<p>I want to attend medical school, and although it's really early and I understand things can change, I am really looking into becoming a Neurosurgeon. Does it matter what undergrad school I go to? Must it be an ivy league or elite university? Also, I really like Animal Science. Would it be kind of idiotic for me to major in Animal Science even though I plan on going to med school not vet school?</p>
<p>Your undergrad has very little impact on whether or not you’ll be accepted into a medical school. Your college performance, test scores and ECs are the biggest factors consider by medical school adcomms.</p>
<p>In theory your undergrad major doesn’t matter, but in practice, the onus of the convincing adcomms that you want to do human medicine may be more difficult for you if you major in animal science since it’s so heavily focused on pre-vet and argricultural careers.</p>
<p>Neurosurgery is among the most competitive of specialties with very few residency spots available. It is way, way, way, way too soon to start focussing on a possible specialty, esp since you aren’t even in college yet. (Getting a neurosurgical residency position is all about your med school grades, USMLE scores, med school research and LORs from you praeceptors during your clinical rotations.)</p>
<p>The reason I want to take animal sciences is because of the hands on activities. I find the broad Bio major very boring. I really like Animal Sciences and I believe I will get better grades in it. Maybe if i double major in Animal Sciences and something else I can better convince them?</p>
<p>Biology has a tons of subspecializations in college. Microbiology. Molecular Biology. Genetics. Ecology. Neuroscience. Botany. Zoology. Biochemistry. Evolutionary Biology. All of which present hands-on opportunities.</p>
<p>It’s not the broad field you learn about in high school.</p>
<p>Double majors will not impress adcomms and I only recommend them if they make sense from a personal goal and academic standpoint.</p>
<p>I do know of one ag major in med school: double major in forest ecology and biochemistry who took a 4 year detour as a EMT and wilderness guide before applying to med school.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t major in Animal Science, but you certainly can take some of those classes for just interest.</p>
<p>If you don’t like biology in general, pick another major…or pick a concentration in bio that does interest you.</p>
<p>Most of the classes available for animal sciences really does interest me. Most of those sub bio subjects you mentioned really don’t interest me. However neurobiology does interest me. I want to double major in Animal Sciences and Business Management. Want to open up my own practice or take a managerial position in a hospital. Another thing that interests me is opening up my own research firm. Like I mentioned before i want to do neurosurgery. However, there are many mysteries to the brain so I do have a passion to open up my own neurosurgery research firm.</p>
<p>Also isn’t zoology very similar to animal science?</p>
<p>“Also isn’t zoology very similar to animal science?”</p>
<p>S has researched this and they are two different fields. Zoology deals with “wild” animals and their environment. Animal Sciences deals with domesticated animals and their care, etc. Two different fields from his viewpoint.</p>
<p>Animal Science program at DS’s school is also much more hands on than the zoology program. Zoology is like a branch of biology.</p>
<p>do you believe animal science is a bad major for medical school admission? I can’t understand why animal science would be meanwhile many potential docs get into med school as history majors.</p>
<p>Medical school admission committee really are suspicious of vocational majors (this includes business and all agricultural majors, nursing, accounting, nutrition, exercise science, etc) because adcomms are academics and they tend to choose applicants who fit their perception of what a academically focused student is.</p>
<p>History is an academic major. </p>
<p>Adcomms view vocational majors as less academic, possibly less intellectually challenging, and more focused on job/career-specific training. They perceived vocational majors as having less exposure to critical reasoning, analytical thinking and critical reading skills–all vital for physicans. They also will question whether vocational majors (who spend a great deal of their college curriculum learning specific job-related skills) have the necessary dedication to medicine since they have spent most of their college years preparing for a career other than medicine.</p>
<p>Ok. so from this [Majors</a> | College of Agricultural and Life Sciences ? University of Wisconsin-Madison](<a href=“http://www.cals.wisc.edu/students/undergraduate-programs/areas-of-study/majors/]Majors”>http://www.cals.wisc.edu/students/undergraduate-programs/areas-of-study/majors/) … what would be good majors for a prospective medical school student. Just as an example.</p>
<p>What about these?</p>
<p>[Undergraduate</a> Catalog, University of Wisconsin-Madison | College of Letters & Science](<a href=“Guide < University of Wisconsin-Madison”>Guide < University of Wisconsin-Madison)</p>
<p>Frankly, you want a degree through the College of Letters and Science, not through the College of Agriculture.</p>
<p>If you’re really set on doing your program through the Ag College, you need to get curriculum guides and the college course catalogs and do a class by class comparison on the content of each and every class to make sure the content of the classes from the Ag College are identical in scope, coverage and emphasis to those classes offered by CLS.</p>
<p>Same course title does NOT mean the courses are identical. (That’s why they’re assign different course numbers.)</p>
<p>From what I’ve read and actually spoke to many students CALS is the smaller college. This opens up research opportunities. Also, CALS is more science oriented where as CLS is more of humanities. CALS research is top of the line meanwhile being CLS dwindles research opportunities. Also, if you take Bio threw CALS you can declare Bio with a concentration in Neurobiology or Evolutionary Biology. I prefer Neurobiology.</p>
<p>Perhaps you need to ask your questions on the UW board.</p>
<p>I’m only familiar with the course offerings at colleges in my region and at UIUC. Both regionally & at UIUC, ag courses are significantly different those offered by CAS. Different focus, different content, different goals.</p>
<p>“I wouldn’t major in Animal Science”
-Why? My D. majored in Zoology as most pre-meds at her UG, since the school had a very strong Zoology department. They had very good choices of Med. Schools, some took awhile to pick one. Most d’s frineds pre-meds had combo of major(s)/minor(s). D. had 2 minors, one in Neuroscience (dropped it being 2 classes short of completion), graduated with Music Composition minor.</p>
<p>Miami–At your D’s college there isn’t a Biology major. Students can only choose Zoology, Microbiology or Botany.</p>
<p>Zoology is the option that most pre-med students take. And it’s offered thru the College of Arts and Sciences. (Your D’s undergrad doesn’t even have a Ag School.)</p>
<p>You mean Miami’s D’s experience is not 100% generalizable to everyone? j/k</p>
<p>Aside from the fact that biology was not an option at her school, zoology sounds like an academic study of animal life while animal sciences sounds like zoology’s equivalent of “clinical laboratory sciences”</p>
<p>Animal science is animal husbandry and management for livestock & farm animals. It includes courses like Meat Science, Poultry Management, Animal and Carcass Evaluation (for cattle sales), Range Management, Dairy Science, Equine Reproduction, Horse Training, Livestock Disease Preventation…</p>
<p>In Animal Science, “domestic animal” does NOT mean kitties and doggies. It means livestock: beef cattle, sheep, goats, dairy cows, horses, swine, poultry and occasionally farmed fish. Pretty much everything bit of animal protein that eventually ends up on your table.</p>
<p>Zoology was NOT “an academic study of animal life”. Zoology has the same Bio classes as Biology major (I do not know if D’ UG has it or not, most pre-meds, all D’s friends were Zoology major because of the very strong Zoology department). D. did not need to take any classes outside of her major (aside for her minors), all pre-reqs and high level Bio were part of Zoology major. I do not know what is “Animal science” major, it sounds like another name for the Zoology major.<br>
BTW, the very first Bio in D’s major was absolutely weed out killer that was taught by 3 profs simultaniusly in the classroom. The purpose of this class was to provide sufficient background for next Bio classes and to weed out as many Honors students as possible. D. took both Honors and AP Bio in HS and followed advice NOT to skip this class. Class went thru AP Bio material in a first 2 weeks and then then moved on.
It does not sound like “academic study of animal life” at all, it sounds like very rigorous Bio class. She also took Cell Bio, Genetics, Physiology, maybe some other Bio classes, along with Gen. Chem. (was very easy, but sufficient for the MCAT and for the Med. School), Orgo, Physics, all as requirements of her major. She took lots of neuroscience classes, interesting, but somewhat easier than Bio classes, as part of her minor. But then she ralized that this would be in Med. School at much deeper level and since she did not have time to complete it, she dropped this minor. Still interested in Neurology (her second choice of specialty)</p>
<p>I think you misunderstood me. My point was that zoology sounds equivalent to biology - just focused on non humans, while animal studies sounds like a vocational form of zoology like clinical laboratory sciences is a vocational form of biology.</p>
<p>Your D went to Miami of OH, correct? According to this there is no biology major as WOWMom said: <a href=“Home - Miami University Program Finder”>Home - Miami University Program Finder;