It seems there are so many Bio majors applying to med school. So does that mean I should steer away from majoring in Biology? Or do the adcoms not really care what your major is?
I read on here and elsewhere that humanities majors gain the most acceptance and Biology majors the least acceptances? Kinda worries me about majoring in Biology.
MamaMD
Science majors are the majority of the accepted students majors, but that is because of pure numbers. There are more science majors than there are any other major.
Really, don’t pick your major based on what you think the adcoms want. Does being something other than a science (biology) major set you apart from the others, maybe. Does it give you a leg up in the process, I don’t think so.
Pick your major based on what interests you. I started as a psychology major and with only one semester done, I knew that there was no way I wanted to keep that as my major. I enjoyed the biology classes and so the natural thing for me to do was become a bio major. Did it hurt me in the application process, not at all.
Biology is one of my majors and I did it because I like it obviously it did not hinder my chances as I am starting this fall. Go with what you enjoy and everything will fall into place.
Thank you both. I really enjoy Biology as well!
MamaMD
Hi there,
You can major in anything that YOU like provided you take the pre-med courses. I have friends who are physicians who are classics majors, philosophy majors and english majors. The most important thing is not what you try to perceive as what an admissions committee wants but what YOU want to do. There is no one major that will guarantee admission to medical school.
If I were just starting out and had decided that medicine was my field, I would major in American studies, minor in Spanish and take the pre-med courses. American studies and Spanish would have been infinitely more useful to me than French, Advanced Differential Equations and Electrochemistry.
Am I sorry that I have a strong scientific background? No, but based on what I am doing now, more humanities would have been a better choice. At the time, being an Analytical Chemistry major was most important. We grow and change but do what you like and do it very well.
Natalie 