What should I major in?

[juiscurious]

Hi, I'm a junior high school, and I want to become a pediatric surgeon. When the school year starts I will be taking Calculus & Biology as dual credit classes and Medical Terminology as a CTE success course. I live in Virginia and I plan on graduating high school with my associates degree, going to Old Domain University, then later to EVMS. I just don't know what to major in. Could someone give me some insight?

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[Kardio]

Hi, I'm Juleesah, I'm a junior high school, and I want to become a pediatric surgeon. When the school year starts I will be taking Calculus & Biology as dual credit classes and Medical Terminology as a CTE success course. I live in Virginia and I plan on graduating high school with my associates degree, going to Old Domain University, then later to EVMS. I just don't know what to major in. Could someone give me some insight?

Major in whatever you can (1) perform well in and (2) interests you. You can do this while simultaneously taking medical school prerequisites.

Best of luck.

(BTW - recommend removing your profile picture for sake of anonymity).

 

[Shunsui]

Junior in HS so probably ~16 years old.

Pediatric surgeon: 4 years UG, [maybe a gap year], 4 years med school, 5 year gen surg, 2 years pediatric subspecialty = 16 years total with a gap year

You will be in school for as long as you have been alive right now, it's impossible to comprehend the amount of time/work/energy/money/sacrifices it takes to achieve that at your age. Keep an open mind. Go into medicine to become a doctor first, not a pediatric surgeon first.

Major in whatever you enjoy the most.

 

[KnightDoc]

For your anonymity, you should definitely edit you name out of your post!!!

As far as your questions, just do whatever makes you happy, and do well. Med schools care about HOW you do, not which classes you take. Besides some basic science and a few other prerequisites, you can major in absolutely anything at all. People are successful majoring in sciences, humanities, arts, etc. it really doesn't matter. Good luck!!!

 

[deleted804295]

I would advise you take your name off this post and your picture off your profile

 

[lull]

For your anonymity, you should definitely take down your picture and edit you name out of your post!!!

isn't that cardi b lol

 

[Blueprint Med School]

Whatever makes you happy. You can get into med school with any major given a good resume.

As far as what is most practical for med school, I will be the shill for chemistry the degree I got. The critical thinking skills are really developed in some of the classes, while it is still often very medically or physiologically relevant (biochem comes to mind) unlike other STEM majors like math or physics.

David D, MD - USMLE and MCAT Tutor
Med School Tutors

 

[Dunbacca]

While it’s great to have goals, I’d advise you as someone still in high school not to pigeonhole yourself into one specific subspecialty of medicine before having even started medical school. Medicine is a broad and amazing field, and most medical students (about 50% I believe) change their choice of speciality sometime within medical school.

Also, med school admissions can be a real crapshoot sometimes; the most qualified applicants can get rejected from their state school and get into a T20, so just a tip since you seem to be setting your eyes on one school only.

To answer your question, major in whatever you feel you’ll do best in, just make sure to knock out the prerequisite courses medical schools require.

 

[longhaul3]

Pediatric surgery is one of the smallest subspecialties in all of medicine. There are only 30-40 who graduate every year.

The path to pediatric surgery from your position is the same as the path to any other medical specialty: do as well as you can in school, make good decisions in your social and social media life, stay out of trouble, and go to college.

Be aware—if you're enrolled in classes for college credit as a high school student, your grades WILL be reflected on your college transcript and in your college GPA. If you want to go to medical school, you need to do well in them.