Is Kinesiology considered a "soft major" for medical schools?

[md14]

My daughter is thinking of majoring in Kinesiology and planning to attend medical school after BS degree. She has heard from several people that Kinesiology:
1. won't prepare you for medical school.
2. medical school looks at it as a soft major.
3. Kids from Kin prog don't do well in mcat.
4.lot of kids with Kin major may wont make it to medical school and are stuck with a major that will not get them good jobs.

If anyone who has gone through Kin prog and gotten into medical schools please help with answeres to the above questions.

Thanks

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[CodeBlu]

Wrong. All of the things you listed are false.

I know two people that did kinesiology and were successful in medical school applications and their MCAT.

You could major in English and still do great on the MCAT. There is no prescribed pre-medical degree. Study what you like and you will excel.

 

[flatearth22]

1) the only thing that can truly prepare you for med school is to take med school classes imo. the prereqs and mcat are enough for med schools to see that you are prepared for med school.

2) compared to electrical engineering or physics, probably. compared to gender studies and sociology, probably not.

3) mcat has to do with the individual, not the major.

4) if you don't get into med school you can always reapply...take postbac or SMP, retake MCAT, beef up EC's, etc.

 

[typicalindian]

kin is an interesting field, however make sure your daughter understands that it won't be of much use if she doesn't get into med school

 

[gravitywave]

several people in my class have kin degrees, so no - it doesn't appear to hurt you in the slightest.

 

[deleted357625]

no, it's cool. nothing is considered lower than other majors, as long as you take the pre-reqs it shows you can do well in them compared to other applicants whether there an art major whatever.

your pre-reqs, no matter what major help you take the mcat. What you learn in UG doesn't really matter when it comes time to med school. except for a few classes you can take if you want such as biochem since that subject is taught your first year in med school, it helps. thats an example

 

[TriagePreMed]

Why doesn't your daughter ask herself? Needs mommy to do internet counselor for her? Or is it that you don't like her major?

 

[UnclePhil]

Why doesn't your daughter ask herself? Needs mommy to do internet counselor for her? Or is it that you don't like her major?

Who said that she is asking on her daughter's behalf? Believe it or not, not every premed reads and posts on SDN.

People who have birthed children do know how to use the internet on their own accord. My mother reads this site, I know she reads this site because she will randomly drop tidbits to me about medical school that could only be picked up on this site.

 

[DrBowtie]

WOW.

And yes its a hugely soft major.

 

[karafox]

As someone who did major in a "soft science", here are my two cents:

(1) If she is completing her pre-med reqs with flying colors, then she should be prepared.

(2) This is generally true, but again if she's doing well in her pre-med reqs (in addition to spending a lot of her time volunteering, shadowing, or participating in any other worthwhile ECs) she should be fine.

(3) I'm not so sure about that. Like someone said before, it depends on the individual. And I hate to sound like a broken record, but again, if your daughter aced her pre-med reqs and is committed, she is capable of making a great MCAT score regardless of her major.

(4) This is the case with ANY major. I think a good idea is to have that "Plan B"...it's not fun to think about it, but at least you have a safety net. One idea is for her to seek out undergrad research opportunities. If she doesn't get into medical school, she at least has contacts/work experience(s) and can thus apply for a research position. If she is a kinesiology major, it is preferable for her to look for research opportunities in the kinesiology department, with the caveat that she does not have to. There are plenty of NSM departments that are looking for pre-meds, regardless of their major.

If your daughter truly enjoys this field, I think she should go for it. It's a poor idea if she chooses it because she think it'll be easier to maintain a high GPA.