Communication major and med school?!

[JenOneN]

I also posted this in the pre-allo forum, but wonder if I might get more responses here....

I graduated from a small liberal arts college in 2001 with a degree in Communication and a 3.5 GPA. The major focused on theories of human communication and cultural studies, not mass communication (ie journalism, pr, etc.). It wasn't an easy major, but it wasn't impossible either....

When medical schools say that they don't prefer a specific ugrad major do they really mean that?

I'm thinking of applying to a post-bac program, but I'm worried that my ugrad major choice may be a major obstacle....

Any thoughts??

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[Phil Anthropist]

I don't think your major will be an obstacle. Most med schools really mean it when they say that any undergrad major is acceptable. I read that philosophy, art history, and English majors perform incredibly well on the MCAT. I've had friends that majored in everything--theology, history, math, psychology, Spanish, engineering, hard sciences, etc.--get into prestigious med schools such as Northwestern and Baylor. There are PhD programs that *require* a major in the natural sciences, but I can't think of a single US allopathic medical schools that requires a hard science major (in fact, I highly doubt the possiblity).

I also doubt that your major will present a problem for getting into formal career changer postbac programs. As long as you do well in the postbac, do well on the mcat, get in meaningful clinical experience and extracurrics, and maybe some research, there's no reason why your major will be a problem. The stereotype is communications major = easy (at least at the schools I know). But if you prove your capabilities (as stated above), they've got no valid reason to hold anything against you.

 

[sidewalkman]

Of all the things to worry about for med school admissions, your choice of major is way down on the list. If anything, you'll stand out because you're not one of the 18,000 bio majors applying. As for post-bacc, they almost expect a degree like your communications degree because you haven't taken any of the basic science classes yet. I wouldn't sweat it.