Ok I know I just asked a question about classes, but I have another one. I want to major in the medical field and I don’t know what classes to take. I’m about to be a sophomore. I was planning to take journalism all four years and eventually journalism dual enrollment 1 and 2 but people are telling me that that will look bad, because I don’t want to major in journalism. I’m planning on taking bio, chem, bio ap, and chem ap in that order. Now I have 2 choose between taking journalism or physics and ap physics, because I don’t have enough classes to take both. If I take journalism all 4 years I have a good shot at becoming editor in chief, but I’d that better then taking physics and ap physics?
There really isn’t any such thing as a “medical field major”. Pre-meds can major in any discipline so long as they complete the required pre-requisites for med school. Pre-med is an intention, not any particular major.
Take whatever you want during high school. Medical schools don’t care what coursework you took during high school. In fact, med schools don’t look at your high school coursework at all.(Exception: Any courses taken as dual enrollment are included when you apply to med school and any grades earned thru DE will be included in GPA calculations.)
If you do intend to pursue the pre-med path, you should probably take physics in high school. You don’t need to take AP physics, but you should take a year of honors level if it’s offered at your school.
Why? Because you will] required to take a year of college physics. Physics in college will be much easier to do well in if you’ve seen the material before.
None STEM majors are very well welcomed in med schools because they look for diversity in student composition. As long as you keep a good sGpa and overall Gpa, your chances to medical schools are high.
Sorry I don’t think I phrased that right. So it’s basically ap chem and ap physics OR journalism and editor in chief. I’m definitely taking ap bio. So now I have to choose between the two.
@WayOutWestMom
But I thought colleges wanted students to take challenging classes, like ap classes?
Colleges do, but medical schools don’t look at high school classes. Ever. Full stop.
College admission is not the same thing as med school admission. The two processes are separate and distinctively different. There is no overlap between them.
Anyone who attends any regionally accredited college in the US can be a pre-med and can potentially be admitted to medical school. Pre-med is an intention, not a specific major. So long as you complete the necessary pre-reqs (bio, gen chem, ochem, biochem, physics, calc, stats, sociology, psych and English) you can apply to med school–assuming your GPA and MCAT score are good enough.
Your high school goals/achievements do not have to aligned perfectly with your long term aspirations. (Career goals continually change and evolve during high school and college anyway. Just because you think you want to be doctor now doesn’t mean you will 4 years from now.)
However, having been exposed to foundational concepts in physics and chemistry and developing a robust understanding of the topics in high school makes it much easier to do well in the more advance coursework in those same subjects you’ll take during college and successfully compete against those who did take AP Chem and AP physics.
Now a mini-lecture: a medical career requires a great many sacrifices along the way. Choosing AP chem and AP physics over courses and activities you may prefer can be looked at as just one of many sacrifices you’ll need to make to achieve your ultimate goal becoming a physician.
tl;dr – med schools don’t care about what coursework you took during high school, but colleges may. Take the courses that best serve your near-term and long-term goals. If those goals conflict --then you have a tough decision ahead of you.