Majors

[bor0101]

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If admissions offices look at your program, what will they think if say you double majored in math/physiology as opposed to just taking an honours math or an honours physiology? I can give you a hint that in the joint math/physio program you take only the undergrad level courses, and none of them are difficult, but in the honours programs you go more in depth and take the graduate courses... For example in physiology at my school, you have "conferences" in most of the advanced courses, that is where you prepare reports for class and discuss them with your professor and other students, and the finals may involve a term paper or essays(while in some of the lower core courses, most tests are multiple choice). In math, the graduate courses just involve a lot of analysis...

Also what stereotypes do the med schools have about the various depts? i.e. if you have the same gpa, 3.6, will they think you would have a lower or a higher gpa if you had taken another major, if so tell me about their thoughts on the following: anatomy&cell bio, biochemistry, physics, math, physiology, general biology? Thanks.

Also another thing, in anatomy, physiology, etc you have a 9month project course, woth about 9 credits, and a good chance to have a paper published. Math on the other hand is special for having no projects and no labs!

 

[Gleevec]

adcoms dont have enough time to look into that kind of detail. i would imagine double major or honors is likely to impress however. they wont be thinking much about the other stuff, since they dont know the specific curricula at each school

med schools really dont have stereotypes of majors, they usually want a diversity of interests. they do have stereotypes of schools however (ie grade inflation, difficulty of classes etc).

in the end it doesnt matter what you major in as long as you do well in it, since GPA matters a lot more than what major you decided on pursuing.

 

[bor0101]

Thanks, but if they look over your transcript it's very easy to see.
For example double major: the classes are all 200 or 300 level except for a few other lame courses at 400.
But in honours program there are lots of graduate courses at the 500level.

 

[Gleevec]

Originally posted by bor0101
Thanks, but if they look over your transcript it's very easy to see.
For example double major: the classes are all 200 or 300 level except for a few other lame courses at 400.
But in honours program there are lots of graduate courses at the 500level.

You assume that they
1. Look at the transcripts for anything other than GPA and major verification
2. Know what 200 or 300 or 400 or 500 level means. Numbering differs so much depending on schools. Its true they might assume 400>300, but they wont know by how much, so they arent likely to care.

And then you assume that they care about the transcript beyond knowing that you fulfilled prereqs.

 

[PhysicsDoc]

I would hope that medschools might recognize the difference in difficulty between Math/Phys/Engineering majors and a Psych major.

 

[mmapcpro]

I started out in a math/physics major in one school (84 credits)...

took phys1&2, calc1,2,3, diff.eq, vector calc, engineering statics, engineering drawing, cad, compsci1,2, scientific programming in c, among other courses...

but they have no bio classes, so I am transferring to another university where I'm taking bio1&2, chem1,2, organic1,2, molecular cell bio, microbiology, biochemistry, genetics, histology, physiology, and anatomy...

but in the end, I'll have a degree called, Liberal Studies...

does that look lame to admissions?

I could take an extra 3-4 classes and get the biology degree...but is it worth it?

 

[bor0101]

Then it seems like math&physiology is the best choice for me. Since the classes are less deep than even a regular math or physio major, and i still get free 9 credits to do research, and get a paper published. And of course the physio classes would prepare me for the mcat better.

But then, i myself have much more respect for math/physics. Because for example my father is 50+ and he can do all my homework, etc My mom used to be a biologist ph.d and she wouldnt even help me with the high school bio or chem, because all that you learn in these subjects you forget very quickly... While my father can derive any formula that newton derived.

 

[Chet Rogers]

Originally posted by mmapcpro
I started out in a math/physics major in one school (84 credits)...

took phys1&2, calc1,2,3, diff.eq, vector calc, engineering statics, engineering drawing, cad, compsci1,2, scientific programming in c, among other courses...

but they have no bio classes, so I am transferring to another university where I'm taking bio1&2, chem1,2, organic1,2, molecular cell bio, microbiology, biochemistry, genetics, histology, physiology, and anatomy...

but in the end, I'll have a degree called, Liberal Studies...

does that look lame to admissions?

I could take an extra 3-4 classes and get the biology degree...but is it worth it?

I'm pursueing a liberal studies degree, with mostly all the upper level sci classes, with some humanities and required classes. I'm not doing biotech or biology, because I am not interested in learning about plants.