Could knowing how to program be useful for premeds?

WayOutWestMom
Sun, 15 Jul 2012 13:12:42 +0000

LOL! Have a friend (retired surgeon) who tried to tell the adcom at JHU that computer programming was his “second language”–didn’t work. They laughed him out of the room.

More recently, D1 included her extensive programming experience/knowledge in C++/MatLab/JAVA. on her AMCAS app. No one was impressed–or even cared.

(And no, adcoms will not consider a computer language a substitute for an actual foreign language, although adding a basic computer skills class to med school pre-reqs has been frequently mentioned.)

Pursue programming if you like it and find it interesting. But you will not be using it in med school, unless you go into a research oriented MD or MD/PhD.

OTOH, both my Ds found having some programming skills (mostly MatLab and Excel scripting) was very useful for doing data analysis during their college research projects. It also helped D2 get her post-undergrad RA position at a Top 10 med school.