Major Problems (no pun intended)

[gougiej]

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I have been doing research on colleges and have narrowed it down to one I am pretty sure. This college has a few majors that could be related to the medical field or used as pre-med. It is microbiology health science. Biology could be two but alot of the biology electives are related to non human fauna and flora. It seems pretty well rounded for the medical field(I.e. Anatomy, physiology, virology, immunology etc....). I was also wondering, they say it does not matter what your major is in premed but a medical based one would seem more effecient. It would give you the main classes for premed requirments plus a more in depth look at general beginers medicine and other things ong that line. Just a thought please give me your opinions on the matter


Thanks : )

 

[gougiej]

Sorry for the grammatical errors I'm doi this from my iPod touch. For some reason my computer says I haven't typed anything and will not lt me post even after writing a paragraph

 

[the duck]

a medical related major is rather redundant. You will be covering all the same material once you get to medical school, but in much greater depth. I would suggest majoring in something not directly linked to medicine. For example, myself, and many other SDNers are psychology majors.

 

[billw]

The same advice is given here again and again and I think it is good advice: choose a major that you will enjoy. The med school prereqs mean that every student will have a solid base in the sciences. You should major in microbiology if you enjoy it. Micro is one of my majors and I really love it, but it would be a difficult major if I didn't. Micro is basically a specialized biochem degree, which ranks it among some of the more difficult majors you could choose. Micro is no less dedicated to "non-human fauna and flora" than a general biology degree, although there are obviously a lot of intersections with medicine. If you really want to deal with things directly related to human biology, maybe you should consider physiology.

What makes a major worthwhile as prep for med school is an ability to excel in it. Medicine touches on so many disciplines that you could argue that almost any major is good preparation in one way or another. I am a triple major in micro, philosophy, and stats and I would have a difficult time arguing that any one of the three is more applicable to medicine than the other two.

 

[gougiej]

Yeah, but wouldn't a basis on medical informatics and anatomy and physiology and other related classes have you more prepared for med school?

 

[billw]

Yeah, but wouldn't a basis on medical informatics and anatomy and physiology and other related classes have you more prepared for med school?

To distill down what I have read here from medical students:

Nothing you take in undergrad will prepare you for med school classes in a significant way. The focus is different and the pace much faster.

Taking some biochemistry, cell biology, and physiology may give you a bit of a head start in those classes in med school, but people with liberal arts degrees also make it through those classes just fine. So, you would have to decide how much a little extra comfort early in a few med school courses is worth to you.

 

[Silverman780]

Any major works, ( I know a guy who in fact was the infamous music major and made it)
Once you hit college pick a major that you:
A) Find interesting.
B) Will do well in.

Personally I love genetics and am a bio and biochem maj as a result.

 

[gougiej]

well I searched the local college I want to attend's catalog. I think History sounds good every single class they offered sounded interesting. I have always loved history. I believe I could probabley keep a high 3. something easily with history as a major. Would that be a good choice considering the fact that I like it as much as I do?

 

[lord_jeebus]

yes, go for it

 

[GoodmanBrown]

well I searched the local college I want to attend's catalog. I think History sounds good every single class they offered sounded interesting. I have always loved history. I believe I could probabley keep a high 3. something easily with history as a major. Would that be a good choice considering the fact that I like it as much as I do?

Yeah. Be sure to plan out your pre-reqs for the four years, and maybe, maybe take a biochem or A&P class (if you have time). But yeah, your major goals should be to 1) have fun, 2) do well, 3) prepare your med school app. (This includes pre-reqs, any extra classes, and all the standard ECs like shadowing, volunteering, leadership, & research.)