Major Choice/Med School Dilemma?

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

<p>Hi, I am a rising sophomore at Yale University. I'm tentatively an MCDB (Molecular, Cellular, and Dev. Biology) major on a pre-med track, and have taken classes in Inorganic Chem, Chem Lab, Intermediate Molecular Biology, and Calculus already in terms of satisfying major/premed requirements. </p>

<p>However, I have sort of a unique situation. I do not come from a family of doctors, and I want to go to medical school because of genuine interests and hobbies I've had since I was in grade school. But, my parents (mostly, my mom, who is a stereotypical Asian mom in terms of academic pressure) do not want me to be pre-med or even a science major. My mom works in finance and strongly wishes me to be an Econ/pre-business major. As I type this, I am in Beijing doing a marketing internship because my mom pressured me into "trying business" and didn't want me to accept any research positions. She thinks I can "get the most out of Yale" in non-science areas, and wants me to end up on Wall Street like a lot of my upperclassmen friends have. </p>

<p>The thing is, after working in the internship for almost 2 months, it's only made me miss my science classes more. My overarching interests are still in pre-med, but it stands to reason that my mom's arguments are convincing - many of the science classes at Yale are competitive and grade-deflated, my GPA is perhaps not up to par with what most medical schools want (I have a 3.5 now), the Yale name doesn't necessarily give me a huge edge in compensating for this, and medical schools are selective enough as it is. </p>

<p>Do you think it's still possible to be pre-med? The classes I have to take next year are pretty tough (orgo, genetics, orgo lab etc.). Also, another huge factor for my mom was a recent incident in one of my tough pre-med classes- I got one of the highest grades in the class (top 5% in a class of 200) which is not normal for me; usually I am at the lower end of the curve, but I worked really hard in this class. I got one of the only A's, but found out after grades were distributed that I had accidentally signed up for the class "Pass/Fail" and thus got a "CR/Pass" on my transcript. Therefore this class, which was required for medical school AND my Bio major, is useless, and I can't retake it. My mom sees it as a sign to stop pre-med and start over....but could I not just take another Bio class? Also, does a "CR/Pass" look really bad for a class? It was intermediate molecular biology. </p>

<p>Thanks for your input!</p>

2

<p>why not major in Econ and still complete the premed prereqs? And yes, you will need more A’s in the premed prereqs. But if you got into Yale, you obviously test well, so obtaining a high mcat score is doable with the right amount of prep. </p>

<p>You can replace that Pass that you received by taking an upper division Bio course or two. </p>

<p>fwiw: Yale has plenty of really smart students but it is certainly not grade deflated. Yale has a high mean gpa of graduating seniors, perhaps second to only Brown nationally. Heck, there are plenty of gunners in Y-Econ all vying for The Street, so competition in that major is probably not ‘easy’ either.</p>

3

<p>A few notes.</p>

<p>First, your mother is probably correct that Yale is even stronger in finance than it is in the sciences. I don’t see why this is a particularly relevant fact, though. If you are a terrible engineer and an amazing biology major, then the fact that you’re at MIT shouldn’t be dispositive. (It’d be a “sunk cost” to finance folks, if you like.)</p>

<hr>

<p>Second, liking science classes doesn’t necessarily mean you should be a premed. In fact, if you really love them, you should contemplate getting a PhD in the sciences, or an MD/PhD. (Which your mother is really going to hate.) Most of the time, medicine has very little to do with the actual study of science, and has almost nothing to do with the sorts of sciences they teach at the undergraduate level. Medicine just has so much information – most of which doesn’t make sense because it’s very poorly understood – that it just has to be discovered by trial and error, and learned via memorization.</p>

<p>The bottom line is that you can’t gauge your suitability for medicine based on your science classes; you have to spend time in hospitals dealing with all sorts of sick people (who usually have extreme social problems as well). That’s how you’ll know.</p>

<hr>

<p>Third, premed is harder than economics, but frankly you’d have no problems getting into medical school provided your MCAT score is high enough. And the nice thing about medical school is that where you go is very, very unimportant. (Contrast this with, for example, law school, which is very hierarchical.) Your 3.5 GPA is fine, and if you’re really that much better at sciences then you should be fine.</p>

<hr>

<p>Fourth, the Pass/Fail phenomenon (by which I assume you mean Yale’s “Credit/D” option) was an unlucky fluke, but shouldn’t change anything unless you’re being superstitious. Its marginal effect is really quite minimal (one course), and it’s simply another sunk cost.</p>

<hr>

<p>Fifth, there’s no need to decide right now. Take your premedical classes. Medical schools are fine with economics majors, and investment banks are fine with biology majors. There’s no need to make any decisions at this point. Volunteer at YNHH or Haven Free Clinic during the year, and if you’re still interested then sign up for a research job over the summer.</p>

<hr>

<p>Sixth, I will make one small note. It is possible to have a career that is just a career. You can’t do that in medicine, or at least it’s much rarer. You have to be a doctor in a way that’s very hard to understand for outsiders. Even I’m not totally sure I have the picture down yet. If it’s not going to be your entire life, then it’s going to be tough.</p>

<p>There are some specialties where medicine can be just-a-career. Dermatology and radiology are two good examples. But in that event, it would make more sense to pursue a career that doesn’t require medical school and residency.</p>

<hr>

<p>Sixth, there are some more questions that remain unclear.</p>

<p>A.) Have you spent time in patient contact? What sorts of patients have you met?
B.) What do family friends or other relatives in medicine tell you about the career?
C.) If you were to enter medicine, what specialty would interest you most?
D.) What about medicine draws you to it?
E.) What aspects of your premedical classes attract you?
F.) What about your internship don’t you like? Is it possible that it’s just the setting (overseas) that’s difficult?</p>

4

<p>Thanks so much for your thorough and extremely insightful response. Did you go to Yale undergrad? In terms of your Econ major while completing premed requirements suggestion, it seems like a really good way to reconcile the conflict of interests, but as you probably know, it’s not easy to double major at Yale. I haven’t taken any Econ classes yet (I took an Int’l Studies class, but that doesn’t help probably) but I was thinking about doing so this fall. I know there are 11 credits required for Econ, and with premed, I’m not sure how that will pan out. However, I also don’t have a clear perspective on how majoring/credits work…</p>

<p>A.) Have you spent time in patient contact? What sorts of patients have you met?
B.) What do family friends or other relatives in medicine tell you about the career?
C.) If you were to enter medicine, what specialty would interest you most?
D.) What about medicine draws you to it?
E.) What aspects of your premedical classes attract you?
F.) What about your internship don’t you like? Is it possible that it’s just the setting (overseas) that’s difficult?</p>

<p>In terms of these questions, A) Yes, I’ve volunteered at hospitals in America and in China. They were both children’s hospitals, so I mainly had contact with younger patients. B) I have a family friend in dermatology (which I’m pretty interested in) who tells me her hours are quite flexible in comparison to other specialties. My own physician is a general physician (spends a large part of her time in gynecology though), and she often tells me how rewarding it is to guide adolescents and teens like me through this area of their development. We share this interest in that I’m interested in a higher level of human interaction, and I share a lot of her humanitarian motives. Although this is one aspect of medicine that draws me to it, I’ve also just been interested in medical diseases for as long as I can remember…although I obviously worked hard in academics, I am not a “scholarly” or hugely academic-oriented person, but the one somewhat nerdy deviation I always secretly enjoyed throughout school was researching or reading up on medical diseases. Or reading books like Mountains Beyond Mountains, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, The Emperor of Maladies, things like that. It’s just been an interest of mine for a while, and medical science, the interaction with patients, and the community I anticipate I will enter are only a few of the more important facets I envision in a career as a doctor. I’m usually not a super decisive person, but one way I’ve closed a bit of the gap between career choices is by taking away the superficial benefits- the salary, prestige, things like that, and being a physician is the one that still holds true for me.</p>

<p>As for premed classes; I don’t like them as a package. The word premed conjures words like competition and curve, but I like biology itself a lot more…it has always been my favorite subject, and in that class I took, for example (the only Bio class I’ve taken in college) I actually enjoyed writing the test responses (essay format). There’s just something fascinating about the way science is presented and emphasized in bio classes; how it overlaps so well with other areas like chemistry, too. At least, this is how I felt in mol-bio. The profs were better than the norm, though. </p>

<p>Thank you so much again for your response!</p>

5

<p>

No need to double major – just major in economics while taking the usual premedical courses. What have you taken so far? Were you in Directed Studies or something?</p>

6

<p>Oh, yes of course. But because of how many classes are required, I unofficially consider premed a major…</p>

<p>I took Inorganic Chem (both semesters), corresponding lab (both semesters), calculus (one semester), Chinese L3 and L4, International Studies (one semester), English 299 (my Dean told me English is preferred by a lot of med schools), and Mol-Bio.</p>