Majors thst are good to have going into medical school?

[Raul-7]

Hey everyone. I am currently a freshman biology major and I wanted to ask if there's any other major I should consider which would help me succeed in medical school? I'm great at biology, but I think biochemistry is my weakness. Will that eventually lead to my downfall in med school?

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[FrkyBgStok]

the best major for medical is the one you like the most. if you major in biochem and you hate it and do bad it will severly hurt your chances in med school, but if you choose theater (and get your reqs) and ace it than you will have a great chance. choose a major that you would love if medical school wasn't an option.

 

[DrFeelgoodMD]

I agree, you should choose something that you enjoy doing...I was a bio major for 2 years struggling to stay motivated. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the material, but I just didnt see myself doing it for 4 years and then another 4 in medical school. I changed to psych which I love after taking an intro course and I am not only enjoying everyday I go to class, but succeeding in the course work as well. The take home: spend undergrad work doing what you love doing!!

J

 

[njbmd]

Hey everyone. I am currently a freshman biology major and I wanted to ask if there's any other major I should consider which would help me succeed in medical school? I'm great at biology, but I think biochemistry is my weakness. Will that eventually lead to my downfall in med school?

Hi there,
You can major in anything that you like/love as long as you have the pre-med courses. You need to do well in your coursework and therefore majoring in something that you like will greatly increase your chances of doing well.

Success in medical school is dependent on the individual and not the major. You need to have a solid knowledge of your pre-med courses and be able to appy that knowledge to problem-solving on the MCAT. In medical school, you will need to learn and apply large volumes of information in a short period of time. For this, you need good study habits and discipline. If you are a crammer in undergraduate, you are not going to be able to use this method successfully in medical school.

It is also good to have something besides science and medicine in your life. Try to round-out your undergraduate experience by joining organizations of interest (not to attempt to impress an admissions committee) and doing some meaningful volunteer work (greek organizations are good at this).

If you love biology, stay with it and do very well. It is probably the most popular major among pre-meds so you may encounter some pretty malignant pre-med personality types. Ignore them and run your own race. If you find that you love English literature, then take some courses in English literature and enjoy yourself. Again, the most impressive medical school candidate is one who presents with demonstrated academic success, good MCAT scores and some evidence of interest in their fellow human beings as evidenced by meaningful extra-curricular activities. You also need to shadow a physician or two so that you know how the profession works.

People fail in medical school because something (illness, distractions, poor study habits) do not permit them to put the proper study time needed to master the material. Biochemistry is no more difficult than anatomy or microbiology. It is all about study and mastery.

Enjoy your learning and enjoy your undergraduate experience!
njbmd

If I had it to do over and knew that I would have ended up in medicine, I would have majored in American studies and minored in Spanish. Both would have been more useful than my Biology/Analytical Chemistry double major with Physics and Math as minors.

 

[Raul-7]

I really do enjoy biology; it comes natural to me - I guess because I was always interested in nature ever since I was young. The only problem is I do not know if I really want to go to medical school; I mean the benefits are great but I'm not sure thats what I wil enjoy doing. Research seems great but the benefits are not that great. Unless of course theres a practioner that actually has an enjoyable and exciting job; I mean I find anesthesiology
boring, while radiology seems really exciting. Anyone have advice? I know the logical thing is to do something I enjoy, which is what I want to do, but I want to know if theres an enjoyable profession in medicine? Thanks

 

[DrBowtie]

Don't be a bio undergrad. You will need the space in your brain for memorizing facts in med school rather than useless facts in undergrad.

 

[jebus]

Research seems great but the benefits are not that great. Unless of course theres a practioner that actually has an enjoyable and exciting job; I mean I find anesthesiology boring, while radiology seems really exciting. Anyone have advice? I know the logical thing is to do something I enjoy, which is what I want to do, but I want to know if theres an enjoyable profession in medicine? Thanks

I know a guy whose son is a first year resident in Radiology. He had his choice at a few great hospitals around the country (Stanford, the U o' Washington, etc.) and went somewhere else and he hates his job. He totally regrets it because it's woefully boring. Go figure. I always thought Radiology was like the holy grail of specialties, too.
As far as research, my brother is a post-doc at Harvard. As a first year post-doc he's procured over 200K annually in grants. He was doing stem cell research (his PI is an HHMI investigator so they aren't using federal funds) but now he's not. He's quitting and going into law because he says there's no future in research in the US. Just a heads up.

 

[letmein!please?]

Don't be a bio undergrad. You will need the space in your brain for memorizing facts in med school rather than useless facts in undergrad.

hahaha, thats the impression Im getting in my bio class now. I have to do 7 to 10-page prelabs free written on carbon paper...grrrr

 

[Raul-7]

I'm thinking of applying to medical school outside of the US, then returning here for specialization, training and expierence. That way I won't need to waste 4 years of my life focusing on a degree, then still have to "kiss @$$" to push my way into medical school. I plan on going to the Royal College of Surgeons; any more advice?

Why would radiology be boring? You utilize radiation for treating cancer and you analyze and recommend treatments. I'm also interested in gastronology, but I wonder how exciting that would be.

 

[FrkyBgStok]

if i could do it all again, i would major in physics, but too late now.

 

[S@xplayer]

Don't be a bio undergrad. You will need the space in your brain for memorizing facts in med school rather than useless facts in undergrad.

I like most of your posts Brett, but I disagree. Of course, it is all a matter of personal opinion haha, I love biology, and all the facts. I also had a "stress" relief major in music.... that I dropped to a minor later in school as it wasn't worth my time finishing as a major. All the time spent in the music buildings was a good "break" from science.

 

[dr.z]

I think majoring in any subject is fine as long as you prepare well for MCAT, and you do well in the pre-reqs.

 

[jon stewart]

Don't be a bio undergrad. You will need the space in your brain for memorizing facts in med school rather than useless facts in undergrad.

haha thats right, im a bio major and so far thats all i have done. Its just memorizing random junk over and over again....and it makes me think that i should change since so far i have gotten all A's (one b+) in my chem classes and all B's in my bio classes until this term, where i got a C...... I wonder if chemsitry is where i should be going..........

 

[QuikClot]

Why would radiology be boring? You utilize radiation for treating cancer and you analyze and recommend treatments. I'm also interested in gastronology, but I wonder how exciting that would be.

Where's the blood? Where are the broken limbs, tripoding asthma patients, septic grandmothers? Where's the frantic search for an IV, the rush of pushing paralytics and knowing your intubation attempt has just taken away the patient's ability to breath on their own? And the airway is full of blood and teeth, and the patient's neck is the size of a fire hydrant?

On the other hand, maybe sitting in the dark with some films would be nice.

 

[QuikClot]

if i could do it all again, i would major in physics, but too late now.

Do what you love. Really. Statistically speaking, the best undergrad major would be English. Best MCATs and best boards. Pick something you like and excel at it. The people who regret biology regret it because they never liked it to begin with -- they saw it as a way into med school. Your pre-req.s, GPA, EC and MCAT are your way into med school; not your major.

As someone who's had a lot of education, my advice would be: you're in it for the long haul, use what freedom you have. There will be plenty of decisions that will be made for you on the basis of achieving your career goals -- know which ones they are, and don't throw away the flexibility you still have.

 

[jbone]

I changed my major mid-way through my junior year because I was faced with the reality of not getting into medical school and having a degree in Zoology. (not to many job offerings) So I switched. I jumped into Clinical Laboratory Sciences and loved it. It was so much more "relevant" to what I wanted to do...medicine. Not only that, but I have been working as a licensed Medical Technologist in the laboratory of a great children's hospital for the last 2 years gaining clinical experience. Even better... getting paid well for it . You need to remember that laboratory work makes up about 80% of what doctors do in treating a patient. We are a vital component in the whole process. Just thought I'd add my two bits. Every medical school I have interviewed at thus far have been really impressed with my major and employment. Good luck.

 

[91Bravo]

If I could do it all over again, I'd major in Spanish and minor in biology.

 

[DropkickMurphy]

Personally I highly recommend mortuary science and health care administration

 

[.edu-MD]

.

 

[scpod]

Do what you love. Really. Statistically speaking, the best undergrad major would be English. Best MCATs and best boards.

No, statistically speaking the best two majors for MCAT's are Math/Statistics and Physical Sciences. Just do what you want.

 

[Lonestar]

sex education

 

[williamChenry]

i am enrolled in a new major at my school called Technology Studies. which is a broad study of technology influenced classes.....could there be a problem with that being my major?

 

[happydays]

Choosing a major is like finding a husband/wife: you have to like him/her, and she/he has to like you.

Choose a major that you're good at AND enjoy.

 

[williamChenry]

are there any that med schools will look down on though or don't accept

 

[Tranquility]

I am so glad I saw this question!! I was wondering the same thing!!
I got my AAS in Medical TEchnology and I feel that was an excellant pre req for medical school. Doctors do not get a very good outline of laboratory medicine, so Im glad I got that behind me. But now I need to get a BA/BS before I can move on and I didnt know what to choose (finishing MT wasnt worth it because of long internships) So, Im considering Microbiology.
What did most people here major in besides Bio??
I also used the outlook that WHAT IF for some reason I decide NOT to continue on to medical school..(who knows, things come up) I will at least try to finish with a major that can get me a job, and from what I have seen, Bio majors have a really tough time with that.....

 

[PhDtoDO]

I'm a bit older to say the least....

And many schools look for diversity ie not all cell or biochem majors. I was bio, but I focused on ecology and evolution with a lot of physical anthropology.

I've known latin majors to get huge scholarships...Tulane likes musicians, my ex was a business major and a serious computer geek...who happened to play the sax.

Study what you like in college. Because you'll get all the bio etc you can handle in med school. Yeh, some times having had biochem before might help...but I suck at it and always will.

Trust me, I've known every kind of major even drama or history majors.....they all got in and did very well I might add.

Just my opinion.

-s

 

[happydays]

to answer "if a certain major is looked down upon":

It's only looked down upon if it spelled major basket weaving, meaning if you major in something along the line of flipping pan-cakes or "general studies" (a major where you take random classes and graduate).

If you're learning a subject that you love in a indepth manner AND doing well in your science pre-reqs, then you're golden.

 

[thirdunity]

Bio major here.

*BUT*

1) I love biology.
2) Practically any other thing that I'm looking into, other than "doctor", has the same prerequisites.
3) I'm non-trad and don't want to spend the rest of my life in school. Which is what I'd probably be doing if I majored in something else. Bio at Davis covers most of the bases for the med prerequisites.
4) If I don't go into medicine, I can see myself as some sort of scientist, science writer or teacher. So bio is fine for my purposes.

 

[Dr. MAXY]

Literature, History or Humanities.