medical school is to find ways to differentiate yourself from the pool of applicants, all of whom will have great grades and high MCAT scores. Follow your passions and bring them to life in some way that sets you apart from others.</p>
<p>Does the college you’re going to attend require you to pick a major right off the bat? If not, you don’t need to make a decision right now. The one good thing about the pre-med curriculum is that it covers a wide range of basic science and math, leaving you well-prepared to choose a major in science or engineering without having to go back and take a whole lot of extra prerequisites. Sign up for the basic classes (Chem, physics, calc, bio) and see what tickles your fancy. You want to major in something you enjoy - it’s 4 years of your life.</p>
<p>When planning a practical major remember nursing is totally different than being a physician. Let those who are passionate about nursing take the limited spots in nursing programs. Plan to major in something you can be passionate about. That way you will most likely do your best, get good grades and enjoy your college experience the most you can. Be flexible as you discover options in college- ie don’t be so set on being a physician that you ignore other possibilities you may enjoy more. Starting with the required courses on a path to medical school is fine for your freshman year- no matter what you end up doing you will be making progress towards a degree with fulfilling science reqs. Once you are on your campus you will be in a better position to evaluate your goals.</p>
<p>Very good advice from wis75. Things can change very rapidly once you are actually in school. D went off to college with every intention of becoming a physician- she’s in engineering for her practical major- and quickly realized there were so many other career options that she’d never considered or really knew about. Keep an open mind. If you love science and are passionate about it, then great! But don’t forget there’s life and learning outside the lab.</p>
<p>My husband was a chemistry major. He worked in research for two years before starting med school. Research is a job dependent on grants and the pay was not very good. If you work as a chemist at a pharmaceutical company you could probably make decent money.</p>
<p>This past year when my son was looking into schools he considered Biomedical Engineering. Some of the information I read sounded like it could be a good stepping stone to med school, but also a good degree. I don’t know anyone who has done this, just something we came across in our search.</p>
<p>BME is my daughter’s intended major. Now that she’s into engineering though, she’s found many new avenues for her interests. Amazing what you learn when you get to college!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Since the common advice, if not every advice I have gotten was to do what I love, I have decided I am going to major in Biomedical Sciences. However, do you have any suggestions or recommendations to get significant exposure to the humanities and liberal arts?..and to differentiate myself from the pool of applicants^^^? do you recommend to do a minor in Humanities(look down for quote)?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>^^^Is this true???</p>
<p>physician here.</p>
<p>It is absolutely true that you do not need to declare yourself a premed to be considered competitive in the eyes of medical schools. I chose the standard route, not knowing any better and majored in physiology. It was not until I was in medical school that I realized that there are many more interesting and perhaps easier ways into medical school than competing with a bunch of cut through premeds. For instance, in my medical school class only a third of the students studied had premed majors in the sciences. As long as you fulfill the required courses, you can apply. I was completely bored during the first two years of medical school because I had just spent four years learning that information. I would have learned so much more as an undergrad if I had taken more nonscience classes.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Undergraduate science majors generally do not lead to good career-track jobs unless you go on for further education. You can get a job (assuming that the economy is fairly decent at the time you graduate) with just a bachelor’s degree, but you cannot progress very far in a science career with a bachelor’s degree alone.</p>
<p>For job prospects, you are better off in engineering than science. A bachelor’s degree in engineering does lead to good career track jobs. But there’s a catch. The GPAs of students in engineering programs tend to be lower than those of students in other majors. For the ones who actually plan to be engineers, this is not a problem. Employers don’t expect engineering graduates to have 4.0 averages, and the students themselves don’t expect them, either. But applicants to medical school need high GPAs. So majoring in engineering could decrease your chances of admission to medical school, even though at the same time, it increases your chances of getting a good, career track job if you don’t go to medical school.</p>
<p>Another possibility, if you like it, might be computer science. Computer science graduates are very employable. But in some universities, their GPAs may be as low as those of engineering students (in fact, in some universities, computer science is considered part of engineering, while in others, it is not). My son majored in computer science at a university where it was not part of the engineering program, and he felt that his workload was not as bad as those of his friends in engineering and that it was easier for him to earn a good GPA than it was for the engineers. However, the situation at other universities may be different.</p>
<p>One interesting question that I have never seen answered is how medical schools view undergraduate business majors. Like engineering and computer science majors, business majors have good employment prospects after graduation. But it’s generally no more difficult to earn a high GPA in a business program than in most other majors, and it should be possible for a business student to take the necessary premedical courses as part of fulfilling general education requirements or as electives. But would a medical school look down on a business major, in the way that they seem to look down on nursing majors? I don’t know.</p>
<p>My son is pre-med with a Chemical Engineering major and Bio minor. He’ll have plenty of the Bio, Chem, Physics, and Math classes. </p>
<p>I think he’ll be a strong candidate for med school. He has a 4.0 GPA and tests well. I’m just wondering how many med schools should he apply to? 10? 15? 20? What’s the norm?</p>
<p>His major also gives him some options if he changes his mind about med school.</p>
<p>Here’s a pretty nice link from Amherst discussing number of applications (and other things). And it agrees with me on the number “15”. I also think that matches with the AAMC data. <a href=“https://www.amherst.edu/campuslife/careers/students/gradstudy/health/guide/part2/selecting[/url]”>https://www.amherst.edu/campuslife/careers/students/gradstudy/health/guide/part2/selecting</a></p>
<p>@Thumper1 You said you know a fabulous pediatrician that majored in music. Do you know what medical school the pediatrician got into and how the admission process went for the pediatrician? I ask, b/c I am having trouble choosing a major that would best get me into medical school. I am a violinist who really wants to major in music, but I don’t know if I would be able to get into a medical school as a music major.</p>
<p>shosty, I know a young woman who started top ten medical school this fall – she majored in comparative literature at Cal Berkeley. She also took all the required pre med courses and participated in a doctor-shadowing program though Cal, although most of the time as an undergraduate she studied languages and literature. Then she took a year off, worked and studied for the MCATS.</p>
<p>Over the years I’ve personally known Music Majors who went to Alabama, UNC, Univ of Florida, Duke, Vandy, Baylor, WashU-SL, Dartmouth, and JHU. </p>
<p>AdComs adore music majors for a number of reasons including a history of those people being very successful – some of this is self selection since typically only the brightest and most driven individuals attempt to do what seems to be such a strange combination. If you can do well in Music and prepare well for the MCAT, you may even have a slight advantage in applying to MS b/c you automatically stand out and the committees will almost always see you as someone who REALLY is committed to becoming a physician. This is distinctly opposed to the multitudes of Science Majors who seem to think they have some sort of built in advantage because they are reasonably good at what they are studying. There are a lot more marginal students in the ‘I’ll do Bio/Chem/Psych b/c it will look good for Pre-Med’ so they fail at a much higher rate at getting into MS. </p>
<p>The strangeness almost always is manifested by pre Medical School/non medical people who really don’t understand the real Medical Education system. Those who have either finished Medical Training, those who are many years into Medical Practice, or those who as involved with Medical School/Residency Training programs know better.</p>
<p>You’ve gotten good advice so far. I’m a neurologist who was a math major. I’d add that a non-science major actually helps you to distinguish yourself from all the Bio and Chem majors who apply.</p>
<p>
Well you might have done what my summa cum laude boy friend did when he didn’t get into med school. He spent a year in grad school, decided research really wasn’t for him. Then worked for a year in a hospital and applied again. With new recommendations and two years of maturity he had no trouble getting in.</p>
<p>DH (he interviews MD Phd candidates) interviewed someone a couple of years ago who was a Theater major for a while though I think he ended up switching to science because theater was too time-consuming. My roommate’s boyfriend majored in economics. You can major in anything. Your college advising office will be able to tell you just what courses you need to take for med school. I don’t know what my son’s pediatrician majored in, but he plays in the local orchestra.</p>
<p>If you want to distinguish yourself, do something in the summer that will reassure people you know what being a doctor is like.</p>