Hi, I am currently a communications major but I really want to go to med school. On the other hand, I was also wondering what careers can I get out of a communication degree if med school doesn’t work out? And secondly, is communications a good major to go into med school in the first place?
Medical schools are mostly agnostic to your major, but you need to take the pre-med courses (e.g. biology, chemistry, physics, math) alongside your major if your major does not overlap with them. Earning a high GPA overall and in the science courses is very important to avoid automatic rejection by GPA screen when applying to medical schools. The MCAT is also very important in a similar manner.
You can major in whatever you want.
Communication+ a science minor would likely be fruitful professionally.
To go to med school, you need to take the equivalent of
2 each: Biology, inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, physics, English (composition, communication…)
1 each: calculus, Biostatistics, sociology, Psychology, biochemistry, a diversity-focused course - and it’s recommended you take neuroscience/cognitive Science, bioethics, and have some fluency in a language other than English (which can be acquired through coursework but also through volunteering and through community education for languages such as Hmong or Ukrainian or Nahuatl…)
Med schools are moving away from a scripted list of classes but you need to demonstrate the skills and knowledge these classes would indicate.
In each of these classes you need to be top 10-20%. Your college GPA and science GPA need to be 3.7+.
You need to be involved in medically related activities - volunteer, do research, work as an EMT.
Check out the tumbler by Afrenchie36 for an example.
I personally don’t really think of communications as an “academic” major so I would see if there’s a way to get similar coursework/knowledge with a sociology/psychology or enlgish major (depending on what your focus within communications really is)
^^^
Yes, to the above. Communications isn’t an academic major. The negative will be felt by you. The schools won’t care, but your critical thinking/analyzing skills will not be as challenged/developed as they would be if your major was in an academic discipline. That could negatively play out when you take the MCAT.
Isn’t music non-academic also? I feel like I’ve read here that was a perfectly good premed major.
Musical studies is academic. Musical performance is not. Plenty of exceptions to this rule but if you’re earning a BFA instead of a BA, it is probably not the right schooling.