History or Bio for pre-med?

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ShaggyAce

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I am having a hard time deciding between history and biology. I've always been an average to good student in the sciences in high school, and feel like I could use the biology instruction for a "refresher", but at the same time I know history will be easier and probably more enjoyable for me. I also dont want to be in college for an extended period of time, fulfilling both history major requirements and pre-med requirements. Will it extend my time in college by too long? Should I just major in biology? I also plan to take classes during summer and winter sessions whenever I can. I am currently working as an EMT and wondering how that will fit into my med school application. What else should I do in addition to my EMT work?
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What ever your interests lie just take the pre-reqs. And no don't do EMT I find it a waste but others might disagree, plus it's gonna be a lot of work for you.
 
I actually think doing EMT work is great..it shows a commitment and it is healthcare related. Along with EMT, try to volunteer in a clinical setting or with intentions to help your community (something that you enjoy doing, not just to boost your resume)...and do some research! Major in whatever you like and get the pre-reqs done.
 
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Just major in what you enjoy.

A lot of pre-meds major in bio since some of the bio requirements overlap with the pre med requirements and because it is a good idea to take some upper level science; so they think,"What they hey, I've already take Y classes out of the X required. I might as well take that one or two extra classes and finish the bio major."

Is it possible to major in history and take some upper level bio classes?
 
The reason I don't feel it's really necessary or good is that if you are doing a full courseload and then EMT, your GPA might suffer. Also, it will add more costs to your education and paying a couple thousand to take these classes for the certification may not be your "golden ticket." I will say this, if you want to do it, don't just go for the EMT certification and not do anything with it (trust me a lot of people do this). Make use of it and actually work.
 
You could do them both or minor in one :) Personally, I liked my history classes a lot more than some of my biology courses...
 
just do both. you';ll decide by senior year which one you want to minor and which one you want to major.
 
I suppose if you like History, you also enjoy reading. If you enjoy reading you really shouldn't have a problem preparing for the MCATs...just my 2cents.
 
Major in History. I had a hard time understanding/dealing with some of the pre med personalities in my bio major classes. I think a different set of focus classes for your major would be refreshing.
 
Obviously you like history more, so go for it. You'll have more incentive in classes you like.
 
Surprised no one mentioned this, but if you do graduate and lets just say you can't get into medical school, what can you do with a history major? A biology major? I think you should pick whichever major you wouldn't mind falling back on if medical school doesn't work out right away or if you just decide medicine isn't for you anymore.

If you can't pick, double major. If you enjoy history so much and don't mind writing essays than I'm sure history wont be so hard (totally pulling stuff out of my ass don't quote me on this haha)
 
Don't do both, it's a horrible idea to double major unless you're totally passionate about fulfilling the major requirements for both topics.

Have you started college yet? In your first two years, take courses in both to decide. Find out what your college's requirements for each are, whether premed+history would extend your college duration, and whether it's feasible to take advanced bio classes as a non-major.

Major in whichever one you enjoy more and that will leave you with a better application. Lower stress and greater comfort with your major will help cGPA, sGPA, and leave you more time to do EC's, etc. Don't just major in Bio by default because it will make fulfilling premed requirements simpler - as previously stated, so many pre-meds do that out of inertia, while the acceptance rate for humanities/social science majors is actually higher than that for bio majors. (caveat: correlation =/= causation.) Getting a higher GPA from another major while still including your prereqs and advanced bio classes on the side would help you more than an average GPA from bio.
 
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Since your goal is to get into med school, your priorities should be your GPA, MCAT and EC's. Pick whatever combination of major/minor you think will help you (i) maximize your GPA, (ii) give you enough time to study for the MCAT and (iii) leave enough time for EC's.
 
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Follower12 said:
Surprised no one mentioned this, but if you do graduate and lets just say you can't get into medical school, what can you do with a history major? A biology major?
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You can't really do much with either on its own. The only bachelor's degrees that are really valuable in that regard are skills based, like engineering, nursing, medical technology, etc. Business can be valuable too, I guess.

If you like history more, go with that one. Minor in bio if its that important to you. Personally, I majored in bio and minored in history, but that's mostly because I knew I didn't have much of a chance at passing the senior seminar in history.
 
metaphase said:
Don't do both, it's a horrible idea to double major unless you're totally passionate about fulfilling the major requirements for both topics.
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It's not about passion, it's about organization. You'd be surprised at how many classes overlap in seemingly unrelated majors. I didn't double major, I double degreed- got a BS in Cellular and Molecular Biology, and a BA in History, with a minor in Medical History. Took me 5 years. If I had picked one, it would have taken 4- that extra year was worth it to me. I used my history classes as my electives for the bio degree and vice-versa. The point is, if you want to do both, do both. You're going to have to take Humanities, electives, etc, how is English Comp or Music any easier than History?

And to answer mvenus929 and the like, I have been a geneticist with my bio degree and teaching high schoolers with my history one. It's untrue that you can't do much with either on its own.
 
Here is what I would do: start out freshman year with the basics of both history and biology, then find out which department at your school matches your personality/interests and pick that major. Do NOT double major unless A) you really truly absolutely cannot decide after trying courses in both majors or B) you're worried medicine isn't the career for you and you want some options to fall back on (but even then it'd be better to spend two years getting a master's in the one you didn't choose rather than spend an extra year getting a second worthless BS/BA).

Fall 2011/Spring 2012:
BIO 1/BIO 2
CHM 1/CHM 2
ENG 1/ENG 2
HST 1/HST 2
possibly an elective one or both semesters

Fall 2012/Spring 2013:
OCHM 1/OCHM 2
PHY 1/PHY 2
Stats/ENG 3 if needed at your school
interesting bio/history 2X

I'd fill summer courses with things that are interesting and fun, but not the prereqs for med school because you'll need to have the information down fairly well for the MCAT and I think (but this is just my opinion) that what goes in in a short amount of time is somewhat more likely to come back out in a short amount of time.

Just my two cents, I hope it helps and best of luck :)
 
I'm double major in history and biology. I love both! And it was easy to do both degrees and complete all requirements - but it depends on your school.

At my school:
History was only a 30 credit major (3 required classes), biology was about 60 credits (but that included all my pre-reqs for medicine - and about 1/2 of them required classes)... so I still had a good fun 30 credits left for fun...

I love both, so if you do too... do what you enjoy. I would also recommend some poly sci and anthro courses (i wish I did more of those). Had I known how much I enjoyed political science (didn't take any until my senior year), I probably would have dropped the biology major... or just triple majored.
 
ShaggyAce said:
I am having a hard time deciding between history and biology. I've always been an average to good student in the sciences in high school, and feel like I could use the biology instruction for a "refresher", but at the same time I know history will be easier and probably more enjoyable for me. I also dont want to be in college for an extended period of time, fulfilling both history major requirements and pre-med requirements. Will it extend my time in college by too long? Should I just major in biology? I also plan to take classes during summer and winter sessions whenever I can. I am currently working as an EMT and wondering how that will fit into my med school application. What else should I do in addition to my EMT work?
Click to expand...

definitely history because you sound more interested. when you take general bio 1 and 2 for pre-med requirements, just take a light load, and work extra hard to seal the A. quality > quantity. you don't need to take a dozen biology classes. enjoy yourself. med schools won't give preference to bio majors over history majors btw. in my experience, a heavier load of courses that i enjoy are a lot easier than a lighter load of courses that i don't enjoy. so if you have to take a few more courses - so be it.

you should save your summers not for course work but for activities like emt / volunteering / shadowing / clincical etc. great refresher after a summer. courses make a summer dull :D
 
I would do both if possible. I'm currently in a master's in European history program, and I love it! It's a ton of reading and writing (25+ page papers) but I think worth it. Good luck! :)
 
I double majored in biology and history and it was one of the best decisions I ever made!
 
MDOnlyWillDo said:
And to answer mvenus929 and the like, I have been a geneticist with my bio degree and teaching high schoolers with my history one. It's untrue that you can't do much with either on its own.
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You can get jobs with either, but many jobs will eventually require an advanced degree. I looked into teaching when I didn't get in to medical school the first time, and all the programs I looked at said I could go into teaching with just a bachelor's, but they expected me to get a master's during the first year or two as well. I suspect that many jobs are in this same vein, though many lab jobs may not require it.
 
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