I’m going to attend Rutgers Honors College and I know I want to be a doctor. I’m thinking about double-majoring in cognitive science and economics while fulfilling pre-med requirements. I’m interested in both and I figured it may help me stand out for med school. The minimum requirements for both majors combined are about 72 credits not counting the pre-med reqs. Is this a good idea or will it be insanely difficult?
If you work hard at that, it is going to be manageable. Make sure you keep up with the interest, it will be a plus for you with an Economics degree when applying for med school.
Besides fulfilling double major/GE reqs, you should consider completing premed reqs before taking MCAT. In addition to your classes, you’ll need to pencil in 2 maybe more months of time prepping for and then do well on MCAT. Somewhere you’ll have to find time to participate in the 100s of hours of ECs med schools expect to see on your application. I also assume you want to have a college life (eg social). Keep in mind that the med school application process is a year long process meaning if you’re thinking about graduating in 4 years and starting med school after graduating, you would need to submit a competitive application with MCAT score in summer after your junior year. And if you submit an application after junior year, you would need to find time during senior year to travel to interviews if offered.
Understand that many who start premed change their minds and in last cycle approx. 59% of those that applied failed to get even one acceptance. As such you want to submit the strongest application possible. Although some do graduate in 4 years with a double major and then start med school, if you are dead set on double majoring you may want to consider waiting until you graduate and take a gap year(s) to further strengthen your application (eg additional ECs) before applying. Good luck.
Also please understand that no single major or combination of majors is going to make your application “stand out” for medical schools. Med school admission committees have seen it all.
What makes your application “stand out” is a very high MCAT score (>99th percentile) or exceptional extra-curriculars.
I would suggest that before you begin this plan, you should start with a copy of Rutger’s course catalog and see if you can fit 2 majors + pre-med coursework + GE/graduation requirements into a normal 4 year schedule. (Don’t include summers because summers are for getting ECs done.)
When doing your planning, be cautious on setting a too ambitious schedule for yourself. Taking on too many difficult classes during the same semester may lead to trouble maintaining the high GPA you’ll need for med school.
Yes, One needs great planning and luck like some GE (General Requirements) met by AP credits. You need to plan out sequence of courses for two majors and pre-med prerequisites. It helps if your two majors have some common courses. You may have to take maximum credits allowed in each semester. Some one we know is currently doing - two science majors CS and Biology and has recently taken MCAT . It can be done as a pree-med.