Best Pre-Medicine Major?

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

Hi! I would like to preface this post by saying that I couldn’t find a place to talk specifically about majors and minors, so If I’ve violated any policy I apologize in advance. Onto the heart of the matter!

I am going to attend Missouri State University in Columbia in the fall (Mizzou). I’ve decided that I want to pursue a career in medicine, most specifically, I want to pursue medical school. However, as any normal human being, problems can pop up, life can happen, among other things, that may or may not prevent me from pursuing this goal. So this is sort of what I am at odds with: the vast majority of medical students major in biology. To me, this is the stalest, most boring, and lifeless of majors. I haven’t even mentioned the generality of the major itself, which may or may not impact my chances of getting a job outside of teaching - which I don’t want to do - or lab research. The reason I want to go to medical school is that I love being good at science, anatomy, chemistry, and, ironically enough, biology. But a Bio major seems so restricting and uninteresting. I don’t want to be behind a microscope for the rest of my life. I’m competitive, and in an environment where only the best of the best truly succeed - the environment that comes to mind when thinking about medical school - I thrive. I LOVE science, but the career outlook as a bio major in case medical school doesn’t work out is so dim and boring. I also have an immense interest in economics and numbers and business, I was thinking about double majoring in business administration or accounting, or even majoring in one of these and simply completing my prerequisites for med school and applying that way. My point is this: I want a fulfilling life and career if medical school doesn’t work out. What is a major that is great for someone who loves competition, but at the same times appreciates the delicacies of life? This may sound super vague and stupid but despite my interest in the sciences, I’m a romantic at heart. I want a career that satisfies both sides of that spectrum of work and life. And I know, you’re probably thinking “this kid wants a great work/life balance but he wants to go to med school… Twat…” I’m well aware of this, but I believe that going to medical school would be worth it. I even have unexplored interested in computer science! Like Jesus, I need to figure out what my backup plan is, I know I can’t explore all of my interests, but I’m looking for a career where I can be really really really good at what I do and at the same time have a fulfilling life. Despite what you may think, I think being a doctor fits the bill, but I’m looking for plan B, in case that doesn’t work out. Having all of this in mind, what’s your advice? This post suddenly got really long, and I’m sorry for that, but if you made it this far, thanks so much for your time, I know it’s precious. Thanks!

2

Neuroscience,robotics, economics, and mathematics. You should research about various fields in medicine. There are many. And then you should find out what interests you. I agree bio is boring and would make it hard to stand out. But saying, you had an interest in pediatric neuroscience and wanted to study x in children would make it a pretty interesting read not to mention give you a venue for a career should you decide not to pursue an MD. What about physics? There are so many interesting avenues there as well. Think in terms of two related sciences coming together.

3

Medical schools have specific pre-med course requirements that mostly overlap with lower level biology major courses (plus an upper level biochemistry course and some social studies and English writing courses), but any major that you are interested in which leaves enough free elective space for non-overlapping pre-med courses is fine.

Most liberal arts majors do have enough free elective space even if they have no overlap.

4

First, as an alum, don’t ever call Mizzou, Missouri State! It’s the University of Missouri, or MU if you prefer. :smiley:

Next, and more importantly, they have a pre-professional department. At the time I was there they had one main advisor, but now there’s probably more. Pick whatever major you want, and then meet with them and ask about Med School admission statistics. If it’s clear that one or two rule above the rest out of Mizzou, then you can switch.

In general, any major will work as long as you meet the prerequisites.

Good luck!

5

Get your undergraduate degree in Business. Otherwise you may wake up one day as a small business owner and realize that you have no idea how to run a business.

6

Med schools require, in part, a BA/BS degree and completion of premed reqs. They do not tell anyone what to major in, nor do they care. It’s totally up to you. Most major in bio, perhaps out of interest, but also because of course overlap (ie you can complete most premed and majors reqs at same time). It’s good you’re thinking about a Plan B as most premeds change their minds and of those that apply, 60% fail to start anywhere. It’s okay to double major (eg business administration or accounting ), but without course overlap with premed reqs you may need to complete college before applying. This is not necessarily a bad thing. You ideally only want to apply to med school one time with the strongest app possible. Don’t expect med schools to cut you any slack grade wise for double majoring as they didn’t require you to double major. Good luck.

7

It’s up to you to decide if this is the right path, but in this snippet and the rest of your post you haven’t expressed any interest in actually being a doctor.

An unwritten requirement to become a doctor is to have paid/volunteer exposure to patient care. I’m guessing you haven’t done this. Before you start picking premed classes my advice is to volunteer this summer to see if this is a career you actually want. And, for that matter, even if it turns out you are interested in health care ti behooves you to at least consider alternatives. Physical therapists, radiology techs, nurses, speech pathologists, physician assistants, to name but just a few. Careers that don’t involve 10-15 years of training and hundreds of thousands in debt (unless your family is in the 1%)

8

You can look at this official list of statistics by major (field) and see that it doesn’t really matter what you major in as long as you get a high GPA and MCAT score:

https://www.aamc.org/download/321496/data/factstablea17.pdf

My suggestion is to major in whatever you LIKE to study as that tends to make it easier to get good grades. You will need the pre-req courses, of course, but those can fill in as electives.

If you think Plan B is to be an accountant, then study accounting.

I don’t want to post this on every pre-med thread, but it could be worthy to repost now. Here’s a Class Profile the med school my son attends puts out each year (same template every year - just change the year in the URL to see the commonalities):

https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/MediaLibraries/URMCMedia/education/md/documents/2021-profile.pdf

You can read that to get the gist of what med schools want to see as I expect most are similar. They like a variety of experiences, including majors, but so much more than just majors.

9

@mikemac Agree with you completely.
I would also suggest you speak to doctors in any of the fields in which you are interested in. Ask them questions about whether they would do it again? What sacrifices did they make to become a doctor? Do they like their chosen profession. Which type of doctor do they think they would be if they were not in (x) specialty?Why?
I would also think long and hard about pay. There is a good likelihood whether we like it or not that medicine will be under ever more government control in the future. What will this mean to you if you invest 500K getting that MD? One of my kiddos has an interest in medicine and we have already begun to talk about the pay back. Kiddo knows business is an easier/more likely route to money making. That said, we need great MD’s and more of them than ever.
If that’s your path than go for it, I think it is great you have a plan B.

10

@Creekland wow, that profile thing was so cool. Wish my school did that!

11

We’ve seen plenty of super-ambitious kids with back-up plans (B, C, …), double or triple majors, finish college in less than 4 years… and lots of them end up in the 75% never-made-to-application-cycle and 60% without-single-med-school-acceptance.

You can major in anything that you like/enjoy as long as you complete the BCPM requirement with good grades, good MCAT and ECs.

12

Going to pile on here–

you say:

but medicine isn’t really about “the science”. Medicine is about people. It’s very people-oriented career. You have to like people–even nasty, rude, disagreeable, uncooperative people-- because those people will be your patients. You will spend a significant portion of your time coaxing, cajoling, convincing, or otherwise trying to persuade people that they should listen to you, not to Dr. Google or their best friend’s cousin’s hairstylist who once studied to be a massage therapist. The cynical among us will say the rest of their time is spent arguing with insurance companies…

You sounds very idealistic and starry-eyed about being a doctor. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but you need to know that the career really isn’t like that. Medicine as a profession is gritty and sometimes depressing, You will be dealing people in crisis, often on the very worst days of their lives.

I second the advice given above to do some physician shadowing to get a feel of what a typical doctor’s day is like. I also strong recommend you do some volunteer service with vulnerable populations (elderly demented, homeless, mentally ill, physically disabled, chronically ill, poor/low income families), Those vulnerable populations—those are your future patients.

The shadowing and volunteering will give an idea about whether medicine might be right career for you. Also try investigating other healthcare careers–physician assistant, dentistry, podiatry, physical & occupational therapy, audiology, nursing (including nurse practitioners).

And if you love science, there are hundred of science careers that don’t involve medicine. One of D1’s best friends turned down med school and now designs/creates specialty yeasts for a microbrewery that sells its beers all over the western US. A friend of mine breeds designer mice (with special/unique genetic characteristics) for biotechnology companies. Another friend works for NASA helping design human-friendly control panels for spacecraft and ground control systems. All real jobs. All bio majors.

(FWIW, I have 2 doctor daughters–neither was a bio major.)

13

I’ve been fighting tooth and nail to try and shadow a doctor, but no one wants a high school senior! It’s sometimes frustrating. And I see where you’re coming from about the grit of being a doctor. My mom happens to be a patient care technician, sort of the grunts of the medical care system, and all she tells me about is the complaints and the general turbulence you experience when dealing with patients, not to mention the sadness at seeing some of the patients pass away and how it affects their families etc. I understand your point and I’m trying to get into the healthcare ecosystem, but it’s becoming hard to even find places who need volunteers! I turn 18 in the summer and my mom has a great shot at getting me a job there as a patient care tech, hopefully, that’ll help as well. Thanks for your reply!