<p>my son will be entering Tulane as a freshman in the fall of 2011. after some research, not a lot, it seems to me that there are at least two, if not three, lines of thought as to which is the best route to med school. a plastic surgeons advice was to focus on the final goal and do not waste energy or time on anything else. he suggested the major should be in biology, neuroscience, etc. to better prepare for the MCAT. Others have suggested that your major should be something totally different from the medical field so as to show diversity and make you stand out from the other applicants. Others have said that the MCAT and GPA are the first, last and only things that matter. Therefore, major in a subject where you can make the highest GPA while taking all the prerequisites for med school.
I fully understand that you need to major in something that you enjoy and would enjoy doing for the rest of your life. However, for the sake of this discussion, I would like to assume that all majors are equally appealing. One reason for my wanting to make this assumption is because there is no clear answer to the question "which major is the most appealing".</p>
<p>You will get a ton of opinions on this, and I am positive there are hundreds of threads over the years of CC on this. All of which is to say that, IMO, there is no answer to this. It depends so much on your son and his ambitions. I don’t mean just med school, but does it have to be a top 10 med school? Why is that important? Well, for example, Tulane has a program called Creative Scholars that admits select individuals that are non-science majors into med school. From the Tulane website: “The Creative Scholars Program allows sophomore students to apply for an early acceptance to medical school. The Creative Scholars Program requires students to change their academic plan to major in a non-science. Students accepted into the Creative Scholars Program begin medical school after completing their undergraduate degree.” You don’t even take the MCAT, IIRC. So you know your junior year you are already in Tulane med school. Of course the Creative Scholars program is still highly competitive.</p>
<p>Anyway, I didn’t mean to lead with that. My point is the decision of what to do is very dependent on the nature of the person and the specific goals. Some people are better off treating it as a “game” and playing whatever strategy gets them the highest GPA no matter what they do to get it. Others would fail trying that, because they would be bored to tears in a subject they consider easy.</p>
<p>Of course there is always the possibility he decides med school is not for him. It never seems like that is possible to a 17-18 year old, but the fact of the matter is that 90%+ of pre-meds say before starting freshman year that they are sure they will go to med school, and more than half change their mind. And not always because they can’t cut it academically, but because they get exposed to new things and find new passions. This is why I come down on the side of majoring in what you really like, for exactly the reason you state. You may end up doing that for a career after all (not that people don’t often major in subject A and then end up doing B which is totally different). I understand your premise about majors, but unfortunately it just isn’t a tenable premise. He will (or should) find some things far more appealing to study than others. That is what freshman and sophomore years are for. They don’t have to declare a major until the middle of 4th semester. He can get his pre-med requirements done very easily while still exploring diverse subjects. He must have some idea about other areas that might be interesting to him. He will get the sciences from the pre-med routine, so he can use the other slots for intro history, music, anthropology, Chinese, whatever he thinks sounds cool from reading up on them, talking to others, and his own experience thus far. Then the answer to “most appealing” should become clearer. He doesn’t have to decide now. It is perfectly possible to have a passion for Russian literature as something to take these 4 years to study up on and still want to spend your life practicing medicine.</p>
<p>Assuming he stays with med school as his goal, I also tend to agree that high GPA and MCAT scores are the biggest factors, but good recs, service work and other factors do enter into this. So there are other things that have to happen besides getting good grades. And this is a life we are talking about, one that should be enjoyed. Obviously we all trade off enjoyable activities for the necessity and discipline of getting needed work done, but jeez. Surely both can be accomplished.</p>
<p>So in all that rambling I would come down on the side of taking the pre-med courses his first two years, working very hard in those of course while exploring anything else that sounded interesting at all. Hopefully in 3 semesters he would discover what he really liked studying (which is different from saying what he wants to do with his life) and decide accordingly.</p>
<p>I think the diversity angle comes second to the core curriculum. As a science major, it would be significantly easier to be versed in a science education, although others could argue that you would get that simply through your pre-med courses if you were in a non-science major. As a science major though, I feel like it’s easier to fully immerse yourself and prepare for medical school.
In my high school experience at least, I have learned that it’s a lot easier to take the set path, which in this case, is the regular science major to med school path. While you could probably still succeed as a non-science major, you have to realize that they are probably a minority for a reason.
That’s just my two cents on the topic, but of course, I’m sure many have different views.</p>
<p>There is also the double major alternative which allows for less “exploring,” but does allow for both the science path and an alternative area of interest. That is the path my D took who is a junior taking her MCATs this summer. Her second major was Spanish and she has been able to also do medically related service work with the hispanic community, kind of wrapping up all of her interests together. She is very happy to have the science concentration as she prepares for her MCAT which requires six hours a week of class time on top of a full load, so having been entrenched in science for three years now, it comes a little easier for her than some of the non-science majors.</p>
<p>smile- check SDN (student doctor network). you will find LOTS on there on this topic.</p>
<p>from what i’ve heard, people who have a double major with one science major and one non-science major tend to have the highest rate of admittance into medical school. that being said, i think you should major in whatever you want.</p>
<p>i can tell you that at tulane, neuroscience is probably the easiest science major (besides psychology) and it looks REALLY good for med school. you will still have the science background, but won’t be like every other pre-med bio major.</p>
<p>other pretty easy majors here seem to be business, poli sci, & sociology.</p>
<p>good luck & feel free to PM me :)</p>
<p>Seems to be a trend suggesting double majors, which I do think is a strong idea. While it is no cakewalk, Tulane makes it easier than many other schools because of the overarching umbrella of Newcomb-Tulane College. That certainly could be something to consider as well. I can imagine that would be impressive to med schools as long as the GPA stayed strong. Interestingly, someone told me (I have no data to prove it though, but supposedly they did) that double majors have a higher average GPA than people with one major. I actually can believe that, because I always got my best grades when I was busiest, and many people say the same thing about their time in college. It forces you to be very organized and not to party TOOOOO much. LOL.</p>
<p>avenlea: There are few non-science majors because they all have same ideology as you do. You should know that latin and economics majors perform the best on the MCAT and have the highest acceptance rate to medical school.</p>
<p>fallenchemist: If you could please enlighten me about the Creative Scholars program at Tulane. I’m probably going to attend in fall 2011.</p>
<p>Sure, but the best thing is to quote from the site. In short, though, you major in a non-science (of course you still have to take all the pre-med courses, but these will go towards fulfilling your distribution requirements anyway, and then some), and then apply during your sophomore year. They will look at your record at Tulane of course, and probably back to high school although at that point you will have 3 semesters of work and the 4th will be completed before they decide, so the Tulane record will be by far the heaviest weighting. They will talk to profs that know you, see what else you have participated in, and interview you. Then they send you a decision in the summer after sophomore year. You finish your degree in 4 years like any other student, and then start attending Tulane med. You don’t have to take the MCAT’s unless you want to apply to other med schools. I think that is about all there is to it, although I think that’s enough!</p>
<p>
They left out the part about having to major in a non-science, but I know that is true, 100%. I used to know a place where they gave more details, but I can’t seem to find it.</p>
<p>i’m not a big fan of either of tulane’s pre-med programs (TAP or Creative Scholars). i’ve explained in other threads, but i’ll give you guys a quick summary.</p>
<p>Creative Scholars- You take all the pre-med requirements, but MUST major in a non-science. You have to keep a 3.6+ GPA and then you apply your junior year. Just fyi, not all those who apply get in. You also have to have all your pre-med requirements finished before junior year, whereas most people don’t finish until the end of the junior year. I’m not sure if you have to take the MCAT. If you are accepted, you are automatically admitted to Tulane’s Med School which is…oh, wait…about 70k+/year. I don’t know about you guys but I am in no way willing to take out almost 300k in loans for med school.</p>
<p>TAP Program- You complete your undergrad in 2 years, do a year of volunteering, and then go to Tulane Med School. Your undergrad scholarship carries over to the first year of medical school (i.e. if you had the 25k scholarship, your first year of med school would be approx 70k-25k=45k). I know lots of people in the program and it is ridiculous. Most of them are taking 18-23+ hours/semester and I think long term will regret missing out on the true undergraduate experience. Just my opinion. This may be right for some people, but still taking out about 250k in debt for Tulane Med School (a decent, but not “top” med school) and missing out on my undergraduate would not be worth it to me.</p>
<p>If you are a non-science major, I’d say go ahead and try creative scholars, but I wouldn’t major in a non-science just to be eligible for this program. My neuroscience advisor isn’t a big fan of either of these programs because apparently a bunch of kids didn’t get into Creative Scholars last year that should have…just something to think about.</p>
<p>tulane14 - just a couple of small corrections. For Creative Scholars, you have to have all your pre-med requirements finished by the end of sophomore year (as you say), because you apply 2nd semester sophomore year, according to the Tulane catalog at least. I am 98% sure you get the yes/no decision June or July after completing the sophomore year. You do not have to take the MCAT. For TAP-TP you don’t finish your undergrad degree in 2 years. You attend two years at the uptown campus, then take the year off for service in SE Louisiana, then finish your undergrad as part of your 4 years in med school. That is why for that program you have to major in a science (I would think bio or chem, maybe psychology is OK too).</p>
<p>I am not sure why your adviser thinks those students "should have’ gotten in, but I am sure there are only a very limited number of slots for a special program like that and so it is extremely competitive. There will always be some that don’t get in that are highly qualified.</p>
<p>for the TAP program, you HAVE to major in CMB (Cell & Molecular Biology). You cannot do chemistry, psychology, neuroscience, etc.</p>
<p>smile12157:</p>
<p>Not sure if you are still following the conversation. Your question was about the best route to med school, without specific reference to Tulane’s programs. (I know little about TAP or Creative Scholars, so I defer to fallenchemist, tulane14, and the other mavens about these programs.) I got the sense that your son would consider many different medical school options, so my remarks are more generic. The routes you identified were:</p>
<ol>
<li> Choose a major that would best prepare for the MCAT (you gave examples of neuroscience or biology)</li>
<li> Choose a major totally unrelated to medicine to allow one to stand out.</li>
<li> Choose a major that could be completed with the highest possible GPA, while still finishing the pre-med requirements.</li>
</ol>
<p>I would suggest that none of these three routes is the most desirable. As a physician, who previously had a career in academic medicine (including interviewing for medical schools), I think that any route to medical school is usually going to include much more than choosing the “right” major. Here are my observations:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>If your son is a truly gifted science student, and especially if there is a chance that he may want to have a career as a biomedical scientist (e.g. a bench researcher or a translational researcher), then by all means he should major in a science and supplement this experience with volunteer work in science laboratories, either at the uptown campus or the medical school campus. There was a time when there were many physicians who were “triple threats”, meaning that they could take care of patients, teach, and do research all at the same time. This is an increasingly rare model. What has dropped out is the ability to do research. There’s simply not enough emphasis in medical school on the scientific method of the basic and clinical sciences to equip a medical school graduate to become a successful biomedical scientist. So if your son wanted to be a biomedical scientist, he would either have to get the necessary scientific training either before entering medical school, or via an MD/PhD program. Obviously, the latter choice extends the training process by three additional years.</p></li>
<li><p>If your son is not a truly gifted science student and/or has no particular plans to be a biomedical scientist, then he should major in whatever subject he would excel. (By excel, I mean throw himself into with enthusiasm and dedication. The grades would naturally follow, in most cases.) In addition, he should then develop an impressive record of humanitarian volunteer activities that are logically connected to the healing or helping professions. (Tulane’s service orientation should mesh very well with this.) This record should emphasize his commitment to diverse, underserved populations. The activities need not be in medical settings per se. However, any activities in medical settings should be in primary care settings, not subspecialty settings. While doing all these things, he should allot enough time and energy to do very well on his pre-med courses.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I think that Tulane offers excellent opportunities for premed students, either for the less common path (#1) or for the more common one (#2). Congratulations on your son’s plans and I hope he is able to embark on a successful journey in medicine.</p>
<p>Like Fallenchemist, I would suggest that your son choose his major based on what he likes and not worry about whether it will help for getting into medical school. GPA, MCAT scores and experiences are all more important than your major and plenty of students attend medical schools having every kind of majors. They really don’t care. Encourage him to be an interesting person because that is what will get him past the interviews and into medical school. As someone who (many years ago at WUSTL) majored in just plain old biology, did the volunteering in hospital, working in a lab etc. to make sure that I would have a good chance at getting into medical school and never dreamed I would be doing anything else, I found that after one quarter of medical school I did not really like it that much. Why? Because I was used to a biology program focused on research and found the multiple choice, memorizing part of medical school to be way too boring for me. So I left, worked in a lab for a year and then attend law school of all things and fell into the area of biotechnology patent law for a few years. I loved law school in comparison to medical school because I got to use my analytical skills every day. If medical school could have been taught in that fashion, I would have finished. I now do absolutely nothing that involves biology. My point is, you never know where you will end up or if you will not enjoy something until you get there. Looking back, would I enjoy practicing medicine today? Yes, some aspects are appealing to me. Do I like what I am doing better? Yes, as an attorney and govt. employee, I have no regrets and I have much more flexibility than any doctor ever has in planning my own schedule. In some ways, law and medicine are the same. I sit in my office and help people all day long who need my help. And that is the part I find satisfying. That is something that I could not have appreciated at age 18 because you cannot really imagine what your life is going to be like when you are older. My brother, who is a doctor, absolutely hates that his life is planned out for him six months in advance and that he has to be on call when he would rather be spending time with his wife and kids. I wish your son well, and remember, getting into medical school is only half of the battle.</p>
<p>thank you all so much for the advice. i am reading every word.</p>
<p>tulane14 - that makes sense since they say you are doing supervised research during the first 2 years at the med school. It would have to be in an area like that, although I thought maybe the other subjects could be accomplished as well. But it makes sense they would limit it to CMB, otherwise, for example, how would a chem major take P Chem? Thanks for the clarification.</p>
<p>Major does not matter whatsoever. I was a history major and was admitted into every medical school I applied to this year. Granted, I’ll have my MSc in Finance from LSE by June, but I also had 3.8 SGPA and 36 MCAT. I can only advise your son to take a A&P and Biochem, as it certainly was helpful for the MCAT. MCAT certainly is the most important facet of one’s medical school application.</p>