Students who plan to apply to medical school must make many decisions about how to best curate their application, including considering what major to choose in college.
Answering the five most common questions premeds have about choosing a major will set you up for academic success and put your mind at ease.
What Are the Most Common Premed Majors?
One of the most common majors for premed students is biology, closely followed by neuroscience and psychology. These traditional majors make a great choice for students aspiring to medical school, as many credits required for the major overlap with prerequisites for applying to med school. Some of those credits include:
— Two semesters of biology
— Two semesters of general chemistry
— Two semesters of organic chemistry
— Two semesters of physics
Biology, neuroscience and psychology are appropriate choices for many prospective medical students since they can streamline course requirements and highlight a genuine interest in science. However, students aren’t limited to these three most common majors.
[Read: College Courses to Take Before Medical School]
What Makes a Good Premed Major?
When deciding what to study in college, it’s important to consider your personal interests and motivations. While it can be tempting to choose a major you think admissions committees are looking for, the truth is, admissions committees are looking for students who can identify their own genuine interests and pursue them.
There is no major that will guarantee medical school acceptance, so the best major to choose is one that allows you to explore your academic interests while being able to maintain a high GPA. Taking science electives can either bolster or bog down your science GPA, depending on your performance, so it’s important to consider past performance in science courses while selecting a major as well as electives.
Choosing a major in a topic you have a genuine passion for will make it significantly easier to engage in class, make meaningful connections with professors – leading to strong letters of recommendation – and earn strong grades.
Is it OK to Have a Nontraditional Premed Major?
If you have a strong interest in a subject area outside of the sciences, it could be worthwhile to consider a nontraditional premed major.
Any major from fine arts to Russian literature can be spun to reflect an applicant’s unique perspective on medicine. The humanities, in particular, can be an appealing choice for nontraditional majors as these fields emphasize the soft skills that make a compassionate doctor.
[Read: How Medical School Applicants Can Stand Out Without a Premed Major.]
While doctors surely need to be well-versed in the basic biology underlying medical conditions and treatments, good doctors also need to have strong interpersonal skills, ethical consideration, cultural humility and a healthy dose of empathy.
Many majors in the humanities, including literature, philosophy, history and music, ask students to turn inward and exercise self-reflection. This helps develop a rich ability to connect with people and, eventually, patients. Students who choose a nontraditional major should be able to articulate the unique intersection between their interests and the field of medicine in their personal statement and secondary essays.
What Are Some Common Misconceptions?
Common premed majors include chemistry, biology, biochemistry, psychology and health sciences. All of these majors closely align with medical school admissions requirements, which include the prerequisite science and math courses required for admission. However, there are several common misconceptions about what it takes to stand out as a premed student.
When it comes to selecting premedical coursework, a common misconception is that medical school admissions committees will be wowed by students taking niche science classes like immunology, microbiology and physiology – common elective choices for biology majors. While these may be classes that can help set you up for success down the road by creating a foundation of scientific knowledge, it’s important to remember that admissions committees know you will learn all the required material for medical school when you are admitted and are not seeking applicants who have the most science-related courses.
Prioritize meeting the prerequisite courses, maintaining a high GPA and taking courses that spark your intellectual curiosity.
[Read: What Are Your Chances of Getting Into Med School?]
Alternatively, some students are under the impression that biology majors are too common, and having a nontraditional major will help them stand out. While it’s true that having a different major will make an applicant unique in one aspect, a student’s chosen major should make sense with their medical school application as a whole.
For example, if a student selects a history major, yet all their activities focus on neuroscience research and their essays don’t explain or support this choice, it may come across as confusing and suggest a lack of self-reflection. On the other hand, if another student selects a history major and shows interest in the history of medicine, writing an article about the history of the development of a medical procedure, for example, it would reflect a well-thought-out integration of diverse interests.
Is Biology Best?
While being thoughtful about every aspect of your medical school application is advisable, remember that there is no perfect formula that guarantees admission.
Biology majors commonly get accepted into medical school, but some are rejected.
Your major of choice alone won’t make or break your application, so prioritize a major that will help you keep a high GPA and showcase your strengths.
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Is Biology the Best Premed Major? originally appeared on usnews.com
