Useful to double major or minor?

[TexPre-Med]

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What is the use of double majoring or minoring, when you will not ever need the knowledge for or after medical school? I am excluding the occasion in which someone has a genuine interest in another subject. To me, it seems that many students just want to boost their medical school application. Do schools even actually care? I would think medical schools would prefer extracurriculars than adding extra undergrad. degrees that are useless (like chemistry).

 

[jlee9531]

i dont know why anyone would double major/minor if they didnt care about the other subject. too stressful in my opinion to just do it for med schools when it might not even have that much of an impact.

i am however a biochem major and double minor in scandinavian lit and korean studies. i took these classes obviously since i am highly interested in all these subjects and know that my interest in them will not die throughout my life. so i might as well take advantage and learn cause i know i wont have many opportunities in med school.

interviewers have asked me about my minors and i think were impressed by the fact i was so passionate about subject matter outside of the sciences. i feel they can tell when people do things to pad apps or if they are truly interested in their topics of expertise.

 

[liberaeas]

Ditto with what jlee said. I am doing a music minor with my bio degree, because music is something I am passionate about and will be part of me my whole life. Why not take advantage of your time in undergrad to study subjects that might not necessarily be your career, but interesting nonetheless?

Ditto also on the pointlessness of people who do two majors and two minors all in the bio/chem field, just to "have more degrees." What a waste of time, haha.

 

[TTSD]

They'll care if you do GREAT or BAD in them. But if you're doing it because you're passionate about it and can show that to them through LORs, your Personal Statement, EC and interview.. then it can only work to your advantage.

Right now I'm doing a Bio degree and Neuro minor because I love neuroscience. I was also pursuing an economics minor as well, but ugh.. economics is soooo left field from what I'm studying that it hurts the brain sometimes to switch gears while studying (not to mention I really started to get bored.. after a while all they did was talk about the same concepts with different names).

 

[DrBodacious]

A double major or minor would be a positive thing, definately. Medical schools put a significant amount of weight into the "breadth and depth" you have in your undergraduate education the better. A double major or minor would be an easy way to stand out. Chemistry isn't in medical school totally useless either. I wish I'd chose another subject to major or minor in. My honors program took up alot of credit hrs that were tough to work into any one subject though.

 

[ATPase]

I was a history major but ended up taking so many upper-level science credits that it was easier just to declare minors in biology and chemistry since I already had the credits. I figured it would demonstrate that even though I majored in the liberal arts, I still had the science ability. I'm not sure whether the adcoms cared or not, as I was never asked about it in any of my interviews.

 

[DrWuStar]

double majoring is a lot of work, especially if the two majors are not related. i think ad coms understand and admire that diligence. but i agree that it is only worth the effort if you really care about both subjects and want to learn more about them. i double majored in biology and environmental studies, and although my env. degree is not directly relevant to med school, i'm really glad i pursued it. i care about the subject matter and it helped me focus in on what i want to do.

don't double major to boost your resume. you can do other things with your time that will look as good, if not better. volunteer more. do research/honors in the subject you ARE majoring in. take a semester abroad. double majoring gets in the way of all of those things, and they are also impressive to ad coms.