Options for Pre-Med Students

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

<p>Hello, </p>

<p>I am a high school junior starting to think about college. My goal is to get into medical school, but I also want to be knowledgable about nutrition. I would like to go to a liberal arts college (thinking of places like Allegheny, Wesleyan, Bowdoin, Macalester, Clark, Ursinus...)
What are my options? Should I try to get an undergraduate degree in nutrition (Can you?) or is there a program that I can do in between college and medical school? </p>

<p>Any advice would be helpful.</p>

<p>Thank you!</p>

2

<p>There are colleges that offer an undergrad degree program in nutrition, though typically at colleges that offer a RD (registered dietician) program. RD programs require a 5th clinical year so you’re probably not going to find many SLACs or LACs which offer it.</p>

<p>AFAIK, there are no reputable stand alone nutrition programs that you could take after graduation.</p>

<p>The other consideration is that nutrition is consider a “vocational” major by medical school adcomms and that individuals who major in allied health sciences ( which includes nursing, exercise science, nutrition, etc) as a group tend to score the lowest on the MCAT and as a group and have the lowest rates of admission to medical school.</p>

<p><a href=“https://www.aamc.org/download/321496/data/2012factstable18.pdf[/url]”>https://www.aamc.org/download/321496/data/2012factstable18.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>(Does this mean you can’t major in nutrition and apply to medical school? Of course not, but it does mean that for some reason this group has more difficulty with admissions than do all other all majors.)</p>

<p>Nutrition is a topic covered during the first 2 years of medical school, though not to the degree of depth you’re probably looking for.</p>

3

<p>Thanks for the reply.
Are there any LACs that offer an RD program? Or can I go to an LAC and then apply to an RD program at another school, then after completing that apply to med school? Do I need to have an bachelors degree in nutrition to get into an RD program? </p>

<p>Are there any other options to pursue my interest in nutrition while still being able to eventually get to med school?</p>

4

<p>Well, you could choose an academic major, and then take some nutrition classes for interest. </p>

<p>You can learn a LOT about nutrition by just taking a couple of classes.</p>

5

<p>You can learn a LOT about nutrition by just searching the internet.
All depends what you are planning to do with you knowledge of nutrition. If you are planning to be nutritionist, then you probably need a college degree. However, according to your post, your plan is to go to Med. School. So, why do you need college courses in nutrition? But again, if you are interested taht deeply, why not? My D. graduated with Minor in Music (currently 3rd year Med. Student). She did not need it, just was interested. Do whatever you wish, it is yuor decision…</p>

6

<p>The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has a list of accredited 5 year RD programs here:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.eatright.org/BecomeanRDorDTR/content.aspx?id=8471[/url]”>http://www.eatright.org/BecomeanRDorDTR/content.aspx?id=8471&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>and a list of 4 year RD programs (which include the didactic instruction but not the clinical internships) here:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.eatright.org/WorkArea/linkit.aspx?LinkIdentifier=id&ItemID=8472[/url]”>http://www.eatright.org/WorkArea/linkit.aspx?LinkIdentifier=id&ItemID=8472&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;