Undergrad Majors?

[jessjlstar]

I searched, and I couldn't find a thread for undergrad majors for osteopathic hopefuls. So... Could anyone give me suggestions? I'm just now going to be a freshman, but it can't hurt to be prepared!

I'm sure many of you guys majored in bio/chem, right? Well, if you did, did that give you any advantage on the MCAT? What about in interviews? If you didn't major in bio/chem, could you please tell me what you majored in? Do you regret your major? Did it hurt you on the MCAT? Did the admission committees even care?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Walter H White]

I majored in molecular biology and I'm gonna be honest. It definitely gave me an advantage on the bio section of the MCAT. I had a great biology foundation so it allowed me to focus more on the other sections of the MCAT.

I'm applying this cycle so I can't say much in the way of admissions, but if I could start over I'd probably do something non-science and minor in biology. Namely, computer science. The best piece of advice I can give you is pick a major you enjoy - be it science or non-science. You have to complete the premed reqs anyway so do something you enjoy.

 

[bcurtis]

Here around SDN, it seems to me that the consensus is that it doesn't matter what you major in: just do really good in it. I'm sure that biology/chemistry/physics will give you a slight advantage in the MCAT because your exposed to more science classes, but can you obtain a high GPA in these course? Me personally, I didn't want to be "cookie-cutter" so I'm majoring in psychology with a biology minor. As long as you focus on the pre-req's and knock them out if the water and get your GPA as high as YOU can, there is nothing to worry about. Make sure that you invest time into the MCAT with practice tests, study books, and the science classes regardless of what your major is.

In short: major in what you want to major in, have fun with it and enjoy it, do well, study for the MCAT, and get the EC's that will help you get into medical school.

 

[Roxas]

I don't think it really matters. Do something you enjoy.

I'm a human nutrition major, and absolutely love it. I also didn't want to be lost in the sea of pre-med bio majors at my school.

 

[Jwalker]

Pick a major that you enjoy. College should be some of the best years of your life. Enjoy it. With that being said, most of med school pre reqs are usually required by biology degrees, so you can kill 2 birds with one stone.

 

[Goro]

The vast majority of my students are either Biology or "pre-med/pre-professional". The next largest category would probably be chemistry, following by kinesiology, psychology or psychobiology. A fraction of the rest are Humanities majors. I have two wonderful clinician colleagues who were English and Drama majors. The Humanities majors make for the most interesting interviews, for me.

Just major in what intersts you the most, and then worry about the prep for medical school and MCAT.

And no, AdComs don't care about what you major in, only whether you excelled in your studies.


I'm sure many of you guys majored in bio/chem, right? Well, if you did, did that give you any advantage on the MCAT? What about in interviews? If you didn't major in bio/chem, could you please tell me what you majored in? Do you regret your major? Did it hurt you on the MCAT? Did the admission committees even care? [/QUOTE]

 

[Urnathok]

I was just wondering why this topic didn't come up as much in pre-osteo, and here it pops up twice tonight.

Major in an area that helps you learn best and stand out well. For some people, that's engineering, and for others it's anthropology.

Trying to avoid repeating my list in the thread right beside this one, I'm an English major, and while I haven't taken the MCAT yet, it's worth remembering that those Verbal and Writing sections are there, and a Psychology/Sociology section is around the corner for those taking it from 2015 on; humanities majors do statistically tend to hold up very well in the MCAT, along with mathematics majors. The same may be true for how they handle most standardized tests, as I hear that English and History majors tend to get the lion's share in the LSAT too.

That said, humanities degrees are what you put into them. Just like you can come out of a fabulous engineering program without the slightest idea of what's going on in the world intellectually (to quote a structural engineer friend of mine), you can skip about an English department picking 'flexible' professors and getting by on a half-decent writing ability. Alternatively, you can learn things from books that happen to have survived for a very long time (things like "why do this book have survived for a very long time?" for starters, followed by a sharp grammar lesson).

There are plenty of people in medicine with a science background. If the Bio/Chem/Physics trinity isn't your passion, don't be afraid to bring in some variety to the mix.