Pre-med degrees, which can help more through med school?

[crazycooljoel]

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I just wanted to know peoples thoughts on this. I understand that degrees are not specific, and premed degrees take care of the med school prereqs.

This thread is just to see what degrees folks believe may be the most helpful when your learning all the stuff in med school. (ex. genetics, biology, biochem, etc.)

 

[shindotp]

I don't think that's a very good idea for choosing a major. I supposed biochem/bio would be the most "useful" because you've been given slightly more exposure (maybe you'll be a week ahead of an English major? Lol, is it really worth getting a degree in that subject?).

 

[ksmi117]

Any major that helps you practice your study skills! That's what you'll need in med school.

 

[Law2Doc]

I just wanted to know peoples thoughts on this. I understand that degrees are not specific, and premed degrees take care of the med school prereqs.

This thread is just to see what degrees folks believe may be the most helpful when your learning all the stuff in med school. (ex. genetics, biology, biochem, etc.)

Major does not matter to admissions -- and it's their job to select those who will thrive in med school. Do you know why it doesn't matter in admissions? Because there is really no advantage. Some of the top students in every med school are non-sci types. Some of the lowest ranked students will have been folks who took every medicine sounding undergrad course. Why? Because college isn't med school, and you really can't pre-learn the stuff effectively at the college level. Med school teaches you all you need to know and then some. And the only thing you need before you start is the prereqs, which you can accomplish from any major. If schools thought it was advantageous for folks to have more than the prereqs, they would increase the number of prereqs. In fact, they are moving away from the days when everybody in med school was a bio major with multiple medically related courses, because historically those folks didn't become the kind of physicians the profession deems ideal. You have to remember that this is, first and foremost, a service industry as much as a science, and so well rounded people are often better candidates than someone who focused in on medicine to the exclusion of other things so early. So I would recommend limiting the number of medicine type courses in college, and use those credits to make yourself well rounded, try new things, take the courses you won't have the opportunity to take again. You will likely do just as well in med school with a BA in art history as with a BS in biochem.

 

[CCLCMer]

I just wanted to know peoples thoughts on this. I understand that degrees are not specific, and premed degrees take care of the med school prereqs.

This thread is just to see what degrees folks believe may be the most helpful when your learning all the stuff in med school. (ex. genetics, biology, biochem, etc.)

I don't think any specific major would be more helpful than any other, but I wish I had taken a neuroanatomy class in college. Not that it would have taught me everything I needed to know for med school neuro, but it would have been good to have at least some familiarity with it. No matter how much time I spend studying neuro, it still is a kind of black box to me. Damn us and our highly evolved brains!

 

[silas2642]

I just wanted to know peoples thoughts on this. I understand that degrees are not specific, and premed degrees take care of the med school prereqs.

This thread is just to see what degrees folks believe may be the most helpful when your learning all the stuff in med school. (ex. genetics, biology, biochem, etc.)

I was a biology major in college (I majored in the sciences because I loved them, not because i thought that it would increase my chances of admission) and honestly, I don't think it really helped me out that much. Med school pretty much starts at the beginning and moves so quickly so that unless you have a very strong background in the subject (i.e. a biochemistry degree in your biochemistry class), it probably isn't going to matter that much. Hence, major in what you enjoy.

 

[copperfrog09]

Religion.

 

[chessknt]

Pick something you enjoy and can fall back on in case you decide not to go.

 

[scott8013]

I was a music major, it gave me something to talk about in my interview, and something to write about in my PS, for what that was worth. I think its best just to pick something that interests you, there are a lot of bio majors applying to medical school.