Best Science Major for MCAT preparation???

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@Lemaitre1

Do not major in something that will have no employment prospects or is not interesting to you if you do not get into medical school. Medical school admissions is very competitive and most people who apply to medical school are rejected by every school they apply to. In my case I applied to over 20 medical schools, had a 3.6 GPA, and a combined MCAT score of 32 and was accepted at only one medical school (Drexel). Fortunately for me you only need to get one acceptance. I majored in Astronomy which has no employment prospects if you only have a bachelors degree but it is a field that I find very interesting. I am a practicing physician now but I honestly do not know what I would have done if Drexel had not accepted me into their medical school

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@Ky-anh Tran

Are Engineering majors considered “serious”?
Also, why are specialized health majors looked down upon? Can’t they take extra classes in science to show they are capable and “serious” (and to prepare for the MCAT)?
A health major will have significant clinical experience and contact with doctors, which should be a plus for an applicant to medical school. Besides, choosing nursing as a major can be a sign that you know and like to care for other people, a quality a doctor should have. That’s why I don’t understand why specialized health majors get a disadvantage.
Any clarifications are welcome!

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@shades_children

If you chose nursing as a major… why are you applying to medical school? Choosing nursing means… you want to be a nurse. Choosing those specialized health majors generally means you’re interested in aspects of health care that are NOT MD/DO-based. Sure, you get all sorts of clinical experience and doctor contact, but you’re not displaying the interest in being a physician - you look like you want to be something else.</p>

<p>That’s why, I think. Maybe BDM can elaborate more

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@Ky-anh Tran

Well choosing to be a physic major does not mean you want to be a physicist either. Besides, wanting to be a physicist does not alter you ultimate will to become a doctor, so why would wanting to have skills in nursing alter your ultimate will to become a doctor?
I bet nursing gives you a better idea of what medecine involves than doing physics or biology. Perhaps choosing nursing does not illustrate a desire to become a physician, yet choosing biochemistry does not demonstrate anything except you like biochemistry. So I have come to the conclusion that nursing OUGHT to be considered equal to biochem (which is not the case, I assume)
Then, med schools claim not to take in account about the major of a person when selecting, so are they basically lying, or are they unconsciously looking condescendently toward nurses?
If they consider majoring in nursing is too easy, what prevents a nurse from taking quantum mechanics for fun?
I just don’t understand the reasonment med schools use because it seems a bit biased to me

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@bluedevilmike

I’ve never heard a medical school claim not to care about major. What we’ve deduced by looking at the math is that they don’t seem to – with the exception of vocational majors like nursing

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@Ky-anh Tran

So basically, they wan’t to prevent you from having a decent plan B if you don’t get accepted? Pretty cruel…</p>

<p>Besides, some premeds have EMTs license, so THAT should also put them at disadvantage, shouldn’t it?
If you get your EMT license, it means you want to be a paramedic, which does not involve the skills of a doctor.
But once again the reasonment fails because wanting to practice skills of a paramedic is not mutually exclusive from wanting to be a doctor.
It’s as if saying music majors should be disadvantaged because they want to play piano and not become a doctor (what if they want both?)

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@bluedevilmike

If you were to ONLY have an EMT-license, yes, you would be at a disadvantage.</p>

<p>If you were to be a biology major – an academic major – and an EMT, then no, you would not be at a disadvantage.</p>

<p>And why do you have to be a vocational major to have a decent “plan B”?

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@Ky-anh Tran

A vocational has on average better chance for employment (especially for health vocational majors like nursing)
Let’s say you love science and medecine, and get rejected, so you choose graduate school. In the best of cases, you get your PhD in the sciences, which will lead you to endless postdoctoral research before getting a decent and long term job and that’s in the best scenario possible.
As opposed to going to grad school, a vocational major can practice his profession pretty easily (like being a nurse) to pay back his undergrad debt, then apply again to med school.
On the other hand, being a bio major basically gives you the opportunity for :
Research (you have to be damn smart to succeed), labwork (not very appealing or lucrative), teaching (not lucrative, hard to get hired, but decent)
The opportunities seem just very narrow.</p>

<p>“If you were to ONLY have an EMT-license, yes, you would be at a disadvantage”=> What if the nurse undergoes the clinical experience of premeds also (shadowing, volunteering, research…)

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@bluedevilmike

So major in economics and the backup plan is to go into management consulting. Or major in history and the backup plan is to be a journalist. Or major in biology and the backup plan is to get a master’s and work in a pharmaceutical company. Or major in math and go work for a hedge fund. Or major in physics and work for a private equity firm. Or major in public policy and write a book. Or…</p>

<p>I mean, in any case, getting a PA is usually a viable plan B anyway

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@Ky-anh Tran

What fraction of premeds bio majors who get rejected actually end up with a decent long term job (assuming they don’t change their career path)? How many public policy majors will get published? How many history majors would be able to become journalist?
Those are viable options, but the probability for success is also very low. It’s like saying “I like biology, so my ultimate goal is to become a university professor but I’m applying to med school as a backup plan if I don’t get into the PhD program I want to”
I’m not saying that those are not options, but simply that a plan B should have at least 85% chance for success. I really think a nurse will have a lot more chance to get employed at a hospital (because of the current demand) than a Bio major with a MS to get into a pharmaceutical company

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@bluedevilmike

Depends on what you mean by decent. Making the mean for college grads? Probably a pretty good proportion.</p>

<p>And in any case, an NP and a PA remain viable options. Very viable options

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<p>Later on in the thread discussion…</p>

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@bluedevilmike

Well, having a backup plan is a virtue. Unfortunately, as NCG says, it’s hard to have your cake and eat it too. Most vocational majors – that is, those which provide good backup plans – are poor fits for medical school. Unfortunately you’re just going to have to choose

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<p>What I’m trying to get with the above threads its maybe rephrase my question. After replies I have gotten from different forums, it seems like by just taking the required classes to enter med-school(prerequisites) would be enough to prepare me and cover all the material in the MCAT’S Biological and Physical Sciences. Even though I do not need to major in science, I want to major in science, just for the fact that it has always been a subject that has interested me.</p>

<p>So, my new question is:</p>

<p>Which undergraduate science major has the best job opportunities/prospects/salary?
Although, I am positive I can make it to med-school, I don’t want to end up working in a restaurant like a co-worker of mines, that has a major in science and could not find a job(he got his degree from UF, University of Florida).</p>