<p>Excuse my ignorance, but I had a question about "majors" in med school. I was under the impression that in any medical school, one received a straight MD (or DO) that was unaffiliated with any specific major. However, on perusing several websites of Medical Schools, I found lists of Med School majors. Some of these fields are very specific, and seem more like a residency than a major in medical school itself. Does medical school give you a more broad base and allow you to go into the field that you are able to match in, or do you take specific classes and have a concentration of sorts? Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>Your initial assumptions are correct, as far as any medical school I've ever dealt with...During the 4th year you do get to choose your clinical rotations and customize them to an extent to meet your needs/interests. Most 4th years will start in July doing sub-internships in the field they are leaning towards entering, just to make sure it really is what they are hoping to do and also to get some letters of rec. They might even travel to another medical school and complete a sub-i there, again for LOR's. After the first three months of the year though, most people end up picking clerkships in things that are either of interest, things they'll never ever get experience in again, or clerkships with easy workloads so that they can manage studying for Step 2, preparing/traveling for interviews, and going to the bars as often as possible.</p>
<p>I think the webpage is a mistake and many of the things are mislabeled. The ones that medical disciplines are definitely residencies, and the basic science ones are PhD programs...</p>
<p>Technically, medical schools do give residents and fellows diplomas noting their service. The ones on display with the family practice docs I'm following look identical to their actual degrees. Would I say that counts as offering a "degree" in surgery or internal medicine...not really.</p>
<p>The Anatomy and Neurobiology, Pharmacology, Pathology "MD" links indicate potential MD/PhD programs. Most of the other MD links lead to residency or PhD programs.</p>