<p>Im applying to Berkeley, and I'm wondering what major I should declare if I am interested in pursuing a career in the medical field and hope to go to medical school? Molecular and Cell biology seems reasonable, but does anyone have any suggestions?</p>
<p>Bioengineering works too.</p>
<p>If you don't want to be a physician scientist or researcher, pick something in which you will excel (3.7 or higher) with less than 20 hr a week of work. You need to put time not only into the GPA but into the extracurriculars as well.</p>
<p>There is no such thing as a "pre-med" major. As long as you complete the undergrad requirements and do well on the MCAT, you can major in whatever you like.</p>
<p>In fact, philosophy majors do particularly well at getting into med school. Just do something that you enjoy.</p>
<p>I agree with UCLAri (and appreciate that he mentioned how much philosophy majors rock!) If you take the right few classes, you can go to med school in any major. I think williams' music department is proud of the fact that their grads do better in med school placement than Williams' department of biology. Major in what you will enjoy most and do best in because that will largely determine your GPA, one of the most important medical school admissions factors.</p>
<p>As to extracurriculars, perhaps certain ones would help medical school admissions, but you shoul ask medical school admissions officers or people who know which activities do.</p>
<p>One of my best friends is at UCLA med and he majored in sociology.</p>
<p>Just do what you like. Trust me.</p>
<p>Definitely, agree with UCLAri. My former mathematics teacher's nephew majored in English during his undergrad years. He ended up graduating with honors from med school.</p>
<p>For sure, any one can be a bio major with a middling GPA, instead follow a path you enjoy and at which you excel. Keep the GPA high, be involved and take the nesc. classes in your breadth requirements in order to prep for the MCAT.</p>
<p>It's sad to say, but if you want to maximize your chances of getting into medical school, you want to choose an easy major that will give you high grades for very little work. Engineering is arguably the worst major in this respect because of its tremendously time-consuming nature and its penchant for handing out lots of bad grades (and the fact that med-school adcoms don't seem to care that engineering courses are difficult). Sad but true. </p>
<p>Are there some engineers who make it to med-school? Of course. But the sad truth is that they made things harder for themselves. It's like trying to run a footrace with a weight plate strapped to your back. Sure, you can still win, but your chances are reduced.</p>
<p>If you stay away from math and science courses too long, you might not get a good MCAT score.</p>
<p>Tambone, I don't know that that's going to be a serious issue. Every premed has to take the premed sequence of technical courses. If you know the material in those courses well, you will do well on the MCAT.</p>
<p>However, the truth is, courses beyond the premed sequence will probably not help you do any better on the MCAT, and may actually HURT your admissions chances because of the tough grading. Simply put, for the purposes of med-school admission, you're better off not taking Advanced Biochemistry at all than taking it and getting a bad grade. In that sense, you could say that you're actually being punished for trying to go above and beyond the call of duty.</p>
<p>Sure, sakky, i guess you could say that, but what is the so called "call of duty?" One does not need to know advanced biochemistry to go to medical school. You will learn what med schools want you to know to become a doctor while in medical school. Medical schools want to know that you are able to learn, so they make you take certain required courses. Also, these eliminate some potential applicants. If they wanted the field further reduced, perhaps they would put in more required classes, and more advanced classes, but they are not doing such.</p>
<p>hmmm yea, my brother took biochemistry at UCLA and graduated from the major with a terrible GPA. needless to say, med school wasn't an option for him. ill have to think of what subject i want to major in. perhaps computer science (not engineering) or business administration? does anyone have any opinions as to the difficulty of those majors?</p>
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but what is the so called "call of duty?"
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<p>Simple. It is the premed sequence, meaning the specific list of courses that med-schools require. My point is that it you shouldn't expect to get any boost by doing any technical courses beyond that minimum list. If you want to take them, then take them, but don't taken them because you think it will actually increase your chances of getting into med-school. In many cases (i.e. in the cases where you get bad grades), you may actually DECREASE your chances. </p>
<p>It's really a sad testament to the way that med-school admissions works. The truth is that it is easier to get high grades in certain classes than in others. And med-schools don't seem to care about how you get high grades as long as you get them. The sad conclusion of this is that if you want to maximize your chances of getting into med-school, you should avoid difficult courses whenever you can. Sad but true. I'm sure Calkidd and others will have a lot to say about this.</p>
<p>sakky is correct: the key to med school acceptance is grades, mcat, and EC's, in that order. </p>
<p>They do not care one whit what your major is...actually, I'm convinced they'd rather see a humanities/social science major, since it shows breadth. As long as you complete the required courses (math, physics, bio, chem*2), you can major in anything that you enjoy (and, hopefully, will boost your gpa). </p>
<p>btw: high grade science-humanities double major are particularly attractive, such as Bio-English, or Bio-Spanish. And, yes, philosophers have a leg up in med admissions.</p>
<p>fwiw: if you apply to Letters & Science, they won't even look at your intended major -- they just don't care since they realize that many kids change their majors 2-3 times once they arrive on campus.</p>
<p>Well, if you're trying to avoid difficult courses, the English and Philosophy departments are two good places to start, although both are very strong and worthwhile.</p>
<p>Philosophy is a department to avoid difficult courses?</p>
<p>What philosophy classes did you take in college? :-P</p>
<p>Perhaps i phrased it poorly. Philosophy is a hard department, and if you want to avoid difficult courses, it's one of the first one that comes to my mind that one would want to avoid like the plague. That and English, which I hear is really serious here (I hope to take a class in that department soon).</p>
<p>Oh, whew. I was gonna say. </p>
<p>Yeah, if you want easy courses...umm... don't go to Berkeley. In any case, I'd say that if you are actually really good at biology (my girlfriend is), then do it. Don't do history because we suggested it. But on the flipside, don't do bio just to be a pre-med.</p>