i need actual answers lol, what’s the best undergrad major for med school? (don’t say “anything”)
Structurally, biochemistry may overlap the most with medical school expectations in terms of course content. Depending on the undergraduate college, chemistry might place second.
I agree with merc81 ^^. However, if I have to name just one, then I’d say nutrition, especially if the program offers the track of physiology and metabolism.
Since nobody knows anything about you, it’s impossible to say what’s best for you. Med schools only require, in part, a bachelor’s degree. They don’t tell anyone what to major in, nor do they care.
Consideration should be given to a major that interests you as if you like material you’re more likely to do well GPA wise which is something med schools care, in part, a great deal about. The major you select could be something that combines major and premed reqs due to course overlap (eg most flavors of bio (general bio, human anatomy, biochem, etc)). Or your major can be in any other area of your choosing (eg history, geography, religion, music, foreign language, engineering, etc). Keep in mind that engineering is considered a challenging major. You won’t get bonus points for picking a challenging major like engineering and then do poorly GPA wise. Also keep in mind that picking a non bio major may create hardships in scheduling as several premed reqs are year long sequences and it may be problematic to schedule these sequences into some majors, perhaps requiring you to complete all 4 years of college before applying. (Actually graduating, taking a gap year(s) before applying may be a very smart strategy in order to polish up one’s med school application).
Consideration should also be given to the fact that large numbers of those that start as premed will either change their minds or because 60% of those that actually get to point of applying will not get accepted to any med school. Pick a major with a Plan B in mind… what are you going to do with your shiny degree should your premed dreams fail to come to fruition.
Back in the day everybody going into medicine got a psychology degree.
Currently I know a few people that didn’t get into medical school and both have Biology degrees. They are both taking a year off and retaking the mcat next year. If that doesn’t work not sure at this point what they will do. One works for me as my assistant in a medical practice. She’s absolutely great and gave her a rather large raise since this was no longer a part time job while in school. She’s like my daughter and wanted her to have money to start repaying her loans.
Choose a major which you will enjoy and choose a school where you will be in the top 25%.
If you very sure about medicine, apply to few BS/MD programs and few UG programs. Also you can choose a school which will yield the best GPA. It does not have to be Ivy or Top 10-20 schools. But if you are not sure then it may benefit to choose strong UG school for your career plan B. Here choose a school or major which allows to change major.
As a HS Senior you are anxious and looking a firm clear answer. But unfortunately there is nothing called best. Beauty is in the beholder’s eye. Same way, writing 15-20 pages essay some one will enjoy and will breeze thru where as the same person will hate to do a working programming project or solve a complex math equation and vice versa.
Various folks can give guidance based on their own family experience or based on the collective knowledge by following and responding to various posts over a period of time. No one can say choose this major or this school because no one knows who you are and what triggers your drive, passion, natural ability, intelligence etc.
If you want to look at the majors with highest percentage getting med school acceptances–then it’s either mathematic/statistics or humanities (philosophy, literature, history, classics, modern languages, religion, art, music).
https://www.aamc.org/download/321496/data/factstablea17.pdf
However, this data may be misleading because the number of math and humanities majors applying to med school is small and those who do apply are a highly motivated and self-selecting group.
You will also note that the vast majority of people who are accepted to med school are some flavor of bio major. This happens simply because more bio majors apply to med school than any other group.
There is no one single answer to your question. It’s a “it depends” situation.
BTW, even if you sure you want medicine as an eventual career, every pre-med needs to have Plan B because not only do most freshmen pre-meds not persist to the point of applying to med school, but 60% of those that do apply don’t get accepted.
You may want to investigate post-college employment opportunities for any potential major before you commit yourself to it.
As everyone else has suggested–pick a major that fits your interests and that you will be able do well in. Don’t pick a major because you think it will impress adcomms because it won’t.
I’m going to say what you don’t want to hear. Major in anything you want to major in…just make sure you have the required courses to apply to medical school and/or to meet the standards required for admission.
@WayOutWestMom perhaps you could explain this…as some schools are moving away from specific course requirements and more towards standards mastery…or whatever it’s called.
None specifically. You can take the pre-med requirements alongside almost any major (except for a few majors with voluminous non-overlapping major requirements that leave insufficient elective space for remaining pre-med requirements).
If you want the most overlap with pre-med requirements for “convenience”, the likely choices are biochemistry, then other biological science. But job and career prospects specific to those majors if you do not get into medical school are not great.