What Should I Choose For Pre-Med?

<p>Which major from ASUs pre-med list should I choose? Pre-medical</a> Major Options | Prehealth at ASU
I personally want to do Biochemistry (Medicinal Chem) because it looks most interesting and well prepares you for the MCAT. Let me know other options that would be better for MED SCHOOL! Thankyou. Also try to list pro's and con's of the major you think would be best! Also can someone give me pro's and con's of the major Biochemistry (Medicinal) for pre-med? THANKS!</p>

<p>BUMP! Cmon guys, I know you guys are a lot more helpful lol :)</p>

<p>Pick whatever subject (which does not necessarily have to be in this list) that you are most interested in, can take the pre-med courses with, and can get a high GPA in.</p>

<p>Bump Help me out! Ty</p>

<p>You only have to take the pre req classes for med school (about 8 or 10 classes i believe) and you can apply to med school. You can major in Spanish, Art History, Biology, Economics, or anything in between. Find something you love or will give you a back up plan and major in that.</p>

<p>Go Biological Sciences to ensure that you can get the best GPA. The classes will be a lot easier than the ones you will take for Biochemistry.</p>

<p>If you’re going to do Biochemistry you might as well go into chemical or biomedical engineering.</p>

<p>Hello, so I really do wish you luck as you pursue a medical career path. </p>

<p>I’ll start with the ‘facts’ you should consider:</p>

<p>Firstly, medical school is professional school, not graduate school, so you do not need an undergraduate degree to be accepted. If you are an exceptional student, in the sense that you know you exceed the academic standards and have a distinct area of volunteer/work-experience. I would suggest you go into general studies and take the Med. School prerequisites, write your MCAT after your first year, and apply during your second year.
I did not go the general studies route, but I did apply to Med. School second year and was accepted, so it’s not an unattainable goal. </p>

<p>Secondly, unless you’re +90% sure you want to become a physician, I suggest you pick a major that you can see yourself getting a different career in. As a bit of a ‘safety net’ encase things change for you during university. I recommend thinking hard on this one, because things can change rather suddenly and you want to set yourself up for success. </p>

<p>Lastly, any major you graduate with will make you ‘overqualified’ for medical school. Your last two years of ‘core’ courses will be specialised, especially in science, and in that sense you will know more than the standard medical student, in that subject. Therefore, make sure what you major in is something you enjoy and can use to benefit your skills as a physician. </p>

<p>Facts aside, helping you pick a major is dependent on ‘long-term’ goals. If you see yourself becoming a psychiatrist or neurologist one day, I would suggest you major in a BSc of psychology or neuroscience. If you see yourself as a physiatrist one day, I would suggest you major in kinesiology or exercise sciences. Modify your major in any way you like, but keep those big picture goals in mind. </p>

<p>I’ll use myself as an example; I am majoring in Health Sciences. However, my program is not identical to the description offered through your link. I would consider my major to be a cross between kinesiology and cellular & molecular biology. My goal is to become a DO once I graduate from my degree. Technically, a DO is the same as an MD with additional training in holistic and manual medicine. I would like to become a physiatrist one day, focusing on sports medicine. Therefore, a degree in Health Sciences (Kinesiology + Cell/Molecular Bio.) was the PERFECT program for me. I became certified in a variety of areas: EMR, SFR, & NLS. I also work in a research lab and with a physiotherapist/chiropractor. Customizing my degree to my goals means that I do what I love for four years before embarking on a career that I already know I will love. I truly believe that it was the best way to go about a future in medicine, because it takes some of the ‘uncertainty’ out of the equation. </p>

<p>What field do you see yourself specialising in? Or what ideas do you have about it? I can offer more specific advise if I know where you want to ‘be’ ultimately.</p>

<p>To answer your question about Biochemistry, that is a major that you want to know where you’re heading. It’s incredibly specific and may limit your options, which isn’t bad if you know where you’re going, but I would recommend you pick a ‘broader’ field of interest if you’re not sure exactly what you want to do. Biochemistry and pharmacology could be very good majors if your ‘back-up’ is pharmacy, for obvious reasons of course.</p>

<p>Videl is absolutely 100% incorrect in saying that you can just take a couple classes and then go into medical school (in the US). It is true that there are a few schools that technically only require 90 credits to be accepted into medical school, but very few people are actually accepted without the expectation that they will have finished there bachelor degree. There is also the disadvantage of having comparatively weaker extra curriculars if you apply earlier than you would if finishing your bachelor’s than if you applied later. The VAST majority of people at all schools have a BS or BA. In the old days, it was more common to not have a bachelor’s degree (my father, for example, does not have one despite being an MD).</p>

<p>I agree with Videl that you should do something you like/could do for the rest of your life, but I don’t agree that you should tailor your degree to your specialty interests as a pre-med. Just like your college major, almost everyone will change their mind before the end. I had interests in ER and oncology when I started medical school, and I’m now geared towards neurosurgery. If you are interested in neuroSCIENCE (which is not the same as neuro or neurosurgery), then by all means major in it. However, you can absolutely find neurology disease fascinating without particularly enjoying learning about action potentials and the nitty gritty of thalamic pathway circuitry.</p>