<p>I'm looking to apply for college and I'm having trouble deciding my major. I am trying to get into med school after undergrad. I'm looking into majors such as: Biology, Anthropology, and Biochemistry.</p>
<p>My question is this: Is it harder to get into Biology than Anthropology? And will med-schools consider me more if I have a biological science as my major rather than a social science?</p>
<p>Thank you for your help.</p>
<p>Yeah it matters. It’s generally understood that the “hardcore” science majors like chemistry and math are harder to get into than certain liberal arts majors like women’s gender studies or something like that. I’ve also heard that when applying to med schools, they prefer to see non-science majors like music or something because it sets you apart from the other applicants.</p>
<p>Medical schools are thought to be largely indifferent to the various liberal arts (including science) majors, though they are also thought to disdain on more obviously pre-professional majors.</p>
<p>Getting into specific majors at any given college depends on which majors at any given college are popular relative to the college’s capacity in the major.</p>
<p>For example, students at Berkeley can declare the computer science major after passing the prerequisites, while students at Washington have to face a fiercely competitive admission process when applying to the computer science major after completing the prerequisites.</p>
<p>If you are a science major, you will have more courses count for your sGPA. This is helpful if you end up having a bad grade in OChem etc… If you happen to major in a non-science area (and thus, take less science/math courses counting towards your sGPA), then each pre-med prereq counts more. However, if you ace all your science classes, you are great either way.</p>
<p>
Depends on the school. The UC system, for example, admits students for these 2 majors without taking their intended major into consideration.</p>
<p>As for med school, your major is not that big an issue. You have to take a required set of math/scienceclasses to apply. Couple that with the volunteer work that is an unofficial requirement, some research work that is a help, your recs and your essays, your major is not that huge of a deal. It probably would help to take an extra upper-division science class if you major in a non-science discipline. I suggest you read thru a book on med school admissions now so that you enter college knowing what they will be looking for 3 years down the road.</p>
<p>
Is that correct? For instance all Biological Sciences are impacted at UCSD while Anthro is not.
[Impacted</a> Majors](<a href=“http://students.ucsd.edu/academics/advising/majors-minors/impacted-majors.html]Impacted”>Selective Majors)</p>
<p>Med schools are looking for evidence that you have commited yourself to a career in medicine. Your major isnt as important as some demostrated effort to use that knowledge as it relates to medicine. For example, you might major in computer science so that you can study how to best use computers to assist in health care. They are definitely looking for success though…so choose something that you can excel in (good GPA). </p>
<p>As far as your second question I assume you are talking about getting accepted to a department (major) within the college and not acceptance to the college. The requirements for getting admitted to a department varies from school to school, but typicall it involves completing a certian number of required courses with an acceptable grade. Its not usually a competitive process, so as long as you do the work you should get in. Its “tougher” only to the extent one is more or less challenging for you.</p>
<p>Erin’s Dad: The admissions webpage says they don’t care about major with regards to getting accepted to the U.
They go on to say that while your chances of admission to the university don’t depend on major, although you might not be admitted to your 1st choice major
Other</a> UCs, such as UCLA, do a similar thing by not taking major into account when you list a major in Letters & Science; but you are then considered a “pre-major” for impacted majors and have to apply once enrolled to actually be accepted into the major (such as biz-econ).</p>
<p>So maybe my answer was incomplete; restated, for most majors at the UC system, your intended major does not affect your chances of getting accepted to the campus but you may be accepted to the campus and unable to get into your chosen major.</p>
<p>Note that at some UCs applicants to certain colleges such as Fine Arts or Engineering are judged by major.</p>