<p>I have two great passions: Medecine and Foreign Affairs and I'm heading off to college in a year (taking a gap year after highschool). Thinking about majors, I was unconsciously lead, by my own thoughts, to double major. I want to do International Relations and also Biology. What do you think? Should I do it? Never mind the cost, I have that figured out. </p>
<p>PS...
I'm thinking of NYU or Columbia University. Please give me some advice.</p>
<p>You can double major, but note that medical schools do not require you to major in biology. I.e. you can take the pre-med courses alongside any major.</p>
<p>So, if I major in international relations, I’d actually get accepted to medical school?</p>
<p>Provided that you get a high GPA and MCAT scores. You might also want to take some pre-requisite courses though.</p>
<p>Ok thanks. PS…is it too hard to try and maintain a 3.0-4.0 GPA in college?</p>
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<p>Yes, if you take the pre-med courses, get a high GPA in the pre-med courses and overall, get a high MCAT score, and otherwise do the stuff that medical school admissions committees look for. I.e. no different from a biology major in this respect.</p>
<p>Wow! I did not know that. I thought I HAD to major in science to go to medical school. Thanks, I totally did not know that.</p>
<p>The pre-med course list is typically a year of general chemistry, a year of organic chemistry, a year of biology, a year of physics, a year of English composition, and sometimes calculus and/or statistics. Check with medical schools to be sure. Also, check the sticky threads in the pre-med forum.</p>
<p>While a biology major includes all or most of these courses anyway, students in unrelated majors can take these courses in their breadth and free elective space in their schedule. A biology major offers poor job and career prospects at the bachelor’s level, so if you want to have a more viable “plan B” if you do not get into medical school, consider other majors which match up with your other academic and professional interests.</p>
<p>If you are interested in both medicine and international relations, you might want to consider a concentration in global health. There are a wide variety of programs in global health----some are set up as interdisciplinary majors, some are specialty tracks within an interdisciplinary major in international relations, some are minors, and some are certificate programs. The structure and requirements of these various programs depends on the particular university. You probably can combine a global health concentration with the pre-med requirements.</p>
<p>Columbia doesn’t offer a global health program at the undergrad level, though there is a graduate track in the School of Public Health. At NYU, the closest field is a minor in Public Policy & Health. <a href=“Search | NYU Wagner”>Search | NYU Wagner;
A wide range of other universities do offer such programs, however.</p>
<p>Thnxx___ but I decided for pre-med only.</p>