Double Major Double Minor?

[stannislaus]

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Right now, I'm trying to double major in molecular biology and critical race studies, and double minor in LGBT studies and physics - theoretical.

Lately (especially since its been midterms week) I've been thinking about dropping 1 or 2 of them, and because I'm trying to graduate in 4 years I'm taking 20-24 units every quarter. I love ALL the classes I'm taking, but I don't want this to stress me out or hurt my GPA too much.

I guess I'm just trying to justify my choice to double major/double minor. Would medical schools appreciate the extra effort I put in?

If they do, then I'll just continue with my current plan. If they don't, I'll either consider dropping a major or a minor (or both), or staying another year so I don't need to take so many classes at once.

 

[werd]

med schools are generally pretty ambivalent about what you major in. as long as your coursework seems like you took college seriously and your grades are good then it doesn't matter much. don't break your back trying to have an impressive-looking set of majors and minors.

 

[Beets]

No real experience here, but just impressions...

It might be good to focus on fewer majors/minors so that you can really zero in on one, potentially to use for research if you so desire. The medical schools I've talked to have told me that my liberal arts related research even counts to them as research, just because it shows I independently researched a topic in great depth and presented it at a conference. Since you said you're taking that many credit hours, I imagine there's not much time for anything else.

Don't forget that medical schools are going to care about your whole application, meaning that non-medical volunteering and clinical experience are going to come into play as well.

 

[Ponger]

The short answer is no. You won't get increased favor nearly commensurate to the extra work you're putting in. You might get a 'huh, that's interesting' when someone looks over your app.

If you really love the classes you're taking then stick with it but otherwise I'd ease off a little bit.

As previously asked, if you're taking 20-24 hours a semester when do you have time to do other stuff? How are your EC's like volunteering/research/shadowing/clubs/etc? Just because you decided to quintuple major or sextuple minor doesn't mean your ECs can be weaker than other applicants.

 

[Avoidthetiger]

Word on the street is that schools won't care whether you got double or triple majors or many minors. Do what you love though.

I got a double major though and many of schools have commented on my interesting choice of humanities and hard science, or why I got my humanities major... so school's do notice interesting majors... so I would recommend trying to keep both your majors and maybe your LGBT studies... but don't overstress yourself. The race and LGBT studies will be useful in your care as a physician to communicate with diverse patients and will def add to your application.

 

[fizzgig]

doublemajor doubleminor, all the way across the sky!!

this is me entertaining myself.

seriously though moving to 1major1minor doesn't seem to be a negative thing from what all i've read here and other places. and if you have interesting classes that stand out and are totally off and away from that major/minor, then if you get an interview you can bring it up and it'll be a talking point.

 

[familyaerospace]

I did a double major and double minor (all in things that are unrelated, plus I have a masters in something unrelated). Applying to medical school next year. So far everyone who I've told (including people who are on adcomms) thinks I'm going to stand out in a very positive way since my GPA is decent. Take it for what it is worth.