What did you major in?

[Secthdamon]

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I'll be starting college in the fall and I'm trying to decide what exactly to major in. I was thinking about something that fully prepares me for the MCAT and harder classes at Medical School while meeting all prerequisites. (Although I want to be well-rounded)

While Biology is appealing to me, majoring in Chemistry would probably help more than anything.. am I right about that?

What did you all major in, and how did that help you later on?

 

[patzan]

I'll be starting college in the fall and I'm trying to decide what exactly to major in. I was thinking about something that fully prepares me for the MCAT and harder classes at Medical School while meeting all prerequisites. (Although I want to be well-rounded)

While Biology is appealing to me, majoring in Chemistry would probably help more than anything.. am I right about that?

What did you all major in, and how did that help you later on?

I majored in pre-med. Just kidding, that seems to piss off a lot of people.

Biology is the easiest/fastest way to get it done usually. If it appeals to you more than chemistry, do it.

 

[DemonDeacon]

I thought I was a bio major, 100% sure.

I then turned to Botany. If I was at a good liber arts, I would have majored in Sociology.

Major in whatever interests YOU.

 

[Buddha]

I agree with Demon Deacon. Major in what you enjoy doing. Med schools don't really care what field you come from as long as you fulfill the science requirements (+ math and english). For the MCAT, you'll do fine with the minimum required science classes. You may even find some other career that interests you. The advice I hear from almost every doctor is don't go into medicine unless you know there's no other job that would make you happy. Above all, enjoy the college life outside of academics. BTW, I was an engineering major and an engineer.

 

[Daedalus]

Philosophy 😎


Demon is right - med schools could care less what your major is, as long as you do well in pre-req courses and the MCAT (which you can be well prepared for with just the pre-reqs). I chose philosophy because I love ethical theory and phil in general. I didn't do it to stand out or because people told me that phil majors have a higher acceptance rate or whatever.

 

[bigdan]

OP-
I agree with DD too. You gotta do you. Some parts of college are gonna suck, and you'd be better off with at least a passing interest in what you are going through.
I majored in occupational therapy. I got to work in healthcare, earn a nice living for a little while, enjoy my twenties, and even publish. And I love it.
Best of luck in whatever you choose; be sure to pick up your prereqs along the way.

dc

 

[Premedtomed]

I'll be starting college in the fall and I'm trying to decide what exactly to major in. I was thinking about something that fully prepares me for the MCAT and harder classes at Medical School while meeting all prerequisites. (Although I want to be well-rounded)

While Biology is appealing to me, majoring in Chemistry would probably help more than anything.. am I right about that?

What did you all major in, and how did that help you later on?

I am a Finance major. i love business and want to keep medicine as my "main" focus. You can do anything. Besides, I had other reasons for majroing in Finance but I think I got all the info. I needed for MCAT by taking required classes and online + Kaplan MCAT material.

 

[celticmists18]

Do what you love, that way you will (hopefully) get good grades AND enjoy your time in college. For me that was majoring in animal physiology and neuroscience (1 major). Good Luck!

 

[Anka]

Literature. Prepared me very well for the MCAT, since it's 80% passage based. I got a killer verbal score, and with just Kaplan + intro bio did real well on bio. Physical sciences were pretty straightforward (you just have to know chem and orgo... I'm not sure how much the extra courses required of a chem major would have helped). Anyway, got 40 and into my top choice med school! Admissions committees love the whole humanities major thing. If you can do a hum major + scientific research, you're golden. If you choose a 'small' major or go to a small school (i.e., lots of seminars), doing a humanities major has the added benefit of making you come off polished in an interview.

All of that said, if you're a science type, you're a science type -- do science.

Anka

 

[skiz knot]

While Biology is appealing to me, majoring in Chemistry would probably help more than anything.. am I right about that?

WRONG! If Bio is more appealing to you it is better that you pursue a degree in Bio (or Art History, Architecture, Women's Studies, etc...) You have to do what you enjoy, otherwise it is a waste of your time. You will have to complete a set of required courses that will include plenty of science. In medical school you will get more science thrown at cha' than you'll know what to do with.

 

[Medikit]

I majored in Biochemistry and I definitely recommend it. Take Upper division Physiology as your Biology elective (I don't know what the exact requirements are for your school). You will be more than adequately prepared for the BS and PS sections and you should be a little bit more removed from the pre-meds who are notorious for having a grades focused rather than a learning focused attitude. If it turns out you don't think you're up for Physics for Engineers, Calculus, and Physical Chemsitry you can switch over to Biology pretty easily with a keener knowledge of the Physical Sciences than you would have had otherwise.

Neither major will help you for the verbal section.

 

[IndianaBones]

I majored in Sociology! Well, actually, I ended up double majoring in Soc. and Biology since I had to do so many science prereqs anyways. Majoring in Soc. was the best decision I made in college. It gave me a really broad perspective which I think will be useful to me in medicine. For example, it's one thing to take Immunology and understand the specifics of how retroviruses work, but it's really eye opening to take medical soc. courses and gain a genuine understanding of the social, political, and economic factors fueling the AIDS epidemic. With biology, I felt like I was just paying those UC Regents bastards every quarter for the privilege of memorizing/regurgitating data. It wasn't until I started taking sociology classes that I felt my money was paying for a real education.

Good luck to you in whatever you choose!

 

[911Med]

I'll be starting college in the fall and I'm trying to decide what exactly to major in. I was thinking about something that fully prepares me for the MCAT and harder classes at Medical School while meeting all prerequisites. (Although I want to be well-rounded)

While Biology is appealing to me, majoring in Chemistry would probably help more than anything.. am I right about that?

What did you all major in, and how did that help you later on?

I sought the challenge of a triple major:

Beer / college swimming / sorority interaction

Oh yeah, the above is why I am a post-bac student and not an M1.
My bad - I would not recommend my path.

 

[werd]

i'm a biochem major, and i'd have to recommend it. it gives you the bio background and takes the edge off the general/organic chem sections. doesn't include physiology as a requirement though. i guess it's the technical aspects of chemistry applied to biology, with good backgrounds in both.

 

[jlee9531]

biochem major
scandinavian lit minor
korean studies minor.

 

[rgporter]

I'll be starting college in the fall and I'm trying to decide what exactly to major in. I was thinking about something that fully prepares me for the MCAT and harder classes at Medical School while meeting all prerequisites. (Although I want to be well-rounded)

While Biology is appealing to me, majoring in Chemistry would probably help more than anything.. am I right about that?

What did you all major in, and how did that help you later on?

I majored in Biology and I really wish I had gone through the med tech program. I can't think of a degree that would better prepare you for med school and the MCAT. Plus you can actually get a job with this degree if you need one.

 

[DieselPetrolGrl]

me: biology major, chem and eng minor

if i could do it again i wouldnt have majored in biology you can PM if you need my reasons 😡

 

[Brickhouse]

I majored in Sociology! Well, actually, I ended up double majoring in Soc. and Biology since I had to do so many science prereqs anyways. Majoring in Soc. was the best decision I made in college. It gave me a really broad perspective which I think will be useful to me in medicine. For example, it's one thing to take Immunology and understand the specifics of how retroviruses work, but it's really eye opening to take medical soc. courses and gain a genuine understanding of the social, political, and economic factors fueling the AIDS epidemic. With biology, I felt like I was just paying those UC Regents bastards every quarter for the privilege of memorizing/regurgitating data. It wasn't until I started taking sociology classes that I felt my money was paying for a real education.

Good luck to you in whatever you choose!

Sociology! You're my peeps!

 

[Spitting Camel]

Keep in mind that if you do choose a non-bio/chem major, you will have to complete all of your major courswork and on top of that, do your required med-school coursework. Seems like it's more difficult to do that compared to the Bio major which includes all necessary med school prerequisites. This, however, is coming from someone who LOVES LOVES LOVES bio and can't see one fault in it as a major!

 

[Fermata]

I thought I was a bio major, 100% sure.

I then turned to Botany. If I was at a good liber arts, I would have majored in Sociology.

Major in whatever interests YOU.

Sweet, Botany major at NCSU. Who's your advisor?

 

[abbiequeen]

I was a women's studies major, biology minor at a medium (3300 undergrads) liberal arts school. To concur with what has been said before, pick something you like and do well. Biology was okay but I liked women's studies more because it taught me to put myself in someone else's perspective, exactly what I'll have to do treating patients in the future. This major led to some interesting conversations in interviews with positive results.

Also, btw, people statistically get in more often with non-science majors than those with science majors.

But the most important thing is to major in what you like. Don't do Biochem just for the sake of being a BIOCHEMISRY MAJOR unless you love Biochemsitry.

~Abbiequeen 🙂

 

[pekq]

I majored in Neurosci because I hate myself and anything I can do to make my life even more miserable, I'll do it!!!! 😍

There's nothing like spending an 3 days studying for the neurosci intro course final and getting a lower grade than all my other courses: orgo (1 day), stat (the 3 hours after orgo final) and philosophy (1 night).

Neuro is very fun stuff, just be prepared to live in the library and turn green with envy at the amount of free time your liberal arts friends got.

 

[TheFlash]

noobs, use the search function before posting threads like this for the billionth time. Search is your friend.

 

[Spitting Camel]

I majored in Neurosci because I hate myself and anything I can do to make my life even more miserable, I'll do it!!!! 😍

There's nothing like spending an 3 days studying for the neurosci intro course final and getting a lower grade than all my other courses: orgo (1 day), stat (the 3 hours after orgo final) and philosophy (1 night).

Neuro is very fun stuff, just be prepared to live in the library and turn green with envy at the amount of free time your liberal arts friends got.

I was a NEURObio major as well, and I couldn't disagree with you more. If anything, Neuroscience is easier than the regular bio major.

 

[liverpoolufmd08]

NOT chemical engineering. Trust me on this one. 👎

 

[Meritina]

I do not recommend certain areas depending on how competitive the major is in your school. If you are going to a hard core science institution, I would pass on one of those majors since I saw many in my class drop out of the pre-med idea who were majoring in bio or chem, since their grades came out low in the end - unless of course science is your best area. Also, the amount of detail I saw in undergrad bio and chem courses was excessive and not as applicable to med school as i would have liked.

 

[logos]

Here's what I would do if I were you. I'd plan as if if I were going to be a chem major (assuming you are actually interested in chem). Take the intro chem courses and the math level of chem majors. You can always go to bio after prepping for chem but doing the reverse is difficult (if i got to do it over i'd major in biochem or chem...) After doing this you will have a real basis to decide what you like...as hard as it is to believe you really cant even start to grasp what college chem is like in HS....its just different..

As far as the difficulty of those two majors, they dont even compare. Chem is a ton of work while bio courses tend to be pretty easy "just memorize and regurgitate" type things.

Initially I thought I liked bio, but later found that chem is a whole lot more fun. I actually decided on a midle ground area, microbiology. Its much more reasoned and requires greater analytical skill than bio, but is still a fair bit softer then chem. I'm probably going to throw in a biochem minor next year for good measure.

 

[JohnnieBlue]

I majored in English and it helped me do well on the MCAT. As someone mentioned earlier, the MCAT is all passaged based so this helps even on Bio. That said though, I majored in English because I like English (or at least did before I had to take 10 courses in it).

The key is to major in something you enjoy and get good grades. Don't think "admissions committees will be impressed if I take all these hard classes..." Bottom line: if you don't do well and don't have a good GPA, nobody will even see which classes you took!

Another piece of advice: don't take too much of a difficult courseload at the beginning. Start slow and find what you like. You don't have to settle on a major for some time. Good luck!

 

[mackaikai]

biochemistry and cell biology

 

[josephgoro]

While Biology is appealing to me, majoring in Chemistry would probably help more than anything.. am I right about that?

What did you all major in, and how did that help you later on?

Since you're not even a freshman, I'd recommend you consider the option that you may change your mind about being pre-med. Most people shrug it off and start losing hair after getting their BA in schliffling.

Engineering, especially biomedical engineering will certainly prepare you not only for the MCAT, which is the least of your concerns, but 21st century medicine. I was a biophysics major by accident, and that was alright. You may want to consider the average grades, student comments about requisite courses, opportunities to work closely with faculty, free time and independent work (if that's your thing) for each of the majors you are considering at your selected instituion. yeah, it's important

don't think about what you "like" so much. you don't know what you're getting into, and i mean this in a good way 😉 so, use more objective criteria, and go get 'em, tiger

go have fun a little

 

[OSU ACTON]

x

 

[10minutes]

If you are serious about going to med school, make sure not only to choose the major you are interested in, but also choose one that you are good at. I was a math major and it fulfilled both of those areas.

 

[Richie Truxillo]

Computer Science with minors in Chemistry and Philosophy.

I don't recommend Computer Science. It is a bunch of abstract numerical logic and programming 🙁

 

[i77ac]

molecular and cell biology with neurobiology emphasis

Helped a lot in MCAT sciences, but not verbal. Then again, I hate verbal...

 

[medicomel]

I was an English major.

 

[Jason110]

Above all else, major in something you're interested in. It's the easiest way to get good grades in college, I think.

I, personally, am a Biomedical Engineering major. This interested me because I was very quantitative coming out of high school. Being interested allowed me to excel in my major. There are so many BME majors who are only doing it for the pre-med; they are struggling because they aren't truly interested in it. Bottom line: Major in what you're interested in. 🙂

Jason

 

[lorelei]

I dual degreed in computer engineering and German. I'm really happy with it; I liked both of the majors and I think having one science-heavy and one non-science major helped me be more well-rounded. (I didn't do it on purpose for premed though; I made my major decisions well before I went premed.)

If you can hack engineering, I highly recommend it. You get most of the science requirements (I just had to add orgo) but the problem-solving skills are really where it's at. I felt like that really helped on the MCAT. Plus if you decide against medicine, you can always get a job as an engineer.

 

[mamaMD]

Biology major
Women's Studies minor

I am doing what I love 🙂

MamaMD

 

[thewzdoc]

Computer Science with minors in Chemistry and Philosophy.

I don't recommend Computer Science. It is a bunch of abstract numerical logic and programming 🙁

.....Information Technology....a fellow geek!

.....I love Philosophy too. 👍

 

[jeonsied]

Remember that once you enter medical school everything you study will be focused on just one thing. In high school, most probably, most of your curriculum was already set for you and in med school you will have no choice. So think of college as the last time you get to learn things you have always wanted to learn, a foreign language, lit,...whatever interests you that you know you won't get in med school and will most probably not get the chance to do later on. Of course as mentioned before pick something you like and are good at because if not you will regret it. By the way I was a bio major.

 

[Alexander99]

Major in Psychology. Easy 4.0 and hotter girls. 👍