<p>I am having a dilemma chosing my major I need to solve quickly.</p>
<p>Ever since I traveled on a volunteer trip to the Dominican Republic I wanted to become a doctor just like the American physicians administering to the Spanish speakers in the country. I am trying to choose between the Bio-related or Spanish major and I cannot chose one! Please note: I have already finished all prerequisites for medically school and will be prepared for the MCATn and Med school reguardless of major chosen.</p>
<p>Bio Major:
Pro:
-Develop scientific knowledge more deeply
-Very applicable to Med school
-about 70% med school entering class has this major
-Reccomended by Drs and past professors
-Enjoy subject matter
-Easily get research opportunities in science field (looks good 4 med school)</p>
<p>Con:
-Damn near EVERY medical student is a science major
-Limits the well-rounded aspect of college
- Wont stand out among all bio majors applying for med school
-No guarentee on level of Spainsh proficiency</p>
<p>Spanish Major
Pro:
-Unique major not often chosen (Good appeal to Med school)
-INSURES higher level proficiency in Spanish (Reading, writing, speaking on college level in Spanish-speaking countries)
-Study abroad, which I really want to do, is more easily attained (perferrably to Spain)</p>
<p>Cons:
-noted as an easy major
-how much Spanish is too much? (Classes in grammer, Culture, and Spainsh Works)
-not a science major</p>
<p>Thanks for your time. I have considered double majoring. Anyone done that? Thanks!</p>
<p>If I were you, I would major in Bio with a minor in Spanish. It seems like the reason you want Spanish is so you can learn the language and study abroad, but you don't need to major in it to do so - take as many spanish classes as you can, and when you study abroad in Spain, you will probably pick up a lot of spanish. You will still be a well-rounded applicant because you will have studied abroad, and minored in and learned a new language...a lot of Med school applicants overlook the humanities/languages. just my opinion</p>
<p>i agree the spanish minor itself is by no means easy...</p>
<p>I'm no expert in this, but it seems to me you can plan everything based on how you hypothesize that these other people might view it, be totally wrong about that anyway, and then have suboptimally used your one shot at an education.</p>
<p>Without better information, I say study what you actually want to study, make the best use of your time there as a foundation for your life-long personal enrichment. While fulfilling the requirements needed for desired future options. And then let the chips fall as they may; you can't fully control the actions of others down the road anyway.</p>
<p>But I could be all wrong..</p>
<p>FWIW I knew an English major at Cornell who took the minimum pre-med requirements and was nonetheless admitted to medical school.</p>
<p>right...study any major you want but be damn good at what you study...</p>
<p>wouldnt hurt you to take upper level bio courses either way...</p>
<p>it's all about GPA and MCAT...</p>
<p>Double Major.</p>
<p>If you are fluent in Spanish, and you all ready have your credentials for med, then I would DM.</p>
<p>Unless the OP is in CAS....he/she cannot double major in Biology and Spanish. </p>
<p>Cornell does not permit double majoring across colleges.</p>
<p>I recommend a bio major with as many Spanish courses as you can fit in (or a minor if you want to do it). The Spanish, you probably won't get to use for a long long time. You're not going to be doing Doctors Without Borders straight out of med school, not with $150,000 in debt. Secondly, med schools are not going to be "impressed" by your choice of major. They're going to be impressed if you get a Rhodes Scholarship or if you're a Division 1 athlete. They're not going to be impressed because you checked off "Spanish" instead of "biology" on the major-selection form. </p>
<p>Secondly, med school is very science-intensive. The bio major is not hard enough to ruin your med school aspirations but is rigorous enough to give you decent preparation for the kinds of stuff you'll learn in med school.</p>
<p>going to have to agree that the major doesn't matter that much. also, i will also agree that a spanish major does not impress admissions in any special way. gpa and mcat, gpa and mcat, gpa and mcat is what tends to be reiterated over and over.</p>
<p>something to consider, however: as i am currently studying for the mcat (im a bio major) i already knew every detail that was in the bio prep book, not b/c of gen bio, which i took in HS, but b/c of microbio and biochem. i'm sure similar situations arise for physics majors in the phys. sci section or chem majors for the chem sections. the amount of core and periphery knowledge you gain in the science major seems to help improve mcat scores, which is not something to overlook</p>
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[quote]
something to consider, however: as i am currently studying for the mcat (im a bio major) i already knew every detail that was in the bio prep book, not b/c of gen bio, which i took in HS, but b/c of microbio and biochem. i'm sure similar situations arise for physics majors in the phys. sci section or chem majors for the chem sections. the amount of core and periphery knowledge you gain in the science major seems to help improve mcat scores, which is not something to overlook
[/quote]
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<p>The MCAT doesn't actually test much knowledge so doing a bio major is not going to help you on the MCAT. In fact, humanities majors actually score higher (slightly) on average than bio majors. This is because the MCAT is very reading intensive and humanities majors get more practice at that. To repeat: the MCAT tests critical thinking, not knowledge. The amount of knowledge required is actually very shallow.</p>
<p>Doing a bio major will definitely help in the first year of med school though.</p>
<p>How is your writing? How do you do in Lit classes? (After the first couple of years of language, upper division language is mostly Lit....)</p>
<p>I disagree with norcalguy on a language not being a plus factor for med schools. A good friend is graduating from Duke med this year; a key factor in her selection by Duke was her Spanish language skills. She also used her language skills to interpret at her Uni hospital as an undergrad.</p>
<p>Spanish will be useful if you're working at a clinic in your first two years or as a third-year on the wards. However, honestly, you might get to do clinic a few times a year (they're typically very competitive to get into). I just don't feel that it's useful enough at this point to warrant a Spanish major. Once you're a practicing physician, Spanish will be very useful but when you're in your first year of med school and you have 20 classroom hours of science/week, you're going to wish you had majored in bio instead of spanish. You will lose your Spanish if you do not use it often enough. Again, I recommend bio major with Spanish courses (as many as you can fit in).</p>
<p>Foreign language is always useful to a physician. In fact, during my year off, I took Spanish courses at a local college (in addition to the research fellowship I was doing). However, the issue of language (I speak 3) never came up in the 10+ med school interviews I did. Different people have different interests. Different majors (whether it's English, Spanish, bio, or engineering) ALL give you skills that you can potentially use as a physician. I don't think med schools are out to punish or reward anyone for taking any major. They want you to ultimately major in what you're interested.</p>