Before medical school majors

WayOutWestMom
Fri, 08 Jun 2018 06:03:40 +0000

Medical school are moving to competency based admissions,. You will need to demonstrate competency through coursework or a significant body independent work (such as research culminating in a senior thesis).

Areas of competency include: inorganic & organic chemistry, cellular & molecular biology, genetics, biochemistry, college-level physics, statistics/biostatistics, mathematical functions (calc 1), oral & written communications skills, humanities, social science.

More traditional medical schools still have specific course requirements–

intro bio w/labs – 1 year
gen chem w/labs – 1 year
organic chem w/labs – 1 year
intro physics w/ labs – 1 year
biochem – 1 semester
statistics or biostatistics – 1 semester
college level mathematics – 1 semester

composition or writing intensive classes as designated by your college – 1 year
(Some med schools specifically require an English class for your second writing class)

psychology – 1 semester
sociology --1 semester

Specific med schools may have additional requirements-- human physiology, medical ethics, calc 2, public speaking, basic computer science, upper level social sciences or humanities.

The Mcat tests topics in gen chem, ochem, biochem, physics, cellular & molecular bio, genetics, biostatistics, psych, soc. Critical reading skills are also vitally important to scoring well.

Any academic major is acceptable to med schools. My daughters’ med school classmates had majors ranging from the typical biology, chemistry, biochem and neuroscience to forestry/agriculture, theology, English Lit, Spanish, music theory, human geography, engineering, physics, computer science. There are two posters here who are recently graduated doctors who majored in Classics.

The post graduation employment outlook for bio, chem, neuroscience majors is not wonderful. There are jobs, but you have to make yourself an attractive candidate to employers. (Computer skills. Direct customer sales skills. Industry internships. Teacher certification.) Many health sectors jobs may required additional training or education after a bachelors.