Pre-Med Majors

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Berkeley
1

I am a hopeful pre-med major and incoming freshman at UC Berkeley and these are the majors I am considering along with what I have heard about them. If anyone at Cal is majoring in any of these, I would like feedback on your experiences, especially if you are pre-med too!

  1. MCB—Heard it’s really hard and is filled with pre-meds so it’s competitive.
  2. IB—The pre-reqs are hard just like with MCB but I heard upper divs are easier. Not sure if I would be interested in this because it’s macro scale biology.
  3. Public Health—I think I would be able to make it through this major with hard work, but I heard it’s capped and very hard to get into.
  4. Nutritional Science and Metabolism—I heard the advising in CNR is better than L and S but I would have to take NST 10 fall semester along with Chem 1A/L, Math 1A, and some english class, which would be so much work.
  5. Cognitive Science—I think it would be interesting but I’m scared of the CS classes at Berkeley. I have NO experience with programming WHATSOEVER.
  6. Psychology—I think I would be able to make it through psych with hard work but it’s also capped. Also not a very employable major.
  7. Spanish—I think I would be able to make it through with hard work but it’s not very employable.

I would like to study something that is interesting and not extremely difficult because I don’t need my GPA totally tanked. I know that everyone is undeclared for the first 2 years to complete pre-reqs, but to complete those pre-reqs I need to know what major I’m heading towards.

Ideally the major would also be something that could get me employed in case if I don’t make it to medical or graduate school. Like I find psychology and Spanish interesting but those majors are not very employable. Well, unless if I go to grad school for psychology, but that may not be worth it either when I get out unemployed.

2

MCB and IB are your top choices because they encase all the Pre-Med requirements within them. Public Health does so as well, but it has become one of the generic Pre-Med majors (like Bio) and the curriculum isn’t as fulfilling. NST is something you can consider that will make you stand out if you are interested in it. Check the Major Requirements to see if they include the Pre-Med courses you need. Cognitive Science and Psychology are the same deal, if you’re interested go for them. Spanish as a major will be difficult because you will have to also take the Lower Division Biology and Chemistry courses for Pre-Med. Your best bet is to match your Lower Division Pathway to your Pre-Med Courses.