Interested in the medical field-

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm currently a junior, so college isn't a huge worry for me right now. However, I'm bothered by the fact that I am completely clueless about everything: my major, schools, etc. I want to research but I have no idea where to start.</p>

<p>I'm interested in going into the medical field to become a doctor. (Not sure what I want to specialize in yet). </p>

<p>However, I'm not sure what to major in. I've heard many things like,
"It doesn't matter what you major in!"
"Go for premed as a major!" / "Premed isn't even an actual major"
"Major in biology"
"Major in biochem, it'll help your chances of getting into med school"</p>

<p>So I'm totally confused.
What would be the best major for someone wanting to go to medical school, and what are the best schools for that major?</p>

2

<p>How successful you are in applying to med school depends on what you do in college and not some magic the college has with regards to preparing students for med school. So if you want lists of “top 20” someone will supply it, but I doubt such rankings are that meaningful. In fact there are many, many colleges that do a good job of preparing students for med school. </p>

<p>Here’s what to look for; it’s from an excellent premed guide at Amherst that I suggest you read

I also always ask kids that say they want to be doctors, why an M.D? Not that I know it is wrong for you, it may be the right fit, but have you actually looked into the medical field and considered the alternatives? From the day you start college it will be 11-15 years before you are a practicing doctor, depending on what field you go into. Doctors are not the only ones in the health field that help people. Physical therapists, radiology techs, nurses, speech pathologists, to name but just a few. Before you go heavily into debt and commit so many years I suggest you explore the alternatives</p>

3

<p>Pretty soon a regular poster will chime in to recomend Holy Cross, like he does with every post mentioning medicine.</p>

<p>You should know that Holy Cross will only write a favorable recommendation letter to medical schools for its top students. Applying without a strong letter is futile, so in effect Holy Cross controls who applies to med school. Consequently this lets them advertise a high med school acceptance rate. To the kids who paid $200K to attend Holy Cross and were then blocked from applying to med school, I guess them’s just the breaks…</p>

4

<p>Oh, I agree. It’s not that I want to go to a brand-name college just for the sake of its reputation, but I am curious to know which colleges have a good program and offers better opportunities. As I’m completely new to all this, I thought it’d be a good starting point. </p>

<p>As for the M.D. thing, yes I have considered it quite frequently. It’s not a small debt I’d be shouldering, and the commitment is incredibly heavy. However, the ability to diagnose diseases and sicknesses and cure them is something I admire and strongly wish to have. I’ve been in and out of the hospital quite a few times, and the doctors that I was surrounded by had a major influence in my choosing this career path. </p>

<p>I’m also considering becoming a researcher or something along those lines since biology interests me immensely, so my mind hasn’t been completely decided!</p>

5

<p>Start here:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/1486654-premed-resources-thread-start-here-first.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/1486654-premed-resources-thread-start-here-first.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>There really are plentiful options with few wrong paths when heading toward med school. Pick a major that interests you. Pick a college where you fit. (I’ve seen the best success when students are in the top 25% of stats at their college of choice.) Choose an undergrad that won’t put you in mega debt.</p>

<p>If you are truly interested in the potential for research as well, definitely consider research Universities. My middle son attends one (went in debating pre-med or research) and absolutely loves it. It’s been great for helping him truly see both options (with plentiful options for research). Some LACs offer research, but it’s far more limited. It can be an option if what a prof is researching interests you AND you are certain you can make it on their team.</p>

6

<p>Pick a college where you fit. (I’ve seen the best success when students are in the top 25% of stats at their college of choice.) Choose an undergrad that won’t put you in mega debt.</p>

<p>I agree with this. Some premeds make the mistake of choosing the reach/high match school where they were lucky to get accepted…and then ruin their med school chances because their classmates grab most/all of the A’s. </p>

<p>Choose a major that you like and will excel in. You’ll take the premed prereqs as well. </p>

<p>Don’t worry about what your major is. If you’re great at history, then do that. If English Lit is beloved, then choose that. There are Classics majors and Philosophy premeds. My own son majored in Chemical Engineering as a premed. It was very tough, but he loved it, and was able to get the grades (this is risky since Eng’g can ruin GPAs). He wanted a “back up” in case he decided against medicine. </p>

<p>Recently there was a post from a premed who had majored in Bio. Too late he realized what a mistake that was. He excelled at his premed prereqs, but he faltered in the more boring non-medically related upper division bio classes and ruined his GPA. Many bio classes have little/nothing to do with a future as a doctor, so if those classes wouldn’t be “your thing” then pick another major.</p>

7

<p>I was unsure of pre-med vs. research when I started, and also unsure of LAC vs. research university. I’m glad I opted for the research university, because I’ve been able to get involved in some really top-notch international research, get a national fellowship for my research, and help me feel confident in my decision once I made the choice to go for the grad school/research route.</p>

8

<p>I don’t see anything wrong with an institution only agreeing to write medical school recommendation letters for the strongest students. Your recommendation diminishes in importance if you write one for everyone. Why would you write a recommendation letter for someone you didn’t think had good chances of getting into and succeeding in medical school? The fact that they have a high acceptance rate means they are doing something right; they are selecting for the students most likely to be successful in the process.</p>

<p>Not everyone who wants to go to medical school should. There are hundreds of other careers out there.</p>

<p>To answer the OP’s question, you really can major in anything you want as long as you take all the pre-med prerequisite courses. However, if you are interested in biomedical research as well, you should probably major in a biomedical field (biology or chemistry; maybe physics if you are interested in medical physics; or computer science if bioinformatics appeals to you). If you’re interested in social/behavioral science research in health and medicine, then you might want to choose a social science field (anthropology, sociology, psychology). There’s also research into health/medical economics and policy (political science or economics could be good here).</p>

<p>However, the ability to diagnose diseases and sicknesses and cure them is something I admire and strongly wish to have</p>

<p>There are several other medical professions that do that. Nurse practitioners and physician assistants also diagnose and prescribe medication for general diseases. Dentists and optometrists do this for their respective body systems; psychologists do this in psychology (although they aren’t really curing, but with the prevalence of chronic illnesses many doctors don’t “cure” either); physical and occupational therapists do similar things in their own fields.</p>

<p>Also, people often say that research universities are best for research, but it depends on the individual student. Sometimes undergraduates can get involved in top-notch research, but often at a research university the postdocs and grad students are doing the really cutting-edge stuff in the lab and the undergrad RAs are doing support tasks (important, but not the most fun). Also often the postdocs and the grad students are the ones who are supervising undergrad RAs - I know that’s the setup in my lab and most of my department’s labs. However, LAC professors - especially professors at the top LACs - are expected to do research, too, and they are expected to use research as a teaching tool for undergraduates. They supervise undergrads directly, and undergrads get to do more of the important/core tasks for the research. Plus you get used to the small collegial department, close relationship with professors, and small seminar-style classes that are common at both LACs and grad programs. LAC graduates are actually overrepresented in PhDs in science. I also got a national fellowship for my research and felt very confident in my abilities at an LAC, and I’m at an Ivy League grad school.</p>

<p>I’m not saying that LACs are better than RIs, just that I don’t want students who are grad school-bound to rule out LACs by mistakenly thinking they can’t get great research experience and into top-notch research programs.</p>

<p>Check this out: <a href=“http://www.hhmi.org/sites/default/files/Programs%20and%20Opportunities/cech_article.pdf[/url]”>http://www.hhmi.org/sites/default/files/Programs%20and%20Opportunities/cech_article.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

9

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<p>I am surprised to see support for such a cruel policy. Why on earth should it be up to the colleges to decide who gets to apply to med school? Aren’t the med schools capable of making up their own minds who to admit? </p>

<p>At many good schools the committee letter is a neutral summarization of the applicant’s grades, scores, ECs, letters of rec. It is offered to all that ask. Lets take JHU as an example of such a school. JHU reports that its overall med-school rate of acceptance was 63%. </p>

<p>There is a way to game the system so that premed kids looking at colleges think they’ve found a winner, and this is what schools like Holy Cross are doing. “If I go to JHU my med-school chances are 63%, but 80% at Holy Cross. They must know what they’re doing at Holy Cross!!”</p>

<p>How does Holy Cross do this? Make it clear to all but the stronger students that they will receive an unfavorable committee letter. Since it would be futile to apply with such a letter, in effect it gives the college control over who gets to even apply. JHU reports applicants with a cumulative GPA below a 3.3 had just under a 50% chance of being accepted. Holy Cross would block all of those kids from applying or else their 80% overall rate would be dragged down.</p>

<p>Incidentally on their premed advice page JHU says that its success rate for what they consider their stronger applicants is 80% or more, so they could easily report the same stats as Holy Cross if they screened. Holy Cross isn’t doing something special educating their kids, they’re doing something cruel to those that spent $200K to attend.</p>

<p>You seem to feel blocking 1/2 the kids that would get into med school from applying is “doing something right.” I find it shameful. We’ll probably have to agree to disagree.</p>

10

<p>I’m with you Mikemac…</p>