Double Majoring in Biology and Business?

[deleted660461]

I am currently a freshman at the UMD CP and am contemplating double majoring in Bio and business management. I plan on owning my own practice one day and hope to get accepted into an MD/MBA program. I have always loved biology and math, so i thought bioeningeering would be a good fit but then quickly find out bioengineering pre-med is best for those who want to be engineers more than doctors, but want the option of medical school or students who want to be doctors but have a well founded interesting engineering. Personally, I could not envision myself taking the unnecessary engineering courses that no longer interest me, so that's when business,math,and bio came majors came into the picture. I looked at math and dismissed it because i realized i didn't want to take calc 3 and hurt my gpa. I really enjoyed my bio course and it was the only "challenging" course i got an A in this semester. Then there is business management which allows me to work on my business skills and may help with my chances of getting into an MD/MBA program. I guess my real question is should i just focus on pre med courses and take gen eds that interest me as a biology major to make time for clinical, internships, and research or should i double with business management and do all of the extracurriculars to be a superior candidate? Finally, if i should focus on one major and choose to do business is finance pre-med an option i really do like the idea of doing finical consulting or investment banking as an alternative career to medicine. Help Please?

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[Earl Simmons]

I think you should go for the double major because your undergraduate studies will be more fulfilling. I think most business majors don't need to decide a concentration within business until their second year, so you can take some classes and then decide. Good luck!

 

[CherryRedDracul]

You could also become a pure business major, finish your med school prerequisites, and then apply to medical school. There's no need to be a traditional STEM student to apply to med school. Do whatever floats your boat as long as it doesn't tank your GPA and adversely affect your life.

 

[Judson]

It never hurts to have options. Also, the MBA isn't at all necessary to start your own business, but it might give you some clues as to where to start.

 

[Doug Underhill]

In general, double majoring is a bad idea for pre-meds: it doesn't add much to the application and may have an adverse effect on the GPA.

If your goal is to be admitted to a MD/MBA program, you don't need a business major for that, I would think.

 

[ridethecliche]

In general, double majoring is a bad idea for pre-meds: it doesn't add much to the application and may have an adverse effect on the GPA.

If your goal is to be admitted to a MD/MBA program, you don't need a business major for that, I would think.

I think I'm going to go with your signature and 'just say no to Doug'.

I studied what interested me in undergrad and that ended up being a double major. I did this in addition to playing a sport and being involved in college activities. Sure, you might have to give up some stuff, but life is all about choices. Undergrad is a chance to take classes that interest you and pick up a toolset that will help you down the line. If that includes a double major, then so be it.

This 'adverse effect on GPA' is a self fulfilling prophecy which might be true for you but not for that majority of applicants.

Though with the change in class requirements this all just became way harder to do.

 

[Conflagration]

Hello, OP. 😀

I'm a Math major who ran from the sciences after my first science class (which, in my defense, was Organic I as a first-semester freshman).

I find that the math background helps with some out-of-the-box thinking, and I'm getting back on the horse with Organic II in January. With what I know about angles and geometry, along with Khan Academy, Organic I and some steric concepts already make so much more sense. If you decide to major in math, the calculus you learn can help with physics, too.

Even if you don't have the space for a math major, you can learn some important concepts by taking some statistics classes too. It really helps with reading scientific articles.

I found that I did pretty well in my math major. I don't consider myself a number-crunching person, either- but it has increased my AMCAS science GPA for sure.

Best luck to you! If you need math help, PM me. :3

 

[Time Table]

Take it from someone who did a double major and a minor: It sucks. Having so many requirements to meet absolutely kills your course flexibility.

First, you lose breadth. Did you ever want to explore something completely out of left field? Anthropology? Art history? Classics? Too bad. Your course schedule won't allow for it. After freshman year, I wasn't able to take a single elective -- every course I took was either a premed requirement or a requirement for one of my majors or minors. Keep in mind that after undergrad, you may never again have a chance to branch out and dabble in completely new fields.

Second, you also loose depth. I did the second major and the minor in part because of the really interesting senior level seminars those departments offered. I'm talking about courses that were taught by some of the best professors in the field and literally could not be found at any other university. I never got to take these classes though, because by the time I got to senior year, my schedule was filled with BS sophomore level classes that covered material that I already knew, but that I had to take in order to meet some stupid concentration requirement.

I wouldn't worry about a second major hurting your GPA though. If you study hard, grades will come. I got honors in both majors and the minor.

If you are genuinely interested in business, you can take the particular classes that interest you without declaring a major and getting lost in the bureaucracy.

My experience has been the complete opposite of this. I'd like to add that I'm going to a large state science school. I'm loving my double major: biochem and economics. I'm only taking the minimum requirements for both and they are surprisingly flexible. Biochem takes down the pre-med requirements while economics lets me hit the humanities and other gen ed requirements I need to graduate.

I actually hate a lot of the classes and consequently biochem lets me take the bio courses that I actually want to take. Economics is the other field that I'm genuinely interested in as well. I don't really have a desire to "dabble" in new fields because nothing else really interests me. A lot of it actually depends on how rigorous your scheduling for the major(s) is/are.

 

[Dr Van Helsing]

Take it from someone who did a double major and a minor: It sucks. Having so many requirements to meet absolutely kills your course flexibility.

First, you lose breadth. Did you ever want to explore something completely out of left field? Anthropology? Art history? Classics? Too bad. Your course schedule won't allow for it. After freshman year, I wasn't able to take a single elective -- every course I took was either a premed requirement or a requirement for one of my majors or minors. Keep in mind that after undergrad, you may never again have a chance to branch out and dabble in completely new fields.

Second, you also loose depth. I did the second major and the minor in part because of the really interesting senior level seminars those departments offered. I'm talking about courses that were taught by some of the best professors in the field and literally could not be found at any other university. I never got to take these classes though, because by the time I got to senior year, my schedule was filled with BS sophomore level classes that covered material that I already knew, but that I had to take in order to meet some stupid concentration requirement.

I wouldn't worry about a second major hurting your GPA though. If you study hard, grades will come. I got honors in both majors and the minor.

If you are genuinely interested in business, you can take the particular classes that interest you without declaring a major and getting lost in the bureaucracy.

Highly concur with the bold.
Also, if you are taking out loans, a double major will usually take longer to complete, putting you in even more debt. Personally, I would pick one over the other.
I want to major in physics but I do not have the money or time to hang out in undegrad for six years. I think you should utilize the library. If you are dedicated you will learn a lot..

 

[chillinillinkillin007]

I am currently a freshman at the UMD CP and am contemplating double majoring in Bio and business management. I plan on owning my own practice one day and hope to get accepted into an MD/MBA program.

By the time you become a physician, private practice wouldn't exist anymore due to increasing overhead costs and number other complexities. I suggest exploring to see if medicine is right for you before embarking on your college education.

 

[psychgirl95]

My experience has been the complete opposite of this. I'd like to add that I'm going to a large state science school. I'm loving my double major: biochem and economics. I'm only taking the minimum requirements for both and they are surprisingly flexible. Biochem takes down the pre-med requirements while economics lets me hit the humanities and other gen ed requirements I need to graduate.

I actually hate a lot of the classes and consequently biochem lets me take the bio courses that I actually want to take. Economics is the other field that I'm genuinely interested in as well. I don't really have a desire to "dabble" in new fields because nothing else really interests me. A lot of it actually depends on how rigorous your scheduling for the major(s) is/are.

I agree.

OP, I think you should study whatever you want. Like someone else said, if it just so happens to be a double major, then fine.

Mine just so happens to be a triple major that leads to dual degrees (and I'm probably adding a minor in French) and I personally have plenty of flexibility with my courses. My school also allows individually designed majors (and that's what two of mine are), so I combined all the classes from multiple departments that I wanted to take into those two majors. I suppose that helps a bit with the flexibility, but if you're pursuing a double major in something you're really interested in, you may not care about flexibility - that's something you should think about before declaring the second major. Plan/plot your courses and see what you'd have to take and when you'd have to take them and then see if you'll have time to take any other courses you're interested in.

A minor in business could be pretty useful for you if you decide against the major though.

 

[Lucca]

I am currently a freshman at the UMD CP and am contemplating double majoring in Bio and business management. I plan on owning my own practice one day and hope to get accepted into an MD/MBA program. I have always loved biology and math, so i thought bioeningeering would be a good fit but then quickly find out bioengineering pre-med is best for those who want to be engineers more than doctors, but want the option of medical school or students who want to be doctors but have a well founded interesting engineering. Personally, I could not envision myself taking the unnecessary engineering courses that no longer interest me, so that's when business,math,and bio came majors came into the picture. I looked at math and dismissed it because i realized i didn't want to take calc 3 and hurt my gpa. I really enjoyed my bio course and it was the only "challenging" course i got an A in this semester. Then there is business management which allows me to work on my business skills and may help with my chances of getting into an MD/MBA program. I guess my real question is should i just focus on pre med courses and take gen eds that interest me as a biology major to make time for clinical, internships, and research or should i double with business management and do all of the extracurriculars to be a superior candidate? Finally, if i should focus on one major and choose to do business is finance pre-med an option i really do like the idea of doing finical consulting or investment banking as an alternative career to medicine. Help Please?

"If you can imagine yourself doing anything else, do that instead." - Every doctor ever. Learn more about medicine, shadow, learn more about ibanking and consulting. All of these are competitive fields and unless you go to a target program it's hard to say you could achieve more than one of them. Learn about them first. I'm not sure if you actually want to practice medicine on patients based on what you wrote, and that's what medical school will train you to do.


To answer your question: Yes it is very possible. I have noticed a trend - at my Uni at least - that many freshmen have taken precisely this course path, biology and business. Interestingly enough, it's never chemistry and business or physics and business. Math and business is common but those people are not pre-med. No the pre-meds are biology and business, it seems. Therefore, it's certainly doable. I knew a Bio+Business premed who was accepted to Hopkins last year. Im sure it had little to do with what she studied but she tailored her business experience to what she wanted to do.

Given the state of the economy and other (depressing) trends in higher education my response is generally thus when faced with a Bio+Business freshman (internally): So your mom wants you to be a doctor and your dad wants you to have a job. What do you want?

 

[altblue]

By the time you become a physician, private practice wouldn't exist anymore due to increasing overhead costs and number other complexities. I suggest exploring to see if medicine is right for you before embarking on your college education.

That's a pretty big assumption you have there.....

 

[deuist]

My advice is to drop the biology major unless you absolutely love it. Otherwise it is of zero benefit to you going forward. The business degree might be slightly more useful, though you can read about business on your own. And having a bachelors degree in business is not a requirement for pursuing an MBA later in life. For premeds who were stuck on citing a major, choices should come down to one of three things:

1. Pick something that is useful to physicians such as Spanish or statistics.
2. Pursue a major that you can fall back on should you not get into medical school. Find something that is highly marketable with just a bachelors degree such as engineering, computer science, or finance.
3. Pick something that you absolutely love and think is the greatest thing in the world. I would caution you against pursuing this option as you will likely spend four years studying something that is of little use to you as a physician (if you are accepted) or worse if you do not get accepted.

Let nothing else sway your decision other than these three points.

 

[deleted660461]

Thanks for all the advice. And yea that was a huge assumption considering my father is not in the picture. Any who i decided to just take my pre med courses which align with the biology major and worry about the whole declaring thing later.