Medical Do I need to justify why I chose a humanities major as a premed?

[GoSpursGo]

I’m a premed history major and have been asked on a few occasions whether I went into college knowing I wanted to do medicine. I'm guessing this is a question they would ask me during interviews, so I'm wondering how to answer this in the future.

The honest answer is yes, but I don't know if saying yes or no would benefit me one way or another. Would saying yes make me seem less "genuine" as a humanities major? All of the humanities major premeds that I have met were on another route before and decided on medical school in their third or fourth year, so I have never met someone in my situation.

If I said no I could probably spin some story about how I got interested. If I said yes I would discuss my (genuine) interest in having a deeper understanding of people, cultures, and broader systems while practicing medicine to improve patient rapport, and outcomes.

The answer to this question is you should always be truthful. Not for some moral righteous perspective, but more because if you try to answer with what you think they are looking for rather than what is true you are more likely to come off as nongenuine.

Premeds take all sorts of different paths to medical school. While you may get asked this question, I think your genuine answer is good.

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[Goro]

Also, Adcoms don't care about your major or minor, only that you do well.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Be honest.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Why are you embarrassed about telling anyone the truth? Just be honest with your decision. If you did well, it's a plus to your application.

 

[AlteredScale]

Some of the strongest medical students I worked with were non-STEM majors. You provide a very good and different perspective that is needed in medicine and shouldn't be embarrassed by the fact that you didn't follow the same path as every other pre-medical student.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Some of the strongest medical students I worked with were non-STEM majors. You provide a very good and different perspective that is needed in medicine and shouldn't be embarrassed by the fact that you didn't follow the same path as every other pre-medical student.

1000% agree.