"Pre-Med or HuMED"?

[Newhearts]

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Medical schools are looking for more "well rounded" applicants. Specifically students majoring in Liberal Arts/ Humanities majors. Mount Sinai has begun to accept humanities majors after their second year of college. Check out this article:

http://www.npr.org/sections/health-...l-revamps-requirements-to-lure-english-majors

What are your thoughts?

 

[FutureDoc3094]

My dad was just pestering me to read this article literally 5 minutes ago. I don't know how I actually feel about this. I initially wanted to major in the humanities but after talking to other people and students, I majored in Biology instead since it will prepare me for the MCAT, etc. Now I graduated college with a low GPA and now have to consider doing a post bacc program or a Master's. If I majored in something Humanities related, would my GPA be better? Probably, and I wouldn't have to do any sort of academic enhancement. It is fair? I don't know.

 

[Lawpy]

Medical schools are looking for more "well rounded" applicants. Specifically students majoring in Liberal Arts/ Humanities majors. Mount Sinai has begun to accept humanities majors after their second year of college. Check out this article:

http://www.npr.org/sections/health-...l-revamps-requirements-to-lure-english-majors

What are your thoughts?

I support Mount Sinai's plan to recruit more humanities majors. It's a misconception that biology degrees help to prepare you for medical school, since all the prereqs and the MCAT can be dealt with readily by anyone with an interest in medicine (i.e. postbaccs, classes, prep courses etc.). With the loss of medical value, biology degrees basically serve for people interested in graduate school, teaching, industry, or something else entirely (few economics professors that I know were biology majors in undergrad).

It's a common objective for all medical schools to produce a diverse student body, and having non-biology majors certainly help. And yes, I consider biochemistry and neuroscience majors to fall under non-biology category because they are very interdisciplinary and involve concepts from other majors. There seems to be a slight negativity towards humanities majors because of a misconception that they can't handle science courses, which is pretty absurd. The HuMED program is rightfully crushing the stigma.

My dad was just pestering me to read this article literally 5 minutes ago. I don't know how I actually feel about this. I initially wanted to major in the humanities but after talking to other people and students, I majored in Biology instead since it will prepare me for the MCAT, etc. Now I graduated college with a low GPA and now have to consider doing a post bacc program or a Master's. If I majored in something Humanities related, would my GPA be better? Probably, and I wouldn't have to do any sort of academic enhancement. It is fair? I don't know.

I don't know what you meant by fair, but I agree you should have pursued humanities and possibly graduate with a stellar GPA. It's an incorrect assertion that biology helps for the MCAT since data show that physical science and humanities majors score better on the MCAT than biology majors.

I understand the misguided cultural pressure from families, but it's an important note that major doesn't matter for medical school admissions. In fact, pursuing non-biology majors gives applicants something unique to discuss about, as well as performing well academically. And to do that, medical schools and AAMC must continue to advocate academic enrichment and break away from biology dependence.

 

[Lannister]

I'm so glad I decided to major in humanities (Spanish). Not only does it give me something unique to talk about, but it's also given me a very marketable skill that will hopefully help me when I'm looking for a job. Also I got to study abroad for a semester, which isn't always easy for science majors. Definitely worth it.

 

[HCHopeful]

I enjoy the Humanities because they come naturally to me. Attending a liberal arts college, I can adamantly say that I'm glad I didn't major in them, though. Pursuing biology has allowed me to become comfortable with science and discover the best way to effectively learn the subject. That said, I am far from a cookie cutter pre-med with regards to my activities, and I do see the benefit of having well-rounded medical students.

As long as a person shows a desire for medicine, success in classes that somewhat resemble medical school material, along with a decent MCAT score, I'm all for it!

 

[LizzyM]

This program has been going on for at least 14 years. A study 5 years ago showed that these students, who are not required to take the MCAT and who are prohibited from taking o-chem, graduate and graduate with honors in proportion to their class, but have significantly lower step 1 scores and are more likely to go into psychiatry or primary care and less likely to go into surgical specialties and anesthesiology. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20671464

I do think that the big difference is not requiring o-chem and not requiring the MCAT. My school and many others have been matriculating humanities majors for decades but they jump through the same hoops as everyone else and in some cases do post-bacs after graduating with degrees in history, music performance, etc.

 

[Greenberg702]

This program has been going on for at least 14 years. A study 5 years ago showed that these students, who are not required to take the MCAT and who are prohibited from taking o-chem, graduate and graduate with honors in proportion to their class, but have significantly lower step 1 scores and are more likely to go into psychiatry or primary care and less likely to go into surgical specialties and anesthesiology. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20671464

I do think that the big difference is not requiring o-chem and not requiring the MCAT. My school and many others have been matriculating humanities majors for decades but they jump through the same hoops as everyone else and in some cases do post-bacs after graduating with degrees in history, music performance, etc.

Interesting. I wonder how the data may be different with the current student cohorts since the medical school and the early acceptance program itself have become much, much more competitive since the 2000-2005 entering classes (which that article looks at). It's also important to note that as of last year, this program now admits students of all majors (math/engineering, bio, and the humanities). While organic chemistry and hard sciences may not be required, a significant portion of the students are likely taking them as part of their major as well as bringing computational skills to the table.

 

[Gibbward]

I think being a humanities major but also being pre-med is great! I went to a liberal arts college and taking classes with heavy philosophy/theology texts really improved my reading, writing and communicating skills. Plus, if someone is really passionate about literature or philosophy or languages, I don't see why he or she should put all that aside for the sake of getting into medical school through the traditional route.

However, I also think that only taking the pre-requisite classes is not the best preparation for medical school. Critical thinking needed for medicine can be developed regardless of what your major is, and it's not that the material you take in upper division coursework is going to be important to medical school. Nonetheless, upper div sciences help you get used to reading technical science-y mumbo jumbo, memorizing an inordinate amount of random facts, and applying and analyzing the basic science you learned in the intro classes.