There is literature to support that matriculating medical school students have similar GPAs and MCATs, whether they are a science or a nonscience major. In both scenarios, the students have completed the mandatory prerequisites and do extremely well. That said, I have noticed a difference between the two groups of students in terms of the spark they bring to the class.
As an applicant, consider how to play to your strengths. Don’t view your non-premed major as a problem. Rather, analyze and understand how your strengths can benefit your medical studies and your future patients. You can make your application jump out from the rest by highlighting which areas you have studied.
I easily remember the first philosophy major we admitted to our school. He wrote beautiful, reflective essays on his application, and you felt like you had seen his soul when you read them. His letters of recommendation conveyed that the authors really knew this student. He was a leader in his medical school class and easily inspired others, not only his peers, but also students who entered later.
He also founded the medical school’s arts and humanities journal, and sparked the enthusiasm throughout the school to write about humanities and the essence of patients, not just about scientific research. Now most of our students do both — what a legacy to leave.
[Learn the four attributes to demonstrate on your primary medical school essay.]
Another of our students majored in Spanish and had excellent conversational skills. Before entering medical school, she volunteered extensively helping Spanish-speaking populations, even though she did not come from a Latino background. She translated clinical histories and shadowed physicians in a Hispanic medical center in a large U.S. city.
In her application essays, she wrote about mission trips abroad that convinced us of her dedication to others. When she arrived at medical school, she augmented the medical Spanish classes with practice sessions in her apartment. Under her leadership, students participated in mission trips and started health care screenings for Hispanics.
We have accepted every kind of engineering student you can imagine. These students are generally great at team play and working in groups. Examples of cooperation, negotiation, consensus and innovation jump out of their secondary essays. These traits are the future of medicine, and these folks already understand the process. They understand how to measure improvement and generally are eager to accept suggestions from others.
[Know how to highlight compassion in your medical school application.]
Students with engineering backgrounds often write about pulling together and what they learned from others. Their contributions blend splendidly with those from their colleagues and effectuate better outcomes for the entire group.
Statistics and math majors are a few steps away from science, but these students usually are quite good at critical reasoning and they will do well in that portion of the MCAT. They also have terrific skills in research. They often describe in their application essays how they helped move a project along as an undergraduate. They can help their matriculating classmates better understand statistical analysis in the scientific articles they are reading, and some will no doubt end up tutoring or helping others on their research methodology.
[Be sure to highlight diversity when applying to medical school.]
Typically, music majors are both great in math and superb in feeling emotions. They are practiced team players and possess great discipline. They demonstrate by their activities and in their essays how much music has enriched their lives. At my medical school, we have had every type musician in our school including vocalists. And dance majors have taught their peers about their cultures, and our musicians often participate in our students’ annual musical.
The admissions committee will already have your GPA, science grades and MCAT, but you can show how your nonscience major can take your class to the next level. Make it the icing on the cake.
More from U.S. News
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What Late Medical School Applicants Need to Know
4 Attributes to Demonstrate on Your Primary Medical School Essay
Shine on Medical School Applications Without a Premed Major originally appeared on usnews.com
