Anyone major in Exercise Science

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phenom832

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I'm thinking of majoring in this on my way into sports medicine so for anyone who has majored in this area how do you like it pros and cons?
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I strongly considered majoring in exercise science since I'm interested in sports medicine as well. I ended up going with biochemistry and, looking back, know it was a great decision. I've taken exercise science classes and they are interesting, but they are simply not as challenging nor as detailed as my biochem courses. At least at my school. I feel like if I majored in exercise science, I may not have done as well on the MCAT and wouldn't have been as well prepared for medical school. You can get in with any major, but some majors definitely give you a better background of knowledge. I'll still take a few more exercise science classes as electives (ones that relate more to sports medicine), so I feel like I'm getting the best of both worlds.
 
I say chose exercise - you enjoy it, you will do well. Even if it may not be as hard in term of classes you will still take the Basic pre - med courses and can take biochemistry whenever you want. Plus, the bonus of the comparitive difficulty is a higher GPA.
 
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indianjatt said:
I say chose exercise - you enjoy it, you will do well. Even if it may not be as hard in term of classes you will still take the Basic pre - med courses and can take biochemistry whenever you want. Plus, the bonus of the comparitive difficulty is a higher GPA.
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Yeah, you may get better grades. But I knew plenty of people who majored in this and other "soft" majors and because the pressure wasn't there to do as well, they typically underperformed both in GPA and MCAT. Also you have to think about what you are going to do in case you don't get into medical school. As far as I know, an exercise science degree is pretty flipping useless in the job market. At least with a biochem degree you can go work in pretty much any pharma company you want.
 
seelee said:
Yeah, you may get better grades. But I knew plenty of people who majored in this and other "soft" majors and because the pressure wasn't there to do as well, they typically underperformed both in GPA and MCAT. Also you have to think about what you are going to do in case you don't get into medical school. As far as I know, an exercise science degree is pretty flipping useless in the job market. At least with a biochem degree you can go work in pretty much any pharma company you want.
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I don't get what you mean by a low GPA? Do you mean a low GPA in college? If the major is "soft", won't they be taking soft courses and do just fine in them. Do you mean they will underpreform in pre med courses because their other courses are relatively easy? I guess it may be different for me (I usually just adjust to the class rigor and find out methods to do better as time goes on) Also, for the MCAT I think using the 3 month prep and possibly a prep course should help. 😛 (He could always take recommended courses for the MCAT too like bio chem and physio).
 
Yeah, I dont agree with the idea of "soft" major equaling poor performance. If you enjoy the material you will do well, if your going to have the drive for medical school you will push yourself regardless of your ugrad major.

My ugrad is in Health & Kinesiology with a concentration in Exercise Physiology. I disagree that you can't do anything with it, there are lots of areas you can work with a degree like this especially if you go further into Exercise Phys or something.

I guess I did a soft major, but was the only one at my graduation walking across the stage summa cum laude and at my institution the college was combined with all health science and nursing graduates. I actually loved my classes as opposed to most of the other "pre-med" people I knew. I got lots of hands on "health professions" experience (doing stress tests, ekg's, etc etc) as opposed to my "pre-med" buddies. I participated in special needs education, played sports, and had a blast....all as a non-trad even then. Oh and there were less than 5 "summas" in the bio/chem department. Its on my diploma and CV....works for me.

I say do what you are interested in, a ugrad degree doesn't bring job offers like it used to regardless of what its in. Have fun in college, work hard and go to med school. You have to take all the pre-reqs anyway (which is the point o the med school pre-reqs). I did fine both gpa and MCAT. Had three MD acceptances.

Dont over-think it, do what you enjoy and it wont hurt your chances at med school.
 
DO IT!!! I was an Exercise Science major and I LOVED it. I started out BIO but I wanted to avoid Botany at all costs so I switched and it was the best decision ever. Additionally, when you start applying DO schools will count your Exercise Science classes as part of your Science GPA so it can help hide a small blemish in one of the pre-reqs. Exercise Science usually offers a couple of good research opportunities if you get to know your faculty.
 
I agree wholeheartedly. Exercise science is the way to go! I'm an exercise physiology major and we do a lot of work with real clients as opposed to bacteria. You have to take histories for exercise testing, and you get a lot of anatomy experience.

Plus most programs require you to participate in an internship semester. I'll hopefully be working in a hospital exercise center with cardiac rehab patients.
 
I wouldn't say Exercise Science is a particularly soft major, especially if you're concurrently doing the pre-med curriculum. At least this was the case at my undergrad. You'll take a full year each (2 sem) of anatomy and physiology, exercise physiology, and biomechanics. All these classes have labs and are fairly intense. You'll know all the bones and their landmarks, all muscles and their origins/insertions/actions/innervations. We also learned the various metabolic cycles (glycolysis, krebs, ETC, betaoxidation, etc) I believe a total of four times over- in biology, anatomy and phys, exercise phys, and biochemistry- all from different scientific perspectives. No one knew that stuff better than us.

We also took some neuro related classes, and toward the end there was a lot of emphasis on research, which though it wasn't hard-science research, incubating petri dishes or working under a hood, it did include the unique and significant aspect of involving human subjects, and subjecting those subjects to grueling exercise tests :meanie: which, I think, is pretty cool.

The downside is that job prospects are fairly dismal if you can't get into med school AND you are not in love with exercise science. One of my classmates (who is also now in med school) put it this way: "I major in exercise science, which means if I don't get into med school I can work at a gym for $10 an hour." Though other allied health careers are an option too. A lot of my classmates are now nurses or PAs.

I don't know about the benefits regarding sports medicine. It might give you some insight into whether that's what you want, but I don't think you should do it for that reason alone. You should do it if you are genuinely interested in exercise/human performance, and want to take that to a new level. Medicine is just what you do when it's over.
 
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This sounds like my undergrad as well. Not to mention also doing all the pre-reqs (o chem, physics, etc) and on top of all of that doing bacteriology research nearly full time and volunteering, shadowing, etc.

"soft" is relative, I know some chem majors that I would consider doing a soft ugrad degree. Its all about what you make it. Either you will love it and work hard nad get in med school, or you will not. I think acceptance in med school is a great equalizer here for the "soft/hard" ugrad debate. 😀
 
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I'm considering majoring in exercise science so this is a great thread. Very heartening to see people with the major who have gotten into med school. The fact that it's something I love is the main thing, but the fact that it is the perfect marriage between a soft degree you can't do anything with (anthro, humanities, etc) and a useful professional degree that takes up most of the time you could have used studying for the MCAT (i.e. nursing, accounting, etc) is icing on the cake.

I'm sure the people who are hating on exercise science would probably really love the degree, too. I have discovered that a lot of pre-meds are masochists, and I also wonder how they'd do in a major that would be GENUINELY soft for me (again, anthro) because it wasn't technical enough for their brains.
 
morning said:
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I'm considering majoring in exercise science so this is a great thread. Very heartening to see people with the major who have gotten into med school. The fact that it's something I love is the main thing, but the fact that it is the perfect marriage between a soft degree you can't do anything with (anthro, humanities, etc) and a useful professional degree that takes up most of the time you could have used studying for the MCAT (i.e. nursing, accounting, etc) is icing on the cake.

I'm sure the people who are hating on exercise science would probably really love the degree, too. I have discovered that a lot of pre-meds are masochists, and I also wonder how they'd do in a major that would be GENUINELY soft for me (again, anthro) because it wasn't technical enough for their brains.
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You should go for it, if you love it, you will have the time of your life. I really got to combine a real passion of mine with my education and that was priceless for me. One other thing was my ugrads bio sucked so while my pre-med compadres who were doing the "hard" degree sat in plant morph I was upstairs on the track doing peak anaerobic power tests (learning the ATP-PCr pathways etc), and sticking reflective balls on doing video testing on gait and vertical leap. It was a blast and I think I learned more clinically relevant material than my friends. I also remember WAY more because it was something I love and enjoyed. I can stick a 12 lead ekg with 100% accuracy and my "hard" degree friends couldn't hit 3.

By the way, if anyone of you think ExPhys is easy, you need to go to your local hospital PT department and request a Wingate Test. 😀
 
I majored in exercise science and I would strongly encourage anyone thinking about this major as well. I know at my university this major is just as difficult if not more so than biology, and really I don't think you can compare it in terms of difficulty to chem or biochem majors. I think most people find chemistry to be a difficult major because of all the math you are required to take...up to calc III at my university and of course p-chem blows.
Really though, if you want to go into medicine you don't need differential equations or p-chem anyways. I feel the material given in ex science is way more beneficial and relevant to your career choice. I had 2 semesters of anatomy and physiolgy, 1 semester of ex phys, 1 semester of exercise testing and prescription, and 2 semester of metabolism. I have found my metabolism classes and ex phys to be invaluable. The course heading for exercise testing and prescription may seem a little "iffy" but it was also a very good course, focusing heavily on learning EKG. I know we had to be able to read and understand EKG's for all sorts of arrhythmias in great detail.
As far as the mcat goes, I was not underprepared at all. Verbal was my difficulty not the sciences(not sure if you can attribute that to the majpor) If you get a passage on physiology you will rock it.
I've also talked to graduates of my school that are in med school now. Many say they are MORE prepared than students with other majors, and knew anatomy and phys way better than most kids. However one did concede that she thought bio majors were better prepared for the mcat.
 
Marcus Brody said:
I wouldn't say Exercise Science is a particularly soft major, especially if you're concurrently doing the pre-med curriculum. At least this was the case at my undergrad. You'll take a full year each (2 sem) of anatomy and physiology, exercise physiology, and biomechanics. All these classes have labs and are fairly intense. You'll know all the bones and their landmarks, all muscles and their origins/insertions/actions/innervations. We also learned the various metabolic cycles (glycolysis, krebs, ETC, betaoxidation, etc) I believe a total of four times over- in biology, anatomy and phys, exercise phys, and biochemistry- all from different scientific perspectives. No one knew that stuff better than us.

We also took some neuro related classes, and toward the end there was a lot of emphasis on research, which though it wasn't hard-science research, incubating petri dishes or working under a hood, it did include the unique and significant aspect of involving human subjects, and subjecting those subjects to grueling exercise tests :meanie: which, I think, is pretty cool.

The downside is that job prospects are fairly dismal if you can't get into med school AND you are not in love with exercise science. One of my classmates (who is also now in med school) put it this way: "I major in exercise science, which means if I don't get into med school I can work at a gym for $10 an hour." Though other allied health careers are an option too. A lot of my classmates are now nurses or PAs.

I don't know about the benefits regarding sports medicine. It might give you some insight into whether that's what you want, but I don't think you should do it for that reason alone. You should do it if you are genuinely interested in exercise/human performance, and want to take that to a new level. Medicine is just what you do when it's over.
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And save yourself $30 in gym fees per month in the process!
 
I majored in Athletic Training and took all the "hard" courses for pre-reqs. Had a SOLID GPA in undergrad and an average MCAT. The MCAT score had nothing to do with my major, I'm just not a fan of the hard sciences so I struggled with it.

Currently in med school, I have done quite well I would say, better than A LOT of my classmates who have "hard" science degrees. With my sports background I am already comfortable with a lot of the hands on physical skills of being a physician. In my opinon, those are the more important ones as opposed to if I can recite the Kreb's cycle backwards.

Do what you enjoy. If you work hard you will get good grades, into school, into the residency you want. Period.
 
I can recite the Krebs cycle backward =/
 
seelee said:
As far as I know, an exercise science degree is pretty flipping useless in the job market.
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About as useful as a straight bio or chem degree. Plus you may have actually enjoyed your undergrad time as opposed to not.
 
dani042 said:
About as useful as a straight bio or chem degree. Plus you may have actually enjoyed your undergrad time as opposed to not.
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Memorizing muscles is fun?

I'd have gone with a psych degree.
 
that is going to depend on your university...
 
phenom832 said:
question how is the class schedule in this major ?
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Lots of labs, so somewhat time intensive. But the exercise science labs aren't as hard as the traditional science labs like experimental chem. They're pretty fun actually...dissecting cats/pigs/organs, doing treadmill stress tests, underwater weighing, poking really fit girls with bodyfat measurement calipers :meanie: Beats working under a hood.
 
When people say "soft," they aren't talking about the amount of work involved, they're distinguishing between a "soft" or "hard" science. (Which is probably irrelevant anyway.)

If you enjoy it OP, go for it. I agree that it may result in a better GPA.
 
OP, I was a Kinesiology major in undergrad. I'm currently an M2 and am at the very top of my class.

I attribute a lot of my success in medical school to learning how to "enjoy" (or rather, tolerate) studying in undergrad. For me, having to trudge through a boring series of courses in botany or whatever other garbage most premed bio majors get stuck with just sounded terrible.

So I went with Kinesiology, took the prereq's that weren't a part of my major's curriculum, and had a great time in college. I was studying things I was interested in (and even if there were courses I wasn't all that interested in, I had no problem making myself study for them as I had a specific goal in mind).

I never took biochem in undergrad, and while I felt like I had to work pretty hard in it in medical school, the work paid off (honored the course, whereas many of my Biochemistry major friends struggled to stay afloat).

Bottom line: if you've got the work ethic, the drive, and talent (yes, natural ability comes into play obviously), you can succeed.

Edit: I will agree that the nature of the degree will vary with where you go to undergrad. In some schools it really is just a glorified education major aimed at turning out PE Teachers. At most large schools, you'll get a much better curriculum.

Plus, assuming you have Anatomy, you'll have a leg up on the beginning of med school, regardless of what dogma people spew on this site. Even knowing the very basic directional terminology (cranial/caudal, eversion/inversion, etc) saves you a little time when you hit the ground running the first days of med school. Having taken an entire undergrad course in it (assuming it's well-structured) can really make the transition to medical school a lot smoother.
 
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I majored in exercise science and I have really enjoyed it.

I took a lot of science courses (Genetics, Micro, Biochem, Physiology) in addition to gen chem, bio, physics, and orgo and performed very well in them. My Science GPA is actually higher than my major GPA. As far as MCAT goes, I really think it depends on the time you put into studying and understanding the test.

One thing I liked out the program (at least at my school) is that you have to take a lot of professional electives (for me these were my upper level science courses). Since so many people go into Exercise Science for different reasons, they allow you to tailor the major to what you want to do which was great for me.

We also were required to do an internship. For mine, I worked at an Orthopedic Clinic as a tech and several interviewers asked me about it. I don't think I would have had the opportunity without the contacts of the Exercise Science Program. I have one friend who did his internship in an ER and another who worked at a camp for kids with diseases. It can really be anything that you think will help you in your career.

I will say that one downside of the major is that a lot of people don't really know what Exercise Science is. A lot of people think it is a PE major which is definitely not true at my school. Sure you have to take a few PE classes but its good for ya! I actually had one interviewer who loved the fact that I was an exercise science major. I have 3 MD acceptances, 1 Waitlist, and have yet to hear from 1 so I don't think that my major has hindered me in anyway.

If you are truly interested in Exercise Science then go for it!
 
JJMrK said:
When people say "soft," they aren't talking about the amount of work involved, they're distinguishing between a "soft" or "hard" science. (Which is probably irrelevant anyway.)

If you enjoy it OP, go for it. I agree that it may result in a better GPA.
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I'm not sure how Exercise Science, which is 95% anatomy, physiology, and biochemistry would be considered a 'soft science' by that designation. I have heard the term applied to ES, but only as a derogatory remark clearly implying the belief that it is an easy major.

This belief as far as I can tell is based mostly on the history of colleges offering a very basic 'kinesiology' major that was designed to get football players to graduate. That's not the major anyone here is talking about.

I don't make any claims about ES being harder than a particular major, but I think it is more similar to medical school than say biology or chemistry would be.

As far as the job market, I did find that almost all of my classmates ended up in Med, PA, or PT school. There are very few majors that have a direct pipeline to the job market anymore. If that's your concern major in nursing and you'll have a backup.
 
I don't think JJ meant soft as to be offensive. I think we can all agree that Exercise Science is an applied science and I think that instead of calling it a "soft" science, maybe we can agree that is a secondary science.
 
Thanks for all the info i think i will be leaning towards this major unless i find something else to look into
 
hey guys,

I know that the DO application counts exercise science/kin classes in the science gpa. For those of you MD applicants/students that did exercise science do they count the exercise science classes in the BCMP? like biomechanics, exercise phys, motor development, etc?
 
msb1190 said:
hey guys,

I know that the DO application counts exercise science/kin classes in the science gpa. For those of you MD applicants/students that did exercise science do they count the exercise science classes in the BCMP? like biomechanics, exercise phys, motor development, etc?
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Pages 44-47 should help answer your questions:
http://www.aamc.org/students/amcas/amcas2010instructions080409.pdf

Anatomy and Physiology definitely count towards BCPM. I believe when I applied I put Biomechanics and Exercise Physiology as "Biology", and AMCAS didn't change it. If it has the right keywords in the title, and the course content to back it up you should be ok. Motor development doesn't sound to me like BCPM, but I can't say for sure without knowing your course content.

The trickiest thing with Ex. Sci. classes is that some of them border more on the "Health" category which doesn't count, whereas others are more anatomy/physiology/physics based and do count.
 
Would nutrition classes count toward BCPM as well?
 
msb1190 said:
hey guys,

I know that the DO application counts exercise science/kin classes in the science gpa. For those of you MD applicants/students that did exercise science do they count the exercise science classes in the BCMP? like biomechanics, exercise phys, motor development, etc?
Click to expand...

Yeah, sadly most of mine were listed as "allied health" courses and thus not sGPA. Guess it might depend on your university but I went through TMDSAS not so much AMCAS so couldn't tell you about it, been too long ago.

nali1 said:
Would nutrition classes count toward BCPM as well?
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Nope.

Easiest way guys is to look at what BCPM stands for. If the course title isn't BIOL, CHEM, PHYS, MATH.....probably not BCPM.
 
was looking at colleges and majors they offered i didnt see a exercise science /kinesiology so what other major is sort of like this i could take
 
Hey,
I have recently got admission to MA in Kinesiology. I am interested to pursue exercise physiology. So i want to know if I can get a job directly after completing the degree..
is it worth to do that?
please reply as i have to enroll soon...
Thanx.
 
depends on your program. if its cardiac rehab, then most likely. otherwise, you'll probably want to get a PhD and do research etc. with a masters you can still do some teaching and probably run your own gym, but it just depends on what you want to do.
 
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