<p>^Major will still not matter, but additional coursework in the social sciences should be a help for strict science majors.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.aamc.org/newsroom/newsreleases/2011/182652/110331.html[/url]”>https://www.aamc.org/newsroom/newsreleases/2011/182652/110331.html</a></p>
<p>The link for MCAT scores by major didn’t work so here is that information
as of 20-Oct-2012:</p>
<p>[MCAT</a> Scores by Major - Degree Paths](<a href=“黄山茨恃汽车用品有限公司”>黄山茨恃汽车用品有限公司)</p>
<p>That link also has Medical School Admissions based upon GPA and MCAT.</p>
<p>I wish I had read threads like this more closely when I was just starting undergrad. Like many other people I made the mistake of majoring in Biology because I wanted to get into medical school. I want to caution anyone who is about the make the same mistake that biology is not the best major if you want to become a doctor. Biology certainly wasn’t the best major for me. My degree in biology has helped my get a decent job after finishing undergrad, but my abysmal GPA disqualifies me for most if not all medical school admissions because I took too many courses that I did not need and were too boring.</p>
<p>Do yourself a favor and visit the website of the medical school(s) you want to attend and read the list of REQUIRED courses. Most medical schools require things that you likely studied in high school if you were in advanced placement classes: general biology, general chemistry, general physics, and calculus. The only thing that is new will be organic chemistry. If you want to get into medical school just major in something that you actually like and that is easy to obtain. </p>
<p>I worked too hard to get my degree in Biology. Although I did well in the required courses for medical school, when it came to taking upper division Biology courses which had little to nothing to do with medical school, my science GPA really started to suffer. During my last year as an undergrad I found myself suffering through zoology, evolution, and plant morphology. I finally took one course in cancer biology as an elective that actually focused on an area of medicine that I am interested in, but the A I got in that course could not save my science GPA and qualify me for medical school after all of the C’s I got in the courses I took before it.</p>
<p>Since GPA is such a huge factor in medical school admissions, you can make it easier for yourself to taking a major that you can get high grades in. By taking a major that is not so challenging you can focus on doing well in the required science classes. I believe that in most cases, taking a more challenging major and increasing the number of science courses will only adversely impact you chances of admission.</p>
<p>"which pre-med major will help me with the MCAT "
-None. It depends on some additional upper Bio classes that you decide to take. But even that is all covered in prep. material. If you want to get a decent MCAT, you will have to prepare for it, spending ton of time, few hours every day for many weeks.<br>
The same goes for Board exams in Med. School. All have some background, but those who work very hard preparing for test, they will do good.<br>
After saying that, your major should be something that you personally prefer. There people applying to Med. Schools from Conservatories of Music and other completely unrelated to medicine majors. All have to take pre-reqs and having few upper Bio will not hurt, the rest is up to your hard working habits.</p>
<p>My degree in biology has helped my get a decent job after finishing undergrad, but my abysmal GPA disqualifies me for most if not all medical school admissions because I took too many courses that I did not need and were too boring.</p>
<p>I’ve heard this before.</p>
<p>My son used his AP Bio credits so that he could avoid Bio II which I think covers plants and other things that didn’t interest him. He took Cell Bio, Genetics, and BioChem to make up for those skipped bio classes.</p>
<p>“but my abysmal GPA disqualifies me for most if not all medical school admissions because I took too many courses that I did not need and were too boring.”
-Nope, the abysmal GPA is NOT a result of boring classes. it is a result of a student NOT working hard enough to get a decent grade. The Med. School requires much harder work than anybody could even imagine in UG. That is one reason why college GPA has such a heavy weight in Med. School admission.
If one has a goal of going to Med. School, be prepared to work your b—t off even in classes that you took by mistake, the boding ones, the very challenging ones, the ones that have absolutely nothing to do with your future but you decided to take out of personal curiosity and kuddos to you for doing so. Forget boredom, forget exreme challenge, forget bad planning on your part (like too many credits), you will have to overcome every obstacle, forget being sick or anything that is going on in your family/social life, tiny or huge. Nobody out there want to be treated by physician who cannot handle his emotions because he just had a fight with his wife or because he was very tired and drained from very challenging day before or simply because you happen to be such a boring and unchallenging case for him. NOBODY cares, you got to perform under any circumstances.<br>
What successful people do when it is easy for them, they get straight A+ in every single test/exam and potential job offer from a prof. to be his SI. Missing opportunity like this is a huge waste.</p>
<p>MiamiDAP is correct. If you can’t handle boring undergrad courses, you will never survive medical school. Those should have been easy A’s. I went to a very challenging and world famous undergrad school, majored in Bio and Philosophy (which was much harder than Bio, actually), and pretty much skated through with a 3.9. I just didn’t know what work was until I hit med school. After 3 weeks of my undergrad study habits, I was 2 weeks behind. Then it got harder. I learned to work hard pretty darn fast. It doesn’t matter how smart you are, the volume is unbelievable. Some courses are just boring. I really hated pharmacology, but you had to know it anyway. Think of plant morphology X 100.</p>
<p>
Well said. If this is true, a premed should not avoid taking the “plant” side of biology (like many premeds do due to its seemingly irrelevance to medicine) as the mastery of it may be close to what the study at a med school is like.</p>
<p>Being a good graduate school student (or being trained as a scientist) could be very different from being a good med school student.</p>
<p>I plan to major in Nutrition because I love it, and also because if I don’t get into med school, I could plan on working as a dietitian or nutritionist. This sounds fairly decent, doesn’t it? I’ve already completed half of my pre-reqs at a community college [Bio I, Gen. Chem I and II, Org. Chem I, Cal I] and now plan on doing the other half pre-reqs along with my major requirements at the university.</p>
<p>@chir-- </p>
<p>Given that you’ve taken most of your med school pre-reqs at a CC, you’ll want to take at least 2 semesters of upper level chem and bio at your 4 year college to reinforce your good grades from the CC. Med school adcomms are often suspicious of CC grades that aren’t followed up on.</p>
<p>You should also plan on delaying your application to medical school until after graduation so that you have 2 full years of grades from a 4 year college so as to present the strongest application possible.</p>
<p>BTW, you should know that in order to become a licensed dietitian you will need to complete a 5th year of internship that typically requires that you travel to several different site around the country. Completing your required internship and interviewing for medical school may not be compatible.</p>
<p>I disagree with Mom on this one partly.</p>
<p>Again most everything is acceptable with a good reason. For instance, admission at UC Berkeley is guaranteed after 2 years CC (with a couple of minor additions). Also, I see a lot of kids who do two years of CC for financial reasons. Then do your major courses at the Univ. If the “pre-med required” courses are not in your field of major (say you are majoring in Political Science), then the required courses at CC are fine</p>
<p>[Transfer</a> Admission Guarantee | UC Admissions](<a href=“http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/transfer/guarantee/]Transfer”>http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/transfer/guarantee/)</p>
<p>Folks—the OP is long gone. The most recent poster (chir) who revived this thread to ask about majors is from Houston, TX, and will be attending (according to other posts) Texas A&M.</p>
<p>He’s majoring in nutrition/dietetics.</p>
<p>Advice about CA-specific policies won’t be of any use to him/her.</p>
<p>Way out,
You are way out on this
While ? From OP are important, advice is from many areas and read by many people</p>
<p>I know–that’s why if you look at my post, it’s specifically addressed to chir.</p>
<p>Note there’s a little @chir at the beginning…</p>