Hey! So I want some honest advice for the following pre med option: I was thinking of double majoring in a science and music (thanks to all of those who replied to that thread, I really appreciate it)! However, if I don’t get to double major, and just major in music performance (while completing the pre-requisites for med school, is that fine? Does having a science major give you a better base for the MCAT and beyond? Does the science classes in a science major help prepare for the MCAT? I really want to know because I personally thnik that the music major with pre med classes won’t be enough to get a good grade on the MCAT. What do you guys think? Should I just stick to the double major or is a music performance major with the pre med classes enough and would be set for med school/MCAT? Any advice is appreciated, personal experience is also greatly appreciated!!
https://www.aamc.org/download/321496/data/factstablea17.pdf indicates that 888 out of 1,776 (50%) humanities major applicants to medical school were admitted, while 11,534 out of 28,204 (41%) of biological science major applicants to medical school were admitted.
100% of the content areas tested on the MCAT are contained within the core pre-med course requirements.
However, the MCAT is not a test of specific factual knowledge; rather it is test of how well you can apply the knowledge from your pre-req classes to novel problems and circumstances. It’s simply not possible to memorize your way through the MCAT and score well. Coursework–even upper level science coursework-- does not directly prepare you to take the MCAT.
The skills you need for the MCAT are critical reading, critical thinking, critical analysis, synthesis of new ideas, problem solving. These thinking skills are not explicitly taught in any particular class, but rather are skills developed by the in-depth study of challenging, intellectual material. That intellectual material can be in mathematics, history, philosophy, literature, sociology, biology, whatever… If you feel you can develop these core intellectual/academic competencies as a music performance major–then there’s no need to add a second major.
Having additional upper level or graduate level biology/chemistry courses will only give you a slight knowledge advantage in your med school classes. Medical school will blow through an entire semester’s worth of grad/upper undergrad level science (immunology, embryology, histology…) class materials in the first 3-4 lectures. (i.e. or about the first week of class week) The “drinking from a fire hose” analogy is true when it comes to med school.
That’s a very good statistic. Thanks! @ucbalumnus
Thanks @WayOutWestMom ! That’s exactly what I was looking for!
RE: post #1
I would like to reiterate that you need to take the data about the success of humanities majors in med school admissions with a grain of salt. There is significant [selection bias](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selection_bias ) involved.
US colleges awarded approx the same number of biology and humanities degrees in 2015 (~100,000 degrees in each). https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d16/tables/dt16_322.10.asp?current=yes
This means the number of humanities majors who apply to medical school represent a very small (1%), highly self-selected group. By contrast, >25% of all bio majors applied to med school.
That’s definitely true. @WayOutWestMom
I can give you some personal experience. My child is a music performance major and has completed the pre med pre requisites. He’s taken a few “suggested” science courses in addition to the pre requisites. He did fine on the MCAT scoring in the 89th percentile. Not as high as he wanted, and he did prepare, but honestly with everything else he had going on in music (rehearsals, performances, and preparing for his junior recital) and finishing up science classes and labs, he couldn’t devote his full attention to MCAT prep. He was also a recruited D1 athlete but gave that up after about a year in because that was nearly impossible to do as a performance major. Too many conflicts. Killed him, but he had to make a choice. He’s got a 4.0 Science and 3.97 overall. Hopefully he’ll get in somewhere. Good luck to you!