<p>Hi guys, had some questions about major an minor possibilities in college. </p>
<p>My goal is med school and residency, however for my undergrad I plan on majoring in Chem, Biochem, or Biology for sure and a minor in either Business or Statistics. What are the different Major/Minor combinations? Could I do a Major/double minor, double major/minor, or double major/double minor? What are the cons of each possibility? </p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>It really depends on what school you go to, what major/minor options are available and what the requirements are, grade inflation/deflation and coursework intensity (how easy it is to get better grades), other distribution requirements, etc. People will tell you that it’s possible to do everything you want, but especially as a pre-med, this is not always true. </p>
<p>You’re at a good place majoring in Chem, Biochem, or Bio because a lot of pre-med prerequisites are already included in the major. The cons of adding anything else (vs. just taking interesting courses) are: a. Extra “required” courses that you may not be interested in. B. There is less room for other subjects and courses that are either required for your major/minor/pre-med or that you’d be interested in (for example, I’m double majoring in Behavioral Biology and Applied Math, and I’m pre-med. I <em>literally</em> can only take BB, AMS, and pre-med courses. After one semester of being Undecided, I used up all my electives -_-). And C. It’s really beneficial to you to stick with one or two departments maximum, do research there, make more intimate connections with your classmates and professors, get honors, etc. </p>
<p>Also beware of tacking hard subjects together (even if they let you, be wary of double majoring in two of your three options unless there is a lot of overlap). GPA matters for med schools, and they will not give much consideration to the double major/double minor over the single major with a better GPA.</p>
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Bingo! And minors really don’t mean a lot to potential employers either. You’re certainly not more viable to med school admissions b/c of having or not having one. </p>
<p>^And it depends on individual schools. I would say start with major/minor - many degrees require a minor or cognate anyway. Look at how your school is organized. At D’s school, it would be easier to minor in statistics since it is in College of Arts and Science with chem, bio, etc. Business is it’s own school and might have higher prerequisites in some areas. But at older D’s small LAC it wouldn’t matter (but they also don’t offer many minors). </p>
<p>Don’t get too hung up on formal minor or whatever. If, for instance, stats ended up mattering for job or grad school (if changed from med school) it probably doesn’t matter that you have a formal minor over being able to say " I have 24 hours specifically in stats including classes in X, X and X. "</p>