First time poster on this site… I discovered it by accident but came addicted to the success stories!
I’m 26 and in my first year of college, (dropped out of 10th grade, got in with a ged) so yes, I have a long way to go yet. I’m pretty confident in my decision to to follow a “pre-med” track in my school. However, I understand the likelihood of making it to med-school is not in my favor, so I want to be sure I don’t waste my time with a major that won’t provide any back up options.
Everything I read (including my schools’ website) insists that you can major in anything when applying to med-school. Ive also read that majoring in a liberal art shows how well rounded you are. However, I’m leaning towards biology as it seems to me (and correct me if I’m wrong) that it couldn’t hurt my chances for med-school, and also if med-school doesn’t work out then it would be easier for me to jump into another medical related field that doesn’t require the higher degree… (possibly something involving animals if the salary isn’t too low. Not to sound greedy but I would like to make at least 100 a year after it’s all said and done, but not sure that’s even possible without a doctoral degree involving humans!).
What I’m really wondering at this point is whether going for a double major AND doing a pre-med track would be an excessive amount of work load. Not that I’m lazy, but I do work full time and would like to not live in a constant state of stress haha. I currently take 4 classes a quarter, have every intention of going in the summer, and may even jump it up to 5 classes next quarter…
And if I do double major, I can’t decide between psychology, political science, or philosophy. I would enjoy physics and feel it’d be great for med-school but have already determined that it would create an excessive amount of work load from what I have already read about it. My current major is English but am starting to realize that I enjoy reading and writing more as a past time, rather than from a competitive standpoint.
Again, I know I’ve got a long way to go but I can’t help to try and plan my future, even though I know I’m going to be changing my mind here and there. Just looking for feedback from whoever feels like sharing!
Thanks everyone! 
If you want to major in bio, then major in bio
If you want to major in liberal arts, then major in a liberal art
If you want to make it to medical school, your GPA/grades are what matter; there is little consideration for the workload taken to get there.
In other words, the more courses you take, the greater the work load, the more spread out your time and energy to do well in those courses. This “violates” my two rules below
Rule 4: Don’t Bite Off More Than You Can Chew
Rule 5: Do Not Risk Bad Grades By Taking Too Much
General advice: go to the best school you can and take the most interesting major or work load THAT YOU CAN DO WELL IN
Take this from a guy whose original undergrad was a double major in biochem and music, work in 3 different research labs, and tried to do too much who crashed and burned
I agree with Richard. As a political science major that’s applying right now, you really can be any major and still get interest from med schools. Everyone has to take the same prereq’s but those elective classes will seem so much easier if they’re in a subject that you have a passion for. I’ve found that with political sci I have the added bonus to be able to speak intellegently in interviews about all sorts of government and social issues having been exposed to the information in the course of my major.
Good luck and enjoy the journey!
- zoiberg11 Said:
Hi & welcome, zoiberg11! I don't suppose you're a Futurama fan by any chance?
- zoiberg11 Said:
Why do you say that? Because of your past? If it's any consolation, I have a background similar to yours and I am a med student. In fact, based on your age and some quick math, I estimate I dropped out of high school the year you were born. I also started college back in 1996 at 28 (a few days shy of 29) when I was about the same age you are now. What's in the past is in the past. What matters now, especially with regards to med school, is how you do academically in college going forward. High school will have no bearing on med school.
- zoiberg11 Said:
What you read is true. It's funny, but I had an identical thought process when I was where you are at now. That is why I became a biology major/chemistry minor so that I could get a paying research gig since med school wasn't in my immediate post-grad future. It also was a way to shore up my pre-med research portfolio while getting out of debt.
- zoiberg11 Said:
OK, now you're living in a fantasy world.
When I graduated from college 11 years ago, most of the biotech/research jobs were offering ~$21,000/yr. I was making way more than that when I was active duty military before going to college and without any educational debt. To put this into perspective, the US Postal Service at the time was hiring letter carriers for ~$25,000/yr. Fortunately, I was able to parlay my veteran status (under VRA/VEOP) into a job at the NIH in Bethesda, MD for ~$29,000/yr. If you are familiar with Montgomery County MD (north of DC), it is an extremely expensive cost-of-living area (even relative to San Diego, CA where I had been living) so it took me over 7 years to get out of debt before I could apply to med school. Something to think about.
Due to the finnicky nature of this site, I will have to break my reply up into 2 posts. Sorry about that.
OK, this is part 2 of my reply.
- zoiberg11 Said:
Yes.
- zoiberg11 Said:
Then you will not want to be working full-time if you're serious about med school. College will need to be your full-time job, just like it is for the trad-students. I had a good freshman year, then worked a lot more hours in sophomore year and risked bad grades. I remedied this during junior & senior year by working a lot less.
- zoiberg11 Said:
It's ultimately up to you like the other posters have said. You're not going to be earning $100k with a degree in any one of those disciplines if you're not going straight-on to med school, though. You'll be lucky to find gainful employment.
- zoiberg11 Said:
Plus, it has a nasty reputation for being a GPA-killer. Very few physics majors graduate with anything close to a 4.00 GPA relative to other majors.
Good luck on your journey, zoiberg11!
Thank you TicTocDoh for such a thorough response!
In response to a couple of your comments/questions:
I say I have a long way to go simply because I just started going to school again, and I don’t want to sound like I’m getting ahead of myself. In other words, I’m trying to stay humble!
The one thing that might provide a major difference in our pasts is that I have a felony on my record. Its a b+e, which is considered non violent. I have previous misdemeanor convictions before the felony, and because of this a lawyer I contacted told me I would not be able to get it expunged. Oh well, I don’t know how much of an issue this is going to be in my future, but what can i say… I’m an optimist!
As far as working full time…Well, I work for a living. I’m married, have a mortgage and bills and not working is not really an option haha. That being said, my employer is very supportive of my education, I have a ton of down time in the winter, I am more or less a manager and make my own hours,and so I don’t see my job getting in the way of school.
I’m not really sure what you mean by the “fantasy world” comment. Are you referring to the concept of making 100 grand a year working with animals? Because I understand that’s a bit of a fantasy, and I don’t intend on that happening! I’m currently a bicycle mechanic and make 30k, so I can’t see how anything less than that would really be worth the trouble of going to college. I like my job, and could see following it through to my retirement years, but I don’t want that to be my ONLY option. Going back to school is all about providing myself with more options, and a medical career feels like the best and brightest one.
While it really isn’t about money, if I’m going to take the time and tens of thousands of dollars to go to school, I think a MINIMUM of 70-80k is not too much to ask. Otherwise why shouldn’t I skip the 4-8 years of education, the tremendous student loans, and just go into diesel mechanics or become an electrician and make somewhere between 40-60k a year? No offense to anyone here, but in my opinion and experience the majority of college grads I know seem to have wasted their time and money going to college only to end up with a job that doesn’t require more than a GED, if that. I can only hope that I do not end up in the same predicament…(Again, I’m trying to stay humble!)
I have also heard the same thing regarding physics and GPA scores. I think an important thing for me to keep in mind is that while I have many interest, i don’t have to pursue them all in school, and I don’t have to pursue them at the same time! I will probably stick with biology, only time will tell where any other interest may lead me.
Ultimately, I’m attracted to the medical field because I see it as a way for me to work with my hands AND people at the same time (and that is what I love most about my job now). What I don’t love about my job now, is that I can only find so much satisfaction in what I do. At the end of the day, I don’t truly feel like I’m making a positive difference, or at least any where as big of one as I could be making. I believe I have the potential to do well academically, and I’m hoping that I can find a way to put my intellect and desire to improve the world together in finding the right career path for myself.
Also, I know what it’s like to have a potentially life threatening disease, and what a difference good/friendly doctors can make in someones life. (I was infected with hep c but no longer test positive for the virus.) So naturally that experience has led me to want to help others who felt like I did when I was first diagnosed and scared, not knowing what it meant.
Thanks again for any and all feedback. I really enjoy this site!
First, welcome!
Second, I’m only commenting on the part about a backup plan major. I went for Biology only, because this career was my backup plan. I realize most people are more sensible than that.
So, at the career fair my university held in the spring I discovered that I was not qualified for nearly all the positions because they all wanted more chemistry than a typical Bio major gets - ranging from 9 to 30 credit hours more. Thus, a chemistry or biochemistry major would be a far better back-up plan to get work in for things like employment drug testing, non-research lab positions.
Good luck getting started, don’t overload yourself!
Its hard for any newly minted college graduates to find anything that pays more than 35k a year. I have the same graduate degree as former President Bush and have NEVER made over 40k a year. I will agree with the rest of the poster in regards to your salary objectives. Even making 70-80k right out of college is definitely dreaming as well. Simply put, the cost/reward of college degrees right now are definitely not worth the amount of student loans it takes to get them. Just my 2 cents
I just wanted to comment on this because from what I read, the MCAT is changing over in 3 years to cover more material. I would look look at the Psych minor, based on the coming changes.
This is the article to which I’m referring:
http://www.usnews.com/education/best-gradua te-scho…
I suspect that changes to the admissions requirements will occur around the same time.
Maybe I should specify that I am not referring to making 70-80k directly out of a 4 year program. Yes, I agree that would be dreaming.
So when I graduate after 4 years with a bachelors degree, I don’t really intend on making anything more than I do now, because I intend to go directly to some sort of grad school (hopefully of the medical variety!)
By the way, thanks for the heads-up on chemistry experience…I will be keeping that in mind!