Double Major... Any Benefits?!?

[UltimateHombre]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hey Friends... Been following on SDN for about a year now, first time poster though. I have tried looking up this question on previous threads, but most are on med. I am a Communication/Sociology double major. From what i have read, most adcoms don't really care too much about double majors. However do you think it helps me stand out in the least? Any benefits for interview?

I know i have heard all the "do what you love" and "major in what you like, not for the adcoms" stuff, so that is exactly what i am doing. Just wondering if there are any other double majors out there that saw direct benefit from it? Or any other thoughts?

And for what its worth... it will not set me back time or money at school and if anything it will boost my GPA. Thanks. 😀

 

[Predent68]

,

 

[doc7448]

I would say go for it! I was just a biology major my freshman and sophomore year of college until I quickly realized that I would have a LOT of free time my last two years so I added sociology. For me at least, the combination of hard science and social science has been wonderful. It's nice to have a break from micro/physio/biochem and go take a class about race and ethnic diversity in America. I don't know how favorably adcoms look at that as a selection factor though. I can tell you that I was asked about why I chose to pursue both degrees during my interviews so it must have piqued their interest. Also practically everybody I interviewed with had a second major.

 

[dentaldawg32]

The fact that you're double majoring in sociology and communications is not going to give you any advantage. If I was you, I'd scrap one of those majors and switch to biology, as it will be far more useful for dental school.

 

[psi169]

I have a double degree and it was never mentioned at my interviews. I think if a double anything requires you to take more classes, then its more opportunity for you to not 4.0 a class.

So, if you are going to double major/degree, you should only do it if you for yourself, not for adcoms. Thousands of students apply each year with unique combinations of majors, minors, and degrees. Adcoms has other means of sorting through these candidates (and its not by majors).

Oh, and props to the biology idea. You have to take so many science classes to satisfy dental school prereqs, you would probably be closer to adding biology as your second major!

 

[doc toothache]

From what i have read, most adcoms don't really care too much about double majors. However do you think it helps me stand out in the least? Any benefits for interview?

Excellent gpa/dat will certainly make you stand out.

 

[UltimateHombre]

Thanks for the replies and advice i appreciate it. I have thought about majoring in Bio before, but it would set me back at least a semester in school. I am not really double majoring for the sake of adcoms... its really just convenient... since Com and Soc are both social sciences i could get the double major at the price of the soc minor basically.

Doc Toothache i have read your thread on how "the diversity of majors is no coincidence". So i figure if i have a decent gpa, 3.7ish, and decent dat... then the double major is just icing on the cake?! Is my thought process right with this...yes or no?!

Thanks again!

 

[dentaldawg32]

Thanks for the replies and advice i appreciate it. I have thought about majoring in Bio before, but it would set me back at least a semester in school. I am not really double majoring for the sake of adcoms... its really just convenient... since Com and Soc are both social sciences i could get the double major at the price of the soc minor basically.

Doc Toothache i have read your thread on how "the diversity of majors is no coincidence". So i figure if i have a decent gpa, 3.7ish, and decent dat... then the double major is just icing on the cake?! Is my thought process right with this...yes or no?!

Thanks again!

The adcoms, whether or not you care what they think, are going to want to see upper level biology courses beyond the minimum prereqs, such as Microbiology, Biochemistry, Histology, Anatomy, Physiology, which is why I suggest you major in biology. If you can manage to double major in Communications and Sociology AND take a sufficient amount of upper level biology, you will be in good shape. But, no, the double major itself won't be of any advantage when applying to dental school, because both fields are not pertinent to what you will be learning in dental school.

In all honesty, I believe that the whole "diversity" of majors thing is not as attractive as many people want it to be. The truth of the matter is, dental school admission committees want undeniable proof that you will be able to hack the first two years of dental school, which are heavily based in the sciences. How else better to assess this than by looking at the applicant's academic record in the sciences? Sure, you can major in whatever you want, but if it comes at the expense of taking upper level science classes, than it isn't worth it, IMO.

 

[doc toothache]

Doc Toothache i have read your thread on how "the diversity of majors is no coincidence". So i figure if i have a decent gpa, 3.7ish, and decent dat... then the double major is just icing on the cake?! Is my thought process right with this...yes or no?!

A far stretch perhaps.

 

[UltimateHombre]

Thanks for your advice everyone! I appreciate it. I think i am gonna stick with the double major... however throw a few upper division bio classes in. Thanks for the input.