Best major for Pre-Med?

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

My parents are strongly advising me against choosing Biology as my major because you can’t fallback on it and it’s what a lot of med school applicants do, so I won’t look competitive and I won’t have a job in case I decide not to pursue medicine. I love Biology and I am 99% sure medicine is my calling, but they’re still all but forcing me NOT to choose it as my major.

My mom is pushing biomedical engineering, but I’m pretty sure that’s not for me either. I’m not that good at math (barely scraped by with Bs since 6th grade) and I’ve told her this, but she thinks I’m just “giving up and don’t have faith in myself.” Plus, I hate math to begin with and will only do it if I absolutely have to. Chemistry is out of the question too. If high school chemistry is any indication, I’m very “meh” at it. It’s the same situation with math; I’ll do well if my grade depends on it, but I’m not nearly good enough to major in it.

I can’t think of any major other than biology that I’m suited to. I guess I could do psychology, but there’s not much to fall back on with that either.

2

Also I won’t be a legal adult when I graduate, so I can’t “make my own choices as an adult.” Plus, my parents are paying for my college so they have me on a leash.

3

There several Biology related fields that may be more useful down the road if you do not get into Medical school but would fulfill the requirements for PA/OT/PT/CLS/Nursing programs.

Animal Biology
Behavior
Biochemistry
Biotechnology
Botany
Cell Biology/Molecular
Chemistry
Ecology
Embryonic Development
Genetics
Immunology
Marine Biology
Microbiology
Neurobiology

4

If math is a weakness of yours, then BME is poor fit. All engineering disciplines are math intensive.

Post-college employment is what you make of it. There are jobs for general bio majors as well as jobs for any of the biology sub-fields that gumbymom listed, but the onus is on you to prepare yourself for them. Taking a few additional classes in things like information management, statistics or a basic programming class like MatLab or Intro to Java will go a long way to improving your employability.

(BTW, the employment picture for bio sub-specialties is just as bleak as it is for a general bio major. If your parents object to bio, then they will likely object to any of the subfields as well. Post-graduation employment prospects for chem majors aren’t a whole lot better than for bio majors–there are just too many failed pre-meds out there.)

The same holds true for a psych major. There are jobs, but you’ll have to work to make yourself appealing to potential employers. Maybe consider taking a few business management classes.

Another major to consider is public health–it’s a natural fit with pre-med (although you’ll require some additional science classes.)

And if you (and your parents) want a major with guaranteed employability–clinical lab science (also known as medical technology). Tons of overlap with pre-med requirements, plus an in-demand job field.

I’d avoid majoring in animal biology/animal science–this will mark you as pre-vet and could make med school adcoms question your commitment to human medicine.

And I totally get the “whoever pays the piper calls the tune” w/r/t to undergrad major choice. I don’t think your parents are being unreasonable. Dh & I vetoed D1’s desire to major in studio art (painting) unless she had a second more employable major or strong minor to fall back on. (We suggested business, education, computer graphics or architecture. She ended up double majoring in physics & mathematics, then went to med school. Go figure!)

5

Neuroscience has plenty of biology and if you can minor in CS here are lots of job opportunities.
Biostatistics and bioinformatics are two other fields that involve bio and have good job prospects.
Medical humanities is a good complement to any of those.
Biomedical engineering is actually a poor fit - doesn’t really match requirements and generally the gpas are way lower than what you’d need.

6

The best major for pre med is the one that you will do the best in

7

^^Concise & correct!

But the OP’s issue is convincing The Bank of Mom & Dad is sign off on it.

BTW, neuroscience without the additional comp sci classes has no better employment prospects than does any other bio major. (I had a neuroscience major kid. She got her post-graduation job only because she had a math major and computer programming classes to go with the neuro.)

8

What about this: What is a good major for pediatrics? The answers I find are usually for general premed but I’m specifically looking into pediatrics for med school. Will all these answers still apply?

9

actually, pediatrics is wayyyyy down the line.
But, yes, these answers will still apply.
You can add “child development” as a elective but that’s about it.

First, you have to rank in the top 10-20% in each class, do research, volunteer and participate
in medical activities.
Then you have to score high on the MCAT.
Then you have to pass the first round fo med school selection (MCATXGPA, basically)
Then you have to pass the interview round.
Then you have to do well through med school.
Then you have to be matched for residency.
So, 8-9 years from now, you may or may not be interested in pediatrics. :slight_smile:

BTW, biomed engineering requires a master’s degree for professional purpose (without it, its prospects aren’t much better than bio).

Neuroscience:
good prospects with CS, but most importantly, allows OP to still study bio, while not irking his/her parents since it’s neuroscience, not bio. :slight_smile:

10

Sorry if this sounds daft, but what do you mean by “pediatrics is wayyyyy down the line”?

11

Well, unless 9 years from now seems soon to you :smiley:

I mean that there’ll be many choices, decisions, grades, and tests before then, many life altering moments, much growth.

12

It means you have to attend and graduate from college first.

Then get accepted into and graduate from med school.

Then and only then will you start to specialize in pediatrics.

Med school provides a general education in all areas of medicine. (During your 3rd & 4th years of med school, you will be expected to rotate through–and take tough standardized exams on and get graded on your performance in–every speciality whether you’re interested in it or not. Including things like surgery & anesthesiology & psychiatry.) You don’t specialize until residency–which is at least 8-9 years away.

13

Like above posting said, it takes about 8-9 years for a HS graduate to reach medical residency matching stage. Even you are successful to finish the med school, MOST of the med school graduates are being matched into Internal Medicine or Family Practice. In 2016, about 40% of the 27000 resident positions are being offered in those two categories and only 2700 or 10% positions are offered in Pediatric. You have to graded very high in your peers and had a better than average USMLE score to be matched into your desired Pediatric specialty. By then, your interest may have changed anyway.

14

<<<<
What about this: What is a good major for pediatrics? The answers I find are usually for general premed but I’m specifically looking into pediatrics for med school.
<<<<

Although you’ll have a 4-6 week rotation in Pediatrics in your 3rd year of med school, you don’t study pediatrics in med school. You would specialize AFTER med school.

That said, by the time you’re a 4th year med student, you may no longer have any interest in peds.

Undergrad majors are not a prep for specialties.

<<<
My parents are strongly advising me against choosing Biology as my major because you can’t fallback on it and it’s what a lot of med school applicants do, so I won’t look competitive and I won’t have a job in case I decide not to pursue medicine. I love Biology and I am 99% sure medicine is my calling, but they’re still all but forcing me NOT to choose it as my major.
<<<<

Please have your parents read this thread.

Being an eng’g major is a quick way to having a GPA that will NOT be med-school worthy. It’s too risky. (Disclaimer: my son was a Chem Eng’g premed, but he lives and breathes math, bio, and chem…loves those subjects…and he has an “eng’g brain.” ).

Many people try eng’g, but quickly get weeded out because either the math is an issue, or they don’t have an eng’g brain (think-outside-the-box, problem-solving, able to find elegant solutions, etc).

You don’t like math, it’s not one of your best subjects, being a BioMedE major would be a bad risk.

I believe in having a Plan B, but it doesn’t have to be from Day One. The first year you’ll be taking mostly Premed prereqs and maybe some Gen Ed classes. If you do well in those, then you don’t need a Plan B yet.

If during the first year or second year, you end up with a low GPA, then re-evaluate and come up with a Plan B. Use the ideas in post #3.

15

I agree with mom2k, except I think all pre-meds need to think about a Plan B, almost from the very beginning even before they see how their GPA looks.

Why?

Because there is too much risk that even if they have a that 3.7 GPA, they’re not going to get into medical school. Every year, more than 60% of applicants don’t get any acceptances. (And the number of failed applicants keeps rising because every year the number of applicants goes up while the number of med slots doesn’t.)

To the OP–most colleges do not expect freshmen to declare a major. In fact, at most colleges, you’re not permitted to declare a major until your sophomore year. Take your typical freshman pre-med classes-gen chem, bio, freshman writing plus intro psych or intro soc, and calc (all needed for pre-med) and see what happens. You could try a few electives like an intro to engineering or an intro to public health class or an into to Java programming just to see if you like those subjects. Or maybe business. Or history or anthropology or upper level literature or a foreign language–whatever you’re interested in. (You can’t do all science all the time. Expand your world by trying something different. You only get to go to college once. Do some exploring!) Once you’ve weathered the first year and can make informed decisions about what you like/don’t like then you can start planning.