<p>I plan on attending UC Davis in the fall as a history major (but that was to get into the college). I'm transferring into a pre med major after the first quarter but I don't know which one would be best for the cardiology field (which is what I want to get into). Which ones would be more important than others?These are the majors I have to choose from:
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Biological Sciences
Cell Biology
Exercise Biology
Evolution, Ecology and Biodiversity
Genetics
Microbiology
Neurobiology, Physiology & Behavior </p>
<p>I was thinking that excercise biology would be good becasue it deals with the effects of physical activity on your body but I don't know which one would be best. I also heard that it doesn't matter what you major in in college because you learn about all the stuff you need in medical school, but I don't think that that is true.</p>
<p>It doesn't really matter. You learn a lot of the stuff in med school and since you want to go into the cardiology field that learning should be picked up mostly during residency. Many people don't even know what specialty they want to do until after they enter medical school.</p>
<p>1.) For admissions purposes, it doesn't matter in the least.
--> I should mention that this is for medical school overall. Specific medical schools may have preferences.</p>
<p>2.) If you're looking for things that will give you a leg up once you're actually IN med school, I'm not really sure. I'll hazard two guesses:
(a) I'm willing to guess that the conventional wisdom on this point is probably correct, actually, and that you'll learn it all again anyway.
(b) Either anatomy or physiology - neither of which is on your list - might be best if (a) turns out not to be true.</p>
<p>You will learn it all again. Or, more accurately, you'll only learn at a depth that is needed to understand on boards. If you were to actually major in one of these things you'll actually have a lot of extra knowledge that you won't cover in med school.</p>
<p>Thank you for the response. DO you mind if I ask you a couple of questions? Well then what majors could i possibly do? What do you mean extra knowledge? Aren't these majors for prospective medical students?</p>
<p>What is a standard major to get into med school? Will med schools look and admit different majors than the mainstream ones? And if so what are they?</p>
<p>TSBS:</p>
<p>Medical schools will admit student from any major. Anything whatsoever. I'm economics. BRM is sociology. Shraf is BME.</p>
<p>What BRM means is, for example, if you are a biochem major, you will learn much, much more biochem than any medical student will be required to know.</p>
<p>So your telling me that I can major in art then get into med school and become a physician?</p>
<p>Not only is it possible to do this, your probability of being admitted to medical school will be exactly the same as if you were a bio-science major - and this is even after correcting for grades and MCAT scores.</p>
<p>But won't I be behind I mean I wouldn't know anything but the basics in biology and chemistry. And could you explain to me the whole MCAT thing. Is it just one big standardized test or is a different test for each major?</p>
<p>The MCAT is the same for all majors. It's a standardized admissions test which medical schools use to assess your reasoning processes and scientific aptitude. All students take an MCAT that is designed pretty much the same (the test is changing for the next administration, but the idea remains).</p>
<p>The thing is that medical school only requires the basics in biology and chemistry. A little more - maybe three extra classes of biology - would be helpful, but a major is overkill.</p>
<p>It should be readily apparent that bio is the most transferable major to medical school. However, a bio major is likely to require courses in zoology, botany, and biodiversity at a minimum. There will be many classes that have no correlation to human phys/bio/anatomy within most bio major course sets.</p>
<p>If you take a course in genetics, 2 semesters of biochem, and cell bio, then you will have covered any extra bio that might show up in med school. In my undergrad biochem course we had to know all the steps, intermediates and structure of molecules in glycolysis, the TCA cycle and oxidative phosphorylation, as well as the regulatory molecules for the important steps. For med school, we only had to know the regulatory steps, the molecules that served as part of the regulatory mechanism, and the overall purpose and goal of the entire process. No structures, no steps.</p>
<p>I would reccomend biochem, genetics and physiology as extra bio/other science courses to take beyond the general requirements.</p>
<p>Anatomy at my school seems to be really helpful, too - a heavy lab component (I never took it).</p>
<p>
[quote]
These are the majors I have to choose from:
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Biological Sciences
Cell Biology
Exercise Biology
Evolution, Ecology and Biodiversity
Genetics
Microbiology
Neurobiology, Physiology & Behavior
[/quote]
While any major, including art or architecture, can lead to medical school admission, a "serious" major will likely serve you better (for example, Biochemistry vs. exercise biology). Mean MCAT scores for various majors are reported at <a href="http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/examineedata/sum2005.pdf%5B/url%5D">www.aamc.org/students/mcat/examineedata/sum2005.pdf</a>. Note that "Specialized Health Services" majors score, on average, the worst of all majors.</p>
<p>You will find many of your general questions answered at the AAMC site entitled "Considering a Career in Medicine." <a href="http://www.aamc.org/students/considering/start.htm%5B/url%5D">www.aamc.org/students/considering/start.htm</a></p>
<p>I always forget to add anatomy in there, simply for the fact that I took Anatomy spring of senior year after I got my acceptances. So given my overall lack of concern and focus on instead going to the bars as many nights as possible during that time frame, followed by my subsequent troubles in anatomy in medical school, undergrad anatomy was not that helpful to me. Anatomy one of the few courses that medical schools go much more in depth than undergrad.</p>