Help! Switching majors after applying!

[1Sail0r]

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Hello,

So I applied to med schools this cycle and thankfully received some interviews. I applied as a double Bio + Chem major but after taking Pchem this semester I found that I'm not as interested in chemistry as I had thought 🙁 what would happen if I dropped the major altogether? Would that affect my application in any way and am I allowed to do it?

 

[Mr Avante]

Hello,

So I applied to med schools this cycle and thankfully received some interviews. I applied as a double Bio + Chem major but after taking Pchem this semester I found that I'm not as interested in chemistry as I had thought 🙁 what would happen if I dropped the major altogether? Would that affect my application in any way and am I allowed to do it?

Have you taken advanced organic chemistry, or advanced biochemistry?

 

[1Sail0r]

Have you taken advanced organic chemistry, or advanced biochemistry?

Just regular organic and regular biochemistry.

 

[Mr Avante]

Just regular organic and regular biochemistry.

Do you want to drop the major, or switch it for another one?

 

[1Sail0r]

Drop it altogether. I need 3 more courses to finish it but I'm thinking of foregoing those courses.

So I have to finish the major since I applied as a double major?

 

[1Sail0r]

Anyone been in this circumstance before?

 

[IonClaws]

Hello,

So I applied to med schools this cycle and thankfully received some interviews. I applied as a double Bio + Chem major but after taking Pchem this semester I found that I'm not as interested in chemistry as I had thought 🙁 what would happen if I dropped the major altogether? Would that affect my application in any way and am I allowed to do it?

Courses listed in the future on your AMCAS application are not binding, so you don't have to take those courses or earn the chemistry major. Just make sure you have all the prerequisites done for all the medical schools you've applied to, and make sure you at least earn a bachelor's degree prior to matriculation since quite a few medical schools require one.

Medical schools also require final transcripts before matriculation and require that you've been performing at the same academic level you applied with, so try to avoid C's. As long as you mostly earn A's and B's, I think you'll be ok.

 

[1Sail0r]

Aren't I applying to these schools under the pretense that I am a double major though? Do I have to notify them and will they rescind my acceptance if I give them a final transcript that just has one major on it?

 

[IonClaws]

Aren't I applying to these schools under the pretense that I am a double major though? Do I have to notify them and will they rescind my acceptance if I give them a final transcript that just has one major on it?

I've never heard of a school rescinding an offer on that basis. They may rescind it if you, say, don't finish a bachelor's and they require a bachelor's (or if you are enrolled in a degree program and don't complete that program), but not if you don't complete courses and the major that you tentatively declared on AMCAS. Again, the courses (and by extension the major) listed as "to be taken" (in the future) on AMCAS are not binding, so as long as you finish the prereqs and the bachelor's degree (which if I understand correctly only requires a major in SOMETHING), you will be good.

Of course, you will want to know if any individual schools you applied to have policies like that, but I have never seen any.

 

[kyamh]

Also, previous threads where students worry about which major to choose always end up with the same answer: adcoms don't really care what you major in. By that logic, they don't really care what major(s) you finish at school. At the end of the day, it's all about the courses and the grades.

Imagine a school that requires 9 courses for a major (like mine) and a school that requires 15 courses. Clearly two people who come out with the same 'degree' out of the institutions won't have the same experience/rigor. What if you are at school B and have taken 12/15 of your chem courses...that means that at school A you would have had a major and in your case you are still 3 classes short. Official major/minor delineations don't mean anything.

 

[TriagePreMed]

Since major doesn't matter for medical school, they probably won't care if you change it. Have you considered making it a minor?