What to major in during Undergraduate

Hello, everyone. I have a dream of one day going to Medical School. However, I am not quite sure what to major in. To begin with, I have a feeling that I want to get a Bachelors of Arts, rather than a B.S. I want to study or pick and choose from a broad array of courses to fulfill my requirements for Medical School. The reason(s) for this is due to the fact that I don’t want to study everything Science/Math, which is why I don’t want to declare as a Biochemistry, Biology, etc. major. Could this be done?
I am aware that a B.A is more for liberal arts majors rather the sciences, which is why I have such a curiosity of how it could be done. Thank you, and I appreciate everyone’s comments!

Major in what you like. So long as you have fulfilled the pre-reqs, adcomms don’t care one bit what your major is.

Both of my daughters went to med school. Their classmates had many varied & different undergrad majors: music composition, agriculture, anthropology, business, computer science, electrical engineering, English lit, geography, Italian, mathematics, physics, psychology, public health, Spanish, sociology, theology, women’s studies, as well the more usual biology, biochem, BME, chem and neuroscience.

BA vs BS–this designation is partially dependent upon the policies of the college you attend. Some colleges only award BA degrees, no matter what your major is. Some offer both a BA and a BS for the same major. BA ≠ liberal arts

As for picking and choosing from a “broad array” of courses to fulfill your medical school admission requirements—as wonderful and noble as that sounds, med schools are sticklers about what they expect from applicants: bio, gen chem, ochem, biochem, physics, calculus, statistics, English, psychology, sociology. Additionally some med schools require or strongly recommend genetics, anatomy & physiology and/or other upper level bio classes. You can’t just “pick & choose” among those–you have to take all of them.

Although some medical schools are moving to competency-based requirements and away from requiring specific courses, you still need to prove a high level of knowledge and competence in those subjects. The easiest way to do that is through coursework.

Hello,

As a prospective medical student, you do not need to select a science major, but instead complete a sequence of prerequisite courses. Most medical schools require the following during college:

– 1 year of biology.
– 1 year of general chemistry.
– 1 year of organic chemistry.
– 1 year of physics.
– 1 year of math (semester of calculus).
– 1 year of English.

Other courses medical schools may recommend or require:

– Biochemistry.
– Statistics.
– A foreign language.

During college, most undergraduates take 32 to 48 courses (depending on, of course, how many courses they take per semester), so it is possible to fulfill medical school prequisites and take a wide array of other courses. Most medical schools look positively on liberal arts majors.

To answer your question, bachelor of arts degrees are often done with liberal arts degrees, but most social science majors (anthropology, history, sociology, psychology, political science, etc.) are also BA degrees, and sometimes science majors like biology are also BA degrees. It often depends on the school.

Some schools also offer both a BA and a BS degree in some subjects, most often social sciences and hard sciences. BA degrees are more liberal, and have fewer required courses, allowing you to explore more subjects via electives.

What are your interests? We will have to know those to help you select a major.

WayOutWestMom, and anthropologyanya, thank you for responding. When it comes to my interests, I would have to say that Public Health (specially epidemiology), French (the language and culture), and perhaps Psychology. The main two interests would have to be Public Health and French.

Many univs let you “design your own major” with approval.

Certainly, you could major in French and include the premed prereqs if you want.

I’m not sure, but I think public health courses are often grad level, but I could be wrong.

I see. Thank you for responding, mom2collegekids. I’m looking to either major in Public health, taking classes such as Introduction to Epidemiology, Global Health,etc.

Some colleges do offer public health as an undergrad major (I know URochester does. It’s called [Health, Behavior and Society](https://www.rochester.edu/college/ph/undergrad/majors/health-behavior-society.html)); however, finding a job with UG public health degree can be tricky since many positions require a MPH.

@FCBarca10
Epidemiology is a very technical field and requires a strong math background since most of epidemiology involves statistical analysis. You will need 1-2 semesters of calculus and 1-2 semesters of statistics–even for an undergraduate concentration in epidemiology.

And I would offer one caution-- many public health UG programs don’t require any sciences or only require sciences for the non-major. The latter are not acceptable to medical schools. You must take the same science classes that a science major would take.

@anthropologyanya pretty much hit all the pre-reqs, but don’t forget that bio, gen chem, orgo, and physics also require a year of lab each.

Just major in whatever you wish. Don’t choose a major just because you think it will impress admissions committees. B.A. vs B.S. is not going to make or break your chances. All you need is to fulfill the prereqs as required by your schools of interest.