Aw, screw MCAT performance. (We know that the correlation between biology taken in school, aka majoring in the subject, and performance on the MCAT, even on the bio sciences section, is negative, but we do not know that this is a causal relationship. Everyone who talks about this oversimpifies the issue; you scientists should know better. Still, it sure feels to most of us, and apparently to the pollster at this point, that those nine semesters of biology are not helping you on the biggest roadblock you're going to encounter until the boards. But I digress.)
How about all the other reasons to major in something else?
- If it's what you enjoy, you'll tend to have a happpier life.
- If it's what you enjoy, you'll tend to get better grades.
- With fewer premeds around, there will not be so much stress, and you'll have an even happier life.
- With fewer premeds around, there will probably be less grade competition.
- Maybe you'll find that there's something you like better than medicine if you take classes in a lot of things. I know, inconceivable for most of you, but humor us.
- With a varied background, you might wind up in a better position to get a non-medical job if you eventually decide, or the MCAT or your GPA or the interview procedure decides for you, that med school is not for you. Scary to contemplate, but don't forget that nearly two thirds of MCAT takers never go to medical school.
- If you come to medicine after having varied your background, you may be more comfortable with your decision because you'll feel like you considered other things (even if it's not true, but it probably will be).
- If you come to medicine with a nontraditional background, the medical schools might think that you have considered other things, and that they should be more comfortable with your eventual commitment to medicine. (You have to spin this the right way in your essays and interviews, though.)
- You might wind up a more interesting person, and you'll probably be more fun at cocktail parties.
- You may have more opportunity to get some wildness out of your system -- wildness that will not serve you well once you get to medical school.
- The guys/girls are cuter (on average -- don't yell at me) and more fun during their college years, if perhaps not so bright (not so much yelling about that claim).
I've always thought that those premed advisors who track all the freshmen who say they want to be doctors into biology are doing those poor impressionable kids (think back to when you were doing up your schedule for the fall of your freshman year) a tremendous disservice. Sure, some of them will be best off in biology, but all of them? I don't buy it.
Life is not a race. If it took another year to get the science prereqs in, would that be so bad? And it probably wouldn't, if you planned intelligently, and along the way a lot of students would have fun, grow up, and probably even make themselves more attractive to med schools (mostly by getting better grades).
Incidentally, studying all four years for the MCAT will not be necessary (part of the first poll option), but that's another thread.
OK, end of rant. Y'all bio geeks can have the wheel again; I'm going to finish my coffee (which you can tell I need).
Shrike
math and economics majors, physics minor, but then I still don't know what I'm going to be when I grow up and I'm almost middle aged (or so Q tells me)
