Help! Major Issues...

[NCDocWannabe]

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Hi all, I have recently gained acceptance into a 4 year university from my local CC. If any of you know my story, then you know that this is a huge deal for me. Anyway I have a couple of questions about majors. First off, I thought for a long time that I would do a political science/biology double major. But After taking a few communications classes that has all changed. I found that I really enjoyed them and my public speaking teacher told me that I have the "gift of gab". To make a long story short, I am now really considering majoring in Communication/Journalism at my uni and I am wondering how communications majors fare in the admission game, and also whether communcations is considered a "legit" major in the eyes of adcoms?

The school actually offers a Pre-Med Studies major for which I can recieve a B.S.. I have posted the course requirements below and I am wondering about the legitimacy of an actual "Pre-Med Major". My plan, as of now, is to complete a double major in communications and pre med studies,as well as a double minor in chemistry and biology seeing as I will only need a course from each department to fulfill the requirements for a minor. I am really sort of split as too what to do, so any info that you folks can provide would very greatly appreciated.


Pre-Medical Studies

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(PRMD)​

The pre-medical studies curriculum is specifically designed for those students who plan to attend​

medical school, veterinary school, dental school, optometry school, or pharmacy school. Completion of the

bachelor's degree in pre-medical studies must be followed by competitive admission to and successful
completion of professional studies and training.
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Major

PRE-MEDICAL STUDIES
72 Semester Hours Minimum​

BIOL 211 General Biology I

BIOL 212 General Biology II

BIOL 403 Microbiology​

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BIOL 411 Genetics

BIOL 414 Cell and Molecular Biology​

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BIOL 415 Vertebrate Morphology and Development

BIOL 510 Seminar in Biology

CHEM 301 General Chemistry
CHEM 302 General Chemistry II
CHEM 403 Organic Chemistry I
CHEM 404 Organic Chemistry II
CHEM 405 Quantitative Analysis
CHEM 406 Instrumental Analysis
CHEM 503 Biochemistry
MATH 302 Calculus with AnalyticalbGeometry I​

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MATH 303 Calculus with Analytical Geometry II

PHYS 301 General Physics I

PHYS 302 General Physics II
COMP An approved computer course​

Note: CHEM 501 Physical Chemistry I is strongly recommended.​

Thanks a ton,
NCDocWannabe​

 

[Bacchus]

DO NOT get a degree in pre-medical studies. If you want a curriculum like that take biochemistry. A lot of those courses you listed are biochemistry courses I took in my curriculum.

 

[NCDocWannabe]

DO NOT get a degree in pre-medical studies. If you want a curriculum like that take biochemistry. A lot of those courses you listed are biochemistry courses I took in my curriculum.

The school doesn't offer a biochemistry major so should I just do maybe a Chemistry/Communications and then do the 4 or 5 bio classes to fulfill the minor requirements?

 

[Bacchus]

You should do whatever you want. I just wouldn't get a BS in pre-medical studies for two reasons:

1) The principle of it, just look at the degree name.
2) What if you don't get into medical school?

You don't need a science degree to get into medical school. You can be a communications major and use your electives to take the pre-requisites. You also can also extend your degree by a year and take classes.

 

[NCDocWannabe]

You should do whatever you want. I just wouldn't get a BS in pre-medical studies for two reasons:

1) The principle of it, just look at the degree name.
2) What if you don't get into medical school?

You don't need a science degree to get into medical school. You can be a communications major and use your electives to take the pre-requisites. You also can also extend your degree by a year and take classes.

And this is why I love this place, I never thought about the thwo points you brought up. I certainly don't want to think about number two until I have to I guess...Thank you for your input😀

 

[Lauren87]

I would say don't get the premed double major. In fact, I am questioning all of your double majors/minors...why are you trying to kill yourself? Do you really want to be taking 18+ credits every semester or be in summer school instead of having an internship? I am a chemistry major, and a chemistry minor at my school requires physical chemistry and quantitative analysis (analytical chemistry). NOT easy. So, major in Communications if you're passionate about it, I believe med schools like the non-traditional majors and as long as you have your prereqs you should be good. As for the minors, I personally think a minor in chem will not help you much in your life, analytical is useful but you can pick up those skills anywhere and pchem is just a pain class that you will never need to use if you become a doctor. So unless you're just passionate about chemistry and also have a good mathematics background, which you would need for pchem (strong in calculus) I would say no. As for the biology minor, I really don't know but I do know biochemistry is helpful for the mcat.

I hate to discourage you LOL from being so ambitious but I think you should take a chill pill and select one major and, if you like, one minor. Why all the extra work?

 

[NCDocWannabe]

I would say don't get the premed double major. In fact, I am questioning all of your double majors/minors...why are you trying to kill yourself? Do you really want to be taking 18+ credits every semester or be in summer school instead of having an internship? I am a chemistry major, and a chemistry minor at my school requires physical chemistry and quantitative analysis (analytical chemistry). NOT easy. So, major in Communications if you're passionate about it, I believe med schools like the non-traditional majors and as long as you have your prereqs you should be good. As for the minors, I personally think a minor in chem will not help you much in your life, analytical is useful but you can pick up those skills anywhere and pchem is just a pain class that you will never need to use if you become a doctor. So unless you're just passionate about chemistry and also have a good mathematics background, which you would need for pchem (strong in calculus) I would say no. As for the biology minor, I really don't know but I do know biochemistry is helpful for the mcat.

I hate to discourage you LOL from being so ambitious but I think you should take a chill pill and select one major and, if you like, one minor. Why all the extra work?

After looking at the course catalog a little more I found that by fulfilling the pre med requirements, I will essentially only need one more bio class and one more chemistry class to obtain a minor in both departments. So I could be a comm major, fulfill pre med requirements, and knock out two minors without too much extra work i.e. no summer school, ridiculous numbers of course hours etc. So thank you for helping to see the light.