<p>My D is a junior in the honors college of a large public university. She chose that school because of their reputation as a top school for Intl. business majors, and it requires you to double major in another business area. She chose accounting, since she has great logic and math skills. After first semester of junior year, and after landing an accounting internship for this summer, she has realized that she does not want to be an accountant. Thank God!! From the time she was a young girl, she always wanted to be a dr. In high school, she spent some time shadowing and those physicians really discouraged her from going into the medical profession. Hence, her decision to go into Intl. Business. She now realizes that she needs to follow her dreams. As a young adult, she realizes that going to school for a long time, and having to wait to "start" her life, are things she is willing to do in order to be a physician. She was valedictorian from a high school class of 515, so she knows that she can accomplish anything. She currently has a 3.91 GPA.</p>
<p>Now we need to get practical. She needs to take all the science classes to take the MCAT. We have looked at her schedule, and there will be no way for her to take all the science classes in order to follow the traditional time line. She needs to make some decisions TODAY since classes start on Monday. Here are some of the options:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>She could finish her business degree but change her major to Insurance and Risk Management. She can accomplish that and still graduate in 4 years. She would not be able to take the MCAT until the end of her senior year, so she would have a gap year. Will this business major REALLY hurt her chances of getting into medical school? </p></li>
<li><p>She can switch majors, and use the fifth year to finish up, applying to medical schools during that fifth year. If she switches majors, what should she look at? The pre-professional advisors mentioned exercise science with an emphasis in scientific foundations. That sounds so health clubby to me. Would this be an appropriate major. Would this give her a better chance at med school admissions that the Insurance and Risk Management degree? </p></li>
<li><p>Any other suggestions for a major that gives her the best chance to get in to medical school.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I can’t comment on whether its better to graduate in 4 and do a post-bac, i.e., take the science curriculum only after the BS/BA, but would recommend against exercise science. It’s considered an really soft major by those in academe.</p>
<p>Although many people would say it is not good to major in any non-academic major (like all majors you mentioned), I notice that many public medical schools in my state seem to accept many students who are in the business honors of a flagship state university. The reason that I can think of is that these days, many bright students (as measured by the standard test scores or their class rank in high school) choose majors like business rather than any traditional science or other academic major (if their school has a business major, especially if they have a business honor program.) For example, the average SAT of Business Honor majors is significantly higher than that of any natural science or other academic major. These students are in general very good at standard tests, and may be even better at the introductory sciences than natural science majors. But they rarely want to be a slave in a lab like most natural science majors need to do. Their goal in college (if they are also premeds) is to get good grades in the intructory science classes and run as far away as possible from most upper-division science classes (except for one or two bios.) If these students take the prereqs and get good grades on them, they are often successful in getting into a medical school. But please note that this is only true at my state. This may be different for the public medical schools at your state.</p>
<p>Do many students graduate in 5 years at your school since it is a large public school? If yes, I would suggest that you finish your premed courses in the next 1.5 years but graduate, in any major except the “exercise” one, in 5 years. Considering that you do not have much medicine-related ECs in college at this point, you need that much time to build up your ECs any way. High school ECs generally do not count.</p>
<p>A bit more information if it helps. We are from the Chicago area, so that tells you where her in-state medical school options are. She is currently attending a large state flagship school in the South with a well regarded honors college. </p>
<p>Even as a business major, she has been participating in one medical related EC for the last year. She will add others this semester as well as some shadowing. She has a meeting scheduled this week to find research opportunites within the honors college.</p>
<p>Since you are from IL, it may simplify it a little bit. I have the impression that there are many medical schools in IL (compared to its population). It should be an “easier” state if the medical schools there give preference to in-state applicants. It seems to me that the hurdle for her now is to get ready for MCAT by finishing most prereqs. Some people here suggested in the past that, if she is very good at physics in high school, she may take physics later (at least the second semester of physics), and do not take the evolution/ecology class before the MCAT test. If she is a good student (she seems to be one), she may try to graduate in 4 years (to save money – This is because the medical schools in IL , unlike those in California or Texas, are not cheap.)</p>
<p>BTW, A frequent CC contributor, Steeler, might go to the same school your D went to. (As a long time lurker here, you just remember this kind of stuff on top of your head :)) He had no problem getting into many medical schools. He may have first-hand knowledge on how to do premed at that school as he was a very successful premed student there. You may want to google what he has posted on CC about the premed courses there. I just google it and find that he once posted that about half of freshmen at your D’s school may claim they want to major in International Business. It is funny that so many good students at so many schools want to do business these days, especially when a school put the prefix “honor” in front of their business program. Sometimes I feel that “honor program” + “good state university” = “ivies”, especially when the honor program really pays big bucks to entice you to go there. Looking at how well these finance/banking companies (Chase, etc) reward their employees this year when most other people still suffer, how can we blame these students?!</p>
<p>Just thought I would update everyone on where things stand 8 months post major life changing decisions for my D.</p>
<p>mcat2 was correct in that my D attends the same school as Steeler. She met with him, and he was able to offer her some great advice. She decided to stay with the business major, but switched to insurance and risk management. She felt understanding the other side of things might be helpful in the future. During the fall semester she took Bio1, Chem1 and physics1 with the required labs, plus the business courses she needed, and got A’s in all classes. She was able to line up a great research position that tied to her interest of pain releif in children. (Her 8 yo Sister suffers from chronic pain, so this is a great area of interest for her) She will have at least one publication from this research. She found some other great volunteer options and has shadowed several specialties. Luckily, she had a lot of previous volunteer experience, and a lot of leadership positions within organizations, so hopefully, these EC’s will all help down the road.</p>
<p>She took Chem2 during the summer session at her Uni since we were paying for an apartment year round anyway. Got an A. For the fall she will be taking Org Chem 1 and Physics2, as well as some business requirements and one last class to graduate from the honors college. She will be a TA for Chem1 class.</p>
<p>During the spring semester, she’ll take Orgo2 and an MCAT class offered by her school. This is treated as a regular class. She plans to take the MCAT in May, and stick around for the first summer session to take another upper level science class. Any suggestions on which class? She may put off her actual graduation until the end of summer. She said the ceremony would be shorter that way. :0) Her apartment lease runs out on 8/1, but she is still deciding on what to do with her gap year. Any suggestions? </p>
<p>Thanks to all who helped with my questions. While this has certainly made her last two years exponentially harder than they would have been, it’s worth it to see how much happier she is with her decision.</p>
<p>It appears your D has been doing very well. It is glad to learn that she could get helps from Steeler, who has been a very successful premed.</p>
<p>Regarding the gap year, people always say that, as long as she has something productive to do during that year, it will be fine. If she could get a research job (e.g., from one of the professors in her university), it could be a fine activity. Some may do more extensive volunteer work. TFA may be too demanding for most kids.</p>
<p>Glad to hear she has found something she has the passion for.</p>
<p>I wasn’t sure if TFA was a good option since it might be hard to fit interviews in. She is thinking of deferring her graduation and taking a few more undergrad upper level secience classes and taking a paid lab position. </p>
<p>What upper level science classes would you recommend? She will have only taken the required prereqs.</p>
<p>I think she is looking for options that will only take one year. She would also like to be close to either her current school or back home so that she can take some upper level science classes. Should she postpone her graduation until she completes all the upper level science classes she wants to take, or is it a viable option to graduate and then take a few more classes that interest her post undergrad? She could always postpone her graduation one semester, but I know she would prefer to accomplish everything in the traditional 4 year period and then just take a few classes post bacc that she is interested in, or that are required for specific medical schools she is interested in.</p>
<p>A “friendly” research lab where she can have great flexibility for interviews is her best bet IMO. </p>
<p>Since she does not appear to need the UG GPA boost, I don’t think pre- or post grad makes much difference to her app. </p>
<p>I would NOT take any class for a grade that she is just “interested” in. Way too much risk. In fact, I wouldn’t take any class for a grade that didn’t meet specific med school requirements at a school she was interested in. What if she took an art history course (or a science course that wasn’t required by a med school she was interested in) and then had interviews get in the way and un-expectedly bombed the class after drop day? Not a good scene.</p>
<p>She can audit those courses. Why take the risk for no gain?</p>
<p>She’s doing great by the way. Tell her to bring it home strong. Don’t let up now. Keep volunteering and getting clinical exposure. Set herself up for some great LOR’s. Good luck to her.</p>
<p>1). Don’t do " soft" major
2). Lots of docs now days are getting MBA after med school. Having business background should help her
3). What about summer school to get required pre med courses?
4). Would talk to U of I, loyola and CMS. (her, not you. Make an a ppt and talk to admissions office) and get their thoughts
5). I think getting her degree and then spending fifth year getting required (if summer does not do it) would be best. She could take other “fun” couress such as Shakespeare, European history, etc pass/fail. Getting her MBA if possible would be to her advantage if possible</p>
<p>The MCAT course sounds like a waste which I personally would subtract from her application in looking at it. </p>
<p>I don’t see you answering what med school “required” classes she needs. If she has all of them, what is her purpose for taking another year. As someone above stated, med schools like the nontraditional person</p>
<p>My DD did a year as a paid research asst, earned enough to pay for her living expenses and saved for a month traveling before med school. The lab was incredibly flexible about her interviews and even allowed her to make up the hours so her pay was not docked.</p>
<p>She also worked with patients, both in the OR and in pre & post op testing. And she presented at a conference plus should end up being named on publications. All in all a very productive year</p>