<p>are there different requirements for different grad schools?</p>
<p>it's kind of hard to digest that I can apply as an architecture major to a med school.</p>
<p>so check my situtation:</p>
<p>as a 07 transfer applicant, Ill be taking architecture classes, but for my "freebie" class, im going to take bio and chem classes as well. After two years, graduate, earn a BA degree in Architecture, Apply for Med school?</p>
<p>are there high chances of getting in?</p>
<p>To Vyan: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=214382%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=214382</a></p>
<p>check PM BDM</p>
<p>1.) Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. Once you take the required courses and the MCAT, you are eligible to apply and be admitted to medical school.</p>
<p>Obviously whether they want to take you or not is another question entirely.</p>
<p>More specifically while still protecting anonymity:
2.) If you are attempting to go directly to medical school, applications will be sent in sometime between June and October of the beginning of your junior year. Obviously this will therefore not contain information about your senior year. While it's officially acceptable to take required courses your senior year, they should really be kept to a minimum so that admissions committees can get a good feel for your track record.</p>
<p>The solution, of course, is to take a gap year.</p>
<p>3.) Yes! A thousand and one times yes! If you take the required courses and the MCAT, you are allowed to apply to medical school. The requirements are not exactly the same at every school, but they're all pretty close.</p>
<p>4.) It doesn't make sense to aim for a specific school, especially early in the game. The odds are simply ridiculously too low. Generally we advise students not to settle on a "top choice" until after all their interviews are completed -- which is obviously a long, long way off for you.</p>
<p>Are Engineering majors considered "serious"?
Also, why are specialized health majors looked down upon? Can't they take extra classes in science to show they are capable and "serious" (and to prepare for the MCAT)?
A health major will have significant clinical experience and contact with doctors, which should be a plus for an applicant to medical school. Besides, choosing nursing as a major can be a sign that you know and like to care for other people, a quality a doctor should have. That's why I don't understand why specialized health majors get a disadvantage.
Any clarifications are welcome!</p>
<p>
[quote]
choosing nursing as a major can be a sign that you know and like to care for other people, a quality a doctor should have
[/quote]
</p>
<p>If you chose nursing as a major... why are you applying to medical school? Choosing nursing means... you want to be a nurse. Choosing those specialized health majors generally means you're interested in aspects of health care that are NOT MD/DO-based. Sure, you get all sorts of clinical experience and doctor contact, but you're not displaying the interest in being a physician - you look like you want to be something else.</p>
<p>That's why, I think. Maybe BDM can elaborate more.</p>
<p>Well choosing to be a physic major does not mean you want to be a physicist either. Besides, wanting to be a physicist does not alter you ultimate will to become a doctor, so why would wanting to have skills in nursing alter your ultimate will to become a doctor?
I bet nursing gives you a better idea of what medecine involves than doing physics or biology. Perhaps choosing nursing does not illustrate a desire to become a physician, yet choosing biochemistry does not demonstrate anything except you like biochemistry. So I have come to the conclusion that nursing OUGHT to be considered equal to biochem (which is not the case, I assume)
Then, med schools claim not to take in account about the major of a person when selecting, so are they basically lying, or are they unconsciously looking condescendently toward nurses?
If they consider majoring in nursing is too easy, what prevents a nurse from taking quantum mechanics for fun?
I just don't understand the reasonment med schools use because it seems a bit biased to me.</p>
<p>I've never heard a medical school claim not to care about major. What we've deduced by looking at the math is that they don't seem to -- with the exception of vocational majors like nursing.</p>
<p>So basically, they wan't to prevent you from having a decent plan B if you don't get accepted? Pretty cruel...</p>
<p>Besides, some premeds have EMTs license, so THAT should also put them at disadvantage, shouldn't it?
If you get your EMT license, it means you want to be a paramedic, which does not involve the skills of a doctor.
But once again the reasonment fails because wanting to practice skills of a paramedic is not mutually exclusive from wanting to be a doctor.
It's as if saying music majors should be disadvantaged because they want to play piano and not become a doctor (what if they want both?)</p>
<p>If you were to ONLY have an EMT-license, yes, you would be at a disadvantage.</p>
<p>If you were to be a biology major -- an academic major -- and an EMT, then no, you would not be at a disadvantage.</p>
<p>And why do you have to be a vocational major to have a decent "plan B"?</p>
<p>A vocational has on average better chance for employment (especially for health vocational majors like nursing)
Let's say you love science and medecine, and get rejected, so you choose graduate school. In the best of cases, you get your PhD in the sciences, which will lead you to endless postdoctoral research before getting a decent and long term job and that's in the best scenario possible.
As opposed to going to grad school, a vocational major can practice his profession pretty easily (like being a nurse) to pay back his undergrad debt, then apply again to med school.
On the other hand, being a bio major basically gives you the opportunity for :
Research (you have to be damn smart to succeed), labwork (not very appealing or lucrative), teaching (not lucrative, hard to get hired, but decent)
The opportunities seem just very narrow.</p>
<p>"If you were to ONLY have an EMT-license, yes, you would be at a disadvantage"=> What if the nurse undergoes the clinical experience of premeds also (shadowing, volunteering, research....)</p>
<p>So major in economics and the backup plan is to go into management consulting. Or major in history and the backup plan is to be a journalist. Or major in biology and the backup plan is to get a master's and work in a pharmaceutical company. Or major in math and go work for a hedge fund. Or major in physics and work for a private equity firm. Or major in public policy and write a book. Or...</p>
<p>I mean, in any case, getting a PA is usually a viable plan B anyway.</p>
<p>What fraction of premeds bio majors who get rejected actually end up with a decent long term job (assuming they don't change their career path)? How many public policy majors will get published? How many history majors would be able to become journalist?
Those are viable options, but the probability for success is also very low. It's like saying "I like biology, so my ultimate goal is to become a university professor but I'm applying to med school as a backup plan if I don't get into the PhD program I want to"
I'm not saying that those are not options, but simply that a plan B should have at least 85% chance for success. I really think a nurse will have a lot more chance to get employed at a hospital (because of the current demand) than a Bio major with a MS to get into a pharmaceutical company.</p>
<p>Depends on what you mean by decent. Making the mean for college grads? Probably a pretty good proportion.</p>
<p>And in any case, an NP and a PA remain viable options. Very viable options.</p>
<p>Getting your paramedic and going to city fire is a rewarding (and lucrative) job. This type of medicine may not be what most premeds are interested in, but for others it may be the perfect "backup"</p>
<p>I have a question about applying to undergrad and BA/MD programs.</p>
<p>If I mark chemical engineering as my desired major, will that detract from my application and make it seem like I don't want to become a doctor? Please be frank.</p>
<p>I want to do chem engineering for several reasons:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>chem is my favorite subject and I like physics, but I cannot stand to do 6 years of biology (4 years bio major and 2 years med school).</p></li>
<li><p>Engineering has good scholarships. Chemical engineering has some specific scholarships.</p></li>
<li><p>I want to stand out should I go to a non-BA/MD program.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Ehhh... damn those nonscientists.</p>
<p>So as long as I take the required courses for Pre-Med, it doesn't matter if I major in economics?</p>
<p>... isn't that the whole point of this thread?</p>