I am planning on applying to combined med programs, but for regular undergrad, I want to apply as a biology major. However, with a bio major, I worry that I will be stuck with a bio major with which I won’t be able to do much if I cannot get into medical school. What do you suggest that I do?
Find another major. Duh.
Such a limited way to think about it. Biology is excellent preparation for a vast range of careers, unless you want to be an engineer, physicist or computer scientist (although you can totally be a programmer still).
Not really.
Well, since you seriously considered attending a school like NUS, I’m unsurprised that you wouldn’t know what I’m talking about.
@International95 what careers could biology potentially help me prepare for?
At my school (not DePaul), biology is an incredibly popular major. Half the majors eventually go on to grad school for PhDs in biology or MDs, and some to law schools. The rest have found careers in teaching, NGOs, environmental work, grad school in a different area, like public health or policy, sociology, or political science, and few in business and tech. It’s really all about being resourceful. I know one bio grad who graduated with a low GPA who works as a research assistant at OHSU right now.
@International95 The fact that you chose to be derogatory shows that you know little of what you’re talking about.
NUS is a good school, so there’s nothing wrong in considering in attending that school.
@kobe24mamba Biology is a good major, but it is a seriously saturated field at the moment. Nearly 50 percent of premeds choose that major, and not all of them get into medical school.
You can go into academia by obtaining a PhD, or into a corporate sector by going into grad school, or something else. A degree in Biology itself won’t get you very far; it’s all about the effort you put after graduating.
I know that NUS is a good school, but I also know the sort that gravitate towards that school. Sure, I’m stereotyping, but your initial suggestion that biology prepares you for nothing else falls very well within that stereotype. While the material itself may not useful unless one looks into a field that requires scientific background (like in a certain type of litigation work), it does prepare one for the world. Aside from computer science, engineering or finance/accounting, what majors really get someone “very far”? Should we just tell the troves of people studying everything from English to religion to just drop out?
Again, this is very derogatory. I have considered applying, I have not applied to it. You’re being extremely condescending and making it personal, which goes to show that all you rely on are generalities and stereotypes.
I never said it prepares him for nothing else, I simply disagreed with your statement when you said “vast”. Sure, Bio majors have many options, but they aren’t “vast”.
Hmmm…let’s see. Biology is a very saturated field at the moment. This person is gearing himself for medical school. Do you think it’s easy to switch gears and change interests the moment he fails to get into medical school? Unless you have a sky high GPA (which most Bio majors do; they’re a dime a dozen), the chances that you will land a “Biology involved” job isn’t high, and most of them involve academia.
Addressing your original question, you just removed more than 25 majors to consider, but no matter. What about Economics? Engineering/Medical Technologist? Business Administration? Commerce?
Did I say anything that could be deduced as this? Because I am damn sure I didn’t.
Clarity took a hard hit, then, didn’t it? “Oh no I just disagreed with ‘vast’ not the whole sentiment”. Ambiguity always favors the other party: one of the rules of competitive debate. Although I am not here to argue about semantics, the 50 job possibilities on that website surely seem ‘vast’ to me, as do other possibilities.
‘all you rely on are generalities and stereotypes.’ I started with a stereotype, yes, but definitely moved into something more substantial. This is hardly anyone’s definition of ‘all’. So good job stereotyping someone who stereotyped. At least I was aware of it.
I tend to group economics/business administration/commerce under the same banner of ‘finance/accounting’, and same for offshoots like ‘engineering/medical technologist’ under engineering. I mean, if we start going by that logic, we could look at every profession like dental hygienist assistant or whatever and say but this one!
How will OP possibly expect to get into med school without a high GPA? While I am going to dismiss the lack of sensitivity to issues of gender here (nice job assuming OP is a ‘he’-- I surely hope you noted elsewhere that OP suggested to be of this gender), I must say that someone who cannot do well enough as a biology major is unlikely to make into or be a good student in med school, unless some sort of magic comes into being. In addition, this person is looking into schools like Cornell and JHU, not a random school X with vocational major Y. Switching majors to something more directly employable, that possibly may not be OP’s strength, in a far competitive environment, is probably going to detrimental to OP’s GPA.
Well, the question is more that should we tell people majoring in English or whatever to change majors as well because certainly the market is saturated for them too? Being resourceful after graduating is something everyone needs to be able to do. OP just needs to realize that a biology major leads to more than just research assistantships and PhDs.
No, but making it personal is just cheap.
What?
You may group them under the same banner, but they aren’t.
OP’s high school GPA is a 3.75. There’s no guarantee that the OP will be able to maintain that same GPA in college, and olenty of people get rejected by med school with 3.8s in college.
Agreed.
Wow. Just…wow.
English is an academia oriented major. Look at most Biology graduates today; lots of them didn’t get into med school, a lot of them regret the choice of choosing Biology as a major. I’m not saying that Bio majors are hopeless. All I’m saying is that if the OP’s sole choice for choosing Biology is to get into med school and nothing else, then it is the wrong choice.
What we should tell them is that there are vocationally oriented majors such as accounting, teaching, engineering, nursing, etc. that lead directly to a job. The majority of majors, though, provide no such preparation. It is incumbent on kids in these majors to simultaneously identify what they’d like to do after college and to begin laying the groundwork to enter their chosen field thru volunteer work, internships, summer jobs, etc.
The problem many Bio or other science majors have is that they end up with the worst of both worlds. Because the degree does not directly prepare them for a job they find they don’t have a lot of opportunities when they graduate. And at the same time many were not aware of the post-college job market so they didn’t spend the time to figure out what they might want to do if med school isn’t in their future.