<p>I've been volunteering both a police department and a hospital, i love it. My big thing is i want to help people, anyways before i get off topic... I will be applying to school this winter and going to school next summer. I would like to Major in Criminal Justice, while doing the pre medicine program at the school im trying to get into. I feel like the start of my plan is flawless, because i want a career in either of these fields. And down the road if i can't do one, or made my decision on what to do i am safe. I did search for an answer to this but i couldn't find a recent one, the latest i found was one back in 2006. And it wasn't as helpful as i hoped it would have been. So, will majoring Criminal Justice do anything to benefit me when time comes to apply at medical schools?</p>
<p>I’m not sure that med school Adcoms even really do more than glance at a chosen major. lol Maybe others have more info on that.</p>
<p>Adcoms seem to be more interested in GPA, MCAT, and other things. The name of a major seems irrelevant.</p>
<p>Maybe the Adcoms will think that you’re interested in becoming a MD Medical Examiner and want some sort of CJ background? Who knows.</p>
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<p>Actually, that is the flaw. Successful med applicants are ‘all-in’; adcoms want to see 100% commitment to the ‘calling’ – no backup plans.</p>
<p>I do not see how it will do either: hurt or help. No major will hurt or help. Your very high college GPA, decent MCAT score, reasonable ECs, few minor things, like OK social skills will all help. Not much of anything else outside of his list, well, if you have saved humanity from cancer, AIDS, malaria or something of this statue, I guess, this will count in your favor, but these are just ECs. If you are well below cuts in GPA / MCAT, I am not sure if even these would be helpful, I might be wrong here.</p>
<p>Let’s pretend there exists a world where an applicant with a 2.7 GPA and 18 MCAT actually was the driving force behind the cure for cancer, AIDS, malaria, or something of that stature (i.e. not just a technician or UG volunteer)…they would 100% be accepted by any program anywhere, but why would they even bother. The money from that patent would be enough to retire on the spot/the prestige of the discovery would certainly make a PhD irrelevant as every biotech/pharma company in the world would want them on the staff.</p>
<p>This question hearkens back to the perennial vocational vs. academic major debate. Do any reputable schools offer CJ degrees (other than John Jay?). CJ is something I see advertised by pay for degree and on-line colleges. Depending on what aspect of CJ you are interested in you can easily still study public policy, history, psychology, sociology, anthropology, chemistry, biology, biochemistry, or engineering and still get a useful background for a career in law enforcement.</p>
<p>Penn has a criminology degree. </p>
<p>I could see a CJ degree being helpful if you wanted to work in the medical areas of victim studies or particularly with prison populations. But I agree that degrees in anthropology, sociology, or psychology would allow more opportunities and still secure you a degree in law enforcement.</p>
<p>Criminology is NOT the same as criminal justice; it’s a long-established branch of sociology. Criminal justice is, at best, a “vocational” degree. There is a huge difference between the two, and frankly applying to medical school with a cj degree is a terrible idea. I know it’s conventional wisdom that adcoms don’t look at what an applicant’s major is; that had better be true for any cj applicant, because there is probably no degree currently offered that has less of an academic reputation.</p>
<p>Possibly benefit you? As being a plus? Not a chance. Possibly hurt you? Yes . IMO, probably hurt you. Stay away from vocational majors.</p>
<p>Stay away from vocational majors.</p>
<p>Do we have evidence that doing this hurts you? Or is it that some of those majors don’t require critical thinking/logic skills that are needed for the MCAT? </p>
<p>I don’t see how if two people with very similar stats/ECs would be looked at differently just because one majored in - say English, and the other majored in - say Nursing or Business or Eng’g, or CJ.</p>
<p>Depending on the school, some CJ departments are very large, well funded, and well regarded at least on a state level- ie. the program at Sam Houston State here in Texas. </p>
<p>And criminology is a branch of sociology, but it is similar to criminal justice depending on focus and may be of interest to the OP.</p>
<p>I guess it all depends on definition, but have never viewed Business or Engineering as “vocational” majors. These are well-established fields of study which offer not just bachelor’s degrees, but also the opportunity to obtain a doctorate.
Criminal justice does not; it’s a recently created major, usually peddled as an effective way to enter law enforcement(pretty much a “vocational” major by definition). In many states, it doesn’t even do that, as many police certifying agencies don’t accept the credits. it’s the major you’ll hear about in many TV ads for for-profit schools. It has no history and virtually no credible academic foundation, so is only similar to criminology in name. Regarding “evidence” I’m limited-as are most posters here-to anecdotal information-the adcom member I know says that yes, what you major in does count-not for a lot, but a rigorous course of study is a plus. So while I can’t comment on other vocational majors, criminal justice would be a risky bet for med school.</p>
<p>As to "specialized health degrees " I think AAMC Table 18 Applicants and Matriculants by Undergraduate major paints a pretty negative picture. And BTW I don’t like Engineering for a pre-med but it has nothing to do with it being “vocational”. I don’t like BBA’s for pre- meds either and that does have something to do with the vocational non-academic nature of the degree. But admittedly that may be a more difficult one to prove. ;)</p>
<p>BTW I don’t like Engineering for a pre-med but it has nothing to do with it being “vocational”.</p>
<p>Curmy, do spill. :)</p>
<p>I know that eng’g can be a GPA killer, but if that’s not the case, what is your objection?</p>
<p>Most engineering degree plans leave little room for exposure and exploration outside the major field. At this time in med school admissions, that would not be considered a plus.</p>
<p>I heard that, in some engineering field, the focus of the BS degree program is very different from that of the graduate program, in that the former is more vocational oriented. They consider the BS degree is kind of like the terminal degree program for those who would practice in the field. I even heard a rumor that if a student does not receive a BS degree in a certain engineering discipline and only receive a MS or PhD degree in that discipline, he could not get a license to practice in that field. This is because the nature of training is very different - having been exposed to more advanced academic topics is not necessarily the same as having acquired hat is needed to practice in the field. If this is true, no wonder many UG engineering programs will “fully utilize” the 4 (or 5) years of the students to prepare them well before they graduate from the school - as it is their last chance to be exposed to this.</p>