I am currently just about to start my undergraduate degree, and then I am hoping to go medical school. I was thinking of majoring in psychology, as not only do I like psychology, but it incorporates many pre-med requisites. Do you think this would be a good major? Or is it better to do something more unique? I am also planning on starting to study for the mcat freshman year, just studying a little bit every now and then, to gradually prepare! Does anyone have any useful study tips? Also, what else is helpful for getting into a reputable medical school other than gpa and mcat? Any response greatly appreciated! Thanks!
What should a pre med major in:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/214387-what-should-a-premed-major-in-p1.html
Answer— tldr version major in what you like and will do well in. Earn a high GPA.
All US med schools are “reputable” since they all teach the same curriculum and all med students at all US med schools take the same national standardized exams.
Besides GPA & MCAT, med adcomms will want to see all of the following:
—community service
—physician shadowing
—clinical experiences (volunteering or working where you have direct patient contact–hospital, nursing, home, hospice, stand alone clinic, group home for the mentally or physically disabled, rehab center, stand alone public clinic, etc)
—clinical or lab bench research
—evidence of leadership abilities
Additionally, some medical schools highly value teaching/tutoring/coaching experiences. (Because a large component of a physician’s job is educating patients.)
Thank you!
I don’t think MCAT is worth studying for so early unless you’ve taken courses in the subject matter at college or the AP equivalents (in some cases). These would be all of gen chem, all of organic chemistry, intro biology/physio, physics (mechanics, electricity, and fluids/dynamics), intro psych, and intro sociology. You could self-study the content beforehand if you wanted to but I don’t think it’s an efficient use of time. Either way no harm in getting a couple of books to brush up on content if you want to. Commonly recommended brands are examcrackers, the berkley review, kaplan, and princeton review.
Also, does anyone have any advice on a possible major in criminology, with a minor in biology? I know criminology isn’t a typical pre-med major, but its something I am interested in.
Thanks!
"I am also planning on starting to study for the mcat freshman year, "
- Do not do this. Waste of time!
"Also, what else is helpful for getting into a reputable medical school "
-You mean ANY American Med. School, right?
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not only do I like psychology, but it incorporates many pre-med requisites.
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It does??
@mom2collegekids Lol, at the very least, Psychology and Statistics. Some majors also require Biology, and may have a concentration in Psychology, that kind of overlaps with Sociology (like Social Psychology or something). I have a Psychology-like major (probably halfway between Neuroscience and Psychology on the spectrum) that includes Bio, Chem, Physics, Calc, and Statistics in addition to Psychology electives.
I guess there are some exceptions, but many of the psychology req’ts that I’ve seen allow you to graduate with the minimum of sciences, and often the sciences for non-majors.
If someone wants to major in psychology and be premed, then fine. But I think they’ll find that many of the BCMP premed req’ts are not listed in their psych req’ts.
that said, I can see that the neuroscience major may have more premed overlap, but not sure if they’d be required to take a year of physics and both semesters of orgo.