Nutrition Major Pre-Med

Hey everybody! I would really love to major in nutrition, but I’m not sure if a nutrition major would align with what medical schools looks for. As a nutrition major, I will complete all of the medical school requirements, so that isn’t an issue. I’ve heard that med schools don’t like it when people major in nursing, so would that be the same in the case of nutrition majors? Thank you!

Do nutrition majors take the same science classes as regular bio & chem majors?

If the answer is no–that’s a problem.

At a number of colleges, there are 3 science class tracks–one for science majors, one for health science majors and one for non-science majors (everyone else). Any science courses for health science majors do not fulfill admission requirements for med schools. You must take the same science coursework as science majors take.

Is nutrition the pre-professional major for dietitians/nutritionists at your college?

If the answer is yes–that’s a problem.

Many adcomm members consider nutrition a vocational major like nursing because it leads to career as a nutritionist or dietitian. Health science majors (vocational majors) are often considered to be less rigorous than academic majors.

There is evidence from AMCAS that health science majors (nursing, CLS, nutrition, athletic training, emergency medical services, allied health sciences, etc) score lower on the MCAT than all other groups. They also fare more poorly in med school admissions than traditional academic majors even when adjustments are made for the lower average MCAT scores and GPAs of health sciences major applicants.

See: https://www.aamc.org/download/321496/data/factstablea17.pdf

Does this mean that majoring in nutrition will prevent you from getting a med school admission? No, but it may mean that your path to gaining a med school admission may be more difficult than it would with traditional academic major.

Thank you for replying! There is an option of getting a degree in dietics. Like i can either go on a path in nutrition that would allow me to become a dietician or I can just take the path that would require graduate studies. To become a dietician you have to take some cooking classes etc that a nutritional science major wouldn’t take. So I don’t think a persons majoring in nutrition science would get out of college with job opportunities unless they take the dietics path. I hope I’m making sense lol.

Nutrition majors take most of the courses required for med school (I think) eith the exception of 2 or 3 courses. At Cornell they take all of the necessary courses except for organic chemistry and physics (not exactly sure tho).

If you want to compete with nearly all the other applicants, and prove you are ready for med school, you will need a transcript that includes::

College Calculus (at least one, two is better)
Physics one and two
Organic Chemistry one and two
Anatomy, Physiology
Genetics, Intro to Cell and Molecular Bio
Biochemistry, Virology/intro to microbio
4 terms of the same foreign language
Psychology
Sociology
Statistics
Excellent communication skills and writing skills.

Only 43% of people who apply to medical schools become students. There is fierce competition.

Can you take the MCAT and apply to medical schools with a nutrition major? Sure. Will you be seen as equally prepared as 90% of the other people applying? Probably not. If only 43% of applicants go on to study medicine…do the math.

Cornell does require Organic Chem for Nutrition undergrads

Oh I’m sorry I meant that I’d have to take organic chemistry and physics outside of the nutrition major. Those are the only 2 required medical school courses that the nutrition major does not include. @MaryGJ

It is a misnomer that a nurse cannot be a physician. Nursing majors, like any other non-bio majors has to complete the med school prerequisites to apply for med school which is not a part of nursing program and about 1/3 of the nursing majors who applied to med school( about 1000 per year) have successfully admitted to med schools. The stigma of nurses cannot be doctors is mostly political and psychological. See the following blog.

http://blogs.einstein.yu.edu/from-nurse-to-doctor-the-career-path-less-encouraged/

Med school takes in all majors, nutrition majors included.

@ritikulous

Just wanted to let you know that MaryGJ’s list of required/recommended classes for pre-med is not correct.

Intro cell & molecular bio 1&2 w/ lab. gen chem 1&2 w/ lab, ochem 1&2 w/lab, physics 1&2 w/lab, biochemistry, calc 1, stats, 2 semesters English or expository writing, psych, sociology.

You definitely do not need virology, A&P or genetics (though genetics will be very helpful for the MCAT) or 4 years of a foreign language. Spanish language competency is a plus for med students applying in areas where there is large Hispanic presence, but it’s never expected.

Calc 2 is only required/strongly recommended at a handful of schools-- think Harvard’s HST track, JHU and WUSTL.

Some medical schools have additional requirements besides the standard pre-reqs. Ohio State requires human anatomy. A few med schools require medical ethics. USC & JHU require upper level social sciences and/or humanities. As you get closer to finalizing your decision about whether you will apply to medical school, you need to check the admission requirements at specific medical schools you’re interested in. Admission requirements can and do change, often with very little advance warning.

You should speak with your advisors at Cornell and make sure you are enrolled in the correct courses for a pre-med. For example, your biochem class should require at least 1 semester (if not 2) of ochem as a pre-req. If it doesn’t–it’s the wrong class.

Because nutrition is housed in the College of Agriculture, you may get some questions about being in an Ag degree program during interviews but it won’t necessarily be a deal breaker. (I know one forestry major who is a current MD/PhD student.)

The more pressing question will be why did you major in nutrition (a pre-professional major for dietitians and nutritionists) and are apparently training for a back-up career if you want to go to medical school. You need to strongly demonstrate your commitment to medicine through your ECs.

BTW, nurses can and do go to med school, but the major issue isn’t their academic competency, it’s that adcomms are reluctant to poach students from critical shortage areas in other healthcare professions (like nursing). And generally speaking nurses are expected to work in their profession for a few years before applying to med school so they can speak authoritatively about why medicine/why nursing isn’t the right choice for them.

Ok y’all! Thank you guys so much!