For those in the know, what happens to a kid if they go pre-med and drop out/dont make it into med

school? What do you do with a premed major if you aren’t going to be a doctor?
I am so new to all this i am overwhelmed but what i dont know. My son would like to do med school, but a lot of kids dont make it. I want to be supportive, but with a backup plan.
thanks so much!

So a kid can get into med school from any major as long as they take the pre-med pre-requisites. There is a huge glut of kids who are bio majors who don’t get into med school, a fairly large number of chem majors as well. So one thing to consider is majoring in something else that can be a backup if med school doesn’t work out.

The main things he needs for med school is a high GPA (something to think about when selecting a major), a strong MCAT score, and some kind of medical experience (can be volunteering, working, etc., during the summer or during the school year). Some students take a gap year after undergrad to gain more experience and work on their applications, too. He should minimize his debt for undergrad, as med school is really expensive, and he likely will have big loans then.

Premed isn’t a major.

A student who’d like to go to med school chooses ANY major he wants…English, History, Bio, Music, Engineering, Computer Science, etc, etc, etc, and then also takes the premed prereqs, which are about 9 classes, some of which fullfill Core/Gen Ed req’ts.

Therefore, if your son doesn’t get into med school, his major would be used as he would if he hadn’t included those premed prereqs.

Many premeds include a Plan B. When my son was an undergrad, he majored in Chemical Engineering in case he changed his mind and didn’t want to go to med school. If he hadn’t gone to med school, he would have easily found a job as a chemical engineer.

Definitely agree with the above- being premed is an intention, not a major. Only around 1/3 of interested students will eventually enter medical schools from what I hear- just like in my day eons ago. Some will change their minds, some will find the required courses for entrance too difficult to do well in and others will apply but not be accepted.

Definitely have a plan B. My advice- choose a major that interests you, not one because it is useful for medicine. Never try to game the system to get top grades- take the courses you want and/or versions of them. Use electives for your education, not because they will be useful in medical school (they teach you everything you need there). As a medical student and resident physician there won’t be as much time to indulge in other interests like there is in college. Consider the arts- I (woman physician from the days of much discrimination- the tales I can tell) took a symphony course, an art history course, a fantasy/sci fi lit course- all for myself. They are useful decades later in appreciating life outside work. We are all so much more than our majors or careers. College is the one time it is our full time job to indulge in getting an education- inside and outside the classroom. Oh, I was a chemistry major because I liked it- chose medical school over grad school by senior year and was one of those who got in.

So, mom, let him discover his path. As he takes college courses he will figure out likes and dislikes. These will lead him to his major and future plans.

If the person gets through to the application process and does not get in, then: grad school for a year or two trying to get in, med school in the Caribbean, DO school, dental school.

If the person does not make it that far, then anything else.

Probably lower for MD medical schools in the US, since only about half of those who apply get admitted to any. Many pre-meds give up before applying when they realize that their grades or MCAT scores are too low, or because they lost interest for other reasons.

Cousin’s daughter did not get into med school and now is in DO school. Nephew of a friend did not have the grades as an undergrad (at Princeton) to get in and did a post-baccalaureate pre-med program and STILL did not get in, probably again because of the undergrad grades. Don’t overlook PA school or APRN for people who really want to do healthcare. PA school is 2 years of school vs 4 for med school, and then you start getting a real salary, while doctors have a minimum of 3 years of indentured servitude (i.e., residency… When I was a resident, my childcare costs were more than my take home pay. ) Another nice thing about PA’s and APRN’s – within certain limits, it’s pretty easy to change specialties.

Only about 1/4 of freshmen premeds end up applying to med school…and then about half get into a med school. Bio and Gen Chem usually weed out a good number, then Orgo or Physics weeds out a bunch, then MCAT score weeds out more, and some simply decide on a different career path.

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the person gets through to the application process and does not get in, then: grad school for a year or two trying to get in, med school in the Caribbean, DO school, dental school.
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Often if there are no acceptances, and the student wants to try again, then during the gap year, they’ll apply again, include some DO schools, and do research or some sort of medically-related activity to enhance the app. Special Masters Programs (SMPs) are usually only done if the undergrad grades weren’t med school worthy. Caribbean schools should only be a very last resort. Dental schools are often as hard to get into as med schools.

“Dental schools are often as hard to get into as med schools.” Right, because the profession limits entry to keep prices up and has managed to remain under the radar in terms of managed care.

I’ve not understood the advice often given on this site-to choose a school and major that will ensure top grades…and that grades and scores are all that is needed. Well, if 2/3 that start out in pre-med end up someplace else, that advice is misguided because that is not all that is needed for life.

Disagree regarding dentists. Dentists have been wiser than doctors and have stayed out of the Medicaid business. They have much less government intrusion into their work. It is a good thing to be “under the radar of managed care.” Notice how when you see the dentist you don’t spend 20 minutes in a room with someone else asking you silly questions about whether you feel safe at home. Notice how dentists often use paper records that cannot be accessed easily and they write very little. No government data mining of your dental records to make you “safer.” There is much better privacy in dentistry (though less necessary than with regular healthcare) and less price inflation.

Colleague’s son went into consulting for a firm with health care/pharmeceutical clients. Was a bio major but also had some business classes. Another initial pre-med student I know, went into hospital administration. And pharmeceutical companies are also an option

I was a biology major in college and therefore was surrounded by pre-meds, some of whom did not get in to medical school (or realized fairly early on that they would not get in to medical school).

Some, who were interested in the health professions in general, went in to other health professions such as optometry. Today, becoming a physician’s assistant might also be an option (it didn’t exist then).

A few went to law school. These were people for whom the appeal of being a physician was having a private practice as a professional. You can do that in law, too. (But law was a better choice in those days than it is now.)

A few went into research – often by taking a job as a lab technician and later applying to PhD programs after having gained some practical experience.

And some had no clue what to do. Their biology majors didn’t prepare them for anything that wanted to do. They would have been better off majoring in something else and providing themselves with a Plan B in case medical school didn’t turn out to be an option for them.

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I’ve not understood the advice often given on this site-to choose a school and major that will ensure top grades…and that grades and scores are all that is needed.

Well, if 2/3 that start out in pre-med end up someplace else, that advice is misguided because that is not all that is needed for life.


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Maybe some clarification is needed. The advice is for those who are dead-serious that they want to go to med school. It’s not for the “I was on the honor roll in high school so everyone says I should become a doctor” students. There are high school students who do KNOW that they want to become doctors. Some have already shadowed, some have done medically-related ECs. Some were addicted to those TV programs that showed real operations and procedures (yuck!). They haven’t been misled by some romantic ideas. They have a feel for the profession. My son and two of his high school friends all knew that they wanted to become doctors…and in 12 months they’ll be MDs.

Many of those 2/3 get weeded out BECAUSE they chose the “harder school”. Much of the premed/med school process is counter-intuitive. We constantly see premeds with very good but not tippy top stats heading to top schools because they think the “name” will give them an edge for applications. Not only will there not be an edge, but chances are the student won’t even make it that far.

A few times I’ve mentioned the UT-Dallas premed who transferred to Vandy because he thought it would “look better” when he applied to med schools, and he thought it would give him an edge into Vandy’s med school. He had a 4.0 at UTD. However, Vandy is filled with high stats premeds, and this student soon found himself with a very damaged GPA. (and even if he had gotten a med school worthy GPA, Vandy only accepts a tiny number of its own students. Nearly 200 Vandy students applied, and only 13 were accepted. Not seeing any advantage.

BTW…I don’t think anyone is advocating going to a school the student hates or a podunk school where getting a job in another profession would be an issue.

@clarabelle18 Forgetting medicine since it is not an undergrad major, what would your son like to study during undergrad?

It depends on the degree major chosen, but possibilities other than medical school include dental school, pharmacy school, optometry school, public health specialist, physician’s assistant, physical therapy, dietitian, epidemiologist, forensic lab or other laboratory technician work, respiratory specialist, microbiologist, parasitologist, and more. My undergraduate major was biomedical science and it is a versatile degree program with graduates going on to a number of different fields.

@CIEE83 , DO school IS med school.

The backup plan will likely emerge in time. As noted above, any major is fine for pre-med as long as the requisite core courses are taken. My D considered pre-med but decided she didn’t want that long of a haul in terms of education/training. She did a lot of research/shadowed and spoke with people in different fields and is will be going for a MS in speech pathology next year. She felt it was a great match for her interests and her desire to work with children. She also though about OT, PA, science teacher to name but a few. Another friend who also considered pre-med found he loved academia and will be getting a PhD in Neuroscience after undergrad. Some people completely drop the sciences and move onto a completely different fields.

In short, there are as many backup plans as your child has interests and abilities.

^ Yes, I know, but I’m not sure how I should refer to it to clarify that it confers a degree other than MD without calling it DO school. And it is easier to be accepted at a DO school than an MD school.

ex went to UTD for undergrad and got into MD school on first try many moons ago.

Wow! Thank you all for the responses. My son’s interest has been in Biometry/Bioinformatics. He always talked about working for the CDC statistically plotting outbreaks. He is a very strong math student. He does not want to be a “hands on” medical doctor dealing with being a GP or getting a degree as a Physicians Assistant or Occupational Therapy. He is more about the dx than the person.

I tend to be a safety net person. I would never discourage him, but I don’t want him to be stuck with a biology degree and working at Verizon (like my friend’s daughter does). Other majors he has looked at are Bio-Engineering, Medical Physics, Pharmacology. If he went into one of those majors he would be applying to a higher priced STEM school, Lehigh University being his top choice. If he is set on medical school, than I would advise a smaller LAC or a Sate U. So if he gets into Lehigh and majors in Bio-E and gets a B, that is a good GPA at a good school and he can still graduate get a good job, but medical school is out.

Ugh - bad enough kids have to decide so early on about a major, but you literally have to plot out what you do now to get to where you want to be ten years from now.

Thank you all I guess I need to do some more research into LAC