Health Sciences major vs. molecular and cellular bio major

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

Hi, I am transferring this upcoming fall and am undecided on what major to pick. Bio is a very common pre med major so I suppose it’s definitely a good “safety net” major. I don’t know how else to describe the health sciences major but to just paste it here below. Do you think this would be a poor choice to pick this major instead of bio? Thanks.

Required Core Courses
BIOL 2311 - Integrative Biology BIOL, TS
BIOL 2331 - Anatomy and Physiology I BIOL
CHEM 1231 - Organic Chemistry I PHYS
CHEM 2331 - General Chemistry I (4.0 cr)
CLI 1711 - University Experience I (1.0 cr)
CLI 1712 - University Experience II (1.0 cr)
CLI 2522 - Community Collaboratory (3.0 cr)
CLI 2713 - Career Exploration in the Health Sciences (1.0 cr)
CLI 3712 - Capstone Proposal Writing (1.0 cr)
ENGL 1433 - Introduction to Literature LITR
MATH 1161 - Statistics and Discrete Mathematics MATH
PHIL 1431 - Introduction to Philosophy AH
PHYS 1251 - Physics I PHYS
PUBH 2561 - Public Health: A Global Perspective GP
SOC 1571 - Introduction to Sociology SOCS, DSJ
WRIT 1511 - Writing Studio I (1.0 cr)
WRIT 1512 - Writing Studio II (1.0 cr)
WRIT 3511 - Communication Methods (3.0 cr)
Capstone Reflection
CLI 4713 - Capstone Reflections I and II (2.0 cr)
or Subgroup CR
CLI 4711 - Capstone Reflections I (1.0 cr)
CLI 4712 - Capstone Reflections II (1.0 cr)
Ethics Core
PHIL 1441 - Introduction to Ethics CIV
or SOC 1641 - Social Justice and Ethical Decision Making CIV
Required Language Core
SPAN 1521, SPAN 1522, SPAN 2521 can be replaced by proficiency exam or an approved alternative language.
Intro Class
SPAN 1520 - Review of Foundations in Spanish (1.0 cr)
or SPAN 1521 - Spanish I (3.0 cr)
SPAN 1522 - Spanish II (3.0 cr)
SPAN 2521 - Spanish III (3.0 cr)
or an approved alternative language
Quantitative Reasoning Core
Take exactly 2 course(s) from the following:
· MATH 1110 - College Algebra with Physical Concepts MATH
· MATH 1111 - Precalculus with Physical Concepts MATH
· MATH 1171 - Calculus, Modeling, and Data I MATH
· MATH 2161 - Bioinformatics and Biostatistics MATH
· MATH 2171 - Calculus, Modeling, and Data II MATH
Upper Division
Take 3 or more course(s) from the following:
Science Courses
Take 1 or more course(s) from the following:
· BIOC 3321 - Biochemistry (3.0 cr)
· BIOL 2332 - Anatomy and Physiology II (4.0 cr)
· BIOL 3311 - Molecular Genetics BIOL, TS
· BIOL 3344 - Microbiology ENV
· BIOL 4312 - Advanced Topics in Molecular and Cellular Biology and Genetics (4.0 cr)
· BIOL 4342 - Neuroscience (3.0 cr)
· BIOL 4364 - Immunology (3.0 cr)
· CHEM 4331 - Chemical Biology/Bioorganic Chemistry (3.0 cr)
· Humanities, Public Health and Social Sciences
Take 1 or more course(s) from the following:
· ENGL 3481 - Technology and Society TS
· PHIL 3437 - History and Philosophy of Science HIS
· PHIL 3441 - Ethics of Medicine and the Sciences AH, CIV
· PSY 3511 - Human Development across the Lifespan (3.0 cr)
· PSY 3512 - Principles of Abnormal Psychology (3.0 cr)
· PUBH 3531 - Health Policy in a Global Context GP, SOCS
· PUBH 3561 - Environmental Health and Environmental Justice ENV, SOCS
· PUBH 4561 - Introduction to Epidemiology: Research and Data Exploration (3.0 cr)
· SOC 3531 - Health Policy in a Global Context GP, SOCS
· SOC 3571 - Drugs and Society DSJ, SOCS
· SOC 3581 - Medical Sociology and Technology SOCS, TS
Electives
Take 12 or more credit(s) from the following:
· BIOC 3321 - Biochemistry (3.0 cr)
· BIOL 2332 - Anatomy and Physiology II (4.0 cr)
· BIOL 3311 - Molecular Genetics BIOL, TS
· BIOL 3344 - Microbiology ENV
· BIOL 4312 - Advanced Topics in Molecular and Cellular Biology and Genetics (4.0 cr)
· BIOL 4342 - Neuroscience (3.0 cr)
· BIOL 4364 - Immunology (3.0 cr)
· BIOL 4721 - Special Topics in the Life Sciences (1.0-4.0 cr)
· CHEM 2231 - Organic Chemistry II (4.0 cr)
· CHEM 2333 - General Chemistry II (4.0 cr)
· CHEM 4331 - Chemical Biology/Bioorganic Chemistry (3.0 cr)
· CHEM 4721 - Special Topics in Chemistry (1.0-4.0 cr)
· CLI 1393 - Directed Study (1.0-3.0 cr)
· CLI 3393 - Directed Study (1.0-3.0 cr)
· CLI 3394 - Directed Research (1.0-6.0 cr)
· CLI 3496 - Internship: Professional Experience (1.0-6.0 cr)
· CLI 3711 - Career Preparation (1.0 cr)
· CLI 3950 - Special Topics (1.0-3.0 cr)
· CLI 4393 - Capstone Directed Study (1.0-3.0 cr)
· CLI 4496 - Capstone Internship (1.0-12.0 cr)
· CLI 4696 - Capstone Research Experience (1.0-12.0 cr)
· CLI 4896 - Capstone Certificate in Health Professions (1.0-15.0 cr)
· CLI 4950 - Special Topics (1.0-3.0 cr)
· HP 4802 - Health Economics and Finance DSJ
· HP 4902 - Management and Leadership in Healthcare GP
· HIST 1435 - Introduction to History HIS, GP
· PHIL 3437 - History and Philosophy of Science HIS
· PHIL 3441 - Ethics of Medicine and the Sciences AH, CIV
· ENGL 3471 - Literatures of Diversity DSJ
· ENGL 3481 - Technology and Society TS
· HUM 4721 - Special Topics in Humanities (3.0 cr)
· MATH 1171 - Calculus, Modeling, and Data I MATH
· MATH 2161 - Bioinformatics and Biostatistics MATH
· MATH 2171 - Calculus, Modeling, and Data II MATH
· MATH 4721 - Special Topics in the Mathematical Sciences (1.0-4.0 cr)
· PHYS 2251 - Physics II PHYS
· PHYS 4721 - Special Topics in the Physical Sciences (1.0-4.0 cr)
· PSY 1511 - Psychology SOCS
· PSY 3511 - Human Development across the Lifespan (3.0 cr)
· PSY 3512 - Principles of Abnormal Psychology (3.0 cr)
· PUBH 3531 - Health Policy in a Global Context GP, SOCS
· PUBH 3561 - Environmental Health and Environmental Justice ENV, SOCS
· PUBH 4561 - Introduction to Epidemiology: Research and Data Exploration (3.0 cr)
· SOC 3531 - Health Policy in a Global Context GP, SOCS
· SOC 3571 - Drugs and Society DSJ, SOCS
· SOC 3581 - Medical Sociology and Technology SOCS, TS
· SOC 4721 - Special Topics in Sociology (1.0-4.0 cr)
· SPAN 1524 - Conversational Spanish (1.0 cr)
· SPAN 2524 - Spanish IV (3.0 cr)
· SPAN 4721 - Special Topics in Spanish (1.0-4.0 cr)
· WRIT 4721 - Special Topics in Writing (3.0 cr)

2

The advice is always to choose an academic discipline major, not a vocational major. Allied health sciences majors are pretty much the only major that does put you at a disadvantage for medical school.

The requirements for this major make it sort of hard to tell where it falls on the spectrum of academic discipline (e.g. “biology”) to vocational allied health sciences (e.g. clinical lab sciences).

I would think you’d be judged more on your transcript than the actual title of your major, and it looks like you could complete this major in a way that would make it look like any traditional academic course of study. Depending on what exactly these capstone internships/internship professional experience credits are and university experiences/community corollary are (basically anything with a CLI department designation), I might avoid them. I guess you can’t avoid 7 credits of that stuff though, so I think this is something you’d have to sort out with your pre-med advisor or tell us what school you’re talking about so that we can get a better sense of what exactly this is.

3

Ok, I realized I could just google one of the course titles and so I see we’re talking about University of Minnesota - Rochester. I don’t see molecular and cell biology as even an option: https://r.umn.edu/academics-research/academic-programs/undergraduate and it looks like you have to have been specifically admitted to the BSHS program at UMR. Are you going to Rochester or Duluth (the only campus with a cell and molecular biology major)?

4

Rochester for the health sciences major. The cellular and molecular biology major would be at a different university system. http://catalog.winona.edu/preview_program.php?catoid=7&poid=908&returnto=747 So it’s a choice between two different colleges.

5

Thanks for the response. In your opinion, what path would be wiser to take? A bit nervous as to talking to pre-med advisers from both colleges since there’s that tendency to “sway” you towards picking them. Should I be speaking to an outside source?

6

I understand your apprehension, I wrote that when I assumed we were talking about 2 majors at one school and thus the advisor would have no personal incentive to steer you one way vs. the other.

My gut says to go with the cell and molecular bio major, but I think it would depend on what exactly those CLI courses at UMR entail because a lot of the UMR requirements look pretty indistinguishable from a bio major who takes electives in health policy and such.

Minnesota is the state flagship which I would normally say is the better choice than a smaller state university, but I don’t know that much about state universities and what it means that you’re not at the main twin cities campus. I also don’t really know anything about either of those schools, if you took out the concern of allied health vs. academic major, which school would you rather be at? You don’t have to give me the answer if you don’t want, but you definitely need to answer that for yourself. Being a successful student is always priority #1. The concern over the majors won’t matter if you aren’t successful.

If you know someone who is actually qualified to discuss UMR vs. Winona and medical school admissions I would definitely speak to them.

7

Thanks for that. I’ll definitely be trying to talk to someone who would be qualified to answer. Personally, I would prefer UMR since I already live here, it’s cheaper and all around more comfortable at this time. I just don’t want to pick a major that’s going to be a waste of money and time. Do you know by chance of what would make an allied health sciences degree different from let’s say someone with a degree in English that took pre med classes?

8

Allied health sciences classes are taught and evaluated in a way to teach you the requisite knowledge to perform the job of an allied health professional (often a specific one, like clinical laboratory technician or nurse). Academic classes are taught and evaluated in a way to teach you not only content, but also skills - particularly in terms of critical analysis and application to unknown material so that you can do more advanced study and have a foundation for a wide array of careers.