Music Major 66% Chance of MD Acceptance!!!

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That or it has more people who don't really know what they're doing applying. Chances are pretty good that a music major applying to med school has done a decent amount of research on the subject. I know quite a few people (like, say, me) who jumped into a science major because it sounded like a good idea for a future in the health professions but didn't have much logic for doing so beyond that.

There could be some people who don't want to stay longer so they just major in science. As another post said, you have to do extra practices as well as those classes. Also if you can afford to take extra classes, then by all means do the music.

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Some thoughts:

Small numbers can skew data. If there are 2 and 3 get in, you've got 66%. Add two more poor candidates and suddenly you drop to 40%.

BCPM reflects performance in the pre-req courses regardless of whether ones other courses were Music, Psychology, Anthropology, English or Economics. I guess someone who does poorly on additional science courses (P-Chem) can wreck their science gpa. That's a down side to a chem major. I'm sure there is a comparable requirement for Bio, Physics and Math majors.

Do keep in mind that practice and rehearsals are a huge time sink for music majors and they do have to work extra hard to find time for volunteering, shadowing, etc.

Amen!

My schedule from my sophomore year:

 
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I will never understand the semester system.
 
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Music is really tough to do in University.
Gotta be diploma level, more or less performer level.
Take really hard theory and history courses.

Gosh. wouldnt be able to do it.
I only like the fun part of playing music... not theory and history...

Good job to those music majors
 
I don't really get what's so bad about this schedule?
Include 3+ hours of practicing per day in addition and it becomes a real bear (my fiancée was a horn/music ed. major, did more work than I ever did as a pre-med).

And don't forget evening ensembles and dress rehearsals. Yikes!
 
I don't really get what's so bad about this schedule?

And thats cut off at 2pm... I couldn't fit another ensemble on Tue/Thurs at 5, my chemistry lab at 7 on tuesday, my lesson on Tuesdays at 4... Honors Brass Quintet at 7 on Thursday...

And yes its the practicing... the random concerts during midterm and final week... the extra rehearsals... a social life...

If there is any advantage at all to being a music major, it would be that it teaches you how to manage your time.
 
My first thought was the same as MilkmanAl's. It seems like the vast majority of people in my biochemistry class (for majors) are pre-medical, but I can tell you that many of them are not even doing great in this class and are certainly not prepared for medical school. Nonetheless, some of them have probably always wanted to be a doctor, and so they will apply anyway, and some of them will get denied.

If you're a music major who is deciding to apply to medical school it seems much more likely that you're doing so because you're very qualified and, as Narmer pointed out, you're already ahead of many clueless pre-meds in your understanding that majoring in a science is unnecessary.

There may be some actual causation too, don't get me wrong. Being well rounded is good, and having a major that clearly reflects that is probably helpful.

I'm not sure who thinks that biochemistry would be an easier path to medical school. As LizzyM mentioned, p-chem is an incredibly hard class, and you'll find classes like that in other chemistry, physics, and math majors. I think biology is significantly easier than chem, phys, math, or biochem because all of the classes are memorization and/or conceptual, not so much calculation.

Of course this all just depends on people's strengths, but it's my opinion that a biology major is a series of similarly structured classes (memorization) whereas those other science majors are more diverse in their structure (memorization vs. calculation, at least).

Personally, I chose to become a biochemistry major because a) I only had two years at a university and had to take organic chem during my junior year and b) of the majors available to me in that time frame, biochemistry seemed by far the most interesting. I think I'd have chosen it even if I'd had four full years at my school.

Choosing a specific major because it is statistically more successful is logically backwards. People who choose to to become music majors are people who, for whatever reason, are more likely to be accepted to a med school, should they apply. They possess those desirable traits before they choose a major, and those traits lead them to music. Choosing music just because of it's success in this regard does not magically grant you those traits, and I would argue that being a person who chooses a major exclusively because of your belief that it will help you get into med school is a very undesirable personality trait.

I agree and your post is very well said, it takes a special person/traits to major in music, I think its a gift because I miraculously started playing the piano early in my childhood (6 or 7) and now I have written many songs and I'm nearly perfect at it. I am not your average thinking guy either (I wonder does that have something to do with my music background:shrug: )
 
(note this paragraph is only based on BCH at my school, but I assume it's similar elsewhere)
Yep. BCH covers every prereq as part of the curriculum without having to take anything extra, plus there's time for electives. Like I said, the easy way. At my school, they even have a dumbed-down 1-semester version of PChem for the BCH majors and hook up all the BCH kids with guaranteed lab experience. It's really pre-med with a more marketable name for those who don't get in. Granted, sometimes I wish I had done BCH -- ChemE is kicking my butt this semester and I probably (hopefully) won't even end up using my degree!



I don't believe I implied music was an easy way, sorry if I did. I have a couple friends who are music majors and I know how much work it is. Not only that, but one of them is also a dual-major with CivE (he's taking 5? years)--now THAT is legit!

I've heard stories of sight-singing and other such music classes. I know it would be hard for me, for sure =)

Understood now, and yes sight singing is NO JOKE.
 
i really don't see just because these ppl managed to get a good score on MCAT how they are more qualified in any way than someone who is a science major and has good GPA and MCAT similar to theirs.

I really dont see how they correlate their success in medical school over someone who is a science major and has proven success with good GPA because med school is all going to b science related.

with that said, no music major does not make u smarter, does not make u cooler, does not do u anything except great u can now sing. and singing or playing an instrument requires real talent so most of them r fails in their major and kinda have to switch major.

someone above said that small numbers can skew data. i kno u music majors managed to ignore that but thats prolly the reason. and NO ur not smart sorry

I think you may have a little mix up as to what med schools are about. Yes medical school is science related, but, A little scenario here: I strongly doubt if a woman wants to see a gynecologist who knows only "science" examining her, she wants a human being that is well rounded doctor who knows his science and has good bedside manners. Adcoms don't admit all science majors for this reason. We would probably be a little creeped out if all doctors were science majors. (I'm a science major so I'm not saying that science majors aren't well rounded, but there are many science geeks who only communicate with books instead of friends and family but want to become doctors, any major actually but science is the big one) med schools aren't having that, they don't want you to know "just science" or be only "smart" going to medical school.

alright, let me get my bullet proof vest.:whoa:

Before you go bashing those with artistic talent, perhaps you should consider their value as a whole in the very diverse field of medicine, which is very scientifically, socially, emotionally, and creatively driven. Another suggestion would be to learn how to communicate via the written word.

I agree
 
As somebody already said, I suppose all of you "music majors" never took statistics

protip: most of the richest people in the world never finished college, so i suggest you drop out right now
 
I think I can be of help here as I doubled majored in music and physiology and can fairly compare the two.
I can't say the physiology taught me much more than physiology (fascinating stuff I might add) and how to do well on MC tests. The music major, on the other hand, required me to think differently. Also, working one-on-one with a very highly trained individual (private music lessons) isn't something you get in sciences generally. I work in a lab as well, but my interactions with my PI don't really compare. I think that committing to high-level music performance requires great personal attributes and is a solid character-building process. I'm not sure I can say the same for undergraduate science classes...though I love them!

The practice of medicine probably has more in common with the practice of music than it does with basic science courses!


That was actually the main point of my personal statement. One of my music professors once said "Don't practice something until you don't mess up, practice something until you CAN'T mess up" it seems like that would be a good mentality to have in the practice of medicine as well.
 
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I think you may have a little mix up as to what med schools are about. Yes medical school is science related, but, A little scenario here: I strongly doubt if a woman wants to see a gynecologist who knows only "science" examining her, she wants a human being that is well rounded doctor who knows his science and has good bedside manners. Adcoms don't admit all science majors for this reason. We would probably be a little creeped out if all doctors were science majors. (I'm a science major so I'm not saying that science majors aren't well rounded, but there are many science geeks who only communicate with books instead of friends and family but want to become doctors, any major actually but science is the big one) med schools aren't having that, they don't want you to know "just science" or be only "smart" going to medical school.

alright, let me get my bullet proof vest.:whoa:

woow ur assuming too many things which are not correct. just because ur majoring in something outside of science does not mean ur well rounded and u would be a great doctor. what u major in is irrelevent to how well of a doctor ur going to be. I am sorry but being a major outside of science doesnt give u good manners like u said above and does not make u well rounded. those who performed well in science can just as well go out and do well in other things. with that said ur post is a fail.

i m sorry to tell u ppl that art and medicine do not go together. Medicine is science and science is not art. fail again. and to someone who said above NO music and science are no way related. yea sure u can entertain ur patient that is if u become a doctor if thats wut u mean.

In regards to comments made earlier about my english, this is not a effin paper that i m gonea turn in. i dont think ur worth the time i got that i m gonea check wut i type for u.

if anyone want to post a reply to this, u fail before u even start replying .
 
woow ur assuming too many things which are not correct. just because ur majoring in something outside of science does not mean ur well rounded and u would be a great doctor. what u major in is irrelevent to how well of a doctor ur going to be. I am sorry but being a major outside of science doesnt give u good manners like u said above and does not make u well rounded. those who performed well in science can just as well go out and do well in other things. with that said ur post is a fail.

i m sorry to tell u ppl that art and medicine do not go together. Medicine is science and science is not art. fail again. and to someone who said above NO music and science are no way related. yea sure u can entertain ur patient that is if u become a doctor if thats wut u mean.

In regards to comments made earlier about my english, this is not a effin paper that i m gonea turn in. i dont think ur worth the time i got that i m gonea check wut i type for u.

if anyone want to post a reply to this, u fail before u even start replying .

That's usually the excuse for essentially writing in another language. It's so hard to read this new generation's interpretation of English. If you have to put forth a lot more effort to edit good writing, then you will be wasting a lot of time writing consult letters and other professional documents if it does not come at all naturally to you. Good habits are good habits, regardless of the situation.

And being sloppy and cutting corners are GREAT habits.
 
woow ur assuming too many things which are not correct. just because ur majoring in something outside of science does not mean ur well rounded and u would be a great doctor. what u major in is irrelevent to how well of a doctor ur going to be. I am sorry but being a major outside of science doesnt give u good manners like u said above and does not make u well rounded. those who performed well in science can just as well go out and do well in other things. with that said ur post is a fail.

i m sorry to tell u ppl that art and medicine do not go together. Medicine is science and science is not art. fail again. and to someone who said above NO music and science are no way related. yea sure u can entertain ur patient that is if u become a doctor if thats wut u mean.

In regards to comments made earlier about my english, this is not a effin paper that i m gonea turn in. i dont think ur worth the time i got that i m gonea check wut i type for u.

if anyone want to post a reply to this, u fail before u even start replying .

when people can't understand what you're saying, they just ignore it and don't take you seriously, no matter what you're trying to communicate.
 
woow ur assuming too many things which are not correct. just because ur majoring in something outside of science does not mean ur well rounded and u would be a great doctor. what u major in is irrelevent to how well of a doctor ur going to be. I am sorry but being a major outside of science doesnt give u good manners like u said above and does not make u well rounded. those who performed well in science can just as well go out and do well in other things. with that said ur post is a fail.

i m sorry to tell u ppl that art and medicine do not go together. Medicine is science and science is not art. fail again. and to someone who said above NO music and science are no way related. yea sure u can entertain ur patient that is if u become a doctor if thats wut u mean.

In regards to comments made earlier about my english, this is not a effin paper that i m gonea turn in. i dont think ur worth the time i got that i m gonea check wut i type for u.

if anyone want to post a reply to this, u fail before u even start replying .

LOLWUT?! When you graduate junior high, we'll talk. :laugh:

(If I understood much of anything you were trying to express there, it was all wrong. That much I can say. However, once you finish 8th grade English, I might be a little more confident as to the meaning of the pseudo-random sequence of letters you typed.)
 
woow ur assuming too many things which are not correct. just because ur majoring in something outside of science does not mean ur well rounded and u would be a great doctor. what u major in is irrelevent to how well of a doctor ur going to be. I am sorry but being a major outside of science doesnt give u good manners like u said above and does not make u well rounded. those who performed well in science can just as well go out and do well in other things. with that said ur post is a fail.

i m sorry to tell u ppl that art and medicine do not go together. Medicine is science and science is not art. fail again. and to someone who said above NO music and science are no way related. yea sure u can entertain ur patient that is if u become a doctor if thats wut u mean.

In regards to comments made earlier about my english, this is not a effin paper that i m gonea turn in. i dont think ur worth the time i got that i m gonea check wut i type for u.

if anyone want to post a reply to this, u fail before u even start replying .

Judging people for no reason is a great habit too.

You're failing to realize what people in this thread are saying....that being a music major teaches you skills that will help you make it through med school; such as practicing until you make NO mistakes, time management, et cetera. Nobody's claiming that just because a physician can play the piano that it makes him a better physician or that he'll somehow understand all the science better (although there may be research into this...). It's that there is some overlap between the skills required to become a physician and the skills required to become an accomplished musician.
 
I just can't believe someone as immature as coldblood is even considering the career of a physician. Someone who says stupid things, can't communicate, and tries to insult people without understanding the argument, even dreams of a career where they deal almost exclusively with the general public? Do they even like people? Like he truly doesn't understand, success as a physician has a lot to do with how your patients view your interaction. It is not just "who is the best science student." *sigh*
 
Judging people for no reason is a great habit too.

You're failing to realize what people in this thread are saying....that being a music major teaches you skills that will help you make it through med school; such as practicing until you make NO mistakes, time management, et cetera. Nobody's claiming that just because a physician can play the piano that it makes him a better physician or that he'll somehow understand all the science better (although there may be research into this...). It's that there is some overlap between the skills required to become a physician and the skills required to become an accomplished musician.


Exactly.

As for that research... yes, there has been quite a bit of research on how musical training improves brain function and so forth (and certainly the networking aspects of "doing" music as well as the on-stage aspects do teach one how to confidently approach others, present to a public audience, etc., which can all be helpful in the many social interactions in which physicians take part). Whether or not musically-trained physicians are "better" is a bit of a vague question, really, because it would be so difficult to operationally define what a "better physician" looks like. Still, I am confident that many of the skills we learn as musicians [can] translate to success in medical training and practice as others have pointed out.
 
some of you might be interested in this article:
http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v8/n9/pdf/nn1516.pdf

if link doesn't work then u can search for it
Extensive piano practicing has regionally specific effects on white matter development
Sara L Bengtsson1, Zolta´n Nagy1,2, Stefan Skare2, Lea Forsman1,
Hans Forssberg1 & Fredrik Ulle´n1

any activity that stimulates the brain is gona be beneficial in whatever career u choose, this can be through music, chess, math/logic, science research or any other activity that stimulates the brain-just my $.02
 
There obviously is selection bias in this data, but if you think about it, music lends itself to a lot of the same behavior that good doctors have.

Practice and training.
Intense Focus
Dedication
etc.
 
Definitely. I have a pre-med music major friend who is busier than I am as a chemistry major. Yeah, I have time-consuming labs and lab reports, but she's constantly going from rehearsal, to practicing, private lesson, recital, practicing, chamber, dress rehearsal, concert, and back to practicing. The good ones practice up to 6-10+ hours a day. It wears you out, physically and emotionally.

Now add all of the pre-med stuff on top of that.

I don't know any music majors that half-ass their way through their major. They do it because they love it.

Just corrected the bolded above from personal experience.

Some musicians practice to the point of physical injury. It is not uncommon.

As far as this topic is concerned I will just say this: anyone willing to major in ANY subject that does not already cover the pre-reqs for medical school is likely to be pretty driven since the amount of work necessary to actually get what you need for the MCAT, pre-reqs, and additional EC's is a hell of a lot of work for anyone, but ESPECIALLY for someone with ZERO collegiate background knowledge going in.

I am a musician and former music teacher, but I don't even buy the "music MAKES you smarter argument." That is a load of crock promoted by instrument companies and teachers afraid of losing their jobs in the next round of school budget cuts.

What is true is that intelligent, well-rounded people are likely (and this is my hypothesis, of course) to be attracted to music and other artistic forms of expression...or have intelligent parents that see the value of allowing children outlets in sports, academics, AND the arts.
 
There obviously is selection bias in this data, but if you think about it, music lends itself to a lot of the same behavior that good doctors have.

Practice and training.
Intense Focus
Dedication
etc.

I have heard many physicians make the comment that music is VERY similar to medicine for just the above reasons. And it is very elightening to find out the musical (AND ATHLETIC!) backgrounds of the most accomplished physicians. There are important life lessons taught in the arts that translate well to both science and medicine, in my very biased opinion.
 
Biochem major, music minor. Best of both worlds baby!
 
This thread has been a good read for me, as I am a piano performance major getting my degree from a conservatory, but looking to apply to med school soon. I'm taking my prereqs at Tufts.

One huge problem for me is that my pre-med classes feel like my "ECs".I have no time to do any kind of exracurricular research, or extensive shadowing and volunteering. At my school, we are being trained to be professional musicians, and we are expected to perform in concerts and meet the expectations of the faculty in a promotional performance every semester. This on top of the hours of practicing and music history/theory classes. These things are suppose to be my main priorities. However, since I decided to pursue medicine, I've had to carry the weight of studying for the MCAT and getting all As in my sciences. Note that I am not in any kind of formal "dual-degree like" program, and my pre-med activities are independent from my musical career. I haven't left music school because even though I found a new passion, my goals in music haven't changed... in fact, it was music that ultimately influenced my perception of science and medicine in the first place.

Will I be frowned upon for not having as much research or clinical experience as the biochem majors? I honestly feel like I hardly have time to sleep every night, let alone do research work... Also, for what it's worth, I do have about 250 hours of volunteer work in an ER/Recovery room, and I have shadowed surgeons during that time.
 
I think you may have a little mix up as to what med schools are about. Yes medical school is science related, but, A little scenario here: I strongly doubt if a woman wants to see a gynecologist who knows only "science" examining her, she wants a human being that is well rounded doctor who knows his science and has good bedside manners. Adcoms don't admit all science majors for this reason. We would probably be a little creeped out if all doctors were science majors. (I'm a science major so I'm not saying that science majors aren't well rounded, but there are many science geeks who only communicate with books instead of friends and family but want to become doctors, any major actually but science is the big one) med schools aren't having that, they don't want you to know "just science" or be only "smart" going to medical school.
You're playing on the stereotype that people who are interested in science are socially inept and/or removed from thinking about life and people in a caring, compassionate manner. While we could argue that stereotypes exist for a reason, I find what you've said to be a bit insulting. It's as if you're insinuating that a science-based person is less compassionate, less capable of connecting with people than a non-science person. Since you claim that you're a science major yourself I can only imagine that I'm jumping to conclusions, or perhaps that you didn't mean it that way.

It isn't that adcoms don't admit "all science majors for this reason" - they don't discriminate. It doesn't matter what area you studied in, if you're rude and demonstrate a lack of compassion or caring, you're out (or should be - some seem to be able to fake it well enough and get into medical school, although whether that's a terrible thing or not is another point of debate).

There's no major that teaches you manners, communication, empathy, and common courtesy. Just as there are socially inept science nerds, I guarantee you that there are socially inept musicians. Why are we generalizing here?

You're failing to realize what people in this thread are saying....that being a music major teaches you skills that will help you make it through med school; such as practicing until you make NO mistakes, time management, et cetera.
The above post has put me into an argumentative mood, so forgive me for this one: If you tried to practice until you made "no mistakes" you'd never make it through medical school. It's practically impossible to have a flawless performance. That's not really the point of medical school. And while you may be right about time management, there seems to be an assumption in this thread that music majors were somehow shorter on time than any other program of study. They were playing music; people in other subject areas were in the library. Again, it's probably unintentional, but I perceive this all to be an invalidation of the hard work and time constraints that everyone else faced.

Nobody's claiming that just because a physician can play the piano that it makes him a better physician or that he'll somehow understand all the science better (although there may be research into this...). It's that there is some overlap between the skills required to become a physician and the skills required to become an accomplished musician.
What you may be referring to is the fact that practicing music requires extended periods of deep concentration. Research indicates that children who play an instrument are less likely to develop ADHD than children who do not play an instrument. So yes, it's very possible that playing an instrument prepares your mind for deep study.

But that's about where it ends, in my opinion. Time management, concentration, drive to learn - all of these things can be found in other areas of study, I guarantee you. I'm sorry if I'm raining on the parade of music majors who just want to pat each other on the back, but let's just respect that every area of study was difficult in its own ways, and none give any particular advantage over another when it comes to being able to produce a good doctor. (Except, perhaps, those that crush a sense of humility into you.)
 
Abstract thinking? Yes, music entails thinking abstractly. Physical Chemistry has required plenty of abstract thinking too.
 
I'm starting a music major next year (piano). When I first got here, I didn't think that I would enjoy practicing 4 hours a day, blah blah blah. But I ended up practicing 6 hours some days, until four in the morning! It's something I love and I won't survive if I ignore pursuing music seriously for another year. It's the environment; I love to be around it.

Most music majors here double major, and a lot of them are pre-med. An oboe player, last year, scored one of highest MCAT scores in my university's history! (He wouldn't tell us what it was, lol.... But I can only assume, 44 or 45. :))
 
This thread has been a good read for me, as I am a piano performance major getting my degree from a conservatory, but looking to apply to med school soon. I'm taking my prereqs at Tufts.

One huge problem for me is that my pre-med classes feel like my "ECs".I have no time to do any kind of exracurricular research, or extensive shadowing and volunteering. At my school, we are being trained to be professional musicians, and we are expected to perform in concerts and meet the expectations of the faculty in a promotional performance every semester. This on top of the hours of practicing and music history/theory classes. These things are suppose to be my main priorities. However, since I decided to pursue medicine, I've had to carry the weight of studying for the MCAT and getting all As in my sciences. Note that I am not in any kind of formal "dual-degree like" program, and my pre-med activities are independent from my musical career. I haven't left music school because even though I found a new passion, my goals in music haven't changed... in fact, it was music that ultimately influenced my perception of science and medicine in the first place.

Will I be frowned upon for not having as much research or clinical experience as the biochem majors? I honestly feel like I hardly have time to sleep every night, let alone do research work... Also, for what it's worth, I do have about 250 hours of volunteer work in an ER/Recovery room, and I have shadowed surgeons during that time.

lack of research will not affect you in any meaningful way. The ER of the local hospital is a great place to do volunteer work as it can be setup as something on weekends/nights, basically around your schedule. Shadowing IMO is overestimated so I would not worry about that.
 
I think you may have a little mix up as to what med schools are about. Yes medical school is science related, but, A little scenario here: I strongly doubt if a woman wants to see a gynecologist who knows only "science" examining her, she wants a human being that is well rounded doctor who knows his science and has good bedside manners. Adcoms don't admit all science majors for this reason. We would probably be a little creeped out if all doctors were science majors. (I'm a science major so I'm not saying that science majors aren't well rounded, but there are many science geeks who only communicate with books instead of friends and family but want to become doctors, any major actually but science is the big one) med schools aren't having that, they don't want you to know "just science" or be only "smart" going to medical school.

alright, let me get my bullet proof vest.:whoa:



I agree

woow ur assuming too many things which are not correct. just because ur majoring in something outside of science does not mean ur well rounded and u would be a great doctor. what u major in is irrelevent to how well of a doctor ur going to be. I am sorry but being a major outside of science doesnt give u good manners like u said above and does not make u well rounded. those who performed well in science can just as well go out and do well in other things. with that said ur post is a fail.

i m sorry to tell u ppl that art and medicine do not go together. Medicine is science and science is not art. fail again. and to someone who said above NO music and science are no way related. yea sure u can entertain ur patient that is if u become a doctor if thats wut u mean.

In regards to comments made earlier about my english, this is not a effin paper that i m gonea turn in. i dont think ur worth the time i got that i m gonea check wut i type for u.

if anyone want to post a reply to this, u fail before u even start replying .

Before High School students who can't spell (they're easy to pick out because of their immature, irrelevant, grammatically incorrect posts) post on SDN please read the posts fully before posting argumentative responses.

Its obvious that you have no clue on medical school, the application process and adcoms by the dumb post you have above.

My bold text above, from my original post, proves your post to be completely irrelevant.
 
The above post has put me into an argumentative mood, so forgive me for this one: If you tried to practice until you made "no mistakes" you'd never make it through medical school. It's practically impossible to have a flawless performance. That's not really the point of medical school. And while you may be right about time management, there seems to be an assumption in this thread that music majors were somehow shorter on time than any other program of study. They were playing music; people in other subject areas were in the library. Again, it's probably unintentional, but I perceive this all to be an invalidation of the hard work and time constraints that everyone else faced.

I think the point being made was being a music major and pre-med is generally hard to balance. The amount of time a music major spends in the classroom/rehearsal hall is generally more than any other major. In fact, I think the biggest reason most of our classes aren't 3 credit hours is because if it were more we'd go over the maximum credit hours established by FAFSA.

My music theory class, in my opinion, was harder than organic chemistry and I only received 2 credit hours for it. And although wind ensemble was only worth 1 credit (and the lab was worth zero credits, but I still had to be there), we still met for 75 minutes, 2 days a week (not including the lab on Friday).

I'm definitely not saying our curriculum was harder than any other major, but it was hard to manage time-wise. I'm not complaining about it, I enjoyed my time as a music major. I made tons of friends, had the chance to study under musicians who have amazing resumes (one is in the Cleveland Orchestra, and another was runner-up for second trumpet in the Chicago Symphony). I know no one really understands what I'm talking about at this point, but anyway... yea....
 
It might be wise to have a bit of grammar check going on, yourself, if you're going to play that card. Just sayin'.


I think I detect a grammatical error. Run a spell check before posting, that may solve your problem.
 
I think the point being made was being a music major and pre-med is generally hard to balance. The amount of time a music major spends in the classroom/rehearsal hall is generally more than any other major. In fact, I think the biggest reason most of our classes aren't 3 credit hours is because if it were more we'd go over the maximum credit hours established by FAFSA.

My music theory class, in my opinion, was harder than organic chemistry and I only received 2 credit hours for it. And although wind ensemble was only worth 1 credit (and the lab was worth zero credits, but I still had to be there), we still met for 75 minutes, 2 days a week (not including the lab on Friday).

I'm definitely not saying our curriculum was harder than any other major, but it was hard to manage time-wise. I'm not complaining about it, I enjoyed my time as a music major. I made tons of friends, had the chance to study under musicians who have amazing resumes (one is in the Cleveland Orchestra, and another was runner-up for second trumpet in the Chicago Symphony). I know no one really understands what I'm talking about at this point, but anyway... yea....
Thanks for your post. I'm mostly bothered by what I perceive as music majors claiming superiority over most other courses of study, because it's more difficult and/or because choosing music somehow inherently makes you an amazing person. Admittedly I've come to appreciate the work that music majors have to put in a bit more from this thread, but I still feel the need to ground it a bit.

I'm willing to admit that I may be overly sensitive: I was an engineering major who was burned by the curriculum. It's unfortunately somewhat common to find people like me who are bitter about the experience and resent hearing that there was any experience that could match or exceed that in terms of difficulty. I apologize if I've misconstrued anyone's statements as being more than they were meant to be.
 
Yeah, how many applicants are there and what would happen if the number of people doing that increased drastically?

I would assume if you're doing music as a major and confident enough to be applying to medical schools with the rest of the applicant pool, you're going to have stellar enough a performance all around that gave you that confidence.

i.e. if you're spending whatever number of hours practicing music AND completing your premed prereqs adequately to feel you're competitive enough to apply, you have to be genius of some sort.
 
THANK YOU. Consider the lurking variables you optimistic ninnies!

Or the confounding variable which makes it unclear what the cause is?

Besides, we don't even know the population size of "all music majors who applied to medical school"... I'd be very interested to see AMCAS put out that information... then we can talk variables.
 
Thanks for your post. I'm mostly bothered by what I perceive as music majors claiming superiority over most other courses of study, because it's more difficult and/or because choosing music somehow inherently makes you an amazing person. Admittedly I've come to appreciate the work that music majors have to put in a bit more from this thread, but I still feel the need to ground it a bit.

I'm willing to admit that I may be overly sensitive: I was an engineering major who was burned by the curriculum. It's unfortunately somewhat common to find people like me who are bitter about the experience and resent hearing that there was any experience that could match or exceed that in terms of difficulty. I apologize if I've misconstrued anyone's statements as being more than they were meant to be.

I saw that an former admissions person posted this on another forum:

"Will the med school AdComs give more weight to a 3.7 GPA in an engineering discipline as opposed to be a 3.7 in music? My experience as an admissions officer tells me that they would in general. Does that mean the engineering guy will get in and the music guy will be out on the street? Of course not. That's only one datum of an entire application filled with data."
 
lol. i dont give a damn if someone in here cant understand my damn writing. thats ur problem not mine. it is not that i cannot write well. i got an S on MCAT writing. so fail again whoever replied to my above post
 
lol. i dont give a damn if someone in here cant understand my damn writing. thats ur problem not mine. it is not that i cannot write well. i got an S on MCAT writing. so fail again whoever replied to my above post

You realize just how worthless the MCAT writing scale is right? And yes, it is your problem if no one understands your rating. Maybe if you were a better writer than your other cold-blooded cousins, people would actually care what you have to say. Best of luck at Buerrger King (as los Mexicanos would say).
 
You realize just how worthless the MCAT writing scale is right? And yes, it is your problem if no one understands your rating. Maybe if you were a better writer than your other cold-blooded cousins, people would actually care what you have to say. Best of luck at Buerrger King (as los Mexicanos would say).

doesnt matter wut u say lol. in the end deep down inside i know i m 10 times better looking than u so theres nuting u can do abt it. eat my crap english
 
I read hear:

http://www.amc-music.com/research_briefs.htm

That 66% of music majors that apply to medical schools get accepted :eek:compared to 44% of Biochemistry majors. I think that is amazing.
They supposedly score higher on the MCAT and adcoms like them because it shows that they're well rounded. Is this correct?

Are there any music majors or MD music majors out there?


What that tells me is that 3 music majors applied to med school and 2 got in, while a 100 biochem majors applied and 44 got in, 97% of the medical school class in this theoretical med school with 46 students is biochem majors, while 3% is music majors. How does that sound?
 
lol. i dont give a damn if someone in here cant understand my damn writing. thats ur problem not mine. it is not that i cannot write well. i got an S on MCAT writing. so fail again whoever replied to my above post

Oh did I hit the reply button just now? Oops. Fail on me I guess.

Music seems like it would be an awesome major. I admire anyone who has the passion to go through a program like music. It doesn't have much promise in the way of job outlook, so it seems to me like people do it because they really are passionate about it (for the most part). I think that rocks.

The sciences are awesome majors, too. I think you will be more prepared for med school in some ways if you're a bio major. But I don't think it will affect the quality of physician you will become, so that wasn't a good enough reason for me.

People get so hung up about majors. I say the absolute best major as a pre-med is YOUR MAJOR! I will not argue with you that your major is hands down the most interesting and most likely major to succeed in your medical application, as long as you're passionate about it. Because if you're passionate about it, then as far as I'm concerned you're right. It is the best major. Majors are like everything else; there's good with the bad and there's bad with the good. Worrying about which one is better than another is just silly.
 
The best major is the major that gets you the highest GPA.

I mean, we're not trying to make a career out of undergrad...
 
The best major is the major that gets you the highest GPA.

I mean, we're not trying to make a career out of undergrad...

True, but keep in mind that, *gasp*, not everyone is going to get into med school.
 
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