My Major is General Studies, Will That Hurt My Chances?

[Geonsur]

Hello. My major is general studies, and I am hoping of getting into medical school. I am in my second semester of college. Last semester, I maintained a 4.0 while taking physics and a chemistry course that had the highest attrition rate the college has ever seen.

Let's just assume that I maintain a 4.0 throughout college, while taking all of the pre-med prerequisites, and score in the upper 30s on my MCAT. Would a medical college admissions board choose someone with the same credentials as me - 4.0, high MCAT score, research, etc. - over me just because my major is General Studies.

* If you are wondering why I chose general studies as my major, it was to avoid the pre-med advisors.

Regards.

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[SOMBound13]

Hello. My major is general studies, and I am hoping of getting into medical school. I am in my second semester of college. Last semester, I maintained a 4.0 while taking physics and a chemistry course that had the highest attrition rate the college has ever seen.

Let's just assume that I maintain a 4.0 throughout college, while taking all of the pre-med prerequisites, and score in the upper 30s on my MCAT. Would a medical college admissions board choose someone with the same credentials as me - 4.0, high MCAT score, research, etc. - over me just because my major is General Studies.

* If you are wondering why I chose general studies as my major, it was to avoid the pre-med advisors.

Regards.

Are you at Columbia? If not, why are you majoring in GS? Med schools don't really care what your major is (not even sure if they even really note a person's major). I'm just wondering why that's your major unless you were accepted into Columbia's School of GS.

 

[OCDOCDOCD]

Med schools don't care about majors, but GS is a terrible major as it sets you up for nothing after college unless you go to med school or law school. I don't understand how choosing GS helps you avoid pre-med advisers either. If your intention is to go to med school, you're going to have to interact with pre-med advisers no matter what your major is. Even if GS does somehow prevent you from ever interacting with pre-med advisers, I don't see how any major other than one that is explicitly pre-med would force you to interact with them. Even biology would have to take into consideration the students who intend to go on to graduate school and not a health professions school.

 

[Geebeejay]

Hello. My major is general studies, and I am hoping of getting into medical school. I am in my second semester of college. Last semester, I maintained a 4.0 while taking physics and a chemistry course that had the highest attrition rate the college has ever seen.

Let's just assume that I maintain a 4.0 throughout college, while taking all of the pre-med prerequisites, and score in the upper 30s on my MCAT. Would a medical college admissions board choose someone with the same credentials as me - 4.0, high MCAT score, research, etc. - over me just because my major is General Studies.

* If you are wondering why I chose general studies as my major, it was to avoid the pre-med advisors. Regards.

You probably aren't going to want to avoid the people who will be writing your admissions committee letter...

 

[487806]

You probably aren't going to want to avoid the people who will be writing your admissions committee letter...

Only when the application process begins.

 

[darklabel]

You probably aren't going to want to avoid the people who will be writing your admissions committee letter...

My school doesn't have a committee letter so I never see my pre med advisors since I know all they would do is deter me.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Christ, major in Physical Education at least lol. I mean honestly, how do general studies majors even persist?
Anyway, whether it will affect your ability to enter medical school is dependant on how you answer the interviewer's inevitable question of either what the hell you were thinking or what you expect to do with that degree if you either fail to get in this year or period.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

My school doesn't have a committee letter so I never see my pre med advisors since I know all they would do is deter me.

Your life is kinda chill then. Pre-Med Committees can be ever so insufferable, especially when they write you a letter based on how you answer asinine questions like why you didn't take a heavy load your last semester when you have 120 out of 124 credits completed.

 

[darklabel]

Your life is kinda chill then. Pre-Med Committees can be ever so insufferable, especially when they write you a letter based on how you answer asinine questions like why you didn't take a heavy load your last semester when you have 120 out of 124 credits completed.

Yeah I prefer my school's system of having teachers fill out letters of rec. I also enjoy not meeting with pre med advisors since I can get all my info online (without the bias or misinformation). Hopefully OP's school is the same way.

 

[SOMBound13]

* If you are wondering why I chose general studies as my major, it was to avoid the pre-med advisors. Regards.

Why do you want to avoid pre-med advisors? If your school has them, why not avail yourself of what they can offer? Even if they don't do CMs, they may have some insights about the process that you don't know about. And, if they don't do CMs, then you really don't need to spend much time with them anyway - no matter what your major is.

 

[Doctor Strange]

... I thought General Studies was undeclared...

 

[487806]

Why do you want to avoid pre-med advisors? If your school has them, why not avail yourself of what they can offer? Even if they don't do CMs, they may have some insights about the process that you don't know about. And, if they don't do CMs, then you really don't need to spend much time with them anyway - no matter what your major is.

It's school-dependent. My "advisors" aren't the best. Probably the same for OP.

 

[SOMBound13]

... I thought General Studies was undeclared...

GS is sometimes chosen by athletes who think they are NFL or NBA bound.

However, Columbia has a college of General Studies for many non-trad students.

 

[PreMedOrDead]

Your life is kinda chill then. Pre-Med Committees can be ever so insufferable, especially when they write you a letter based on how you answer asinine questions like why you didn't take a heavy load your last semester when you have 120 out of 124 credits completed.

I recently got a letter from the FA office saying that I needed to stop going to school because they would cut my aid if I went over 180 credits. I'm around the upper 170s this semester.

 

[SOMBound13]

I recently got a letter from the FA office saying that I needed to stop going to school because they would cut my aid if I went over 180 credits. I'm around the upper 170s this semester.

Yep, that's typical. They don't want to pay for life-long students.
They have to use the money for the next cycle of incoming students.

For those coming in with some unnecessary AP credits, policies like this can mess things up.

Are you graduating this semester? If not, what then?

 

[PreMedOrDead]

Yep, that's typical. They don't want to pay for life-long students.
They have to use the money for the next cycle of incoming students.

For those coming in with some unnecessary AP credits, policies like this can mess things up.

Are you graduating this semester? If not, what then?

Yep, I will be. In fact, my transcripts were reviewed and signed off on for my May graduation over Christmas break. What a great feeling.

I applied this cycle.

 

[BigBlueBear]

Do other majors require you to see a premed adviser?

I never had to see a premed advisor if I didn't want to.

 

[mokhoras]

.

 

[Aerus]

Just DON'T see your premed adviser then. I don't see any problem. Even if there is some strange rule that forced you to see them, you can just see them and then disregard the information they give, if you feel like it will all deter you. Simply being there will not "deter" you.

 

[Spinach Dip]

Major in bio or something.

And if you don't want to talk to your schools' pre-med adviser (and trust me, I feel you!), then DON'T. Seriously. You don't need their 'permission' to apply to med school or to major in anything besides gen studies.

 

[BABSstudent]

Do other majors require you to see a premed adviser?

I never had to see a premed advisor if I didn't want to.

Me neither. I had three advisors (a zoology advisor, a Spanish advisor, and a premed advisor). I could go to any of the three and not have to see the others.

 

[alpharez]

I had no idea General Studies was even a thing.

 

[Josh7]

I could see it being a disadvantage for extracurriculars. It would be harder to do research and it won't look great on a resume

 

[Spinach Dip]

I had no idea General Studies was even a thing.

LOL

At my undergrad university, we had a "General Studies" major. It was mainly designed for those who had switched majors a couple times, and suddenly found themselves with enough credits to graduate, but were nowhere near to completing a major.

I almost got one, actually. But after looking over the requirements a little more, I figured I could get a bio major and two minors if I took a couple extra terms... So I went with the degree that actually meant something.