I am a rising senior and am seriously interested in applying to medical school after I graduate college. But, I am not completely sure I will feel this same way in 4 years. What are subjects that I can major in that will prepare me for medical school if I still want to attend and will get me a job if I decide I am done with school?
You can major in Anything in college and still go to Med School as long as you take the Premed classes.
“premed” is not a major, just a set of classes you take with everyone else. They include: 2 semesters each of biology, chemistry, physics, English; plus 1 semester each of calculus, statistics, biochemistry, organic chemistry, sociology, psychology, a diversity-focused class, and possibly a foreign language spoken by immigrants (Urdu, Korean, French Creole, Russian, Hmong,Portuguese, etc… - not many colleges offer these, so you can be creative and, say, take a class at a community center then volunteer with the community center then move on to volunteering at a clinic where knowing the language will come in handy.)
Many of these classes are part of the gen eds your college will require anyway (many require 2 natural sciences, 2 social sciences, 2 foreign languages, 1 math, 2 English) and the rest can easily be coordinated with any major.
You could major in Economics, Statistics, or Computer Science, and combine these with the premed core. If you were to lack interest in med school, these majors would still help you get a job. Ultimately, though, it’s not so much the major but the skillset you acquire, along with the internships you get, and those rest on you only (plus on the quality of the university’s career center).
Here’s what you do. Get a job or volunteer position this summer working someplace that does patient care. By the end you’ll know if medicine is right for you or not, and you’ll also get exposure to other careers working in medicine. Unlike the view of many HS kids, the only option is not an M.D. Not only will this help you figure out your goals, should you decide med school is right for you then you’ve got a head start on exposure to the field, which is an unofficial requirement for med school admission. Read thru http://www.rhodes.edu/images/content/Academics/PreMed_Essentials.pdf to get an overview of the whole process.
Keep in mind colleges offer majors that specifically prepare you for jobs (accounting, engineering, teaching, etc) as well as liberal-arts majors such as History, Archaelogy, etc. As @MYOS1634 points out, for the latter its what you do in addition to the major that helps you land a job.
You can always major in Biology, which was traditionally the major of choice for pre-meds. But the employment field is littered with biology majors who didn’t make it into med school, the job prospects are limited, and the pay is low. Chemistry is a little better but not by much.
Biomedical engineering or Biochemical engineering are 2 popular choices these days. Both are better terminal degrees than the pure sciences(better job prospects, higher pay), and will still get you into med school as long as you take the pre-reqs. They are harder than the pure sciences though, probably more quantitative.
Neuroscience and neurobiology are also popular majors these days. I think their job prospects are about the same as biology and chemistry.
Medicine as a career choice is a long slog. In addition to taking tough science and math classes in college, you have to do more ECs than most other majors - volunteer at hospitals, shadowing doctors, working as lab assistant, do research, get good LORs, studying for months for the MCAT. Med school admission is very competitive, <50% are accepted. An interview is required before admission. There are people now who submit 12-40 apps. Once you get into med school there will be more tests, Step 1, step 2… To match to a good residency you have to do more research, publish during med school. Med school debt is high, average $150k. After med school you get to slave away from 4-8 years as a resident, get paid $40k a year while the interest on your student loan accrues.
Doctors’ pay isn’t very high these days. A pediatrician makes $150k, internal medicine $180k, primary care $150k. True there are some specialists who make more, like a top neurosurgeon around $700k, but all your friends who graduated at age 22 starting a job in IT or IB at $100k are probably already making $250-$400k by the time you become a doctor, with much less debt. Those with stock options are probably already multi-millionaires.
So, only go into medicine if your heart is really in it, and for the right reason. Don’t do it for the money or prestige. There are easier ways to attain both. Medicine is a calling. Ask yourself if you have all the money in the world, would you still want to be a doctor? If the answer is yes, then go into it and may the force be with you; if the answer is no, go do something else.
the post above is correct, except for this quote. Your friends who graduated at age 22 with a job in IT make between 40 and 70K a couple years later. They certainly didn’t start at 100K and aren’t making 250-400k a few years later. Fewer than 2% Americans make 250K+, and those aren’t likely under 30. (Exceptions exist but are quite rare).
Investment banking, perhaps, but then again, the friends have probably dropped out of the rats race at this point and are doing an MBA somewhere.
A PA makes nearly as much as a family physician, with less debt and less lost income. Look into it as a possibility.
Are you in IT or Silicon Valley? Kids who are 27, 28 are already making $280k in SF, that’s not counting the stock options. The starting salaries for top CS grads in IT are now btwn $100k to $150k. By the time they are in their early to mid 30s, $300+ is not out of the norm.