Howdy everybody, I'm a current Kinesiology major who never really knew what he wanted to do until I arrived to college just this semester. I'm positive I want to go into medicine one day and I've heard from some resources that medical schools really do not care about your undergrad major but others have claimed that they do. I'm conflicted because if I don't get into med school then I'll just go into teaching for a year and reapply the following year so in the end, my major won't affect my plan but will it affect my chances of getting into medical school? I've been finding biology extremely interesting and I'm doing great in there so I've been thinking of changing my major to biomedical sciences. I feel I would still be able to get a 3.5+ GPA as a BIMS major but I suppose I just want to know if it'll help my chances for acceptance into a med school? Any feedback is much appreciated!
Undergrad Major
- Thread starter July72
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GPA is needed but a CV and MCAT are all pillars that support you.
Biomedical and biology don't really help in giving an edge, they're useful in helping you graduate on time because their curricula require that you take premedical classes and upper level bio courses that Med schools recommend like immunology/physiology/microbio/genetics/embryology et AL which helps you graduate on time because it is less stressful than taking all those if you are a different major like musician or engineer. If you like kinesiology stick with it because a bio degree only offers short-term benefits to a premed, and there's only a job market if you like bench-work and/or have connections to pharmaceutical/biotech companies
I would say that kinesiology is a decent back up major for PT school and athletic coaching if you don't make MD/DO
Biomedical and biology don't really help in giving an edge, they're useful in helping you graduate on time because their curricula require that you take premedical classes and upper level bio courses that Med schools recommend like immunology/physiology/microbio/genetics/embryology et AL which helps you graduate on time because it is less stressful than taking all those if you are a different major like musician or engineer. If you like kinesiology stick with it because a bio degree only offers short-term benefits to a premed, and there's only a job market if you like bench-work and/or have connections to pharmaceutical/biotech companies
I would say that kinesiology is a decent back up major for PT school and athletic coaching if you don't make MD/DO
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With the exception of something random like majoring in "under water basket weaving", do whatever major makes you happy. If you like your major then you'll be able to curve out your niche in it — perhaps, you'll even be able to distinguish yourself from the other 30K biomajors. Your major won't matter, what will matter is the activities and extracurriculars that stem from it. Few majors you could do and have it be impressive for the GPA alone, excluding physics, math, engineering, etc. So, just worry about having a good overall GPA, a great science GPA, and extracurriculars for AMCAS. If you're not happy with your major then it's hard to keep up a good GPA, that's more important than the degree you'll never use once accepted.
Just random point here, but if you're worried about a back-up plan and given the same good GPA, I'd wager that biomedical sciences would be a better bet if you were looking for a job post graduation instead of applying to medical school.
If you haven't gotten my subliminal messages: GPA > major; happiness in your major is highly correlated with your undergrad success
