Do people with B.A's still get accepted into medical school?

Started by biomed1010
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biomed1010

biomed1010

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Do people with say... a B.A in Bio ONLY... still have a shot at medical school?

I was talking to my advisor, and she in fact said it doesnt matter if you do a B.A, or B.S.... This seems kind of bizzare for me.

Also... does having a B.A or a minor along with a B.S.. help you out?

Does it make a big difference.. if i apply with a B.S in Bio ... vs... B.S in Bio and a B.A in Chem... or B.S in Bio and like a minor in Classical studies

Thanks for your input.
 
Yes... I know there are no dumb questions but this is borderline
 
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biomed1010 said:
Do people with say... a B.A in Bio ONLY... still have a shot at medical school?

I was talking to my advisor, and she in fact said it doesnt matter if you do a B.A, or B.S.... This seems kind of bizzare for me.

Also... does having a B.A or a minor along with a B.S.. help you out?

Does it make a big difference.. if i apply with a B.S in Bio ... vs... B.S in Bio and a B.A in Chem... or B.S in Bio and like a minor in Classical studies

Thanks for your input.
Click to expand...

Some schools ONLY give BAs. Yet those applicants still manage to get in. 🙄 Your actual major matters very little. Most important thing about your coursework is the GPA.
 
Grades, MCAT, application.
If a BA in bio isn't good enough, then all the nonscience majors don't have a chance, right?
 
funny-pictures-the-internet-is-a-series-of-tubes.jpg
 
jurassicpark said:
funny-pictures-the-internet-is-a-series-of-tubes.jpg
Click to expand...
😆 You sure love cats don't you.

Anyway, it doesn't matter whether you graduate with a BA or BS. That is unless the your course load etc. is a joke in one or the other. So your major does not matter, but the credits taken and the difficulty of your curriculum are somewhat important.
 
DRLyss said:
Yes... I know there are no dumb questions but this is borderline
Click to expand...

I completely disagree

There are such things as dumb questions, and this is, no doubt, one of them. OP, go look at what the differences are between a BA and a BS.
 
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Fine, I'll bite.

OP, if you agree that a BA and BS can both be achieved in biology because both require more or less the same courses, then why is it bizarre for you that both degrees are equivalent to med schools?

Another way to look at it is that med schools don't care what type of degree you have because they simply don't care about your degree at all. This answers your questions about which majors/minors to choose and which degree to get; med schools won't care what you do.

As long as you do well in whatever classes you take, you can get a BA in underwater basket weaving and they would still heart you.
 
biomed1010 said:
I was talking to my advisor, and she in fact said it doesnt matter if you do a B.A, or B.S.... This seems kind of bizzare for me.
Click to expand...

why does it seem bizarre to you?

i have actually heard that those with a BA have an advantage (although i'm sure others will argue the other way around).

as for specific majors, you are really being nitpicky. you should pursue what interests you. if you choose a field because you think you should or it "looks good", you may hate it and your grades will suffer. also, i don't think anyone cares about minors.
 
erskine777 said:
BA is good for med school
BS is good for grad school
Click to expand...

Yeah, I know that, for my major at least, there is the BS option for those going on to grad school, and then there is a BA option for those that are "pre-professional" and aren't interested in going on to grad programs. But the difference is like one or two classes extra classes for the BS, so practically, there really is no difference.
 
scarletgirl777 said:
Some schools ONLY give BAs. Yet those applicants still manage to get in. 🙄 Your actual major matters very little. Most important thing about your coursework is the GPA.
Click to expand...

Exactly. My school is a liberal arts college. They only hand out BAs. It doesnt matter if your major is chemistry, physics, biology, or whatever. They are all BAs and it really doesnt mean a damn thing except that you have taken liberal arts/humanities courses IN ADDITION to your science major.
 
If English/Music/Art majors can get into Medical school, then your BA is good also.
 
biomed1010 said:
Do people with say... a B.A in Bio ONLY... still have a shot at medical school?

I was talking to my advisor, and she in fact said it doesnt matter if you do a B.A, or B.S.... This seems kind of bizzare for me.

Also... does having a B.A or a minor along with a B.S.. help you out?

Does it make a big difference.. if i apply with a B.S in Bio ... vs... B.S in Bio and a B.A in Chem... or B.S in Bio and like a minor in Classical studies

Thanks for your input.
Click to expand...


absolutely not, never has happened, never will. adcoms will scoff at your ba, laugh, spit on your application, then crumple it up and throw it in the garbage. 😉
 
I don't know whether Med schools look BA and BS differently. But there is difference between BA and BS, atleast at my university. In BA, you take biology, chem, physics, orgo, some fine arts and some humanities. In BS, in addition to all those, you have to take calc 1-3, some computer programming courses, one advanced math and one advanced biology course.
 
If anything, I would think that a BA would look better because it sort of inherently indicates that a person is more well rounded and has taken a wider variety of classes.

Although I wish that someone had told me that my degree wouldn't count a long time ago...I could've saved some money on MCAT books 😛
 
scrubsaresexy said:
If anything, I would think that a BA would look better because it sort of inherently indicates that a person is more well rounded and has taken a wider variety of classes.

Although I wish that someone had told me that my degree wouldn't count a long time ago...I could've saved some money on MCAT books 😛
Click to expand...
I would think BS would look better, because (atleast at my school) in BS we take more variety of courses than in BA.
 
njmed said:
I would think BS would look better, because (atleast at my school) in BS we take more variety of courses than in BA.
Click to expand...

This might depend on your definition of variety.

A variety of science courses? okay.

I had a school tell me I didn't need to take an english course because my school, which only gives out BAs, had enough of a writing component to all of my nonscience classes.
 
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At my undergrad school the only degrees offered are BAs unless you are in the school of engineering. Even if you major in chemistry/physics/bio/etc you get a BA... and people generally do fine with med school acceptances!
 
njmed said:
I would think BS would look better, because (atleast at my school) in BS we take more variety of courses than in BA.
Click to expand...

This is VERY school specific. As some have already said many schools only offer BAs even in their sciences just because of how they are accredited.

I went to UC Berkeley and majored in Molecular and Cell Bio - immunology in the College of Letters and Sciences - they only give BAs so I have a BA. Didn't affect me at all. I took a huge number of science classes more than many of my BS in Chem friends.

Med schools will not look at what Bachelor you got and will look directly at what classes you took.
 
I went to a top tier LAC that only gave BA's and our science curriculum was more rigorous than many BS programs elsewhere so no it should not matter and it won't matter.
 
op- i would recommend just double majoring so you can get 2 BS's. perhaps a third degree (BA) just to show ad comms youre well rounded.
 
Hi guys, Sorry if i offended anyone...
but there is a huge difference between B.S in Bio, and like a B.A in Bio at my school

To get a B.A, you only need up to Orgo 1, No math, and no physics.

But once you add the pre-med requirments.. it pretty much becomes a B.S.
 
biomed1010 said:
Hi guys, Sorry if i offended anyone...
but there is a huge difference between B.S in Bio, and like a B.A in Bio at my school

To get a B.A, you only need up to Orgo 1, No math, and no physics.

But once you add the pre-med requirments.. it pretty much becomes a B.S.
Click to expand...
No worries.

Just do whatever works for you.
 
Seeing how the difference between the two isn't universal between colleges I doubt adcoms even care whether u got a BS or BA cause it's different for each applicant. At UofO the only difference is 1 year math or 1 year language.
 
biomed1010 said:
Hi guys, Sorry if i offended anyone...
but there is a huge difference between B.S in Bio, and like a B.A in Bio at my school

To get a B.A, you only need up to Orgo 1, No math, and no physics.

But once you add the pre-med requirments.. it pretty much becomes a B.S.
Click to expand...

Why would anyone be offended? But seriously, what kind of biology degree doesn't require you to take physics, math and organic? That is kinda strange...
 
BA and BS are both Bachelor's degrees. There is no difference in the eyes of med schools.
 
Do you not understand that people with BAs in dance, theater, fine arts are accepted to medical school?

In fact, a HIGHER percentage of history major applicants are accepted to med school each year than biology majors. True.

Your narrow world view is going to hold you back.
 
slowbutsteady said:
Do you not understand that people with BAs in dance, theater, fine arts are accepted to medical school?

In fact, a HIGHER percentage of history major applicants are accepted to med school each year than biology majors. True.

Your narrow world view is going to hold you back.
Click to expand...

Good answer.
 
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