I am a current senior in high school that is still not 100% sure what I want to major in. Although I have a passion for medicine and science, I do not want my undergrad GPA to decrease my chances of getting into med school because the STEM majors are jam-packed with competitive pre-meds.
I understand that majors aren’t completely taken into consideration when applying to med school but I also don’t want to feel like I am underprepared to go to med school if I decide to major in humanities.
It’s of right now, I plan on majoring in literature and minoring in neurobiology/neuroscience OR psychology. Honestly I don’t want my GPA to be lower than a 3.7 to be competitive with other applicants and I feel that if I take the normal biology major route, my GPA will drop dramatically.
My understanding is that pre-med is a set of prerequisite courses needed for admission to medical school and as long as you take those prerequisites that you can major in anything you want. You need to do very well in college to be competitive. You do need to be prepared to handle the rigor of medical school as well, so courses shouldn’t only be chosen so that it is easy to earn an A.
Go with your strengths in regards to major, but as stated in the above post, you still will need to fit in all the Medical school requirements along with Shadowing/Volunteering etc…
Also select a major that will be a solid backup in case Medical school does not happen.
The common Medical school required courses include:
Biology
Physics
English
General chemistry
Organic chemistry
Biochemistry
Psychology
Genetics
Calculus
There’s no avoiding those competitive pre-meds. Even if you major in a non-STEM field, you will still be taking your pre-req classes with them.
Major in an area you enjoy, that you think you will excel in and one that gives you the best Plan B career (in case med school isn’t in your future because 60% of those who apply to med school every year get rejected .) If what you enjoy is literature–then go for it!
My daughters’ med school classmates had majors ranging from agriculture to music theory to theology to women’s studies.
The biggest downside of a non-STEM major is that you will take fewer science classes. This mean there is more pressure on you to have excellent performance in those science classes you do take since you will have no other extra science classes to “dilute” any less than excellent grades you earn.
Beside the courses listed by @Gumbymom, add statistics or biostatistics and sociology to the list. Stats is required by a large number of med schools and is tested heavily on the MCAT. Sociology is also included on the MCAT.
My D is a 4th year med student and majored in Spanish. I know a medical resident who majored in violen performance. Major in whatever you want to and would be happy enough doing in case you don’t make it to med school.