Which would be a better minor that medical schools (especially in Texas) will like in an applicant? I’m trying to decide if I should go with a minor in Spanish or a minor in business administration.
I feel like even though I minor in Spanish, it won’t be completely useful unless I go to a Spanish speaking country, get exposure, and become fluent. I don’t think a minor will make me fluent.
In my opinion, I think a minor in business administration could be useful if I want to open my own clinic.
I would really appreciate it if you guys can give me some input and explanation.
Thank you!
People often say that what you major in couldn’t matter less for medical school. They’re wrong. It could matter less. It could matter as little as what you minor in does. A lot of schools don’t even offer minors. If you would prefer to take some business administration classes over taking some spanish classes absolutely go for it. If you would prefer to take some spanish classes over taking some business administration classes absolutely go for it. If you want to take some spanish AND some business administration classes but not enough to satisfy the minor for either absolutely go for it.
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If you would prefer to take some spanish classes over taking some business administration classes absolutely go for it. If you want to take some spanish AND some business administration classes but not enough to satisfy the minor for either absolutely go for it.
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^ This
Unless your major REQUIRES a minor, there is no need to do one. And med schools will NOT care.
I recommend taking some Spanish classes to improve fluency or another FL. My son graduated with 20 credits in Spanish …11 from placement testing, and another 9 from 3 classes taken on campus: Conversational Spanish, Business Spanish, and Medical Spanish.
It wasn’t enough to be a minor, but it was enough to achieve what he wanted…improved fluency.
No doubt, minor in Spanish.
Spanish has been very helpful for my D. in both Med. School and currently, first year of residency. She was chosen for the medical trip to Peru, which later was a main topic of conversation at her residency interviews. Currently, she has about 25 outpatient patients, about 5 of them speak only Spanish - and D. is in OH.
Business is primarily a common sense (I have an MBA). I am trying to study Spanish myself, but my very old brain does not absorb it very well.
D. had only one semester of Spanish at college. However, the prof. was great and D. was able to speak after that class. And then, while at Med. School she took Medical Spanish (outside of Med. School) and was able to place into Intermediate level of Medical Spanish.
Yes to everything above. In general the impact of an actual minor is infinitesimally small - at least on paper. And for your situation, spanish vs business, the impact is probably a complete zero. Someone with an unconventional major for a medical school applicant - say Dance or Hotel Management - tacking on a minor in the hard sciences might fortify their application somewhat by removing doubts about their academic background that someone without access to the transcript may have (like an interviewer). Times have changed some, but when I was going through the interview process as a sociology major (this would have been fall of 2004), my major drew questions from every interviewer, including some specifically questioning my science background. Having a biology minor to talk about with the interviewers helped assuage any concerns.
I think if you were to poll all practicing physicians at this moment, a majority would say they’d benefit from a better business background (especially as the economics of healthcare are rapidly changing), but 95%+ would say that Spanish would help them on a daily basis.
All that said, if you want to get a minor, go for it, but do it for you, not for medical school.
" do it for you, not for medical school" - this is absolute key to success in anything.
My D. choose her minors strictly to expand her background in areas of her personal interests…and it just happened that the primary topic of conversation during her med. school interviews, was in fact her Music minor. She would be so eager and prepared to talk about her medical research that lasted for 3 years, but it was a much smaller part. Keep in mind that interviewers are just human beings who wants to see how is your personality fits in their environment. To be involved with something that you personally do not have much interest in, simply is not worth it from any prospective!