<p>So, I'm currently a high school sophomore who's college-bound. My dream college is University of Washington in Seattle, both for undergrad and graduate school. At the time being I am interested in being a pediatric oncologist or surgeon, but that's still up in the air. </p>
<p>UW does not offer a pre-med major, and I honestly wouldn't take it if it was. The two I am debating between are Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, and Psychology. The first has a major program of 50 credits, while Psych has a major of 86. Quite the difference, and surely the stigma of Women's studies being "useless and lazy" may not help my case. </p>
<p>I am curious as to if Women's studies would look negative, even if I did well in the required medical school prerequistes and took electives concerning medicine. Would it look lazy, or useless? Does it truly not matter, or would the sciences of Psychology help my case?</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>First of all, there is no such thing as a “pre med” major. (Except at Penn State)</p>
<p>Pre med is an intention and not a particular major. So long as you complete all the pre-med requirements (gen chem, ochem, biochem, bio, physics, English, math, stats, sociology & psych) and take the MCAT, you’re good to go. Many pre-med choose to major in bio, biochem or chemistry because there’s significant overlap between those majors and pre-med requirements, making it easier to fit everything in. </p>
<p>Both my daughters are in medical school and their classmates have majors ranging from agriculture to zoology and everything in between.</p>
<p>Medical schools really do not consider your major when making an admission decision. </p>
<p>The only caveat I will put out there is this: Make sure you have a Plan B w/r/t to a medical career. Every year more than 60% of those who do persevere long enough to apply (and only 25% of freshman pre-meds do) to med school fail to gain a single acceptance to any med school. You may want to consider which undergrad major offers you the best options for other career paths should you fail to gain admission to med school.</p>
<p>And you’re wise to know that it’s much, much, much too soon to be picking out specialties. (That only happens after your USMLE results are back and you’ve completed your basic clinical rotations as a MS3.) </p>
<p>I’ll second @WayOutWestMom
Medical schools seem to care about EC’s, GPA, and MCAT. Majors are secondary if not entirely insignificant. One of my favorite neurologists double majored in English and German. </p>