<p>cotton:</p>
<p>if you do just a couple of google clicks for premed advising and business major curriculum on your (prospective?) School B, you will find the answers that you seek <a href=“real%20source%20documents%20in%20writing”>b</a>** but they won’t agree with your world view.</p>
<p>To all:</p>
<p>I sincerely apologize for any offenses. Please understand that I never meant to insult. </p>
<p>Let me explain. I feel that this is a very important issue. It is one that others like myself should take into consideration before making the heavy decision of choosing a major. I admit that I am being aggressive, but I do not intend to attack, but challenge as one would in a debate. Don’t mistake passion for hostility, or “antagonism”. </p>
<p>Why do I want to argue? Because I do NOT know everything. If I knew all of the answers, I wouldn’t comment on this thread and ask for input. I am posting here because I am fully aware that my standing on this issue may not be correct. I am simply taking a side and supporting my viewpoints. I am looking for others to do the same, especially if their view opposes mine because I am NOT completely convinced that major doesn’t matter</p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong. I am very open to the fact that majoring in business is a bad idea for med school admissions. I have no doubt that it could be true. But that’s what I am trying to figure out. I am trying to receive input from opposing viewpoints to come to an understanding. However, if these opposing viewpoints are not supported by solid evidence, I become skeptical. That is why I am challenging others to come up with it so that I might be proven wrong. </p>
<p>I am stubborn with my standing about this issue, but that is because there has not been strong convincing arguments against it. Being a HS senior is only relevant to this thread because I am making the decision of choosing a major. As with all HS seniors and everyone else trying to pick a major, I am most affected by this thread because it directly pertains to my situation.</p>
<p>NJSue,
I feel that you have much credibility. That is why I am asking you for your input. You bring a good point, and I am trying to get more answers from you because you could very well prove my viewpoints wrong. If I can’t get answers from people such as yourself, then I could be having beliefs that are false. You’re right; you’re not obliged to to give me facts and figures or even to comment at all. But that is the purpose of this discussion and many people such as myself would greatly appreciate it if you do.</p>
<p>I greatly encourage feedback, which is why I am bothering to be so passionate about this thread.</p>
<p>^Nothing is cut in stone, just try and opt out if it does not work. Too much discussion about non-existing artificial problem when there is no problem at all. Most pre-meds are ended up NOT applying to Med. School anyway. Too much excitement, CC is to relax, not make anybody jump up and down. If you want to do that, I strongly recommend visiting SDN. There is will get as jumpy (or more) as you wish!! Relax, it is Friday!</p>
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<p>That image of the business major seems to be common (not just in a pre-med context). But is it mostly because the popularity of the business major increases at the less selective four year schools? In contrast, the popularity of liberal arts/sciences and engineering increases at the more selective four year schools.</p>
<p>In theory, business as an academic subject is the application of concepts from several liberal arts subjects like economics, psychology, and statistics, and can be taught in a rigorous manner. But actual practice may be different, especially at the less selective four year schools.</p>
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<p>Perhaps that is because you are not looking in the right places? :)</p>
<p>Your (future?) college has it spelled out in black and white. Check it out. Ask the college’s premed advisor what they recommend. At the end of the day, they’ll be the one’s writing your Committee Letter (if the college does one), so their advice is the only thing that matters, and should be much more valuable than an anonymous internet board.</p>
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<p>Bingo!</p>
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<p>There has been a spate of recent publicity about the thin content and curricular emptiness of many undergraduate business programs. For every Wharton, there are 10 other undergraduate business schools where students spend their time writing “marketing analyses” and doing group work (exceptions: finance and accounting majors). Not very useful training for medical school. At least if you major in economics, you will have to write serious papers involving concepts from history and political science, and you will need to demonstrate some ability to deal in statistics (i.e. some measure of quantitative ability).</p>
<p>NJSue and Blue and anyone else with an opinion on this,</p>
<p>So is it accurate to say that your perspective is that any major with an immediate practical application would put a med school applicant at a disadvantage? Secondary education with a biology major? Nursing? Physical therapy? </p>
<p>Or is your perspective that a practical major such as business, from a top 20 undergraduate business program is respectable, but that a business major from, say, The University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh (directional public university part of the UW system) would put one at a disadvantage?</p>
<p>Is an undergraduate business degree from UW-O on par with having a Biology major/Chemistry Minor (or French Literature) undergraduate degree from UW-O in terms of med school admissions? How about comparing those same degrees from U-Penn? Would those same degrees from U-Penn not be an issue?</p>
<p>In otherwords, are you saying that it’s the degree, or the university that granted it that is the issue in med school admissions?</p>
<p>Not trying to argue, here, just trying to get a more full explanation and clearer understanding of the points you are making. </p>
<p>(I live in an area of the country where there are top ranked medical schools surrounding the county in which I live. You can’t swing a cat in our neighborhood without hitting a physician, many of whom are teaching staff, researchers, professors, alumni, etc., at Hopkins, U-Md, Georgetown, USUHS, or George Washington. My H and I have physicians on both sides of our family going back three generations, with seven presently practicing MD’s. I have a pretty good understanding of the application process, but I’m interested in your perspectives on this. Frankly, the topic of specific majors being detrimental to med school admissions has never come up in any conversation I’ve ever had.)</p>
<p>I’d also like to know how, specifically, you have come to your conclusions, because we all only know each other as anonymous Internet posters. Are you working in med school admissions? I do know people who do sit on interview committees for a couple of med schools, and again, this topic has never come up.</p>
<p>I’d be curious to know what your friends would say if you asked them about specific majors.</p>
<p>I have already explained where I got my perspective.</p>
<p>I know one person who has been on a med school admissions committee, who has told me that an academic major looks better. This may be, as I said earlier, residual snobbery or an out-of-date perception.</p>
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<p>What this person (a relative) told me is that both matter. You don’t have to go to an Ivy League school but you should go to a decently competitive school and do well there in a major that demonstrates intellectual ability. Not all majors do.</p>