Thank you for your advice, yes I am under pressure I came here as a transfer this year and and supposed to graduate in 28, In order to do this on time I really don’t have time to pick a major and switch it if I don’t like it, I already have to take 2 (4) course Terms as well to graduate.
One thing to know that since you are serious about medical school, do NOT take any of your pre-reqs at a different college while you’re a student at Dartmouth. Not even over the summer.
Adcomms will be suspicious that you’re trying to duck a tough class at your home college and take an easier one someplace else.
And, please, do go talk with a health professions advisor.
They are there to help students find their way through the maze of written and unwritten requirements for entering a health profession.
Dartmouth also offers peer mentors for pre-meds–upperclassmen who can mentor you about finding opportunities in the area and how to best prepare to apply to med school.
The Nathan Smith Society offers an annual series of lectures and workshops to help prepare students to apply to the health professions. You can signup to get on their mailing list so that you’ll be informed about all upcoming events.
Also since Dartmouth offers HP committee letter of recommendation for its current students and alumni who are applying to med school, it’s important to get to know the advisors who will be issuing the letter and how the committee process works.
(Most medical schools strongly prefer a HP committee letter if your school offers one. Committee letters are so strongly preferred, you will be asked to explain why you don’t have one if you apply without one.)
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I would talk to an advisor who will be able to help you sort things out.
There is no rush- most students do not head straight to medical school.
My daughter was a biology major and took all of the premed classes. She also discovered that she liked anthropology and took classes as well. I recall her saying that there was a lot of reading, but she didn’t seem fazed by it.
I think you will feel better once you speak with an advisor. Why do you think those are the only two majors?
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No one here (or an advisor at your college) can really give you specific advice without knowing:
- What pre-med courses you have taken and what you have left to take.
- What other courses you have taken (that may be applicable to a major or general education requirements).
It looks like you have completed two semesters at your previous college and are in your second quarter after transferring to Dartmouth, and have 7 more quarters during which you need to take 23 more courses to graduate. Instead of feeling pressured and panicky, you may want to look at it analytically:
- How many courses do you need for remaining pre-med courses?
- How many courses do you need for remaining general education requirements?
- For any major of interest, how many courses does it require that do not overlap with the pre-med courses, general education requirements, or courses that you have already taken?
- If sum of the above is 23 or fewer, then the major may be possible. If that is the case, try to plan the remaining 7 quarters to see if it fits together, considering prerequisite sequencing and course availability in specific quarters of the year.
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Such great advice!!
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So your picking two majors that could possibly have the lowest employment rates out there. Just so you’re aware of that. My daughter was a cultural anthropology major with polisci minor. Tons of reading! Exploring and learning. She was at a small Lac. She’s now finishing her masters in Speech Pathology after going back to college for a Post Bac.
I don’t tell people not too. Just so you’re aware of job prospects if med school doesn’t work out. Especially with the current job market. But I always say take your knowledge and you will have to pivot. Everyone sorta needs to pivot these day’s..
Good luck.
One last thing and maybe I am wrong about this. Maybe I am just old school. If you have to “think “if medicine is what you want to do than it probably isn’t. To me medicine is one of those fields that should sorta be innate. You want to help people. Saying that. There are multiple ways you can do that within the sciences etc.
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Is this something an advisor told you? Something you determined for yourself from carefully mapping out your remaining quarters as another poster suggested?
I’m asking because normally this would not be the case for the reason I gave earlier–that you would need to be completing some gen eds and your med school prereqs anyway, and that would normally be setting you up to turn a variety of different things into a major. Like, I am having a hard time understanding why being a Bio major, say, would not be an option. Maybe, it just isn’t obvious from anything you have explained.
And I don’t want to unnecessarily add to your anxiety, but as another poster explained, if you end up applying to med school you don’t want to end up trying to force it with a major that doesn’t actually make sense for you. Obviously you should be interested, but to be blunt, it should also be a major where you feel like you can get top grades. And usually you don’t really know until you have taken some classes.
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Taking the classes is fine, but that is not how to decide if medicine is for you (not saying this is what you meant).
One of the reasons why shadowing, volunteering with patients, talking to physicians, volunteering in underserved communities, with people who are different than you etc are all important is because these experiences will help provide insight into the career.
There are going to be boring days. My daughter spent a week with her suburban pediatrician and concluded that she did not enjoy the daily work. She also noticed the mountains of paper work (common in health fields).
There will be days that are depressing, unpleasant, and gross- vomit, urine, poverty, filth, nastiness, sadness etc.
There will be days where you learn, grow, and teach others. My daughter was exposed to families that were broken up due to terribly unfortunate events. She acknowledged a mistake when she showed a video and was asked by a teen “why doesn’t anybody in the video look like me,” and she took pride when helping a student explain a very personal issue…to a group of adults who really did not understand.
So- take the classes, do well, meet with your advisor, volunteer, shadow etc…and do not rush the process. There is a lot to do and learn.
Just my thoughts.
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This is a profound post.
I have a young friend who is now a resident. He says that the key piece of learning in residency is figuring out how to ask- 100 times a day- “when was your last bowel movement”. Whether in the ER, prepping for surgery, a post-surgical eval, deciding whether a post-op patient can go home- that question needs to be asked in such a way as to get an answer. Matter of fact but letting the patient know it’s a serious medical indicator. He’s in his first choice residency, in a highly competitive specialty- and he’s asking about poop. And seeing lots of it as well.
The “book learning” is important, of course. But spending time with actual human beings who are in pain, or who are suffering from a debilitating illness, or who are dying, or who are in poor health because of lack of access to nutritious food and basic hygiene– that’s how to figure out if being a doctor is right for you.
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100% ^
That is why it is important to shadow, volunteer medically, in underserved communities etc.
The OP transferred from a business school. They may or may not know what medicine is all about…the good and the bad.
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I agree with all of the above. I also want to note that I think one thing that becomes clear to a lot of people who start off as premeds is there are many other health professions besides being a doctor. And many other non-health professions too, of course. But I think a good number realize something in health does make sense for them, but not specifically being a doctor.
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OP you spent your first year at an Ivy League business school and decided to transfer. I assume you did not like the school, otherwise you would have stayed and switched majors (?).
Now you are at Dartmouth as a transfer student, navigating a new school, deciding on a major and possibly pre-med.
This is a lot of change and could be stressful, imo.
Have you taken any of the science prerequisites yet? Were you always interested in medicine?
Please speak with an advisor.
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Both philosophy and Anthro are amazing majors for a future doctor! The human condition, illness, death and life are all major themes of both medicine and humanities! I don’t have any knowledge about either major at Dartmouth, but expect that you are smart and talented and think you have the tools to do well in either.
In 2025, Humanities majors and science majors had similar grades and MCAT scores when applying to Medical school. Humanities majors had higher acceptance rates.
Here is ALL the data. Table A 17 breaks down acceptance rate by major grouo.
Lastly, Dartmouth has world class resources and even for a transfer student, you could be well prepared to apply to medical school without a gap or with only a short gap. Shadowing is mentioned as a time consuming activity, but 100 hours of shadowing (a common benchmark) is only 2.5 weeks.
Good luck!
Does this student prefer econ over philosophy? It is easier to read when you are interested in the subject matter.
I may be off base, but there appears to be some confusion, anxiety etc about what major to choose, whether that choice is limited, whether there will be too much reading, and whether the student actually wants pre-med. That’s a lot.
I suggest taking this one step at a time. Choose a major you enjoy and begin to take science classes. Do a few hours of shadowing when you are ready to see if it is something that interests you.
And prepare yourself for a lot of work, which includes reading.
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