Is it realistic to double major and minor as a pre-med student? I want to go into psychiatry, so having a major in both biology and psychology would be very helpful. Also, some of the classes may overlap to make it easier. I am interested in animal assisted therapy as well, and I wanted to add an anthrozoology minor. This would more be for my interest than med-school admissions. Would this be possible?
If it helps, I am mainly looking at Caroll College in Montana because of their biology and anthrozoology program-- and because it seems like the perfect fit for me.
Thanks for any replies!
what is MOST important is your GPA in the core premed classes expected by Medical Schools, your MCAT scores, your LORs and if possible, any medically related research you can do to show your true interest in Medicine.
Med schools really dont care what your college major is- English majors can and do successfully apply to Med schools - as long as they have MCAT’s and great grades in the classes that med schools expect applicants to have taken.
@menloparkmom thanks this helps a lot! If majors don’t matter, it may work to major in psychology or biology (and of course take the necessary pre-med classes).
Bio/psych courses will not prepare you for a career in psychiatry which requires 4 years training post med school. They will not even prepare you for med school. Pick major you’re most interested and that you like and then do well (ie high GPA) in all your courses. As to minor, typically to maintain FT status, students have to fill their schedule with GE and major reqs along some other courses to end up with enough units to graduate. It may offer more flexibility for you to sprinkle in say a psych course here, an anthrozoology (?) course there as opposed to having to satisfying and scheduling one particular minor’s reqs.
A competitive med school app is not just high GPAs and MCAT, but includes ECs, LORs, PS and be able to interview well. Most people who start as premed never see med school so consider major with Plan B possibilities should you change your mind. Make sure you find time to enjoy your college years. Good luck.
Major in a field that interests you and that offers you a Plan B. (Jugulator is right–most pre-meds never even apply to med school and of those who do, fewer than 40% get accepted.) Your undergrad major plays no role in med school admission and has even less impact on your choice of specialty. (Besides med students change their mind about their specialty on average 4 times during med school. Just because you think you want to do psychiatry now is no guarantee you’ll still want to be a psychiatrist 9 years from now.)
Double-majoring will be tough–especially if the 2 subject areas don’t have much overlap. And bio and psych don’t. Adding a minor to double major makes it even more difficult to fit all your required coursework in and it won’t give you space in your schedule for a “just for fun” or "isn’t that cool"or “I need a easy A this semester” class.
If you really still want to double major/minor, I suggest you make a spreadsheet to see if you can fit all pre-med requirements, GEs, and major requirement and still finish them all in 4 years. To find out what courses are required you can look at the departmental page (for bio, for psych and for anthrozoology)–requirements for majors and minors will be listed, often along with sample semester-by-semester schedules. Also keep in mind that at a smaller school like Carroll, not all classes are offered every semester or even every year.
Forget about the double major and the minor. You’re likely going to overload yourself and end up with a GPA that isn’t med school worthy.
You seem to be picking majors and a minor based on a medical specialty. Taking anthrozoology classes won’t make a difference if you later want to include animal assisted therapy (which actually sounds more like something a clinical psychologist would do, not a psychiatrist). Are you sure that you know what a psychiatrist does? It sounds like you may have the roles of doctors and therapists confused. TVs often portray psychiatrists as having patients on couches tell them their thoughts and problems.
What subject are you the strongest in? if it’s bio, then be a bio major. If it’s psych, then be a psych major.
It sounds like your best subject would be psych, so if that’s true, then be a psych major, take the premed prereqs…and if you have the time and space in your schedule, AND it won’t hurt your GPA, then include a anthrozoology class for interest…maybe take one or two of those classes in the last semester of college.
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I want to go somewhere that I can get into after scholarships that costs about $15-20k. Here are my stats as of beginning of junior year:
4.0 GPA, 4.2 weighted
1st in class of 296
31 ACT sophomore year, taking again junior year
PaY leader, dance, church, FCCLA, band council
Clarinet- all-state, honor bands, FMAYS
That is the basics. I live in Fargo, ND and would prefer to stay around the area but not too close. I would go up to 12 hours away for good college and if it was a great college I would go just about anywhere. I am Catholic, so it would be nice if I could go to a somewhat religious school. I have been thinking about smaller schools for the most part. It would be great if there was an option to party but not the whole campus does party. I want to be at a good school with academically motivated students where I am not the smartest but not the dumbest either.
After college, I am thinking about going to get a grad degree in psychology to practice clinical psychology. The school I go to needs to have a good graduate acceptance rate. Also, I have considered double majoring and getting a major in clarinet performance as well. I love music, so a good music program would be great. Creative writing is another area that I would love to go into, but it doesn’t seem very practical.
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Ok you’re a junior. Have you signed up to retest?
How did you do on the PSAT?
The above post is from a few months ago when you were considering clinical psychology. Have you moved on from that to psychiatry?
After reading the above, it does suggest that your major should be psychology.
Have you determined if Carroll College will give you a free tuition scholarship so that your net cost will be about $15k?
As an option, you may consider a minor. My D. was also interested in Psychiatry while in UG. She had Zoology major / Neuroscience minor / Music Composition minor, the last was for fun and to pursue her personal interest in music. She said that there was a lot of overlap between Zoology major and Neuroscience minor. Later while in medical school, she got disappointed in psych and pursued another specialty. Many pre-meds around her had various combo of major(s) / minor(s), so it is possible. Neuroscience classes were very challenging but very rewarding and D. was volunteering for 3 school years at the place related to psychology with most volunteers there being psych major. The training that she received there was invaluable for her future.
@mom2collegekids I was considering pscyhology, but I realized I was more interested in applying anthroozoology to psychology, which would be a form of psychiatry that involved diagnosis and research. I got 1390 and 209 on the PSAT, and am possible eligible for National Merit depending on how much it changes (last year it was 202 or 204 for ND). I am taking the ACT with my school again in March and am hoping to raise it a few points. Psychology could definitely be a good major, but Carroll College has a very good biology program which makes me consider that as well.
Does this help at all? Sorry, I know this is a bit delayed.
Yes…and it does look good for you to make NMSF in your state. Good luck