Senior in high school.. HELP!!!

Applying to College
1

Hello!
I’m a senior, currently living in NY. And I’m thinking about moving to California.
So I am probably applying to the UCs and other private colleges in California as well.
My dream is to be a pediatric surgeon. I love being with children and helping people. I volunteered a lot in hospitals, schools, and worked at day camps as well. I am involved in several extracurricular activities, and I have a GPA of 3.7

I heard that I don’t necessarily have to major in science (like bio, physics, chem, etc) to go to med school.
But would it be better to major in a science-related major?
If not, what majors do you think will “fit” me?
Also, could you please recommend good colleges in California for me?
I would really appreciate any additional advice!! I am really nervous about this, and I need lots of help!!!
Thank you so much!!

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http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/california-colleges/1802004-so-you-want-to-come-to-california-for-college.html

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Get your undergrad in NY at an affordable SUNY. Then consider CA Med schools.

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As a SUNY option: SUNY Alfred has generous scholarships, and the Forensic Science degree should provide you the coursework needed for entry to Med School, and a backup vocation if Med School doesn’t work out.

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It doesn’t matte what you major in as long as you fill the pre-med requirements. Plus I wouldn’t start worrying about your major until you start college – take some classes and see what you like before choosing a major.

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Most schools have a pre-med advisor. They can help make sure that you take what you need. In theory you can major in art, dance, Russian literature, ecology, or whatever. But in practice you have to get a lot of science under your belt. So many students find it makes sense to major in one of the sciences, as long as you are taking so much of it already.

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SAT, ECs and budget?

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Stay in NY and study to get a proper pre-med education. Med schools admissions is like starting from scratch - there is no advantage to being from a UC if you want to go to med school in Cali. Also it is highly recommended you study life sciences in college if becoming a pediatric surgeon is your end goal. Why would you study anything else except what prepares you for your dreams? Remember you will be competing with a lot of well prepared kids applying for med schools. Guess what, they would be most likely well grounded in the sciences and especially in Bio.

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khanam, check the actual data re what to study. Admitted applicants to med school are about 50% STEM and the rest non-STEM. In fact, the non-STEM majors actually get admitted at a slightly higher rate than the STEM majors. It may be because their average GPAs are a bit higher. They do score higher on the MCAT on average (which is surprising). And they tend to be just as well prepared as the STEM majors. No one has yet produced data that shows otherwise.

OP, you have lots of time to explore majors while you are working on your pre-med pre-reqs. No need to commit until the end of your sophomore year at most schools. The haul through med school, residency and possible fellowship(s) is a long one, so there is no downside to expanding your boundaries beyond the STEM world as an undergrad.

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N’s mom. If you see the link below and total up bio, math, physical sciences and other health majors - 70% is from STEM… The “other” majors category is also vague - for all you know that could have some interdisciplinary STEM majors in there as well or engineering or CS… very unclear what that is.

https://www.aamc.org/download/321496/data/factstable18.pdf - this is from the AAMC

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^Khanam, the chart you provided supports what N’s Mom said: your odds of getting into med school are better if you are a humanities major than if you’re a biological science major. Not only that, but humanities majors need a lower non-science GPA AND a lower science GPA to get into med school than Biological science majors do, while only needing a marginally higher MCAT. About 55% admitted med students are in STEM (Physical Sciences typically means Physics, Geoscience, and Engineering) while the others majored in non STEM field - whereas 70% applicants were STEM. Consequently, 30% applicants shared 45% slots, a much more advantageous position than 70% applicants sharing 55% slots…
Additionally, the most important science subject for premeds isn’t biology, but chemistry: they only need to take 2 semesters of biology, but 2 semesters of inorganic chem + 1-2 of organic chem + biochemistry, and the “killer of premed dreams” is orgo, NOT bio. Finally, the way you stand out subject-wise is if you’re fluent in a language spoken by immigrants (or two, like if you speak Spanish AND Russian, or Creole French AND Portuguese, or Hmong AND Korean), not if you have many many science classes, and if you’ve taken sufficient diversity-related classes (especially pertaining to African American and Hispanic/Latino issues, but also LGBTQ, Native American, SouthEast Asian issues, etc.) For interviews, those two subjects will be important and will have to be incorporated into your professional experience (shadowing, volunteering, being an EMT, etc, etc).

However, you’re correct that going to California is a losing idea for a NY premed. In fact, there are so few slots in California medical schools that most are reserved for CA residents AND Californians have to go to other states! For a NYS resident, SUNY Geneseo is a very good school where being premed will minimize costs. Stony Brook is good in the sciences but is very commuter so OP would need to live in that area. Of course, depending on curriculum rigor and test scores (and whether OP qualifies for HEOP, which may qualify for a full tuition scholarship) OP could attend elite NYS colleges such as Hamilton or Vassar, or other top private colleges like St Lawrence, Hobart&William Smith, or Marist. And then in nearby states there’s Juniata, where there’s merit aid to be had and many students with B+ GPAs prepare actively for the health professions, or Muhlenberg or many other possibilities.
If OP is looking for sunny weather, there are plenty of colleges in Virginia and North Carolina, from UMW to Elon to Guilford to UNC-Wilmington to James Madison to Roanoke, plus Florida with many public universities with Honors colleges, Eckerd (on the beach and very strong in biology AND writing), etc.

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Still confused…

This is data

                    Stem    Humanities/Soc Sci      Other

Applicants 67.8 14.5 17.6
Matriculation67.9 14.9 17.0

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Pressed enter too early. Not sure where the data indicates a higher probability of matriculation for non STEM majors. All the doctors in my family all went the Bio route and no one ever considered studying anything else prior to applying to med schools.

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@khanam Doesn’t matter that most med students were science majors…most applicants ARE science majors. It’s not an edge.

for example…
Most of RPI’s students are male. That doesn’t mean that there’s an advantage of being male. Maybe RPI only accepts 25% of males…maybe they accept 50% of females.

For some reason, Classics majors seem to have a high MD SOM acceptance rate…but there aren’t many applying.

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MYO1634, you are confusing the results of the admissions processes with the process itself. It is not the case that “humanities majors need a lower non-science GPA AND a lower science GPA to get into med school than Biological science majors do” but that those who were accepted happened to have lower non-science GPAs… In other words, the averages of students selected to attend ended up being lower than the averages for some other groups. But that was not the criteria that was used to select them. It is important not to confuse process with results.

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^They were not selected BECAUSE of their lower GPAs, but they didn’t need as high GPAs overall in either field.
It wasn’t a confusion, but two possible readings of “need” (as auxiliary or as verb).

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Because most eager young premeds minds who show up on day one in college will never make it to the point of actually applying to med school, much less to point of seeing the inside of a med school. A plan B is always a smart strategy for any premed.

Who recommended that?? Med schools will flat out tell you to pick a major for yourself, not for them. They simply do not care what your major is. Most kids pick bio, chem, maybe out of interest, but also because they tend to satisfy premed and major reqs at same time whereas if you’re an art history major you may find it difficult to squeeze in premed reqs.

Premed reqs or life science courses (eg anatomy) will prepare people very little for med school and zero for a career as a pediatric surgeon. Premed reqs are garden variety science courses, not med school prep in focus. If a student takes additional life science courses (eg, anatomy) much of the material will be long gone by med school as it’s one thing to learn material for a test and then forget about it, it’s another thing to learn material that may have to become a part of one’s everyday thinking for the next 30+ years. Heck even med school itself will only provide minimal exposure to surgery, much less pediatric surgery. The real surgical training is in residency and a pediatric fellowship. I think that’s a total of 7 years post med school

In last cycle I think it was approx. 61% of CA residents who were accepted to med school had to go out of state. There’s not enough room in the inn. Moving to CA in and of itself is not a solid strategy for getting into a CA med school.