what would be an appropriate major if my area of interest is pre-medicine?
I plan on going to the University of Michigan- Ann Arbor or Dearborn and I don’t know what my undergrad major should be if I’m going into pre-med. Any one who’s area of interest was pre-med, what did you major in? Plz give me suggestions! I’m in the process of applying to colleges, I’m a high school senior with a 3.9 GPA and am currently taking many AP and science courses.
Wow, this is a tough answer. The reason being that there is no right answer.
Technically you can major in anything you want as long as you do the pre-requisite courses for medical school.
Typically 2/3 of all pre-med students major in a science, and 1/3 major in a non-science.
Out of the sciences most choose Biology, followed by Chemistry, and some choose Bio-Chem.
Out of the non-sciences anything goes, some major art, literature, music, or whatever they think will work for them.
The reason for this is that medical schools like diversity, and since doctors are supposed to be dedicated, along with the demand for medical schools, they are not afraid to have high standards for acceptance. On paper it looks good for them to have as many different kinds of people attending as possible. On top of that med schools screen applicants before they interview them. People with low GPA’s and MCAT scores are black balled before they even get a chance for an interview often giving people with a higher grade in art history a better chance than someone struggling in bio-chem.
On top of that, none of the sciences will actually do you much good anyway. Even Biology is partially redundant, meaning that some of the classes will just be repeated in med school, and partially useless, in the case of botany, zoology, etc…
This leaves you open for some strategic thinking. The main issue will be your grades. Typically 3.6 is about as low as you want to get. Playing the major card is a good tactic to get you the illustrious interview for med school.
In short, I would say that the best thing to do is go with the science of your choice, Biology if you are in doubt. If you think you could do better with a non-science major that may be the best then, or maybe you just want to do something different.
But in either case don’t worry about this too much, that’s what pre-med advisers are for. You will have plenty of time while you aremessing with core classes to sit down with him/her and come up with a game plan.
However, this is a forum that is excellent for med wannabe’s like us to check out:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/
Wow, this is a tough answer. The reason being that there is no right answer.
Technically you can major in anything you want as long as you do the pre-requisite courses for medical school.
Typically 2/3 of all pre-med students major in a science, and 1/3 major in a non-science.
Out of the sciences most choose Biology, followed by Chemistry, and some choose Bio-Chem.
Out of the non-sciences anything goes, some major art, literature, music, or whatever they think will work for them.
The reason for this is that medical schools like diversity, and since doctors are supposed to be dedicated, along with the demand for medical schools, they are not afraid to have high standards for acceptance. On paper it looks good for them to have as many different kinds of people attending as possible. On top of that med schools screen applicants before they interview them. People with low GPA’s and MCAT scores are black balled before they even get a chance for an interview often giving people with a higher grade in art history a better chance than someone struggling in bio-chem.
On top of that, none of the sciences will actually do you much good anyway. Even Biology is partially redundant, meaning that some of the classes will just be repeated in med school, and partially useless, in the case of botany, zoology, etc…
This leaves you open for some strategic thinking. The main issue will be your grades. Typically 3.6 is about as low as you want to get. Playing the major card is a good tactic to get you the illustrious interview for med school.
In short, I would say that the best thing to do is go with the science of your choice, Biology if you are in doubt. If you think you could do better with a non-science major that may be the best then, or maybe you just want to do something different.
But in either case don’t worry about this too much, that’s what pre-med advisers are for. You will have plenty of time while you aremessing with core classes to sit down with him/her and come up with a game plan.
However, this is a forum that is excellent for med wannabe’s like us to check out:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/
References :
Biology as a major and chemistry as minor.
References :
My boyfriends major and minor and he is in medical school