Nontraditional Degrees - Advantage?

[bihari]

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It's that time of year. My younger brother is taking the ACT, choosing his AP classes for next year, and pretty much figuring out what he wants to do. He wants to study medicine, and as of now he is thinking of an undergrad major to do.

His current plan:

BS in Physics or Engineering discipline
and
BA in Psychology or Sociology
doing both together would take roughly 5 years.

Many schools say that Medical schools like non-traditional degrees (traditional = biology, chemistry, biochemistry), because it shows that you are dedicated to something (they give you 4 years for whatever you want) and that you arent just doing Bio/Chem/Biochem because most of the classes that are needed for med school are in the degree already. So would this be a correct assumption? Second reason is a 'backup' type of thing, in case something comes up, preventing him from going to med school, or if it doesn't work out; he can still work as an engineer. Psych/sociology is more/less interest, and since they are BA degrees, they do not delay him more than 1 yr (dual degree)

 

[ChairmanMao]

It's that time of year. My younger brother is taking the ACT, choosing his AP classes for next year, and pretty much figuring out what he wants to do. He wants to study medicine, and as of now he is thinking of an undergrad major to do.

His current plan:

BS in Physics or Engineering discipline
and
BA in Psychology or Sociology
doing both together would take roughly 5 years.

Many schools say that Medical schools like non-traditional degrees (traditional = biology, chemistry, biochemistry), because it shows that you are dedicated to something (they give you 4 years for whatever you want) and that you arent just doing Bio/Chem/Biochem because most of the classes that are needed for med school are in the degree already. So would this be a correct assumption? Second reason is a 'backup' type of thing, in case something comes up, preventing him from going to med school, or if it doesn't work out; he can still work as an engineer. Psych/sociology is more/less interest, and since they are BA degrees, they do not delay him more than 1 yr (dual degree)

There is a site called hSDN Aspire for high school students above the pre-allopathic forum for high school students. I'm not sure why you would post a question like this down here. The "nontraditional student" forum is usually geared towards individuals who graduated from college several years ago, are in their late 20s, 30s, or 40s, and who worked in other career fields or served in the military. That being said, I'll try to answer your question.

First, there is no such thing as a preferred college major. There are so many science and non-science majors applying to medical school nowadays that it's very common to find someone who studied something totally unrelated to medicine (liberal arts, feminist studies, archeology, sociology) applying to medical school. If you look through the MSAR or the medical school website, a lot of schools will boast that they have 50-30% of their student body coming from a nonscience background. My advice to you and your brother would be to pursue a major that actually interests you. The last thing that you want to do is to pick a major that he has no interest in and to suffer through 4 years of school studying for it.

What you're saying about choosing a backup major (such as engineering) is a good idea if you're still not completely "sold" on the idea of going into medicine. That's what I did when I was in college. I majored in engineering and took some medical pre-requisite courses in case I decided I wanted to apply to medical school (as an engineering major, I can tell you will definitely have an easier time finding a well-paying job with an engineering degree as opposed to a nonscience or liberal arts degree). That being said if you're brother goes the engineering route, he will have very little free time if he also wants to take his medical school pre-requisite classes. He will likely have to take 6 classes per semester (20 credit hours) in order to fulfill his major requirements. It's definitely not for the weak, but if he wants to have all options on the table, I would go the engineering route.

 

[bihari]

There is a site called hSDN Aspire for high school students above the pre-allopathic forum for high school students. I'm not sure why you would post a question like this down here. The "nontraditional student" forum is usually geared towards individuals who graduated from college several years ago, are in their late 20s, 30s, or 40s, and who worked in other career fields or served in the military. That being said, I'll try to answer your question.

First, there is no such thing as a preferred college major. There are so many science and non-science majors applying to medical school nowadays that it's very common to find someone who studied something totally unrelated to medicine (liberal arts, feminist studies, archeology, sociology) applying to medical school. If you look through the MSAR or the medical school website, a lot of schools will boast that they have 50-30% of their student body coming from a nonscience background. My advice to you and your brother would be to pursue a major that actually interests you. The last thing that you want to do is to pick a major that he has no interest in and to suffer through 4 years of school studying for it.

What you're saying about choosing a backup major (such as engineering) is a good idea if you're still not completely "sold" on the idea of going into medicine. That's what I did when I was in college. I majored in engineering and took some medical pre-requisite courses in case I decided I wanted to apply to medical school (as an engineering major, I can tell you will definitely have an easier time finding a well-paying job with an engineering degree as opposed to a nonscience or liberal arts degree). That being said if you're brother goes the engineering route, he will have very little free time if he also wants to take his medical school pre-requisite classes. He will likely have to take 6 classes per semester (20 credit hours) in order to fulfill his major requirements. It's definitely not for the weak, but if he wants to have all options on the table, I would go the engineering route.

thanks for the info. the psych thing was more of an interest thing, he was planning on minoring in it, but realized a BA is about 17 more credit hours (15 for minor, 33 for BA) so why not go for that. he was thinking of either biomedical engineering or nuclear engineering (which many schools have pre med concentrations in, to ease the load that you speak of) but i agree, its not easy. we'll see how it goes. i think we are just used to seeing people do bio or chem (99% of the ppl we know did that) and for those who got into med school, great, but unforunately a few did not and are stuck searching for lab jobs, and the fortunate among those unfortunate are working a not-so-great lab job....

thanks for the hs link also

 

[Deepa100]

thanks for the info. the psych thing was more of an interest thing, he was planning on minoring in it, but realized a BA is about 17 more credit hours (15 for minor, 33 for BA) so why not go for that. he was thinking of either biomedical engineering or nuclear engineering (which many schools have pre med concentrations in, to ease the load that you speak of) but i agree, its not easy. we'll see how it goes. i think we are just used to seeing people do bio or chem (99% of the ppl we know did that) and for those who got into med school, great, but unforunately a few did not and are stuck searching for lab jobs, and the fortunate among those unfortunate are working a not-so-great lab job....

thanks for the hs link also

Please do not push him into engineering unless that is what he wants to do. If he really wants to be a doctor, it is quite doable and I don't see why he should not make life easy on himself by just doing a biology degree. There is no preferred degree for med schools. It might help to take a class or two in psych but he does not need an extra degree in arts. Let the kid live his life too! He is better off spending time volunteering etc. than doing two degrees IMHO.

 

[bihari]

Please do not push him into engineering unless that is what he wants to do. If he really wants to be a doctor, it is quite doable and I don't see why he should not make life easy on himself by just doing a biology degree. There is no preferred degree for med schools. It might help to take a class or two in psych but he does not need an extra degree in arts. Let the kid live his life too! He is better off spending time volunteering etc. than doing two degrees IMHO.

LOL I agree. I'm not pushing him, he wants to do something that in case something comes up that prevents him from going to medical school, he can get a job with decent pay.

yea the whole extra BA thing seems to not be the best idea, just brainstorming 🙂

 

[bihari]

Anyways, thanks for the info you guys!

I'll have my brother check out the high school sdn forums

 

[DrJosephKim]

There are pros and cons to pursuing a non-traditional degree. You have to make sure that you're properly prepared to do well on the MCATs and also have a high science GPA. I studied mechanical engineering at MIT (I wasn't initially planning on pursuing medicine), but I look back and I'm glad that I learned how to think and solve problems like an engineer.

 

[njbmd]

Medical school admissions committees like any (ANY) degree that you do well in. There are no "brownie points" for suffering through something that you don't like and you don't do well in. A 4.0 biology major is going to be ranked higher than a 3.5 engineering major period. Good performance and a well-written, well-constructed application will get you into medical school as opposed to any particular major or minor or undergraduate institution for that matter.

If your brother loves something non-traditional and does well and can prepare a good application, then he helps his cause. If not, he hurts his chances. It's in the performance not the subject matter.