Hi everyone,
I’m a Junior right now getting ready for the college applications process. I’ve been thinking about possible majors. I’ve had plans of being in the medical field for a long time. I did well in AP World History (96 average throughout the class and a 5 on the AP Exam) and history and politics are my stronger suits compared to the sciences. I know I would love majoring in South Asian Studies, but many say that this would be a worthless degree. Is this really true? Would it be a bad idea to fulfill all my pre-med reqs while majoring in something unrelated to medicine? I’m not really certain of anything right now and I’m a bit afraid of choosing a major and hating it, not doing well in it, or realizing I don’t want to be in that field (I want to keep my options open in case I feel I’m not cut out for medicine). Thank you for any advice:)
Yes, pre-med does not require any specific major. About half of medical school applicants and matriculants had a primary undergraduate major other than biology.
Would it be a “bad idea?” No, not per se. However, you have to think about how many classes are required for your intended major, and how many of them overlap with pre-med classes (I’m assuming none.) You’ll have to cram-in your 8 or so pre-med classes along with all the other classes of your major. With some programs, this isn’t possible, so you’ll have to look at the schools’ required classes for the major.
My opinion would be that you major in a science (where you’ll get credit for the chem/bio/psych classes) and them maybe a minor in South Asian Studies.
There is no required major for pre-med, just required classes. Take a good into the details and see if it’s feasible. South Asian studies isn’t bad if you have some language proficiency in a south asian language, couple that with an MBA and you can do quite well in business. Otherwise you could always go into government with it.