<p>Hi, so I am going to be a senior in high school this fall. I am still researching colleges and I am still very confused. I would like to one day become a doctor (perhaps dermatology or something related to the eyes). How should I look for colleges? Do I look for colleges with a good program for a biology major? </p>
<p>And what does a biology major mean exactly?</p>
<p>Thanks so much :)</p>
<p>Do a web search on “premed” and you will find more info than you can shake a stick at. One good starting point is <a href=“https://www3.amherst.edu/~sageorge/guide1.html[quote]”>Amherst College Guide for Premedical Students
A bit premature to decide this, I’d bet. Can you name a dozen careers involved in medical care that are not m.d. ? I’d bet not. Probably not even half-a-dozen. </p>
<p>I’m not saying this to insult you, its to point out that while you may have an interest in medicine you are light years away from deciding that what you need is med school. It’s common on this board because everyone knows about doctors. Yet there are plenty of careers that involve hands-on delivery of medical care and decent to wonderful pay, without taking so much time to enter. You’ll be about 30 by the time you finish training if you become just an internal med doc, add on a few more years for a specialty. And doctors usually accumulate $150-200K or more in debt along the way. If you are smart enough to be a doctor, you are smart enough to spend some time finding out what it takes to become a doctor, whether you really want to be one (via volunteer work in a medical setting), and you’ll spend a lot of time looking at the alternatives.</p>
<p>You can major in anything and be accepted to med school. You have certain med school pre-reqs in which you should do well, and you’ll need a high GPA, good pre-med advising, some research experience, a good interview, and good letters of rec. Almost any college will do. Try to avoid u/g debt because med school will involve a lot of debt.</p>
<p>Jkeil is right. You will need a top GPA so go to a school where you can attain that with hard work and focus.</p>
<p>What are your stats? What are your fave subjects that you do the best in? What is your home state? How much will your parents spend on college?</p>
<p>I have a child in med school, so our family has been thru this whole process. My son was not a bio major (thank goodness…there is a glut of those majors and he if hadn’t gone to med school, god knows what he would have done with a bio degree.)</p>
<p>Dont’ worry about specialties (eyes, skin)…those are for AFTER med school. And those two specialties are super competitive. </p>
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Yes, 2 of the specialities with no patient contact according to the classic “House of God” ;-)</p>