Undergrad majors

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

Hi,

My son is a current junior who is very much interested in going in to medical field. Though he is having good scores, they are not that great to put him in the 7/8 year medical program. He wants to choose a major that would cover most of the pre med requirements. We are in Texas and would like to do instate Public colleges. As of now, we are confused between 3 options:

  1. Biology or Chemistry majors from UT Austin
  2. Biomedical science from Texas A&M
  3. Honors Biomed program at UofH.

I prefer the first one since it is UT Austin!! My son prefers the second one because he feels Biomedical science is more geared towards med (as far as we researched UT Austin doesn’t have this in undergrad). Though both of us like the third option, we have heard that it is tough to get into, and also very hard to maintain a good gpa since it is honors. As for the campus, my son is fine with any of these. Any suggestions out of the 3 please? Also any other better options? TIA

2

I am a fan of #4, none of the above. The reality is that the likelihood of your son finishing Med School is really low (<10%). Having just a BS in one of the choices above has bad choices after college. Also, Med School prerequisites can be satisfied with any major. He should ask himself, if he was told that he couldn’t go to Med School, what would major in? Look at this for high level results by major https://www.aamc.org/download/321496/data/factstablea17.pdf

3

Apply to all, and see where he gets in.
See the net costs of each.

You know you can major in anything and just take the Med pre-reqs as electives.
But any of those would be fine.

4

Quick question: What about UT Austin makes you want to choose it over the other two schools? Is it because you’re an alumnus? Is it because of how prestigious it is? Is it both? Is it something entirely different? Just asking because then, I’ll be able to help you out.

5

Because UT is prestigious!