<p>I would like to attend a medical school upon completing an undergraduate degree at the best school possible. Does my choice of declared major effect my chance of admission to different colleges and medical schools.
My first-choice major is biochemistry or chemistry. But, I also have an interest in history and psychology.Would I have a better chance with admissions if I apply as these majors or apply to medical school with these majors.</p>
<p>I would say no. There are entire books on how to get into medical school but your major plays less of a role than your accomplisments. Choose something that will give you a good GPA. Many premed students choose sciences like biology or chem because it helps them with the MCAT and gets them a head start, but honestly I would play to your strengths, whatever those are. </p>
<p>Also look for ways to distinguish yourself in volunteer and leadership efforts. Look for experiences that will show you are dedicated to medicine as a career. GL.</p>
<p>They say physics is a virtual guarantee of admission to med school.</p>
<p>No major is a guarantee for medical school admission.</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.aamc.org/download/321496/data/2012factstable18.pdf[/url]”>https://www.aamc.org/download/321496/data/2012factstable18.pdf</a></p>
<p>Thanks, I’ll stick to Chemistry and maybe minor in one of the other two</p>
<p>@UCBAlumnus:</p>
<p>That is an interesting PDF. A quick glance seems to indicate that biological sciences majors might be losing out due to slightly lower MCAT VR scores. Their GPAs seem good.</p>
<p>it seems that the document might be a little misleading, though. If you look at the number of students with each major, the biological sciences majors have several thousand more applicants than majors like math and statistics, so the mean scores are bound to be lower</p>
<p>@WorldTraveler0: </p>
<p>Look again.</p>
<p>The average GPAs of biological majors who are applying are higher than those of the social sciences majors. The MCAT WS scores are comparable, both groups do about the same in MCAT BS and PS, and only in the MCAT VR do the Bios fall noticeably behind the Socials.</p>
<p>About 43% of all the applicants enroll in med school, but only 42% of the Bios. The social sciences majors enroll at 45%! </p>
<p>The Bios exceed or equal the Others across the board but only beat them by 1% in enrollment.</p>
<p>Perhaps the biological sciences majors have to take more science than they need, which crowds out places in their schedules for courses that would help them on the MCAT VR and Writing Sample?</p>
<p>@UCBAlumnus:</p>
<p>Do you have other data available that might show whether these results are indicative of a trend or merely a statistical fluctuation?</p>
<p>What exactly do you mean by “at the best school possible”? In applying to medical schools, yes it is important to have gone to a school where you get a good education, but my impression is that your undergraduate school is not the biggest factor in admissions. I think it’s more important to go to a school where you will fit in well, and also where you can achieve the grades you need to pursue medical school.</p>
<p>My ultimate goal is John Hopkins Med School. I feel its a lofty and unlikely goal if I attend anything but an ivy or ivy-tier school for my undergrad, but I also know i need to have a high GPA.</p>
<p>The physics and biophysics majors I know have done very well with med school admissions. Two kids who graduated last spring are going to Hopkins and one to Harvard for an MD/PhD. These students all had excellent research experience and felt that physics courses had given them a great preparation for med school. My father is a professor at a top 10 med school, and seems to strongly disagree with the advice that course rigor is unimportant. The experience of the prior three students I mentioned also contradict this. They were all incredibly successful in the process getting several offers (one also was admitted to Cornell, another to WashU and I think another top school among other places). They all had very high GPAs, but from speaking with two of them, their transcripts were not without a few blemishes.
When looking at residents, my father is very impressed by people with an engineering background. Some people will tell you that majoring in engineering is terrible for med school admissions, but actually engineering experience is very valuable in medicine. It is shortsighted to suggest a major just for the GPA. My father comments that although humanities majors can have higher GPAs, they often struggle in med school. The goal shouldn’t end with admission to med school, it should be for a successful career, and if you want to be a great doctor, med school is just the beginning.</p>
<p>You think you have to go to an Ivy League to go to a top medical school? What I’ve learned: if you’re planning to go past getting a bachelor’s degree, the name of your undergrad institution means less than you think it does. What is far more important than going to any ivy league-level school is getting lots of clinical experience, pushing yourself academically, and doing well on the MCAT. Sure, you should still go to a school with strong academics and a lot of opportunities, but I wouldn’t count yourself out for a top medical school if you don’t go to an ivy league tier school for your undergrad.</p>
<p>why u like chemistry no biology u want be doctor or not or be a eustice not bruce</p>
<p>If you want great training to be a very good doctor, the name of the school means very little. I went to a state medical school and Johns Hopkins for residency. I was much better prepared than the Johns Hopkins medical students. I think a lot had to do with my work ethic in medical school but more importantly the school itself. My medical school served the state and I saw more pathology there than my last 10 years of practice. The 4 other students from my medical school who attended Johns Hopkins for residency were stars there too. 3/4 became chief residents.</p>
<p>So, be very careful about what school you strive for. The Johns Hopkins students, for the majority, were impressively smart. I was floored by what I saw. But they were too pampered and weren’t exposed to the level of education I received in medical school. Johns Hopkins offers an extreme level of research opportunities and attendings who seemed to be so gifted at times. If you want to get an MD/PhD, there are probably 10 programs that you should only consider. </p>
<p>When I completed residency, the jobs didn’t come looking for me. I had to do a lot of footwork to find a job. But I had a lot of former Hopkins graduates to network with. The most important lesson I learned was that no one cared where I went for UG, med school and for that matter residency. At the end, I am earning the same compensation commensurate with the efforts that every other doctor with an MD or DO makes.</p>
<p>@BerserkLemur</p>
<p>The school you attend as an undergraduate does not do a whole lot for you in terms of raising your chance of being accepted to medical school. Just so you understand, you should look at past class data of matriculating John Hopkin’s medical school students, a lot of them are not from Ivy League institutions.</p>
<p>My dermatologist when I was little when to a community college then transferred to a state university and was accepted to JHM</p>