Does undergrad degree really not matter?

Discover Your Odds of Getting into Medical School
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Cemetra

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Considering a BA degree in English, as it’s what I would enjoy the most. Only concern is by the time I graduate, I would pretty much be taking the bare minimum science prerequisites and have a Bachelor of Arts. If everything else is good (GPA, MCAT, LOR’s, volunteering, etc) - does it really matter that I get a BA in English?
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Matters for what? You may have a harder time on the MCAT, and any non-A in science will punish your science GPA. But it's also decent from the more recent "well-rounded" diversity standpoint some committees seek assuming you do a good job showing you're interested in biology/science with extracurriculars or something like that.
 
Cemetra said:
Considering a BA degree in English, as it’s what I would enjoy the most. Only concern is by the time I graduate, I would pretty much be taking the bare minimum science prerequisites and have a Bachelor of Arts. If everything else is good (GPA, MCAT, LOR’s, volunteering, etc) - does it really matter that I get a BA in English?
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We don't care what you major in, or whether you have BA, BS or BFA...all that matters is that you do well.

My students who have been English majors have done quite well in med school. One of the smartest docs I ever met was a Film Studies major.
 
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Goro said:
We don't care what you major in, or whether you have BA, BS or BFA...all that matters is that you do well.

My students who have been English majors have done quite well in med school. One of the smartest docs I ever met was a Film Studies major.
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Awesome to hear, thanks for this. My program actually allows me to finish my undergrad in less than 3 years so I’m considering doing that and then getting a separate associates degree in biology. It works out better than just minoring in it because I get guaranteed research opportunities and shadowing at the local hospital. My biggest concern is I wouldn’t take many upper level sciences, but I think doing well on the mcat will be enough. Just didn’t want to look bad by having a BA in English and having the bare minimum science prerequisites covered.
 
Angus Avagadro said:
One of my former associates was an MD, English Major from Princeton. Probably one of the highest IQ individuals I have ever met. He taught me a lot.
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Great to hear. I love to read and write and even plan to write books eventually, so an English degree would be a little more than a simple interest - it could be really beneficial.
 
I think it’s great that medicine is full of people from a gamut of diverse backgrounds, but it does make me wonder what makes people go from one completely unrelated field to another. Glad they do though.
 
cubsrule4e said:
Why go into medicine when youre more interested in English?
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I’m assuming this is sarcasm lol if not, I have other interests outside of medicine and my undergrad is one of the only periods of time I’ll be studying something outside the Sciences
 
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RNtoMD87 said:
I think it’s great that medicine is full of people from a gamut of diverse backgrounds, but it does make me wonder what makes people go from one completely unrelated field to another. Glad they do though.
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A lot of non-trads go into medicine after a career in something else so it would make sense there would be a lot of random degrees. Definitely think it’s a good thing as well
 
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gonnif said:
to an adcom, the main purpose of college is to show that you have the academic skillset to be a student in a medical school. In that regard, major is irrelevant.
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Good to see. I was scared of getting a BA along with the bare minimum science prereqs. I’m sure if I do well on the MCAT and show I know my stuff, though, I’ll be okay. I know English is a very popular non-science major among doctors, but med school is insanely difficult compared to 20 years ago (from what I’ve read online)
 
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Cemetra said:
I’m assuming this is sarcasm lol if not, I have other interests outside of medicine and my undergrad is one of the only periods of time I’ll be studying something outside the Sciences
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Do you. I majored in math and minored in English because I loved them both and wanted to study them before committing fully to medicine.

Also, math/stats and humanities majors perform better than bio, chem, and phys majors on the MCAT. You’ll be fine as long as you take your prereqs seriously.
 
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My art degree came up all the time in interviews-it really helped start up some conversations. At one of my UC interviews my interviewer spent over half the interview asking about my work.

Majoring in art was a blast-you really don’t run into gunner art majors. Typically it’s the opposite. I had a much more carefree undergrad experience than other ore-meds, but I also didn’t decide to pursue medicine until senior year.

Granted, there’s not a lot you can do with just an art degree. But a bachelors in bio doesn’t get you too far on its own either.
 
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OP, I am a double major but your question isn't about doing double or the one you want and fitting the pre-reqs in so...I am just happy my second major is something I can strongly tie back to medicine but has nothing to do with science and I would really recommend finding a way to improve how anyone will view this choice (eg why are you going into medicine if you love english so much?). Eg, if you're a cello major, you better talk about music therapy in your app. Not a must, but it will certainly tie your application together nicely.
 
RangerBob said:
My art degree came up all the time in interviews-it really helped start up some conversations. At one of my UC interviews my interviewer spent over half the interview asking about my work.

Majoring in art was a blast-you really don’t run into gunner art majors. Typically it’s the opposite. I had a much more carefree undergrad experience than other ore-meds, but I also didn’t decide to pursue medicine until senior year.

Granted, there’s not a lot you can do with just an art degree. But a bachelors in bio doesn’t get you too far on its own either.
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As someone with a minor in Fine Arts, I say to you:
:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::love:

Music majors also do well in our program. Surprisingly, our engineering majors struggle.
 
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Goro said:
Surprisingly, our engineering majors struggle.
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I would like to offer a conjecture. I have a couple family members of my generation that are engineers or are in college for it now and they are *exclusively* problem solvers. I could see them struggling because they have massive amounts of experience putting knowledge into practice but very little in memorizing massive quantities of knowledge; the foundation you must use to go on to problem solving in medical school. Thoughts?
 
Just do what you enjoy. I would hate being an art major. DEFINITELY not an artistic person at ALL... *shudders*

I’m content with my Neuro/Bio hehe

But you art majors are smart! I took an art class... was NOT easy
 
Detective SnowBucket said:
I would like to offer a conjecture. I have a couple family members of my generation that are engineers or are in college for it now and they are *exclusively* problem solvers. I could see them struggling because they have massive amounts of experience putting knowledge into practice but very little in memorizing massive quantities of knowledge; the foundation you must use to go on to problem solving in medical school. Thoughts?
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I did engineering. Now in medical school. I suck at med school. I suck at memorizing. Everthing sucks. Help

In all seriousness, I think it just takes some time to adjust. Anatomy has pretty much a 0% logic component and 100% memorization component. OTOH engineering definitely prepares you for the long days, exhaustion, and stress that you will encounter in med school.
 
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Major doesn't matter except.... I would avoid anything that might sound really, really easy and somewhat vocational: Parks, recreation and leisure studies. Home economics. Early childhood education.
 
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I was a humanities major. Destroyed CARs. Everything else being average, that got me into med school.
 
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I’m a strong supporter of majoring in the humanities, especially if you are confident that you want to go to medical school (or any professional school) from an early stage. I use my science degree in the lab but my humanities degree comes in handy every day.

Honestly, given that everyone takes the pre-reqs, I think humanities should be the default choice for premeds.

But don’t believe me, believe the former president of MSKCC and NYU Med, one of the original proponents of physician-scientist education, Lewis Thomas: NEJM - Error
 
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THEBACKANDFORTH said:
I was a humanities major. Destroyed CARs. Everything else being average, that got me into med school.
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I'm a humanities major and reading has always been my strong suit (like, the section I killed on the SAT) but I still didn't do as well as I was hoping :(
 
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Lucca said:
I’m a strong supporter of majoring in the humanities, especially if you are confident that you want to go to medical school (or any professional school) from an early stage. I use my science degree in the lab but my humanities degree comes in handy every day.

Honestly, given that everyone takes the pre-reqs, I think humanities should be the default choice for premeds.

But don’t believe me, believe the former president of MSKCC and NYU Med, one of the original proponents of physician-scientist education, Lewis Thomas: NEJM - Error
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Literature Should Be A Med School Requirement
 
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Detective SnowBucket said:
I'm a humanities major and reading has always been my strong suit (like, the section I killed on the SAT) but I still didn't do as well as I was hoping :(
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I minored in humanities and have a number of publications in nonfiction and fiction, plus I was crushing my FLs at 130-131s. Got a 129 on the real thing. Sometimes you just get a hard test.
 
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gonnif said:
You really believe I am gonna just fall and eel over for a line like that? You think you can throw a sucker punch and leave me lying there kelpless? Listen shrimp, dont be such a crab. Be careful if you come trolling for me I will show you the anchor in my eyes. I sing to a different tuna because you apparently cant fathom the importance of educating doctors and sturgeons. These students know the pressure they are under, their schedules packed like sardines, and they do so on porpoise. It may seems a snail's pace while the navigate thru the rough waves of exams with other students circling like sharks as they smell blood in the water. So all of you, just clam up
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I thought that you were a friend, not anemone! It appears that you're having a whale of a time, at least. I write knowing it will provoke a tsunami of puns and a sea of salty jokes. I think it might be time to deep six the thread, lest the mods have us go sleep with the fishes.
 
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Goro said:
I thought that you were a friend, not anemone! It appears that you're having a whale of a time, at least. I write knowing it will provoke a tsunami of puns and a sea of salty jokes. I think it might be time to deep six the thread, lest the mods have us go sleep with the fishes.
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You and @gonnif are missing all the good puns in the 'hunting' part of the degree Auburn offers. Have at it...
 
Goro said:
You trying to put a target on my back? You want me to be a trophy head on @gonnif's living room wall? Stop trying to wreck everything that is deer to me.
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I’m taking a stand and not camouflaging myself any more. The way people fawn all over you is fowl. Stop birdshotting these puns before I birddog you.
 
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gonnif said:
Oh deer, so now you got me in your sights over hunting. Seems I cant duck this thread. Ok, I herd you and am game for it even if the trail leads to fowl comments, we will all have to grin and bear it. But be careful of @Goro as he is wolf in sheep’s clothing and will ram alot of bull down your throat. He can be grizzly at times, with comments that make your hare stand on end. But in the end he will outfox us all. And that aint no lion
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Oh deer, I'll make sure to cover my tracks better next time. There are moments where my learned colleague, who is as wise as an owl, can be a real bear. But the elephant in the room is that he makes these games seem like gorilla warfare. If he gets any worse, I may just have to play possum. I prefer to monkey around, but that's an otter story.
 
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