<p>I'm reading up on pre-med at Upenn. It says that:</p>
<p>"At Penn, pre-med students are not required to major in any particular discipline, like Biology, so Penn pre-meds are free to choose any major, from each of the four undergraduate schools."</p>
<p>despite this statement, would you say that there is a specific major where you would find the highest volume of pre-med students?</p>
<p>the highest volume is still going to be biology or something science related</p>
<p>I should clarify: does majoring in a non-bio/chem department dramatically ones chances at acceptance into med school? The same page touts "For Fall 2001 entering class to medical school, the acceptance rate among Penn graduating seniors was 83% and among all our applicants it is 75%, while nationally, the acceptance rate is only 50%".</p>
<p>BBB is almost exclusively premed</p>
<p>also, look over at the premed forum on this site if you have major questions. I'll get back to you if you have Penn-specific questions when I don't have last minute christmas shopping to do</p>
<p>Majoring in a non science does not hurt your chances. Many students at Penn and most every other college are able to get into med school with any major they choose.</p>
<p>You just need to fulfill premed requirements, like a year of math, a year of bio, two years of chemistry... well I don't know the exact requirements but it's something like that. Biology and BBB are very popular among premeds because many of them just like science, but also because their requirements overlap with many, if not all, premed requirements.</p>
<p>If you look at the</a> College's career placement stats you'll see that although the most common majors are biology and BBB, people have gotten into top med schools after majoring in economics, near eastern languages & civilizations, and romance languages, for example.</p>
<p>As an interviewer for the med school, I like having students with varied backgrounds. There are many double majors, as its easy to satisfy bio major requirements if you're pre-med. Extracurrics are very important, but there are many volunteer opportunities in the Philly area. You have to carve out the time and show initiative.</p>
<p>Major in whatever area interests you most because a) Med schools don't give preference to one major over another and b) You're more likely to do well in an area you enjoy, and med schools do look for high GPAs. If bio happens to be your favourite subject, by all means study bio (I'm planning on studying BBB, because I am fascinated by the brain and how it affects our behaviour) If music is your passion, go for music.</p>
<p>whats BBB?
what about chemistry for a pre-med? is that also good for the requirements?</p>
<p>BBB = biological basis of behavior</p>
<p>Chemistry is good if you are willing to work. It is one of the more strictly curved departments in the whole university, especially in the intro (101, 102, 241, 242) courses. Things ease up a bit later in terms of a curve, but only the most dedicated and interested students remain so it is not really all that much easier.</p>
<p>haha so what is the best major for pre-med? biology right??</p>
<p>go see "what should a pre-med major in" over on the premed forum</p>
<p>Nope, you can major in other areas as well. just, you'll have to get a degree in bio/chem etc.</p>
<p>^ um, what? no, you by absolutely no means have to get a degree in bio or chem or any other science by that matter.</p>
<p>You can major in absolutely anything you want so long as you fulfill the premed requirements, and by no means need to major in a science as well. Many Penn premeds major in Health and Society or other fields other than BBB/bio/biochem/chem/physics. I am a bio major, and I will say it has been nice to have most of my premed requirements count towards my major requirements; this is the real reason why most premeds choose to major in science (BBB is the major where the most number of prereqs can be used towards the major, bio I think might be one less). </p>
<p>The reason why BBB is such an attractive major to premeds at Penn is that it's a science-y major, but the only real hard science courses you have to take are the premed requirements plus BBB109 and BIOL251 (though the latter especially is a particularly tough course); the rest of the major is filled with more psych-type courses.</p>
<p>While it is very true that you can major in anything you want, in the particular case of Penn I would in all honesty advise people to shy away from chem and biochem as major choices, however (one could add most of engineering to that list as well). The chem department and many engineering courses are incredibly tough, and unless you are exceptionally talented in chemistry, it will very difficult to keep your grades up to stay competitive for med school admissions (the chem department is the only department in the college that sets its class average to a B- (though physics can too depending on the professor)). Also, for most majors, grading in coursework gets a little easier in higher-level classes, one really has to worry mostly about the intro premed weedouts - this is not true for chem/biochem majors. p-chem and the chem department biochem courses are arguably the toughest courses in all of penn, and even if you made it through intro chem and orgo alright, you can still see your BCPM gpa go in the toilet late in your college career.</p>
<p>For many of the engineers, there is the added difficulty of scheduling the premed coursework unless you are a BE major (many BE people are indeed premed), though in truth there are relatively few outside of BE interested in being premed to begin with.</p>
<p>Honestly, major in what you want; I only present this opinion to give you the full picture of what you're getting yourself into. Your chances of success as a premed will be much greater if you major in something you enjoy and thus are more likely to work hard in.</p>