Medicine and More

Can you double major in business and teaching for undergrad, then continue on to graduate school (maybe) to pursue an MBA and masters in teaching and then go to med school? Essentially, can you get a degree in business and teaching and then go on to medical school? Is this possible and how? Any response will be greatly appreciated.

You can major in any subject and apply to Medical school as long as you take the Medical school required courses.

Coursework

All medical schools pretty much require the following pre-med coursework:

General Chemistry with lab: 2 semesters
Organic Chemistry with lab: 2 semesters
General Physics with lab: 2 semesters
General Biology with lab: 2 semesters
English: 2 semesters
Calculus: 1 semester

Note that some medical schools require courses such as Biochemistry or additional Calculus, for example. Other special non-science courses may also be required by some medical schools. A few examples: The University of Nevada in Reno requires one upper-division behavioral science class or something like it (and they are very specific about which ones will cover this requirement) and University of Utah requires a “diversities” class such as Women Studies, Gender Studies, or some sort of minority studies. Harvard requires 2 semesters of Calculus instead of just one.

A Bachelor’s Degree

Most medical schools require a completed Bachelor’s degree, but not all schools do. Some schools only require completion of the pre-requisite courses, as listed previously, and at least 92 completed credits (you are a senior at that point). Overall, most US MD and DO medical schools require the 4-year degree, but most US Podiatry and Caribbean schools only require the 92 credits.

Thanks! @Gumbymom Can you double major in teaching and something else like music or engineering?

I think it would be very difficult to double major in teaching/music/engineering while still trying to take the Medical school requirements along with volunteering/shadowing EC’s needed to apply to Medical school. Also if you plan to pursue a teaching credential/education degree, you would have to incorporate time for your student teaching.
Teaching would be an excellent backup career if you fail to get into Medical school. I see no point in trying to double major unless you want spend more than 4 years for your Undergrad.

You can do whatever you want. It is a matter of cost. Can you afford to go to college, get an MBA, and then afford medical school.
If you plan to do an MBA it is recommended that you work a few years first before applying.

Thanks! @raclut

Could you like double major in engineering or music and teaching as well as complete the requirements for med school? As back up career, I think teaching or something in business or music would be good. That is why I was thinking this. @Gumbymom

Yes, anything is possible but as stated above, you would be spending a long time fulfilling all the requirements for 2 degrees along with the medical school requirements unless there is a large overlap of classes for both majors and the medical school courses. You are just not taking major specific courses for each degree, you are also have to the general education requirements specified for your college to obtain your degrees.

Take a look at your school of choice and see what courses are required to obtain each degree. Engineering is a very structured 4 year plan allowing for few electives to fit in the Medical school requirements along with another degrees major requirements. Pick one major as your backup and then fit in the Medical school requirements.

If you are considering teaching primarily as a backup plan and plan A is medicine, instead of majoring in education in college, major in something that will allow you to fulfill med school requirements and could also allow you to pursue a career in education if medical school doesn’t work out, like Biology, Chemistry, or Physics (the sciences are particularly in demand in K-12). If you choose to pursue teaching after undergrad, you could then go for a Master of Arts in teaching, or go through an alternative certification program. There are a number of state and national alternative programs for teacher certification.

Yeah thats a good idea, but with alternate route, what are the chances that you could get a job? @dheldreth

There is a glut of failed pre-med biology and chemistry majors who want to go into teaching so the job market in desirable suburban school districts is fairly saturated. If you are willing to teach in an urban inner city school, a struggling school, or in a rural/small town school district, then your chances of finding a teaching position–with or without a teaching certificate–are much better. Hiring a teacher then getting them a certification waiver is quite common in those types of schools.

Majoring in physics or mathematics will also improve you chances for finding a teaching position–with or without teaching certification-- since there is a shortage of qualified math/physics teachers in many areas.

Besides pursuing a MAT or alternative certification process after college graduation, you could seek employment in a private or charter school–which typically do not require teachers to have state teacher certification. (D2’s BF is in his 2nd year of teaching at a highly regarded private prep school. He doesn’t have a teaching certificate and has never taken a single education course.)

Another pathway would be Teach for America. TFA does not require any education coursework or background. TFA requires a 2 year commitment and acceptance into the program is competitive. If you are accepted by TFA, you will attend a 6 week summer “bootcamp” where you are given a crash course in teaching fundamentals. You are assigned a teaching mentor at or near your school site and TFA helps you enroll in the required education coursework needed to obtain teaching certification. You will be taking education classes at night/on weekends and during the summers in order to complete your certification requirements.

@SDave03 getting a teaching job with an alternative certification will depend on where you live. Some states have significant teacher shortages, some do not. And as wowmom said, you may have an easier time getting a job in what is termed a “critical needs” geographical area or subject area. Math and Science are almost always critical needs subject areas.

I personally became certified to teach through an alternative certification route that is run by my state. I had a BS in Medical Technology and an MAEd in Biology. I taught high school Biology for 16 years. in addition to the state run program, 7 other programs are recognized here. Again, it varies state by state. According to this report on the US Dept of Education site, 1 in 5 new teachers becomes certified through an alternative certification route.

https://title2.ed.gov/TitleIIReport13.pdf

So if this is something you are interested in, do some research and see what alternative certification looks like in your state. And understand that teaching isn’t easy. You spend a lot of time outside of school planning lessons and grading papers. You have to be able to manage a classroom and deal effectively with teenagers. You will have a lot of responsibilities on top of teaching - lunch duty, professional development, collaborative planning, club sponsorship, etc. There will be a lot you don’t know about how education/schools work, so your learning curve will be steep. I definitely think teaching is a viable plan B for a pre-med, but I also believe that students deserve teachers that love teaching and care about helping them succeed. Teachers have a tremendous impact, which can be positive or negative, on their students. Some of the short term alternative teaching routes such as Teach for America have taken some hits because they are often placed in poor, low performing schools, whose students more than most need consistency, and TFA teachers are usually there for only a couple of years.

I am definitely interested in teaching as an option, just my first option is pre-med. I was just thinking if I could do pre-med and something like music education or business education or engineering/physics/math education. Thanks so much for the response! @dheldreth

I would say don’t try to do too many things at once. If you want to be premed 100% focus on that. When you spread yourself in so many different directions you create more trouble for yourself.

I would recommend Physics/math education+ premed. Matches well and has good job prospects.

I would agree with raclut. If you are serious about getting into medical school, focus on it 100%. Students getting a degree in education have to do classroom observations, a semester (maybe more) of student teaching, prepare for teacher certification exams and at some schools the GRE, which may take away time needed to do medical shadowing, volunteering, preparing for MCAT, and could reduce the flexibility to go to med school interviews if you apply while in undergrad. If you don’t get into medical school, there will be ways to teach if you desire.

The main issue with deciding to take premed classes is gpa. Do you think you can get mostly A’s in your classes?
An A minus is considered a 3.7 gpa. The top candidates for med school have high MCAT scores and very high gpa’s.
Try it out first semester. You have to target making dean’s list every semester. (at least 3.7 and above for MD School)
If you find you are getting B’s and C’s already your gpa will start out low and it will be very hard to make it a med school worthy gpa. If your primarly goal is getting into med school I would be careful on deciding what major to pursue.