I was recently accepted into the PSA program at Texas A&M. Although bio isn’t offered as one of the majors for the program, allied health is. My ultimate goal is to get into med school, and Texas A&M College Station is still very much my top school. Is allied health a close enough major to biology? Also, although it’s seriously not recommended, is it possible to switch my major after a semester at College Station? Or will the advisors there just laugh in my face?
On another note, does anyone have any info about Texas A&M Corpus Christi that I should be aware of? I haven’t found much information about it, but what I’ve read seems to be positive.
Thanks in advanced! Sophie
@slebiedz The PSA coordinator at TAMUCC is awesome. His name is Bill Coari. He has a very comprehensive webpage all about PSA & how to navigate it on the CC campus. Check out this link & in particular the FAQ section.
@admissions.tamucc.edu.psa He has videos with transcripts and just works his way thru everything a prospective PSA there would need to know.
They really don’t like it when you try to transfer into a non PSA major. You might want to talk to an advisor in Bio and see if they enforce it? My son was PSA and one of his PSA friends tried to ask an advisor about switching to Agribusiness…they laughed and pointed him to the door. See what the advisors say about Allied Health and if you would be able to get all the classes needed for med school, and If you really want Biology, then I’d look into PTA instead of PSA. Bio is one of the majors listed for PTA.
Main thing is to take whatever med school requirements are. Other than that, it doesn’t really matter what major you have. I always say it’s best to get a degree in something you can get a job in straight out of college AND that you’ll enjoy.
While Med school is a great plan and you should make all attempts to actively pursue it, plans can change on a dime and you want to have back up plans worked into your degree/goals.
As for changing majors, I agree with @collegemom3717 they do not look kindly on changing majors when you go through the PSA or PTA program.
@slebiedz Both my son ('23) and daughter ('21) have aspirations to go to medical school. They are both double majoring in biochemistry and genetics. Biochemistry is a PSA major, and the courses it requires are definitely good for MCAT and medical school prep. My son is currently in his PSA contract at TAMU CC - he was required to take Biology 1 & 2, Chemistry 1 & 2 and Calculus 1 & 2. So far so good!
Med schools definitely prefer sciences be taken at 4 year institution over community college, so PSA is definitely a better route like @jaceyk is saying.
@JaceyK what other chemistry-based classes have they taken? I don’t love the idea of 4 more years of chem, but it is intriguing. Also, how does your son like TAMUCC?
@slebiedz My daughter has taken organic chem 1 & 2, biochem 1 (and taking biochem 2). Here is the degree plan:
https://catalog.tamu.edu/undergraduate/agriculture-life-sciences/biochemistry-biophysics/biochemistry-bs/#programrequirementstext