Was it a Mistake Majoring in Biochem

[deleted915763]

At my school, Biochem has far more classes that need to be taken compared to biology or human biology and seems like it will be harder. I have a 3.7GPA and it will likely remain 3.7-3.8 when I graduate, but I think it would be close to a 4.0 if I were a bio/human bio major. It also requires me to have a pretty heavy course load every quarter right up until I graduate. I thought maybe I should add human biology and chemistry to triple major but I don't know if the school will allow that, as I have most of the coursework complete anyway while doing biochem and premed classes.

I took biochem because I find chemistry really interesting and vital to really understand biology. I guess I am just venting, in the end, I am doing what I like and that's whats important right?

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[foregoingfun]

If you can graduate as a biochem major with a 3.7 I don't see why you'd have any difficulty especially when the rigor likely prepares you well for the MCAT and such.

 

[deleted915763]

Do medical schools care about what major you are? I assume they don't? It is true that the major will prepare me extremely well for the MCAT

 

[BadgerMedCj]

The added pchems, calc II(sometimes III depending on uni), inorganics, and analytical chems can definitely hit the GPA if you don't stay at the top of your game but I always took those courses as a challenge to be the best in a subject that I was less vested in than some of my peers. Which I think in-turn was an advantage for me as it is a challenge that is faced again med school m3 year.

As far as if it was an advantage for me or not in the application process? Probably not. Yeah I took some harder courses and excelled in them and maybe some adcoms look at that but I would say for the most part there is not much emphasis on that. As long as your GPA and MCAT are up to par any major is fine- in your case, 3.7-3.8 is most definitely up to par.

That being said, do I think my understanding of biochemistry is superior helping me understand medicine on a deeper level and helping me to be a more proficient medical student and future physician? Absolutely, and that alone made it worth it.

 

[aldol16]

Schools don't care what you major in so doing a triple major wouldn't be worth it if your sole purpose was to do it for an advantage. Med schools care that you challenged yourself and that you're passionate in what you do. So at the same time, cruising through with a humanities degree probably won't help if you're not passionate about. Harder science majors also tend to prepare you very well for the MCAT, which is very important in admissions as well. So even though you might have majored in something easier, you might end up being better prepared for the MCAT in your case or better prepared for what's coming in med school.

 

[Alejandro]

I agree with @BadgerMedCj , and I was a biochem major in college too. Honestly, I feel a lot of the differences between different majors is a minor thing to worry about. We worry about it more because its easier to worry about and its easy to push blame and such on. But the stuff that makes a bigger difference is showing your interest in what you're studying, or the things you do outside of school. (we don't complain about it because it obviously takes more work to get involved so we just brush it off). In essence, I'm saying there are more important things to worry about. Your GPA is high enough that it shouldn't be a huge liability.

 

[NITRAS]

I agre with @Alejandro. Good gpa, good MCAT, they don’t care.

Looking back, I wished I would have made a fallback plan, because without medical school, I’m not sure what I would have done.

 

[WIMNFamilyMed]

At my school, Biochem has far more classes that need to be taken compared to biology or human biology and seems like it will be harder. I have a 3.7GPA and it will likely remain 3.7-3.8 when I graduate, but I think it would be close to a 4.0 if I were a bio/human bio major. It also requires me to have a pretty heavy course load every quarter right up until I graduate. I thought maybe I should add human biology and chemistry to triple major but I don't know if the school will allow that, as I have most of the coursework complete anyway while doing biochem and premed classes.

I took biochem because I find chemistry really interesting and vital to really understand biology. I guess I am just venting, in the end, I am doing what I like and that's whats important right?

Fellow biochem major here, and I agree with you for the most part on the course rigor. Fortunately, I don't think that GPA will set you away, as someone else outlined schools will know you took inorganic, calculus, other classes of more rigor. Triple majoring would not make sense - you'll just make it redundant and the actual degree title doesn't matter. With the MCAT material, i would consider biochem major more prep for that, and as you're taking all the pre-reqs either way you'll be fine. I know some med students who say they wish they had done micro before, or immunology as an elective class, but as a biochem major youre also going to be stronger on that than your bio peers so I think itll balance out.

If you're looking to lighten course load, try to do the psych or writing or liberal education requirements in the summer. I found this a great way to make my semesters better - but I know it isnt possible at every school!