What should I major in? (Not your typical major question)

malfee

Sports Medicine Wannabe
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First post -- hey there medical people. :)

So I already know that you don't necessarily have to major in a science to get into medical school. What I am a little confused about is whether or not I should just major in what really interests me (Athletic Training/Sports Medicine, Exercise Physiology, Exercise Sciences -- all three are so similar that I wouldn't mind taking either of them, though I don't really see the need to become a certified Athletic Trainer) or if I should look into a college's pre-med program. From what I understand, enrolling in such a program does function like a major and that the coursework isn't easy, but then I feel like I may miss out on some cool stuff in those other three majors I listed. Nevertheless, my ultimate goal right now is to one day become a sports medicine physician (now do the three majors I listed make sense?), so I really would like to make sure I'm on track and eligible for medical school.

In short:
- I ultimately want to pursue a position as a sports medicine physican.
- I'm unsure of what to major in (out of the four choices I mentioned).
- ???
- Suggestions? :p

P.S. - I'd just like to add that I just found SDN tonight and I'm fascinated. What a great community. I just learned so much about the whole medical school process in less than an hour from just reading threads of interest. Great work people! :thumbup:

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I was in a similar situation as you. I came to college dead set on medicine...still am, but wanted to major in nursing because it really interested me and I wanted hospital exposure asap.

Here are the potential problems with your major that I foresee because these are the problems that I ran into and it ultimately forced me to switch majors...I am currently a history major, chem minor.

With any of those programs, you will definitely see a lot of science emphasis in addition to very specific, laid out course load.

The courses REQUIRED for that major may not allow you to reasonably add in your premed classes with their labs. You can always take them during the summer at your college or university, but this ends up costing you much more money that you may or may not have...not to mention time.

Taking the required courses in addition to your premed courses may put you at around 21 credits when you get into the thick of your major (3rd year) and you may not have the time you need for classes like orgo and studying for your MCAT.

Additionally, these courses may require bio and chem courses that are different from those required for medical school. This then means that you have to take these courses in addition to similar ones just to complete the requirement.

Another complication you may run into is that if all these courses fit into your schedule and dont conflict...you may not have time to take humanities/social science courses...which have not only become quite desirable for medical school, but are not becoming REQUIREMENTS for many of them.

My suggestion: Find out what your semesters will be like as any one of those majors and look at the kind of room you will have for classes outside your major. First, fill those classes with the area requirements you may need for your school because these let you graduate....then if there is any room left, fill in your premedical requirements (physics, orgo, gen chem, gen bio (all with lab), english (2 semesters) and calc) Taking those courses will leave you ready to apply to medical school....just hope that they fit and that you arent working with 20+ credits a semester.

Hope it works out for you. I suppose there is truth to the whole major in whatever you want thing....its just some majors require a bit more money and time than others. Many courses for bio and chem majors include your premed requirements so it doesnt make it difficult to do both.

Im a history major and Im still working hard to get in in...im currently in summer session taking organic chemistry because I just couldnt fit it all in. I wanted to do well in orgo but I wanted to also pursue many of my research interests in history.

Good luck to you, hope my response helped.

Talk to major advisers for those programs and ask them how many premeds they find in those majors and how they end up doing during the app. process.
 
Thanks for the response cavalier!

I probably should have mentioned that I am just going into my senior year of high school this September, so I do have a little bit of time to get organized.

Well, I think perhaps the majors I listed may help in fulfilling the pre-reqs. I've been looking at Rutgers University which is only 18 miles from my house (though out of state, so more money :/) and they offer an Exercise Sciences program. The program looks perfect for me and features tons of stuff I'd love to learn, but what's also great is that the suggested schedule one should take looks like this:

http://www.exsci.rutgers.edu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=163&Itemid=144

As you can see, it features two semesters of general biology, general chemistry, and physics, among many other classes. Perhaps this is more reasonable than you thought?

What I find especially intriguing is that on this department's site they state the following:

"The Exercise Science program has approximately 300 undergraduates, approximately 20% who are pre-med, 50% who are pre-PT or pre-OT, with the remainder equally distributed in exercise physiology, cardiac rehab and corporate fitness."

Does the bolded part mean that 20% of the students are planning on applying to medical schools, or does that mean they're also taking Pre-Medicine (as a major)? I get confused with things like this.
 
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it most likely means they are just premed...not premed MAJORS.

Most schools dont offer premed as a major...and if they do, I wouldnt advise that you choose that as your major.

If med school doesnt work out, theres not much out there for you to pursue studies in almost becoming a doctor...haha
 
Another thing to consider is what you want to do in college to feed the non-medical, non-science part of your brain. There's not a lot of time for that once the ball gets rolling.

Literature, history, philosophy, art, and so on, are good things for a person to know something about. You don't want to be the one-track mind guy:

http://theunderweardrawer.homestead.com/twelvemedstudents.html

Besides which, there's a lot more to medicine than science. There is even a lot more to getting INTO medicine than science. I majored in English and got a 39S on the MCAT (which is not unusual; humanities majors tend to do better on the MCAT than science majors, and pre-med majors and biology majors do poorly).

My experience only; your mileage may vary.
 
it most likely means they are just premed...not premed MAJORS.

Most schools dont offer premed as a major...and if they do, I wouldnt advise that you choose that as your major.

If med school doesnt work out, theres not much out there for you to pursue studies in almost becoming a doctor...haha

Yeah I considered that as well. So far I'm liking the sound of this Rutgers program, hmmm. There are a few other schools within close distance that offer similar programs, so I'll have to check them out a bit too.
 
I have a friend who is majoring in kinesiology at University of Ottawa. It has a good amount of science, esp anatomy, and if she doesn't get in to med school on her first try she will be able to work as a physical therapist instead of defaulting to grad school.
 
Another thing to consider is what you want to do in college to feed the non-medical, non-science part of your brain. There's not a lot of time for that once the ball gets rolling.

Literature, history, philosophy, art, and so on, are good things for a person to know something about. You don't want to be the one-track mind guy:

http://theunderweardrawer.homestead.com/twelvemedstudents.html

Besides which, there's a lot more to medicine than science. There is even a lot more to getting INTO medicine than science. I majored in English and got a 39S on the MCAT (which is not unusual; humanities majors tend to do better on the MCAT than science majors, and pre-med majors and biology majors do poorly).

My experience only; your mileage may vary.

Haha, that comic was brilliant! :laugh:

I definitely hear you though. I took two AP history courses so far in high school (World and then American) and unfortunately I wasn't trying my hardest during those years, and I regret not doing so as I did poorly on the exams. I'm actually really attuned to English, and most people (prior to hearing about me wanting to get into medicine) assume I want to write or something. I scored a 4 on the AP English and Composition exam, and my teacher seemed to think very highly of me, so yeah, I'm definitely not a one-trick pony. :)

I actually had plans to try playing lacrosse in college, but after some careful consideration, I realized I wouldn't be able to maintain my academics to my capacity while dealing with team duties. If anything I can always join the club team or whatever, so there are no worries there. I'll definitely be keeping an open mind though!
 
First post -- hey there medical people. :)

So I already know that you don't necessarily have to major in a science to get into medical school. What I am a little confused about is whether or not I should just major in what really interests me (Athletic Training/Sports Medicine, Exercise Physiology, Exercise Sciences -- all three are so similar that I wouldn't mind taking either of them, though I don't really see the need to become a certified Athletic Trainer) or if I should look into a college's pre-med program. From what I understand, enrolling in such a program does function like a major and that the coursework isn't easy, but then I feel like I may miss out on some cool stuff in those other three majors I listed. Nevertheless, my ultimate goal right now is to one day become a sports medicine physician (now do the three majors I listed make sense?), so I really would like to make sure I'm on track and eligible for medical school.

In short:
- I ultimately want to pursue a position as a sports medicine physican.
- I'm unsure of what to major in (out of the four choices I mentioned).
- ???
- Suggestions? :p

P.S. - I'd just like to add that I just found SDN tonight and I'm fascinated. What a great community. I just learned so much about the whole medical school process in less than an hour from just reading threads of interest. Great work people! :thumbup:

Below is a little protocol I think would be useful for people who are just about to enter undergrad and need advice on choosing a major. This is not necessarily in order of importance.

First, realize that getting into medical school appears to be becoming more and more competitive, so whatever major you choose you should do something that you will be able to excel in.

Second, you need to weigh your priorities. I go to med school with some people who, while in undergrad, loved to stimulate their mind as much as possible and they spent almost all of their time dedicated to school/lab work. If thats what you like to do then you should take that into account when picking your major. In other words you can afford to do electrical engineering if you're so passionate about it that you know you'll dedicate the time needed to do well. If you're more like I was and wanted to have the "typical" undergrad experience in which its the first time you're not living at home and you want to have a lot of time to experience a lot of fun things (i.e. a lot of things outside of school, partying, etc), then you'll want to make sure you pick a major where you have free time to partake in whatever you want to do outside of school.

Third, you should realize that the difficulty of your major in the eyes of an med school admissions committee will probably have a minimal impact on their decision to accept you. Things like GPA, MCAT, ECs, etc matter more than the category your major is placed in (science vs nonscience) and you'll have a chance to explain why you chose what you did in your personal statement - as long as you come off as being passionate about what you did in undergrad it doesn't matter what you did. Furthermore some of the more "difficult" majors are the ones EVERY premed is doing. Don't just major in biology because 50% of those entering medical school were biology majors, because the tradeoff is that you may look like a cookie-cutter applicant.

Fourth, there are a relatively small number of required courses to enter med school and most of them are fulfilled by taking the core classes necessary for preparing for the MCAT: two general bio courses, two physics courses, two general chemistry courses, two organic chemistry courses. By the time you've covered whatever lib-ed requirements that your school makes everyone do and your major requirements you can pretty much major in anything, take the pre-reqs and still be on track to graduate on time.

Fifth, pick what you like. When you're interviewing for medical school, if you don't seem interested in what you've done for the last 4 years then they probably aren't going to think you've given much though into [or will be interested in] what you're doing for the next four years and beyond.

Sixth, don't pick a major because you think it will give you a leg-up on the competition when you get to medical school. In my opinion there is relatively little information from undergrad that will translate into medical school, and its most likely that anything that does will be more in depth or have a different emphasis in undergrad that in does in med school. The material is not hard in med school per se, its just that there is a lot of it thrown at you.
 
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Great post kd. So far it seems like I'm sort of abiding by the "guidelines" you listed.

I see you live in NY. What medical school are you attending now? I haven't really begun looking at those just yet, as I'm still settling on a college for undergraduate work, haha. I'm just curious though. NYU always seemed like it would be a pretty cool experience being in the heart of the city and all.
 
Best bet is to choose a major that will make it realistic for you to find work once you are out of college. B/c if the whole med school thing doesn't work out or if you don't get in on your first try, you will have a way to pay the bills. Boring, I know
 
Most important is that you will really enjoy the major. You excel when you truly enjoy something and a high gpa is important. Its a bonus if its something unusual for a pre-med, it makes you interesting. Standing out amongst thousands of excellent applications is often the hardest part of getting in. If its non science make sure you take enough upper level sciences as well as the pre-med prerequisites so you'll be on solid footing for the MCAT. Maybe minor in bio or chem or something. Be realistic so you don't burn out and you don't tank during your first year. If you aren't a science savant don't go into engineering, don't do a non-science if you are a science geek just to make your app stand out. Do what you love. The major itself has very very little impact on admissions to medschool, your scores/grades are most important. If its something interesting to talk about in interviews thats a bonus. I also agree that you should have some back up plan in case you don't get into medschool, or in case you change your mind before you apply.
 
Great post kd. So far it seems like I'm sort of abiding by the "guidelines" you listed.

I see you live in NY. What medical school are you attending now? I haven't really begun looking at those just yet, as I'm still settling on a college for undergraduate work, haha. I'm just curious though. NYU always seemed like it would be a pretty cool experience being in the heart of the city and all.

I'm at SUNY Buffalo. When I applied the SUNY schools were the most "friendly" state schools to the out-of-state applicant, and to top it all off they give you in-state tuition after your first year :) NYU would be pretty cool, but unfortunately the private schools are very expensive and without some sort of scholarship I'd be nervous about racking up at least another $100k on top of what I'm paying now haha
 
I'm at SUNY Buffalo. When I applied the SUNY schools were the most "friendly" state schools to the out-of-state applicant, and to top it all off they give you in-state tuition after your first year :) NYU would be pretty cool, but unfortunately the private schools are very expensive and without some sort of scholarship I'd be nervous about racking up at least another $100k on top of what I'm paying now haha

Ahh, SUNY Buffalo is still fine. It is a lot cheaper though, so that's certainly a plus. I hope you like cold winters, because you won't have a choice come winter. :p
 
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Well I've been here for a year already haha. But I actually came here from Minneapolis, MN so its been like Spring Break all year long, j/k :laugh:

Haha that's scary. :eek:
 
Besides which, there's a lot more to medicine than science. There is even a lot more to getting INTO medicine than science. I majored in English and got a 39S on the MCAT (which is not unusual; humanities majors tend to do better on the MCAT than science majors, and pre-med majors and biology majors do poorly).

My experience only; your mileage may vary.

What the...? No they don't! How you do on the MCATs depends entirely on you. It has nothing to do with what major you are.

Anyhow, I agree kdburton's post. Practically speaking, your first priority in college is to do well regardless of what major you are (especially in the pre-med classes: biology, chemistry, organic chemistry, genetics, physics). Most people tend to do better in subjects they have an interest in, so it behooves you to pursue a major that you think you'll like the most.
 
I am finishing medical school this year, and just stumbled across this forum.

For the original poster, do whatever the heck it is you want, and pick up the "required courses" along the way. There's nothing wrong with having an early thought or two about where you might wanna do med school - take a look at the pre-reqs they have (for example, I'm at Stony Brook which didn't require undergrad Biochem, but I withdrew my app from U Mich when I found that medical school did require Biochem).

As for pure anecdotal information, I majored in Occupational Therapy. It gave me great courses (human cadaver anatomy, A&P, a business course, medical pathology, etc) as well as real-life health care exposure. And then, I graduated, and I worked for a while. I *HIGHLY* suggest working for a bit after school. I think it helps a ton on your application, and I think it actually will help me for residency applications that are coming up now. I worked, I traveled, I had a great lifestyle. It gave me tons of time to enjoy the moment, but also to see whether or not I really wanted to spend 4 years in school at another 3-7 yrs in residency.

Either way, good luck with you schooling. If you can, do you ABSOLUTE BEST...I liked the hard work I did in undergrad, and was rewarded with a very strong GPA, which, again, absolutely made life easier as I applied to medical schools.

Best,

dc
 
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