I’m thinking of majoring in microbiology and cell sciences and minoring in public health but is that a lot of work to handle? I want to go to med school and I find both these “topics” interesting but if it’s too much work too keep up with along with volunteering, research, and clubs then I won’t do a minor. Any ideas/opinions?
As opposed to doing what? You might want to reconsider medicine as a career.
Every pre-med path will be difficult. In most cases to graduate you need a major and to fill a capstone requirement (minor, senior thesis, research, etc). The earlier you start on a minor, the better in my opinion, but if you’re really serious about medicine consider stretching your program to 4.5 or 5 years. It’s an exhausting ciricumlum and you’re going to want to (1) make sure you are really learning the material and (2) that you will have a competitive med school application. With the extra time consider joining clubs, volunteering, studying abroad.
@PhilM1 It is doable. You don’t have to decide now unless you are already sophomore or junior in college.
Your major and minor may not have overlapping courses. But for minor, first do 1 or 2 courses. If you like and you can manage, continue for minor. Or stop or see if those courses even meet any GE requirements.
Disagree completely. Would be much better for your application (and for your wallet) to graduate in 4 and apply then while spending a year in the real world if you’re concerned about applying after your 3rd year.
And as far as the original question - only you/your school’s policies can answer this. I know people who can’t handle doing just one major while others do doubles in completely disparate fields (e.g. biology and classics)
Whether you can accomplish both depends on your school and your situation – things such as the number of general ed requirements you must complete at your college, the number of courses required for your major/minor, if you came into college with any credits etc. Talk to your academic advisor/dean and see if you can plan a reasonable schedule to finish the major and minor your want in four years. If you can that is great, if not just take as many public health courses as you can fit into your schedule without overloading it.
@mjscal As opposed to just majoring in microbiology. Why do you believe I should reconsider medicine as a career? lol
Microbiology is not an unusual major for a pre med and Public health is not typically a difficult subject. One usually takes about 15 semester hours per semester to graduate in four years. Add 2 to 3 hours of study per semester hour and the work load works out to about 45-60 hours a week, depending on the student and type of classes. If thats difficult how would you handle a work load that can be 50-100 % higher in Medical school and residency?