Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

[SudLagniappe]

First and foremost, I did a search to try to find something related to this, but had no luck. And I've read in some threads that some are of the opinion that what your major is isn't as important as grades and MCAT score, which I believe is true. However, I was looking into changing my major and I was thinking instead of just a general biology degree, I would go for a degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. While general Biology interests me, this degree plan has more classes that I feel I would be truly interested in. I'd still be taking classes like Pathogenic Micro, Immunology, etc to prepare for (hopefully) getting into Med School.

I guess my main question is, in your opinion, do you think it would make a difference if I majored in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology instead of general Biology? Or would they both be weighed the same in the eyes of the admissions committees?

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[Penner]

No one would care. Personally, I think general biology is a lame major.

 

[Evergrey]

Medical schools don't care about your major.. in fact it's almost better not to be a straight Biology major.

 

[riverjib]

First and foremost, I did a search to try to find something related to this, but had no luck. And I've read in some threads that some are of the opinion that what your major is isn't as important as grades and MCAT score, which I believe is true. However, I was looking into changing my major and I was thinking instead of just a general biology degree, I would go for a degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. While general Biology interests me, this degree plan has more classes that I feel I would be truly interested in. I'd still be taking classes like Pathogenic Micro, Immunology, etc to prepare for (hopefully) getting into Med School.

I guess my main question is, in your opinion, do you think it would make a difference if I majored in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology instead of general Biology? Or would they both be weighed the same in the eyes of the admissions committees?

Doesn't matter. ADCOMs yawn at the general bio major. Maybe this is less true lately, since pre-meds have figured out that bio majors are a dime a dozen. Want to impress them? Major in biomedical engineering, or seek out something that's rarely on an application. Point is, your major doesn't matter unless it's something extremely rigorous or unusual. Even then, your grades and MCAT scores are all that they're evaluating.

 

[venacontracta]

Pick the major which interests you the most. Doing anything else is foolish and over analyzing something which doesn't matter. All choosing a major that you are not passionate about will do is result in a lower GPA, which does matter. The one exception to this might be if you are interested in a major that you cannot keep a high GPA in. If you truly love biochemistry but get straight Bs in biochem courses, if you want to be a doctor it might be more realistic to major in biology instead if you can get As in the less rigorous bio courses.

 

[Ashers]

At my undergrad, EEB was a few classes different than then gen bio major. I did gen bio, and my roommate did EEB. I had to take ochem; she didn't. She had to take statistics; I didn't. It won't matter what you major in. My major was not helpful for med school.

 

[NickNaylor]

Major in what you want, just do well. Note, however, the rigor of the program you choose is generally a factor in your application.

 

[SudLagniappe]

Thanks for the input everybody. I just asked because I'm currently a nursing major. And I've realized that Nursing really isn't anything that I thought it would be. So after some soul searching and physician shadowing, I've finally decided that I'm more than capable of pursuing med school. My advisor told me I could continue as a Nursing major, that it wouldn't hurt me. But I get the feeling that it might end up hurting my chances in the long run. Plus, even though my grades are great in it, I'm pretty miserable as a Nursing Major. Not enough science. Not enough critical thinking/problem solving. I feel like it's a whole lot of learning how to follow directions. So I can either stay with nursing and keep some pretty great grades going but be miserable and potentially hurt my chances, or I could change to EEB, which is fascinating. I'd maybe have slightly lower grades, but not by much and I'd be happier.

I guess there really isn't even a question of what I should do after putting it all down on paper/the internet like that! Thanks again, everyone.

 

[CougarMD]

Thanks for the input everybody. I just asked because I'm currently a nursing major. And I've realized that Nursing really isn't anything that I thought it would be. So after some soul searching and physician shadowing, I've finally decided that I'm more than capable of pursuing med school. My advisor told me I could continue as a Nursing major, that it wouldn't hurt me. But I get the feeling that it might end up hurting my chances in the long run. Plus, even though my grades are great in it, I'm pretty miserable as a Nursing Major. Not enough science. Not enough critical thinking/problem solving. I feel like it's a whole lot of learning how to follow directions. So I can either stay with nursing and keep some pretty great grades going but be miserable and potentially hurt my chances, or I could change to EEB, which is fascinating. I'd maybe have slightly lower grades, but not by much and I'd be happier.

I guess there really isn't even a question of what I should do after putting it all down on paper/the internet like that! Thanks again, everyone.

Out of curiosity (and I swear I am not trying to bash your choice; good for you for going for what you really want!) can I ask what you thought nursing would be and what it turned out to be for you thus far? I am just curious because you are a unique nursing student; I would say that most pick nursing because they feel like they have to pick SOMETHING, and then they realize they hate health, hate humans, and don't like blood

 

[SudLagniappe]

I picked nursing for a number of reasons. First of all, my dad is a physician, so I've been surrounded by healthcare my whole life. I wanted to do something in Healthcare, but didn't think I could pull the grades to try to be a doctor, so I thought I'd try nursing. I thought in Nursing that you'd learn some science. I thought we'd learn what was going on in people on a cellular level for different diseases as well as how different medicines work. I thought we'd learn what different tests (CBCs, INR, etc) really mean and what the results mean. I thought there'd be more critical thinking and decision making.

Instead, all they teach in my nursing program is how to know when a test comes back and isn't normal and then to call the doctor. We don't learn what it means or...anything really. Seriously, I feel like all we learn is how to follow orders and pass meds. Which, no offense to nurses everywhere (some of them are really brilliant and hard workers) a monkey could be taught how to give meds (there's barely any dosage calculations, which is odd since we had a HUGE class about it and have yet to do much of anything).

I know I'm rambling now, but I really thought there would be more involved with Nursing than there is. What I want to do is diagnose, to treat, to understand exactly what's happening, to know what to do when a lab comes back and isn't normal. I just couldn't be happy spending the rest of my life not thinking much at work. I guess I didn't think through nursing enough before choosing it, lol. Luckily, it's not too late to switch!