Hey guys, I’m in a conundrum here. I love anything medicine and find it so facisnating. Ever since I was little, I’ve always wanted to do something in the healthcare field when I’m older. I’ve also developed an interest in politics ever since I was a kid (thanks Dad for always watching the news with me lol). So far, I’ve had extracurriculars that would support both fields, such as shadowing at a hospital, do research, and volunteering at STEM after school program as well as being in student council and getting the chance to intern with a local politician. My courses in HS have been all honors/AP with some years being more STEM focused and some being more Humanties. As I’m applying to colleges, I realized I don’t really know which major(s) can support both of these interest. So far I’ve been looking at majors such as Political Science, Public Health, and Global Health. I know for sure that I’m interested in doing a pre med track. Should I double major in something like PS and PH or should I do something like Political Science as a main major and then minor in something like Bio or Public Health? I’m also open to any other major/combination suggestions!
You can always double major in say PoliSci and Biology. Since there’s not much overlap it would probably take you 5 years to graduate though.
What do you plan to do for a career? The are not related in any way, so one is going to have to be a hobby. You’ll be paying a ton of money and spending a lot of extra time for something that won’t have an ROI.
Become a doctor. If you want to get into politics later in life, then hire a political consultant.
As a doctor, you will have money & credibility; as a politician you will be suspect & have to ask others for money.
You can major or minor in Econ - applications to health policy and current events are part of this discipline.
You don’t need to double-major. Go ahead and major in public health, public policy, or poli sci. Take the required premed courses. (Look at what constitutes a minor in biology at your college, and if that aligns reasonably well with the premed classes that you need to take anyway, then go for the minor.) There’s no need for a full degree in bio unless you would pursue an academic grad school or research path in that field as an alternative to med school.
The energy you’d have to put into upper-division bio classes, beyond the requirements for premed, to get a double major would be better spent adding quantitative chops to your social sciences degree. If you do get involved in policy work (whether as a physician or otherwise), the better your statistics and data analytics skill-set, the better.