Major in Economics

[PreMedDocMD]

Is it possible to be admitted to the top tier med schools (yale, columbia, etc.) with a major in economics and just taking the pre- med reqs for electives? Will they think you show little interest in medicine, since you don't major in bio?

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[Bacchus]

Here comes my story, again. I know a med student at Penn that was a Latin-American Studies major and is now an MSIII. Major in what you want.

 

[StevenJ128]

I've always been told to major in whatever you like, as long as you take the pre-reqs and do well in all of your classes. While touring a lot of colleges, the consensus was that majors other than biology or chemistry were actually looked higher upon.

 

[Law2Doc]

Is it possible to be admitted to the top tier med schools (yale, columbia, etc.) with a major in economics and just taking the pre- med reqs for electives? Will they think you show little interest in medicine, since you don't major in bio?

Absolutely you can. Med schools don't care what you major in- Seriously. If anything, nonsci majors have made the biggest strides of late and are admitted in greater percentages each year. Contrary to your last question nonsci majors actually see a small benefit from diversity -- while bio majors have a harder time distinguishing themselves from the pack. Taking the prereqs and doing well is all you need -- if med schools wanted folks to take more than the prereqs they would make more things prereqs. Your ECs and essays will demonstrate whether you have adequate interest in medicine, not your bio classes. The notion that bio majors were advantageous majors for med school was true in the seventies-eightees, but really hasn't been true for many years. I'm sort of surprised this keeps getting asked on SDN, I would think word would have gotten out by now.

 

[LicensedPremed]

Also you can major in Music, Dance, Arts, or even Foreign Language and get into top schools. Major really does not matter. But I've seen that med schools are not quite fond of those who major in health-related field such as nursing or pharmacy (they have lowest acceptance rate to med schools).

 

[drizzt3117]

In my postbac there were a bunch of psych majors who had like 3.9+ GPAs entering the program from top undergrads like Wash U and Cal. I know one guy who had 4.0 OA in psych from Cal prior to doing postbac, applied winter of junior year to postbac finished it with a pretty solid GPA (don't know exactly what he had, but prolly 3.8+ in postbac), got a mid 30 MCAT, and applied to basically the top 5 and got in everywhere, and IIRC he's a M2 at UCSF now. I honestly think the easiest path to a top school (besides BS/MD) is doing a "easy" non-science at a top school with a good GPA and doing a one year formal postbac and doing well.

 

[Law2Doc]

I honestly think the easiest path to a top school ... is doing a "easy" non-science at a top school with a good GPA and doing a one year formal postbac and doing well.

That's certainly what I would advise to someone who hasn't started yet. Find something fun and cool and non-sciencey that you can get A's in. Save the sciences and pick them up at a brand name formal postbac after, when you can take them two at a time with no distractions and have an easier time getting A's. Pick up some good ECs along the way. Takes a little longer, but the folks I know who have done this have all been quite successful, and have had a much less stressful road.

 

[PreMedDocMD]

Just curious, why would you recommend doing post- bacc rather than sneeking in the pre- reqs in undergrad?

 

[drizzt3117]

Just curious, why would you recommend doing post- bacc rather than sneeking in the pre- reqs in undergrad?

Because as postbac you're taking the classes in an environment that is designed to let you do ECs at the same time, with lower stress since you've already finished a degree, and competing with ppl going through college for the first time, while ideally you are more prepared for the coursework.

 

[Law2Doc]

That and the fact that you usually just take two classes at a time, which allows for better immersion into the subject. Plus those programs have better advising than most colleges.
And finally, lots of people do better at these sciences once they have a few more miles under their belt -- doing well at sciences takes a certain amount of discipline and maturity, as the only way to really learn it is to lock yourself at a desk for many hours doing problems. A lot of people have more difficulty doing this at 19 than they do a few years later, once they no longer have college distractions.

The big catch with the path we are suggesting is it takes a year or two longer and costs more. But the odds of success are usually pretty good -- certainly much better than the odds of a rising college freshman contemplating premed.

 

[stat3113]

That's certainly what I would advise to someone who hasn't started yet. Find something fun and cool and non-sciencey that you can get A's in. Save the sciences and pick them up at a brand name formal postbac after, when you can take them two at a time with no distractions and have an easier time getting A's. Pick up some good ECs along the way. Takes a little longer, but the folks I know who have done this have all been quite successful, and have had a much less stressful road.

What are you talking about, 2 at a time? Isn't the whole point of PostBacc to show adcoms that you can handle a full-time science load? 12 creds/semester or more?

In my very lay opinion, I don't think someone who took 2 years of taking 8 creds of prereqs per semester to finish their PostBacc would get much respect. Aside from that, someone with no serious exposure to sciences (i.e. 4 years of an easy non-technical major) would have a very difficult time getting through all their prereqs at once.

 

[Law2Doc]

What are you talking about, 2 at a time? Isn't the whole point of PostBacc to show adcoms that you can handle a full-time science load? 12 creds/semester or more?

You'd think, but the focus is much more on A's. The big name postbacs (Bryn Mawr, Goucher) want you to do 3 at a time, but some places let you use the summers at either end of the academic year to lighten the load. Many many folks who do postbac do them over an even more extended period of time (2 years) with a lighter load, still with good success. If you do a google search of two year premedical postbaccalaureate programs you will find many.

 

[Law2Doc]

Aside from that, someone with no serious exposure to sciences (i.e. 4 years of an easy non-technical major) would have a very difficult time getting through all their prereqs at once.

The success of many postbac programs suggests this is really not the case. However it should be noted that these programs cherry pick folks who did very well in their nonsci courses, so we are already talking about folks smarter than your average freshman.

 

[maxflash04]

Is it possible to be admitted to the top tier med schools (yale, columbia, etc.) with a major in economics and just taking the pre- med reqs for electives? Will they think you show little interest in medicine, since you don't major in bio?

Definitely.

 

[JackieTreehorn]

I'm not particularly great at Calculus, but a friend told me that the most math he did in his undergraduate economics major was take second derivatives. Even if you aren't that great at Calculus it's probably doable at the undergraduate level, even if your college's major considers it math based instead of just a social science. And I know that has absolutely nothing to do with the OPs question, just my speculation as I try to decide if I want to major in Econ.

How do Business majors do in admissions?

 

[Law2Doc]

How do Business majors do in admissions?

As well as any other major. As I and others keep telling everyone, med schools don't care what you major in. If you took the prereqs, you are in the same position as every other applicant. No brownie points for taking more, no demerits at taking the minimum. Honest.

 

[drizzt3117]

The success of many postbac programs suggests this is really not the case. However it should be noted that these programs cherry pick folks who did very well in their nonsci courses, so we are already talking about folks smarter than your average freshman.

I was fairly involved in the admissions process for my postbac program. I believe we admitted about 20-25 people out of 200 applicants, so it's pretty selective. I believe the final class was about 17. I know for a fact we waitlisted and ultimately rejected people with 3.7-3.8 GPAs who had professional degrees so the top postbac programs are pretty selective. If there was a common reason for why these people (who had good stats) ultimately got rejected though, was because they didn't have a good answer for why they were interested in medicine.

 

[OCallag]

That's certainly what I would advise to someone who hasn't started yet. Find something fun and cool and non-sciencey that you can get A's in. Save the sciences and pick them up at a brand name formal postbac after, when you can take them two at a time with no distractions and have an easier time getting A's. Pick up some good ECs along the way. Takes a little longer, but the folks I know who have done this have all been quite successful, and have had a much less stressful road.

I know this is off the topic of the OP's original question, but I thought I'd add that this is exactly what I would do if I had a chance to do it over. I tell future pre-meds about to attend college from my high school to do virtually the same. Especially good if you came from a poor academic background and college is going to be a rough transition.

 

[JackieTreehorn]

As well as any other major. As I and others keep telling everyone, med schools don't care what you major in. If you took the prereqs, you are in the same position as every other applicant. No brownie points for taking more, no demerits at taking the minimum. Honest.

Cool. Because I might major in Finance or at least take a bunch of classes in it. Not only is it a good fallback, but it is very pragmatic, especially if you're going to be a business owner. I would think that anybody who wants to own their own business should at least familiarize themselves with basic accounting and business. That being said, I hope the response isn't.

Admissions Officer #1 : Pfffft, Finance!
Admissions Officer #2: (tears in eyes from laughter) What a lightweight!
Admissions Officer #3: I vote to reject
All nod in agreement

But seriously, there is a problem. It's good to have a fallback like business, but the problem is if med school is my first choice, I can't spend time doing bank internships because the opportunity cost of that is hospital time and volunteering and then if I don't do internships in business then good luck jobhunting if you don't get into med school. But seriously, when I graduate from college, I want to be one of two things: in med school (preferably) or employed.

But again, the business program at my school is supposed to be really easy. The hardcore academics would probably look down on me saying this, but I'm not shy about saying that med school is my #1 priority. If I have to take easy classes outside my prereqs to stay sane and maintain a good GPA, so be it. I apologize, I'm