Double Majoring Semi-Relative to MCAT/Overall Grades

[College18]

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As a high school senior applying to about 7 colleges, I'm looking a little bit forward to majors. I've been reading around and after putting quite a bit of thought into it, I'm liking the idea of double majoring. Of course, with every decision I make, there are always some consequences. Here's 2 Double Majors that I've compiled:

Biology + Psychology:

+ Biology, the core of what I want to study. Has everything I want to study and a good range of Bio electives that I've had a taste of in high school: Immunology, Virology, Microbial Pathogenesis. This coupled with the ability to understand the human brain through the use of psychology, I can put patients into an accurate context.
- Everyone and their mother goes into Medical School with a Biology major at the very least. Although I'm coupling it with Psychology, this is nothing earth-shattering. Loads of people have done this before me. It's nothing new, but it includes the things I like. After reading on the topic of MCATs and the fact that I have to take MCAT 2015, I've understood it to be more of an applying concept then knowledge/memorization. Biology simply does not have room for applying concepts learned throughout, Biochem aside.

Neuroscience + Psychology:

+ Core consists of the Biology/Pre-Med track requirements. Include neurological sciences that fit perfectly with Psychology. Although they teach completely different things, they seem to have a sliver of relativity to each other. The Neuroscience major simply adds in a few required science classes, Nervous system and the like, to the requirements.
- Might require a summer course to take the Psychology/Neuroscience courses. Although different from Biology/Psychology, Neuroscience/Psychology is nothing earth-shattering either. It does allow me to apply concepts more, theoretically raising my MCAT scores because of my ability to use critical knowledge through the tougher Neuroscience courses.

Basically the overall question is: Should I challenge myself a little bit more in hopes that my overall grades in both the test and GPA-wise will improve? Or is this all asinine and I should just stick to Bio+Psychology and just study extra-hard to memorize the content and apply it as well.

Thanks for the input.

 

[Euxox]

First off, it's good to plan ahead, but don't get too far ahead of yourself. I wouldn't recommend declaring a second major until at least a year after declaring your first major. You'll need the time to figure out how well you are able to handle one major before you start thinking about declaring a second one.

Also, don't choose a particular major because you think it will help you do better on the MCAT. There are plenty English majors who score 35+ on the MCAT every year. That shouldn't be too surprising -- the upper level science classes that a Biology/Neuroscience major takes over an English major pre-med out on aren't tested on the MCAT anyway. IIRC, Biology majors actually have the lowest average MCAT score out of any major.

Definitely don't choose a major based on how highly you think adcoms will regard it because the fact of the matter is that adcoms don;t care about your major. What matters is your GPA. Major in something that you are good at and that you enjoy (at least a little bit.) And it might not be so easy to figure out what you enjoy. When I was a high school senior, I was 101% sure that I was going to be a bio major. As soon as I found myself in a college level bio class, I realized that I didn't find the subject anywhere as interesting as I did in high school.

That aside, I think Neuroscience + Psychology has a better overlap if you are interested in the brain. What really matters most through is if you like each subject by itself. I personally really liked the first couple of neuroscience classes I took, so I decided to take some psych classes as well. Hated them. You might find that you feel the same way. If so, don't be afraid to re-evaluate.

tl;dr:
1. Don't jump the gun; you don't want to get too stuck on the idea of taking certain majors because you don't have enough information to make a good decision yet.
2. Don't let MCAT/perceived rigor of major influence your decision.
3. You have a good bit of flexibility freshman year. Take classes in a few different areas to see what you like.
4. Don't rush into a double major. Wait and see if you can handle your primary major first.

 

[FSU2013]

Most people that start college planning on going to med school don't for a variety of reasons. If your only 18, it's a little much to plan that far ahead. You only get 1 shot at undergrad. Enjoy it. Study what you want to learn because you'll never get that time back. Do cool ECs that you're interested in. Read for pleasure. If you're interested is psych or neuroscience, take a few classes in it, but you could also take a couple classes in music or art or history or whatever. A double major has relatively low marginal yield.

Further, psych is a relatively soft major - I doubt that would help more than just doing a bunch of cool stuff outside of the classroom.

 

[sector9]

Thread moved to hSDN

 

[College18]

1. Don't jump the gun; you don't want to get too stuck on the idea of taking certain majors because you don't have enough information to make a good decision yet.
2. Don't let MCAT/perceived rigor of major influence your decision.
3. You have a good bit of flexibility freshman year. Take classes in a few different areas to see what you like.
4. Don't rush into a double major. Wait and see if you can handle your primary major first.

I'm incredibly dedicated to the human body. Taken something like 4 classes related to the human body in some way, Anatomy & Physiology, Bio, AP Bio, Bio for Allied Health. I've been fascinated by everything about it. Been reading through stuff on Science Mag, NE Journal of Medicine and World Health Organization and I'm extremely interested in it.
I know that I want to do Psychology because it is, once again, fascinating how the human body and the mind work in cohesion. So, that's already decided.
However, I want to learn about the human body much more. That goes with Neuroscience and Biology. As I stated before, Neuroscience is a lot more of critical thinking which will not only help him for the MCATs but just learning overall and applying it to various concepts. The problem is that my primary major will be either Neuroscience and Biology because I want to jump start learning Bio, Chem, Biochem, etc. for the MCATs. The other problem is that Biology majors, as stated in your post and multiple times in other threads, simply do not score high. Obviously there are many lurking variables and many other factors, more people apply with Biology than with other majors and the range is large enough to show the discrepancies between the higher and lower MCAT scores.

Most people that start college planning on going to med school don't for a variety of reasons.

Further, psych is a relatively soft major - I doubt that would help more than just doing a bunch of cool stuff outside of the classroom.

The problem is that I have no real backup other than medicine. The only other thing that peaks my interest is Mathematics, but I simply cannot picture myself applying mathematics in my future. And I'm not sure what you mean by the Psychology being a soft major. I've read through the major challenges, excuse the pun, and it seems to be a relatively easy major.

To conclude, my overall interest is the human body, I'm just not sure if I should challenge myself with Neuroscience or take it relatively easy with Biology.

 

[Toothshucker]

Choose your major based on what interests you and what you will enjoy learning. You can get in with any major. You also do not have to be a science major in order to take Gen Chem, Gen Bio, Orgo, Physics. There will be lots of non science majors in your freshman gen chem course. There are no significant pre reqs for gen chem, bio or physics (unless you did very poor on your entrance math exam, if you have one, and haven't complete subsequent math courses). Orgo and Biochem you can take after gen bio/chem. Everyone's advise here is spot on. Don't rush yourself. It's ok to switch majors; lots of people do it and are just as successful.

I would also agree that there is often little reason to do a double major. You can take any courses you want as long as you finish all your other requirements for your degree.

As far as psych being "soft," I think they may be referring to multiple articles that analyze majors, and tend to point out psych as being an under-utilized major in the working world. Often, they are very anecdotal. However, I can tell you that all my friends who majored in psych are now working in fields absolutely unrelated to it.

Be a well-rounded applicant. And don't worry about what "seems to be a relatively easy major."

 

[sector9]

I wouldn't plan on doing a double major TBH if your goal is med school. In terms of "benefit to your med school application", I would suggest spending that extra time working on your ECs and making sure your GPA stays as high as possible

If you had a specific reason to double major then that would be a little different (like if your double major was bio and business because you want to own your own practice and pursue an MBA)

 

[College18]

I wouldn't plan on doing a double major TBH if your goal is med school. In terms of "benefit to your med school application", I would suggest spending that extra time working on your ECs and making sure your GPA stays as high as possible

If you had a specific reason to double major then that would be a little different (like if your double major was bio and business because you want to own your own practice and pursue an MBA)

Yeah, after putting a bit more thought into this, I've decided that I'm looking towards a major in Biology with a minor in Psychology and a few sociology class along with the pre-med requirements. I like the whole connecting with patients aspect of being a physician so that I can really understand where they are coming from.