<p>Do med schools favor someone who major and minors over someone who just majors? Or is that disregarded and more weight is put on GPA, MCAT, extracurriculars etc...? </p>
<p>I wouldn’t say majors/minors/double majors/double minors are totally disregarded (adcomms are made up of individuals afterall, each with his own opinions and pre-conceptions), but whether or not an applicant has a minor will not have any substantial influence on his ability to get accepted. Other things are held in much greater importance.</p>
<p>"Do med schools favor someone who major and minors over someone who just majors? Or is that disregarded and more weight is put on GPA, MCAT, extracurriculars etc…? "
- Minors and doube/triple majors are totally irrelevent to med. schools. Yes, the most weight is on GPA/MCAT and you migh be cut automatically if you do not fit these stats at particular Med. School. However, Medical ECs are practically a must, I never heard of anybody who did not have them. Medcial Research, volunteering, shadowing. I do not know about importance of having a job though. OK, to give it some perspective, D. and ALL of her pre-med frineds had a combo of minors/majors to pursue their personal interests and nothing else, they knew that they will never be able to do it again. Also, all of them work and all completed various ECs. All are currently at various Med. Schools. </p>
<p>Importance of minors: an underlying current in college is the demand of the student’s source of funding (parents, school, govt, etc) that the student finish ASAP. To acquiesce to this demand, student is typically required to maintain full time status. To do this the student must fill up his/her dance card (schedule) from 3 flavors of courses (GE, major related, and other). Minors come from the “other” flavor. Some students have/develop an interest in some secondary area and pursue a minor no matter when (day/time/term) a minor course is offered. That’s great. However to satisfy funding demand, I think most students are simply trying to create a tight schedule each term (e.g., school day starts at 11AM, ends at 2PM). So they may take a course that interests them, or is perceived as an easy A, or because the school is offering it in a given term, or for whatever reason just to fill their dance card and thus never complete enough courses (probably half major) in a secondary area to earn a minor. Upon graduating, I think most students have a transcript that indicates that he/she majored in some area and that also reflects that several “other” courses were completed. Some students get a transcript indicating that he/she majored in some area and that also indicates the student completed enough courses in one area that their accomplishment gets wrapped up in a bow with a name “Minor in ….” </p>
<p>The mantra on this forum is med schools do not care about major, take what interests you and that you can do well in. Are “other” courses wrapped in a bow (aka minors) given more weight than just plain vanilla flavored “other” courses in the eyes of a med school??? I think a student’s “other” courses are only important to med school in GPA calculations and perhaps as interview topic and really don’t add any any punch to application.</p>
<p>Thank you all for your input! I really appreciate it. So would it be best if I mainly focus on the extracurricular aspect (volunteering, interning, research etc…) rather than spend time completing a minor? </p>
<p>^it all depends what YOU want and nothing else. All those with combo minor(s)/major(s) still have plenty of medical ECs . I do not think that there is a choice in regard to Med. ECs, you got to have them and most are truly interested in these. I know that my D. was excited about them. If not, I would question your desire for medical career.</p>