Senior here....having trouble choosing a major

[ballestlavie]

Hi guys

I'm a senior this year and don't know what field of science/medicine I should go into. I'm currently sitting between pursuing a graduate level degree in pharmacology(separate Q, is this a better route than PharmD in terms of outlook?), pursuing an MD or graduate degree in psychology, or pursuing a graduate level degree in biochemistry.

I have always been heavily interested in the human body and want to have a career in regards to that interest but would like to know which of the majors not only holds the best job outlook, salary, etc but also is geared with interesting activities.

I'm also open to suggestions of other majors...

Thanks

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[AttemptingScholar]

This is what I believe the best path:
1. Go in undeclared. On your application, you can certainly say you have an intended major but it won't go into the system anyway.
2. At least double up in sciences (probably biology and chemistry at once). maybe take at least one math class at the same time
3. Shadow with at least two doctors (one PCP, one other type), a pharmacist, a psychiatrist/psychologist
4. At the end of your first year, look back and see if there is anything you can cross off.
~If you didn't enjoy having that many math/science classes at once, you probably want either psych or something completely different
~If you didn't enjoy a certain shadowing experience, you probably don't want to do that

I cannot help you in regards to salary, outlook, etc. because you are listing degrees, not jobs, and experiences can vary wildly within degrees. I would begin by shadowing, and then look at common jobs and salaries for the things that you didn't cross off.

Also, consider getting into research early, it seems like you may be interested in it as well (a lab class is not the same things as extracurricular research!) and may help you choose (if you like it, it would certainly fit a graduate degree in biochem)

As for your original question, your major, probably biology or biochem. If you do end up going the med school route, common wisdom is that your Bachelor's should be for your backup plan (everyone should have one!) and that sounds like bio or biochem right now (could change as you are exposed to more interests).

 

[Gilakend]

Agree with above poster. Just as a side note, I am a pharmacology/toxicology major and what my professors and PI tell me is that the field is MUCH better than PharmD. My major is through the college of pharmacy and most of the PharmD students have a LOT of trouble finding jobs, especially jobs in an area they want (n=~10 but they claim it's like that everywhere).

 

[Iso4ane]

Study whatever you want to study. People in my med school class were all over the field. Yeah, may of them were STEM majors, but we had a significant non-STEM too,

 

[AttemptingScholar]

And remember: if you school has a pre-med major (very few do) DO NOT TAKE IT. They do the worst on the MCAT, are not competitive for med school, and won't help you with anything else.

 

[Gilakend]

On top of what AttemptingScholar said, my school has a pre-med "tag" or concentration essentially it just says your pre-med and it's literally $100 a semester and does absolutely nothing...and people pay it, every semester for 4 years. Do not waste money on stuff like that. At my school it does absolutely nothing.

 

[singasongofjoy]

On top of what AttemptingScholar said, my school has a pre-med "tag" or concentration essentially it just says your pre-med and it's literally $100 a semester and does absolutely nothing...and people pay it, every semester for 4 years. Do not waste money on stuff like that. At my school it does absolutely nothing.

I keep hearing this-- but I'm confused about why, and if they don't prepare folks any better than other majors why are they so prolific? I don't know anything about the process of preparing for med school since I figured out pretty early on neither the amount of math required in UG or the sleep schedule required in med school would work for me so I'm totally naive to the process of getting into med school, so I am probably at the same level of understanding as many of the high school students on here. Can someone explain why the pre-med programs don't prepare people as well for the actual med programs?

 

[Gilakend]

I keep hearing this-- but I'm confused about why, and if they don't prepare folks any better than other majors why are they so prolific? I don't know anything about the process of preparing for med school since I figured out pretty early on neither the amount of math required in UG or the sleep schedule required in med school would work for me so I'm totally naive to the process of getting into med school, so I am probably at the same level of understanding as many of the high school students on here. Can someone explain why the pre-med programs don't prepare people as well for the actual med programs?

I am not 100% sure as to what your question is, but I'll try to answer for my particular experience.

As far the term "pre-med" it is pretty much just a classifying term meaning you want to go to med school. For example, I'm premed but I don't have a "concentration" in premed as my school offers because it is a waste of money and is simply used for them to track student success. That doesn't make me any more or less premed the those who have the concentration or tag. If you are asking why people pay it, most schools will take money for anything they can get. That included 100s of naive freshman who will pay it because they genuinely have no idea how the process works or what they need to do. In my gen chem 1 class I would say probably 100 kids were premed and I would bet almost all of them were paying $100 for the concentration. I'm about to enter into my junior year and I would say about 15 are probably still premed. However, you bet the school got $100 for every semester they were "premed".

If you're asking why premed advising is usually bad, I'm not really sure. Maybe because not many people are passionate about helping premeds. At my school our premed advisor is an HR lady who just got the job. Before she got the job she had 0 clue about anything premed. Don't even get me started about the abomination that is our premed/prehealth club (that she "runs"). I think 1 hour on SDN would give someone more knowledge than they would learn in 4 years in my schools premed club meetings. It is quite literally the blind leading the blind.

This probably came off as very rant-like but it's actually something I'm very passionate about. I've even attempted to start a specific premed club because I think our does a severe disservice but my proposal was shot down because they claimed we already had one. Just one of many examples I could give: Most students in the club have no idea when to take the MCAT, how to study for the MCAT, what they should be doing to be competitive, when and how to apply to medical school, anything. Yet all of the meetings are along the lines of "commonly prescribed medications" and stuff that just isn't relevant to premeds but sounds cool enough to get people in the door.

And while these meetings get TONS of traffic a specific seminar help by the vice dean of admissions of our actual medical school had about 10 people that weren't required to be there. The premed system at my school needs a major overhaul.

DISCLAIMER: I go to a low-mid tier state school in a pretty poor area (over 30% of population is low income). I'm sure some other places like UC Berkeley or University of Michigan have phenomenal premed advising and clubs.

/rant

 

[AttemptingScholar]

1. They are very prolific in schools that are strong in something other than premed, so the schools don't understand the best way to help students

2. What ended up being the deciding factor in choosing my UG institution was that it had a med school. I'm very glad I did this because my advising doesn't suck.

3. Here is a rundown of what you should try and understand by the time you start school in the fall
-The difference between MD and DO
-Under what circumstances in an international med school/Caribbean med school an acceptable option (intent to practice in that country or certainly or pursuing a less competitive specialty, after having been rejected from US med schools twice)
-Average applicant GPA/MCAT (3.6/502 for USMD)
-Average matriculant GPA/MCAT (3.7/509 for USMD)
-If your school has a committee letter and how will go about obtaining it
-How to get premedical advising at your school (then compare the advice with SDN and see what you agree with)
-What classes you should take and that it is generally not appropriate to take them over the summer or winter, or at a community college (Math thru calc and maybe stats, 1yr bio+lab, 1yr chem+lab, 1yr Ochem+lab, biochem, 1yr physics+lab, 1 yr English with one English class being writing-intensive)
-That you need clinical experience in the form of shadowing, working, and/or volunteering
-That you need volunteer experience, particularly with underserved populations, whether clinical or not
-That you need some research experience
-That Institutional Actions (IAs) are NOT a way of protecting a student's record and you will have to report it to med schools.
-That you will eventually need letters of evaluation (LOEs) so start paying attention to teachers you like and build a relationship