Undergraduate Major

[pre-medstudent]

Hi,
I am a pre-med student, I am on my second year of undergraduate and I am a biology major. Lately I noticed that most of the people at my college that want to go into med school are studying biology because is the easiest one (so I have been told). Now, I don't really want to be like everybody else, I want to stand out in my med application. I have been looking at some majors and I saw one in Chemistry with concentration in Forensics. I would really love this major considering that I want to be a forensic pathologist. My question is, will this major give me the preparation necessary for the MCAT? How will this influence my application for med school?
Thank you in advance.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Meeehai]

You're in the wrong forum, but I'll answer your question anyway.

Your major doesn't matter - you should pick the major you like most. If the chem one with a focus on forensics is interesting to you, then you should do it. You will not stand out or be a unique applicant to medical schools based on your major. Instead, you should look to stand out through your extracurricular activities, responses on your applications and interview answers when the time comes. Considering that you will have to take the general science prerequisite courses for med school, you will get exposure to material that you will see on the MCAT in the future regardless of your major. It doesn't really matter though because you will have to prepare for the MCAT independently no matter what courses you take. You can learn MCAT material without taking the class that covers it - although it might take longer to learn some concepts if you haven't seen them before.

In terms of the MCAT, you can find more useful information in the premed or MCAT forums. The exam has become more extensive since I have taken it, but these are courses I recommend if you want to have a step up on your preparation: Gen Bio, Genetics, Physiology (no Anatomy), Biochem, OChem, Gen Chem, Gen Physics. There's also a psych and sociology section now, but I don't know the specifics.