<p>Hey! Do you guys think that if I wanted to do premed that HOD wiht track in Health and Human Services would be a good major for me then? I want to be a psychiatrist when I get older and I'm not a big sciency person but since I like the social and psychological aspect of it, I thought it would.</p>
<p>You can major in anything you wish and still be premed. It can help you stand out from the endless numbers of biomed engineers, biology and chemistry majors and some of our most talented medical students and residents at Vanderbilt did just that. Our #1 match candidate recently was a HOD major at Vanderbilt and we have many who were music majors as undergraduate students. There is a high positive correlation with music and math proficiency and success in medical school and postgraduate training.</p>
<p>I would caution you, however, that you will certainly not be avoiding science. As a premed you will be required to take genchem, bio, physics, and orgo.</p>
<p>When we attended the pre-health session at accepted student day, the med school advisor said that they really like non-science majors. But silversparkles is right … you certainly cannot avoid science! My D had originally considered dentistry, but she realized that even though she is good in science, she doesn’t really like it. She decided instead to focus on things she enjoys … and she found another path that she truly enjoys. So stay open to other career options if you don’t actually like science. You might find something to do that you like more!</p>
<p>Perhaps psychology, as opposed to psychiatry, might be a better fit?</p>
<p>hmm it sounds like a good fit to me then! yes i do realize i cant aviod the med school science requirements, but i just want to focus on the other things as well. yes i do love psychology so i was thinking about majoring in that to! i might do like a HOD/psych pre-med major if thats possible lol</p>
<p>and i thought if i did HOD i could get a real cool internship that would look great on my med school resume so thats why i was leaning towards it instead of psychology!</p>
<p>I meant, that if your not interested in science your going to have a long road ahead of you in classes you won’t like. It’s not just the pre-med curriculum, the med school curriculum is at most schools is very heavy on science requirements.</p>
<p>Maybe you should consider why you want to be a doctor (not pre med) and make sure that aligns with what doctors do. Often, students have the idea that they want to help people, contribute to the betterment of society, etc, but what they don’t realize is this is not specific to medicine and many many degrees or professions will make them happy besides just medicine.</p>
<p>I’m not trying to discourage you. I just know that alot of people want to be “pre-med” but not all of them realize that they don’t actually want to be a doctor. Realizing your not pre-med can be pretty liberating haha.</p>
<p>Good Luck!</p>
<p>gcn2 yes i see what your saying, i guess im not sure exactly so maybe majoring in comething different will help? i know i want to be a psychiatrist because i like listening, analyzing people, and the types of patients i want to deal with (the extreme) usually go to a psychiatrists</p>
<p>the white coat ceremony for the class starting in 2009 is on the vandy med school website and I watched it to see some of my older son’s friends on video (one of them explained to us last week…that Vanderbilt Med School is very supportive of its students and emphasizes mental and physical wellness in med students…so he picked it over a higher ranked med school that offered him more money…also he just felt the staff at Vandy Med was friendlier, and warmer and he liked the easy access to clinical settings…it is interesting to watch and observe both the breadth of under grad colleges and the breadth of majors and even masters degrees earned by those accepted to the fifteenth ranked med school in the nation. Sciences clearly dominate the majors but there are many interesting exceptions. (I do see plenty of non science degrees but believe that most of these students already know they also like being in labs, can compute with ease, and can tolerate the extremes in memorization skills required for med school classes.)<br>
The Dean told the class of 09 on the Commons that 20% of students would complete the requirements and attend medical school. I think that is a very high percentage of the graduates each year frankly…although he said that 60% list premed as an interest for possible career path.</p>
<p>I think you have a valid viewpoint. I have a bias against the HOD major (not to be rude), I just don’t feel that the curriculum can prepare a student for medical school as well as some of the other majors on campus. That being said, it is a good program for plenty of other options and provides many job opportunities. </p>
<p>Good luck in your choice, it seems like you have an idea of what you want. If you’re lucky it won’t change too many times in the next few years! :)</p>
<p>I disagree with the opinion that a HOD major at Vanderbilt cannot be prepared for the rigors of medical school. A Vanderbilt undergrad who was a HOD major who is also an alumnae of Vanderbilt Medical School ( a top 10 medical school,by the way) just happened to also be the #1 scoring applicant for a residency program at Vanderbilt. She has done nationally recognized research and been invited to present at national medical conferences. Do not under any circumstances underestimate the abilities of graduates of that program.You will be sorry and look like a fool if you do. I have personally worked quite closely with this person and she can compete with and beat anyone at an Ivy League level.</p>
<p>Great for that student, and I am sure she is an exceptional individual. Would she have done just as well with any other program? Probably. She just so happens to have been an HOD major. I would bet that she would be in the same spot now if she was in ANY other program here at Vandy. </p>
<p>I never said that HOD could NOT prepare a student for medical school. Many of our students go that route, I just feel that there are better programs on campus. Based on the science heavy curriculum of medical school, and the growing demand for research once one is in medical school, I feel that it is to the students advantage to have a scientific background. Though, I am definitely biased being very research oriented myself.</p>
<p>So no, I didn’t bet against an HOD major, however I feel that your example is NOT representative of the majority of Vandy HOD premed individuals. It is however, an outstanding example of how WHO you are and WHAT you do here will mean so much more than what major you pick.</p>