Please Help - Advice Needed on Relevancy of Majors

[FazaUSF]

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Dear Fellow Forum Users,

I've got an interesting and unique dilemma to address, and a friend referred me to this website for help. I've found the site quite informative, and it has been an excellent resource. I was hoping someone might be able to help me make a decision with respect to the degrees and minors with which I graduate.

I was fortunate enough to graduate high school with an International Baccalaureate diploma (IB), which afforded me 50 transfer credits at my university. Instead of graduating early and applying to medical school early, I decided to utilize my four-year scholarships and stay an undergraduate for the normal four years. To me, growing as a person is just as important, if not more important, than academics and growing as a student, and I felt the advantage of the transfer credits would afford me more time to explore extracurricular interests.

I also decided that I may as well pursue a tough curriculum while I'm here, and I declared three majors and two minors. I am planning to apply for an MD/JD combined degree program. I'm perfectly on track to graduate with everything, and they are as follows:

Majors: Biology, Psychology, Honors College Research
Minors: Leadership, Biomedical Physics

For those wondering, Honors College Research is unique to USF, and is a major in interdisciplinary research that is modeled after PhD programs for which you conduct two major research projects in unrelated disciplines. It is brand new, and I will be one of the first three to graduate with it.

In any case: though I am on track to graduate on time as aforementioned. It would require two 21-credit hour semesters for my senior year, whereas if I was to pursue Psychology as a minor instead of a major, my credit hour semester average would drop to twelve per semester. Given that this is my senior year, and I am accustomed to taking 21 and 24 credit hour semesters, I am tired of spending so much time on classes and not as much time "sniffing the roses."

My question is this: Is it beneficial enough to be a triple major on my medical school and law school applications such that I should give up the free time that twelve credit hour semesters would afford, or would a double major, triple minor be just as effective? I could focus my time on taking courses I enjoy more and on extracurricular involvement if I took my senior year a bit more easy, however, not many folks can call themselves triple majors, and I bet some would wish they could have the type of decision that I'm having to make. What do you guys think?

Thanks so much for any help you can give, I appreciate it!

- Brandon Faza
University of South Florida

 

[ambrosia]

Crazy, I graduated with an IB diploma as well...theres not to many of us, so it's cool to see that there are some other IB SDNers🙂. Anyways, I'm not quite as ambitous as you, I stuck with just one major (biochemistry), and also decided to stay the full 4 years even though I could have graduated early. But this way, I got to have 2 12-credit semesters this past year, and this year, I only have one class each semester. Anyways, to answer your question, if I were you I would change psychology to a minor. It's my understanding that people with multiple majors aren't really given any preferential treatment at all, all that really matters is that you've taken pre-reqs, and done well in them. And the MCAT of course. Anyways, it looks like you are in need of a break (21-24 credits a semester is crazy), so I would definitely pick the 12 credit route if I was you, not only because it will be a well-deserved break, but also because I don't think the extra major will benefit you in the end anyways. Unless of course you're one of those people who are super hardcore and need to be a little stressed or you get bored, in which case, by all means do the triple major.

Just out of curiosity, what IB school did you go to, and is it an "all-IB school" or are IB exams optional?

 

[FazaUSF]

Hey Ambrosia,

It's great to find another IB student! I graduated from King High School in Tampa, Florida. It wasn't an "all-IB" school, it was an IB Program housed in a public high school. IB exams were basically mandatory, in addition to AP exams in every IB class we took (which is where a lot of the credits I got came from). Florida grants lots of money to high schools for each exam passed by each student, so they pushed pretty hard for us to take as many IB and AP exams as we could, and they paid all the fees to take them. How was the program like at your high school, and where did you go?

I appreciate your advice; it's hard to find advice here because my school is primarily a commuter student school, and not a great percentage have huge graduate aspirations. Consequently, the advising staff isn't typically used to advising those types of students. That being said, I love the school, but I just needed to seek advice elsewhere, and you are a big help. Thanks so much!

- Brandon

 

[KidDr]

Hi Brandon,
My advise to you would be the same as ambrosia. Remember that medical school + residency + fellowship training (should you choose to subspecialize) is a very long, often tiring road. I also entered college with about 30 college credits I earned in high school (AP + others), and chose to have a very light schedule my senior year (about 12 credits/semester). It was WONDERFUL, and I wouldn't change what I did. The number of undergraduate majors/minors you have is not what will get you into med school; like other have said on these forums repeatedly, it's a combination of grades + MCAT scores + your extracurricular and personal experiences + your recommendation letters + the interview + a little bit of luck. The content of what you learn as an undergraduate may not directly help you with med school (with some exceptions, of course). It's totally a cliche, but things like learning HOW you learn, learning how to manage your time, learning what your goals/values are in life, and taking time to enrich your life in non-school related ways, really are just as important as your actual studies. Take some time to enjoy the arts, take classes in another language, learn how to cook, travel, and so on (all things I wish I had more time to do now!) Best of luck to you.

 

[principessa]

It sounds as if you've already made up your mind. At this point, the only reason to keep the third major would be because you really want to take those extra classes, and it sounds like you don't. So go ahead, give yourself a bit of a break. You deserve it!

Like others who've posted on here, I don't think the number of majors makes much of a difference in med school admissions. I was a double major, but I don't think anyone noticed. One of my advisors sent out an article about people with multiple majors, showing that really it doesn't affect much after college, and it can often overtax students and prevent them from getting a broad education. You already know about being overtaxed, I'm sure.

On another note, your Honors College sounds pretty neat. I did a thesis for the Honors Program at my undergrad, but their research requirement was less developed. The idea of doing two research projects in different areas sounds interesting. What projects did you do/are you doing?

 

[SanDiegoSOD]

Don't forget to do something outside of scholastics during your four years as an undergrad. Good luck as an undergrad; PM me if you desire a unique leadership experience.