Music Major 66% Chance of MD Acceptance!!!

[XeReX]

Also consider:

People talented at music are often talented at math/learn math more easily (developmental stuff).

Music majors are not trying to take the "easiest way to med school" (yeah, I'm looking at you, BCH gunners)

Music majors who DO apply to medical school will probably be more likely to "do it right" because they're not buying the BS of advisors who say "you have to do xxxx science major or you won't get in."

Music majors are awesome. I wish I was that talented at music. Great EC/leadership/work/dedication qualities.

Yeah i agree, people who are into music are good at math and science, i knew this kid in high school, he was into music and he was in the band and stuff and in our Freshman year he was taking precalc and we all were taking Algebra II. This guy graduated with 12 AP credits. That guy was mad smart, and there were couple of other students just like him.

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[TheFamilyDoc]

Bingo,

I went to med school between 1985-1989. I had music background (classical guitar) and Physiology. Music brings the best out of you:
- Artistic
- Passionate
- Shear discipline
- Joy even during difficult time
- Seeing life from a "different angle" than 1 + 1 = 2. Medicine is not a straight line like science.

I completely agree. Even though I have met some music major creeps that are straight line music fanatics.

 

[WillburCobb]

I was a music ed. and performance major for four years before beginning pre-med stuff and dropping to general music and picking-up a psych degree and neuroscience minor (real smart decision switching a semester before student teaching and graduating). Throughout the years I've noticed some generalizations in the types of people that go into music.

1) Those who are truly passionate about music, and very self-sacrficing in regards to their dedication to the study of music. These people tend to be excel and put considerable efforts into everything they achieve, and unfortunately tend to be a minority.

2) Those who are only in music for the social aspect and because it's probably one of the easiest courses of study. These people usually slide by putting minimal effort into anything, tend to be mediocre musicians at best, and tend to be a majority (at least in the music departments at most of the schools in my region this is the case).

3) Those who are more interested in theory, musicology, applications of music, etc. and less interested in performance and education.

So I don't know that being a music major puts one at edge for getting into medical school, so much as one's personality. As from what I've seen those that fit type one and type three people are the ones that generally go into fields unrelated to music (e.g. medicine), and tend to be more diligent workers, and abstract and conceptual thinkers.

As for music courses aiding one in developing abstract thinking skills, music theory in particular, I don't know that this is necessarily so either. I found that courses like calculus, physics, experimental design, and statics (at least understanding the math behind it) required a greater deal of abstract thinking and contributed more to my development of this form of thinking. Music theory is just relatively simple application of mathematical relations.

 

[apumic]

Your advisor is wrong because majoring in music practically guarantees a medical school acceptance. In fact, we should revive that thread to discuss the issue more thoroughly.

68% chance of acceptance, huh? I'm just glad I studied music as one of my majors then.

Also...resurrecting this thread.

 

[deleted307836]

68% chance of acceptance, huh? I'm just glad I studied music as one of my majors then.

Also...resurrecting this thread.

Apumic has just triggered the onset of chronic hypertension in ~ a dozen SDN users.

 

[apumic]

Apumic has just triggered the onset of chronic hypertension in ~ a dozen SDN users.

Woohoo! Less competition!!!

j/k j/k j/k

But if it were an AMI, maybe not.

 

[akinetopsia]

I know old thread is old, but a lot of the stuff with music majors being successful applicants makes a lot of sense to me. My degree is in government, did I have to practice playing an instrument every day to get my degree like my sister who got a bachelor's in music (performance) did? No, I didn't.

Most music majors who end up applying probably have that kind of discipline and consistency with their work ethic that no doubt transfers well to ANYTHING they end up doing, whether it's medicine or something else. My sister ended up working for a large government contractor managing contracts.. with a bachelor's in music, and makes over six figures. Go figure.

 

[apumic]

I know old thread is old, but a lot of the stuff with music majors being successful applicants makes a lot of sense to me. My degree is in government, did I have to practice playing an instrument every day to get my degree like my sister who got a bachelor's in music (performance) did? No, I didn't.

Most music majors who end up applying probably have that kind of discipline and consistency with their work ethic that no doubt transfers well to ANYTHING they end up doing, whether it's medicine or something else. My sister ended up working for a large government contractor managing contracts.. with a bachelor's in music, and makes over six figures. Go figure.

I think this is the key factor. People who were able to succeed in a music major obviously have put in the effort consistently over a very long period of time. Music is simply not something you can learn in 4 years (and be good at at least). As a result, medical schools are going to see these applicants as promising if they are able to also score well on the MCAT and ace their science classes. It also shows a strong component of diversity in knowledge and they add something different to a class of 90% bio majors.

 

[TheFamilyDoc]

I think this is the key factor. People who were able to succeed in a music major obviously have put in the effort consistently over a very long period of time. Music is simply not something you can learn in 4 years (and be good at at least). As a result, medical schools are going to see these applicants as promising if they are able to also score well on the MCAT and ace their science classes. It also shows a strong component of diversity in knowledge and they add something different to a class of 90% bio majors.

Thanks! This is especially what I tried to express throughout the thread.

 

[deleted307836]

Will it never end?

 

[apumic]

Will it never end?

Nope. Are you feeling jealous? Do we need to talk about oh how tough ochem II was or what tough classes pchem and thermo are? Perhaps, we need to talk about the difficulty of engineering classes as compared with everything else....

 

[phltz]

My feeling is that a lot of premed biochem majors don't give a crap about biochem. They just want to get into med school, and think that majoring in biochem is the best way to get there. A lot of premeds are dull, uninspired people whose main concern in every class or activity is how it will look on their application. They take classes they expect to get an A in, not classes they're excited and interested in. They join clubs so they can list them on the activities section of their ACMAS app, not clubs that they give a **** about and/or actually do anything meaningful for. I'm sure all of you have met at least a few of this sad specimen. And so you probably realize that most of these guys end up majoring in something like biochemistry.

There are also some premeds with their own interests an passions. They're not driven by optimizing their application. They're driven from within. They take classes and participate in activities that they are excited about, whether or not they expect an easy A, or it'll look great on their transcript. Some of these people are passionate about biochem, so they major in biochem. Some are passionate about history, or literature, or music, so they study those things.

So if you look at the population of premed biochem majors, you'll see a mix of dull, uninspired premeds and passionate, dynamic ones. If you look at the population of premed music majors, it's pretty much all passionate, dynamic ones. They're just different groups of people with different personalities. Is it any wonder that one has a different acceptance rate than the other?

 

[IrishCalini]

I'm a music major and just got my first MD acceptance. I have to say that everyone along the way said it was an unnecessary risk to major in music. But it paid off! No regrets!

 

[gravitywave]

I'm a music major and just got my first MD acceptance. I have to say that everyone along the way said it was an unnecessary risk to major in music. But it paid off! No regrets!

congrats! would you say that those people discouraged you because the grading in your program was tough, or because they didn't think it was relevant to medicine, or...?

 

[IrishCalini]

congrats! would you say that those people discouraged you because the grading in your program was tough, or because they didn't think it was relevant to medicine, or...?

I had a lot of interests in high school, but I always wanted to be a doctor and loved music. So I think for people, it was like "Okay, why of all the majors, 2nd majors, minors, etc. did you choose one that takes a LOT of extra time and effort OUTSIDE of the lecture hall?" (I'm a vocal performance major). So people just wondered why if my endgame was always going to be medical school, why spend so much time and strain yourself on something else as well?

But like I said, no regrets. I'm very involved in our music dept. at my school because I want to be (not to build my resume or for grad. programs) and because this is something I love!

 

[TheFamilyDoc]

I'm a music major and just got my first MD acceptance. I have to say that everyone along the way said it was an unnecessary risk to major in music. But it paid off! No regrets!

Great! Congratulations! You are exactly the type of person that I was trying to attract to this tread (If you read my opening question on pg1). Even though I completely decided not to do the music major (this thread is a little old) I still admire music majors that matriculate into medical school. Thanks for letting me know that you are out there!

 

[eli20]

I'll agree with a lot of what's been said, but I'd also like to point to another factor - a lot of people who don't have traditional majors do it because they really love some other subject. I think when you interview people it becomes extremely obvious that some people are resume-builders and only do things because "it's on the pre-med list."

 

[IrishCalini]

Great! Congradulations! You are exactly the type of person that I was trying to attract to this tread (If you read my opening question on pg1). Even though I completely decided not to do the music major (this thread is a little old) I still admire music majors that matriculate into medical school. Thanks for letting me know that you are out there!

Thanks! and you're welcome! It's nice to see support out there! One thing that has definitely come of my "story" is that I've been able to attract and mentor underclassmen who are trying to do the same thing as me. I'm hoping it becomes more of an accepted academic sequence this way!

 

[TheFamilyDoc]

Thanks! and you're welcome! It's nice to see support out there! One thing that has definitely come of my "story" is that I've been able to attract and mentor underclassmen who are trying to do the same thing as me. I'm hoping it becomes more of an accepted academic sequence this way!

I dont think that is has to become more accepted, especially because the majority of people lack the ability to play an instrument or sing anyway Also we dont want it inflated like Biology

 

[Shakespeare37]

I think this is the key factor. People who were able to succeed in a music major obviously have put in the effort consistently over a very long period of time. Music is simply not something you can learn in 4 years (and be good at at least). As a result, medical schools are going to see these applicants as promising if they are able to also score well on the MCAT and ace their science classes. It also shows a strong component of diversity in knowledge and they add something different to a class of 90% bio majors.

I read a study a long time ago that compared [successful] violinists to [successful] surgeons. The same factor applied to both: the willingness to repeat what were viewed as 'mundane' tasks over and over, every day, on and on. If you think about it, scales and stitches really aren't THAT different, they just apply in different situations. I think that what makes the greats great is CONSISTENT dedication to something. An hour a day for for a year provides much better mastery of something than a month of cramming. Perhaps that is the relationship.

 

[Deanwvu]

I can't relate practicing my clarinet for hours a day, which includes repetition but not independent thought.....

If that's how you practiced, you were doing it wrong

 

[Deanwvu]

I'm a musician and a non-traditional (ie OLD) pre-med student. I received my music degree in 2000, and was fortunate enough to land a salaried position as a classically trained performing musician--been earning my living as a performer since 2001.

Been taking the pre-reqs I need for med school since last year. I'll let you know in the next year or two if I get into a program !!

 

[AZFutureDoc]

If there's one thing I could have done differently, it would be choosing a different major. Especially a humanity, like art, language, etc. I feel like it makes applicants so much more dimensional, and makes them very unique. And in this game, being unique seems to be just as important as your MCAT and GPA...

 

[elevenses]

I started out as a music and electrical engineering major before switching to music/physics and then dropping physics to be just music, so I'm sort of an in between case.

I took 28 semester hours of music theory as a part of my degree and I will say this: music theory is just as difficult as organic chemistry. In fact, I have always found the parallels to be striking. Both require you to learn to manipulate an abstract symbolism that represents some physical phenomenon. So when I began organic chemistry as a premed I felt like I had returned home. Once again the professor was drawing shapes on the board and asking us what they were, and what they do if we did this, etc. So my music theory skills came in handy in the sense that I had already learned how to learn organic chemistry. I would expect that orgo folks would find an easier time with music theory if they decided to try to learn it.

I absolutely believe that there is selection bias going on. I had a miserable time graduating from college. My plan was to be attending the Manhattan School of Music in opera performance, but I was unfortunately rejected from all of the programs to which I applied. Having thus been summarily cast out into oblivion by the admissions committees, I had no choice, and this is for the first time in my life, mind you, but to seriously think about my values, and my career, and how those two might intersect. A little bird came upon my head and whispered, "medicine," and my pre-med track began. I don't think the bird would have ever stopped if I didn't happen to have excellent grades in all of my science classes up to that point. Since it was a new idea, if my stats were bad I could have said to hell with it right then and there. I get the feeling that a lot of biochem majors drag themselves through their degrees maintaining only faint hope that they will get into medical school and, inevitably, the 2.5 GPA and 24 MCAT wasn't good enough.

Even more important than the fact the correlation does not imply causation is the ecological fallacy. "Statistics that accurately describe group characteristics do not necessarily apply to individuals within that group." We have no idea if the music majors who are getting in are even getting in for the same reasons.

So let's keep in mind that we're all just humans, doing the best that we can, and hopefully identifying the best path that we can take. I don't get the bitterness, the jealousy and the contempt between those who majored in science and those who majored in music. We're all on a team together, and we all want to get in. Study in any area confers benefits, and the nature of those benefits depend on the course of study.

I do believe that training as a professional musician has a strong impact upon the way he who has been trained sees and approaches the world. The one thing that music majors get that I don't think any other undergraduates commonly do, is the opportunity to get as good as you can at something. And once you know in your heart that you are the kind of person who can master a skill, you can master any skill, within reason. But maybe that was just my experience with music.

I don't remember a whole lot of facts from my music degree. But I have retained a huge number of skills that I consider to be valuable throughout my daily life, and it is my suspicion that a person with a passion for medicine and the skills obtained from a musical education would do quite well.

 

[elevenses]

Although repetition is a part of practice, practice requires a dialogue between the ear and the hands. You have to constantly be aware of what is working and what is not working about the thing you are currently practicing in order to advance beyond your current level.

 

[musicalfeet]

I'm a recent music major that graduated June of 2012. While I agree (and certainly have heard of!) there are definitely students who self-select themselves into med school (my dermatologist being one...majored in Harp at UCLA, knowing that her parents expected her to end up in med school), I do think the ones who have been studying music all their life have certain things shaped into their personalities that may influence how they handle the coursework and how they think.

At least in classical music (realm of my knowledge), there are so many complexities one has to understand while practicing. Yes, we do rote practicing and repetitive movements, but also some really deep analytical thinking. Why does this phrase work this way? There's a very scientific way of practicing (if you're doing the most effective practicing you can be). Many times, one must ask themselves " If I do x...then what will happen to y". You must be able to find the root of the problem. How? Limit confounding variables to figure out everything you can. Can't play a passage? Slow it down and figure out could it be your left hand? Your right? The angle of your elbows? The way you're standing? Well focus on each one and figure out where the problem is. For me, studying was a relief and a break from practicing. Studying would turn my brain into mush, but at least my body was intact. After practicing 6-8 hours, my brain was mush, and my body was done for the day.

For one, at least as a violinist, many of the violinists are just as bad as the typical pre-med gunner you'd find around. Deep down, many musicians (that I've met..at international festivals, school, competitions, etc) are hyper-competitive. I've never met a good violinist that wasn't inherently competitive. Sabotage happened quite often with us, as well as trying to make our peers look bad. For better or worse, playing an instrument fosters a need for perfectionism and neuroticism.

The biggest reason why I ended up pre-med (yeah...I definitely didn't exactly put myself with a more relaxed group of people), was the depressing aspect of practicing. Practicing isn't the same as playing and enjoying it. Typical saying for violinists was, "If you think you sound good, you probably sound horrible". One day, as I was getting ready for graduate auditions, something snapped. I'd be pulling 6-8 hour practicing days, on top of lessons, classes, etc etc--and yet being trained to think that no matter what, it will never be good enough is REALLY depressing. I think the desire to achieve the standard of "perfection" in our instruments makes us really big overachievers.

I always thought that, at least during the pre-med and MS1 and MS2 process, a graded system will tell us what is "good enough". I always saw that as a relief...since as long as I pull an A, it's "good enough". (Now.. MS3 and MS4 will probably go back to subjective grading..)

 

[Plue00]

Also, it could be that Music classes are graded easier than Biochemistry classes. At my undergrad, Biochem was curved to a lower gpa (2.6) than other majors (like Comm, Business, Engineering, Neurobio)

Yup, this is probably why. Music classes tend to give out a crap load of As.

 

[mwall003]

I read hear:

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

That 66% of music majors that apply to medical schools get accepted 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?

I've heard a great explanation as to why this group of students like Music, Dance, Art, etc have high acceptance rates.

The reason is that traditional majors like Chemistry, Biology, Biochemistry require students to basically take all the prerequisites for medical school, which also fulfills their major requirements. Many students realize this and in addition to many students believing that a "science" major is required or favored by medical school, will pick up a science major adding to the "n" of applicants from this group. As a result you get a lot of people that will not do well because they realize it's a lot harder than it seems, but will still put in an application with low stats and because they've been set on medical school and don't want to do anything with a Bio major, and subsequently not get in.

Now take your Music Major. They not only have all their major requirements and upper level courses, but they have to be diligent and hardworking enough to plan out a sufficient amount of science classes. Only students that do this obviously have it together to complete this. Therefore, a higher admission rate for these groups of students.

I also think ADCOMs like to publish statistics saying they have x% of Music Majors.

 

[musicalfeet]

Yup, this is probably why. Music classes tend to give out a crap load of As.

True...if you're looking at things from a pre-med GPA perspective. You really don't need to do anything to get an A. However, since people tend to major in music because they actually want to accomplish some sort of goal in music, it's very easy to get caught up in the politics of it all. Favoritism (depending on where you go) can be pretty rampant (who gets to get picked for the solo with the orchestra, who gets principal, who gets to play in the 'best' chamber group), etc and trying to please the faculty and being the "best" player in your major so that you get all the goodies that come with it.....or even just trying to get some sort of recognition within the school so people stop making fun of you or treat you with condescension.

Now that can be just as tough if not tougher (and more time consuming) than a sci major.