Thoughts on what looks more impressive?

[TheGreatHunt]

Right now I think I'm going to get an AB in PChem(That's what I'm getting right now), I mean I could possibly pull it up to an A... but honestly, there is so much work in that, and I could see myself get a B in the class if I didn't keep working so hard at it.

I'm getting a double major, but I honestly could drop taking PChem II(Which will probably be another B...) and take some easy classes(Easy meaning more fun, as in some Medical Microbiology courses) but not get the 2nd major. Pretty much what I'm asking is:

Would it look more impressive to get a second major, or would it be wiser to get the extra credits of A, and get my GPA up around a 3.8 vs. a 3.7? I mean in the interest of how easy these other classes would be for me... If it's all the same to them, and they don't care, I'd rather take the easier classes, and not have to work half as hard...

Your thoughts on the subject?

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[PlayMeSomeMusic]

What are the two majors? Biology and Chemistry? I feel like if they are so similar it doesn't really help.. If on the other hand it's Biology and Religion.. then maybe it'd be worth it to keep the other major

 

[tdd340]

Do yourself a favor, just do well in 1 major and enjoy your added free time. Double majors don't really add much of a benefit as far as admissions. You dont' seem super in to your second major so just drop it, its not going to help you much and the B's will only hurt you.

 

[pennybridge]

Biology and Religion

if you got the two diplomas close enough to each other would they spontaneously burst into flames?

 

[TheGreatHunt]

It's Biology and Chemistry, the thing is:

I only have ONE more class to finish my biology major(a 100 level Botany class)...

The classes I would have left(For Chemistry) would be:

Physical Chemistry II(With lab)
Inorganic Chemistry

I mean... am I just being lazy?
Someone tell me to bone up, and I'll do it, I just feel like there's no point in risking GPA for a second major...

 

[SupergreenMnM]

SUCK IT UP! No really though, I doubt it will make a diff either way, but why not finish the majors after putting all that work into them? And if say worse case scenerio you don't make it into medical school the job outlook for the chem major is way better than the bio.

 

[Karen12345]

Chemistry will definitely give you an edge compared to Biology, even if your grades are not perfect. So many people do well in Biology, I don't see how that can be impressive. Totally different story with chemistry. At my school, those who fail Chemistry transfer to Biomolecular Science or Biology and excel there. Chemistry students who take BMS or Biology courses as electives tend to earn the highest grades in class full of bio and BMS majors. Chemistry exposes you to a particular useful style of thinking, which you don't really get if you major in Biology. I think you should finish your degree in Chemistry.

 

[KaraKiz]

I would finish both majors if you have come this far. I was a biochem major, so I feel your pain. I wish I could tell you that Inorganic and PChem II will be better than PChem I, but they won't be. They will suck a lot. I lucked out b/c I took them in th Spring of senior year, so everyone who had already been accepted to grad school was just trying to pass with a C. Made getting A's a little easier since there were fewer ppl who cared. GL!!!

 

[PepperMD]

Most people are going to tell you to follow the cult of the gpa and play it safe, but I say (and I sense you feel this way too) that if you're so close to getting both, get both. A few B's aren't going to kill you (assuming decent grades overall) and while the influence of a double major has been thoroughly debated, at the very least it's something that might make you stand out just a little from the rest of the app pool filled with vanilla bio majors. Now granted, as mentioned, a chem/bio major is certainly still pretty vanilla, but hell dude, you're just so close you might as well do it.

 

[PlayMeSomeMusic]

With so few classes why not.. and if it helps any.. I took Pchem 2 without having had Pchem 1... I think it's easier than first semester anyways (at least at my school) lol..

P.S. no they won't burst into flames it was just an example.

 

[bbabul01]

Double majors are useless. Get a good GPA.

Just my 2 cents. Or maybe 3. That might have been a 3 centser.

 

[pennybridge]

a 100 level Botany class)

drop the major? christ, I would drop myself out of a window if I had to take a botany class.

 

[Law2Doc]

Double majors are useless. Get a good GPA.

Just my 2 cents. Or maybe 3. That might have been a 3 centser.

It's worth 4 cents at least. Get A's. Nobody is going to really care if you were a bio major or a chem major or both. I agree with the prior poster that if the second major was something nonscience related, it might make you look more well rounded, and thus perhaps be worth it, but bio, chem, biochem are not in short supply in med school, and you get no real kudos for having both. Of course if you bail on medicine, it leaves more science career doors open, I suppose.

 

[DropkickMurphy]

Right now I think I'm going to get an AB in PChem(That's what I'm getting right now), I mean I could possibly pull it up to an A... but honestly, there is so much work in that, and I could see myself get a B in the class if I didn't keep working so hard at it.

I'm getting a double major, but I honestly could drop taking PChem II(Which will probably be another B...) and take some easy classes(Easy meaning more fun, as in some Medical Microbiology courses) but not get the 2nd major. Pretty much what I'm asking is:

Would it look more impressive to get a second major, or would it be wiser to get the extra credits of A, and get my GPA up around a 3.8 vs. a 3.7? I mean in the interest of how easy these other classes would be for me... If it's all the same to them, and they don't care, I'd rather take the easier classes, and not have to work half as hard...

Your thoughts on the subject?

You know what looks more impressive? Making up your own damn mind.

 

[pennybridge]

You know what looks more impressive? Making up your own damn mind.

ADCOM: So what made you apply to XYZ Medical School?

Applicant: SDN told me to.

ADCOM: (nods in approval) impressive...

 

[DropkickMurphy]

ADCOM: So what made you apply to XYZ Medical School?

Applicant: SDN told me to.

ADCOM: (nods in approval) impressive...

I'm a ****ing prick and I approve this message.

 

[xucardsfan08]

Biology majors are a dime a dozen. There's nothing special about taking ecology/botany/evolution classes that are dry, easy, boring, memorization classes and the med-school type classes you'll take again anyway (immunology, etc.).

Being a chem major makes me a little biased, but when people say major doesn't matter, only GPA, they are only fooling themselves with their 3.8 liberal arts degree padded with underwater basket weaving.
3.5 with PChem I, PChem II, QuantumChem, Inorganic or 3.8 with Evolution, Botany, and Ecology???

Plus, when you take the p-chem classes you'll learn exactly how the stuff works that you assumed in genchem and organic (orbitals, electrons, etc.)

 

[DropkickMurphy]

Plus, when you take the p-chem classes you'll learn exactly how the stuff works that you assumed in genchem and organic

If that floats your boat, great. For the rest of us, assuming is just fine.

 

[Engin]

Go with whatever increases your GPA. There are only a few exceptions when you shouln't follow this rule. This isn't one IMO.

I strongly strongly disagree with xucardsfan. The 3.8 (vs. a 3.5) looks much better. I was a 3.4 engineering major and if I had to do it over again, I would have picked the easier major. Easily.

 

[baylormed]

Sometimes you have to prioritize...

Is the 3.8 (vs a 3.7) that much more important to you than your Chemistry major???

I can tell you from experience that a lot of the classes where I got B's, I could have gotten A's if I had wanted to study more. The thing was, I could have studied 15 hours a week to get an A, or study 5 hours a week and get a B. In some occasions I chose the B because getting an A wasn't worth making myself so miserable by studying a subject I didn't really like.

So you have to set your priorities.

 

[baylormed]

If that floats your boat, great. For the rest of us, assuming is just fine.

Hehe, that's my moto when it comes to Chemistry.

"I don't want to understand it, I trust what the book says. If I wanted to understand it I would have majored in it."

 

[DropkickMurphy]

Hehe, that's my moto when it comes to Chemistry.

"I don't want to understand it, I trust what the book says. If I wanted to understand it I would have majored in it."

That's how I feel about physics, genetics (the subject, not the troll), ecology, evolution, chemistry, engineering, etc.

 

[baylormed]

drop the major? christ, I would drop myself out of a window if I had to take a botany class.

I'm glad my school has 3 different tracks for biology: ecology, general, and health.

Otherwise, I would have had to take botany and ecology and other stuff that bores the pants out of me.

 

[Law2Doc]

Being a chem major makes me a little biased, but when people say major doesn't matter, only GPA, they are only fooling themselves with their 3.8 liberal arts degree padded with underwater basket weaving.

In many cases they are "fooling themselves" right into med school.

 

[blargh]

what's an "AB"? A-? B+? it seems like i'm the only confused dumbo here...

 

[vincikai]

ADCOM: So what made you apply to XYZ Medical School?

Applicant: SDN told me to.

ADCOM: (nods in approval) impressive...

ahahahahaaaaaa

 

[Law2Doc]

ADCOM: So what made you apply to XYZ Medical School?

Applicant: SDN told me to.

ADCOM: (nods in approval) impressive...

It gets even more impressive when you whip out that poop hotdog and start munching, also courtesy of SDN advice.

 

[TheGreatHunt]

AB is a 3.5 It's pretty annoying, it pretty much helps people who consistently get B+ instead of those who are on the border of A-/A Oh well, you learn to live with it... I'll probably just suck it up anyway, Chem isn't that bad... it's just some classes that aren't a favourite.

Thanks to those who are making fun of me though, I need it, it's good motivation, lol.

2 classes shouldn't bring me down too much anyway... I'm just being a cry baby.

And yes, I obviously should make my own choices, but only after I get ridiculed into the corner, hahah.

 

[DropkickMurphy]

Thanks to those who are making fun of me though, I need it, it's good motivation, lol. 2 classes shouldn't bring me down too much anyway... I'm just being a cry baby. And yes, I obviously should make my own choices, but only after I get ridiculed into the corner, hahah.

You're welcome.

 

[blargh]

hey, i would love to get an AB instead of a B+!!!

 

[baylormed]

hey, i would love to get an AB instead of a B+!!!

Every school has different systems. My school has B+ instead of AB (it's also worth 3.5). I noticed that on my AMCAS grade sheet all my B+ said AB instead, so I guess they figured B+=AB in this case.

I don't know, it's all so confusing. Like how at some colleges you can have a gpa greater than 4.0 (!!). At my school you can't do that, even if you get a 150 in every class, it would still come out to a 4.0

 

[docmode]

I would finish the Chemistry major. If you are taking inorganic in the spring that class will not be used against you. I'm assuming you are a junior now. Your grades will be in after you apply to med school. If you are applying this summer that is. I agree the P chem II is a bit easier than I. You can do it, pull off that A. I think you'll always regret not finishing the major since you have done nearly all the work. I think you're in good shape!

 

[docmode]

Also, I think it will be more impressive to have the two degrees if you are applying the the MD/PhD program. It will really show how you can handle the heavy science load. Those upper level chem. classes tell it all.

 

[Law2Doc]

Also, I think it will be more impressive to have the two degrees if you are applying the the MD/PhD program.

You usually only get 1 degree with a double major, at least at the places I attended.

I think we were talking about utility of double majors vs A's for med school (I don't see PhD mentioned in OP's posts, unless I missed it). For an MD/PhD, I suspect dropping one major and spending the extra time doing more publishable research would get you even more bang for your buck than a double major.