Plan B for the kids who love math- Data Analytics (pharma companies, HHS, large hospital systems, health insurers). Actuary. Epidemiology (will require a Masters in most cases). Biostatistics.
Plan B for the kids who love patient facing roles- OT, Speech Therapy, all the Allied Health disciplines.
Plan B for the kids who love the problem-solving–Pharmacy, Operations/Production for device companies, supply chain for any element of the health care industry (some great roles on the hospital side… they are enormous consumers of “stuff” and managing it efficiently is a significant profit driver).
Plan B for the kids who love “being in charge” (one can no longer describe physicians as being their own boss, since so few of them work in independent practices-- but some kids like the “calling the shots” aspect of some medical specialties)-- Hospital Administration, Practice Manager for managed care company, claims at an insurance company.
Plan B for the kids who love the macro elements of healthcare- Health policy, advocacy. Plan B for the kids who worry about who gets treated and who does not- Program Manager at a foundation which invests in health interventions for vulnerable populations.
Etc. I know a young guy who pivoted from pre-med (didn’t love his volunteer, shadowing, research stuff he did in college) and now works in Investor Relations for a device company. Some of the VC’s, Hedge Funds, etc. who invest in early stage startups are physicians, but most are not. HIs role requires bridging the gap between the money folks and the scientists/engineers/MD’s at the startup. He seems to be pretty good at it- when he talks to investors he sounds like a doctor. I’m guessing that when he talks to doctors he sounds like an investor.
Minors could be anything depending on the student’s area of interest. Math offers tons of options to go in a different direction. Chem offers better employment options than bio. Foreign language minors for pre meds are very common.
I’m thinking a business minor might be hard to arrange at a university with a separate business college (these schools often require a secondary admission process) and that a business minor might not have sufficient depth to help with a job post college.
Common post graduation jobs for bio majors are biotechnology, education (as in teaching high school), research lab technician, clinical research coordinator, medical equipment sales, medical software sales, pharmaceutical sales. (The latter 3 have the potential for very high incomes, though a great deal of travel may be required).
If a bio major can beef up their math (statistics , probability, maybe 2-3 semesters of calculus,) take some basic computer classes where they write programs or computer scripts (R language, MATLab, etc), learn how to use statistical analysis software, they can greatly improve their employability post -graduation. Interning in pharm, ag or biotech industries during summers also helps.
One of D2’s college classmates was a mediocre student (B/Cs in bio, chem). She got a job immediately out of undergrad as clinical research coordinator at a local hospital. She did patient recruiting for clinical trials. She turned out to be very good at that. Five years later, she had been promoted 3x and now worked at Boston Children’s as a high level manager in clinical research.
I’d recommend fulfilling the prerequisites for physician assistant programs, which may include courses in anatomy, physiology, microbiology and medical terminology.
PA schools are becoming very competitive. I’ve heard some people saying they are as competitive as medical schools.
PA schools are slightly more forgiving in terms of GPA but not by much (no MCAT though).
A superb PA program of which I am familiar reports an average GPA for enrolled students of 3.5. I believe there are significantly higher GPA expectations for similarly regarded medical schools.
Thanks for the update! Out of curiosity, what factors have influenced your son’s decisions, or has it been more of a gut feel type of situation? It looks as though CWRU, Brandeis, and Muhlenberg have been eliminated, but that he enjoyed his visit to F&M. Whatever way he’s made his decisions is obviously the best way for him, but I’m always interested to hear the thought process of students as they wittle down to their favorite options.
It’s not easy to eliminate schools at this stage, as we did tons of research before applying, so all schools on our final list are solid choices. The reasons are not huge drawbacks, it’s more a question of fit.
CWRU - huge intro Bio/Chem classes (up to 300 as current students said during meetings), extra competitive students, barriers from committee, distance (need to fly there).
Brandeis - intro classes tend to be on the large side as well (200 Gen Chem, 150 Bio), school is dropping in rankings and loosing funding (resulting in classer getting even larger and less research funding), distance - we feel we can get similar experience at Lehigh without 5-6 hr drive.
Muhlenberg - it was our safety, it has very little to offer besides pre-health or theater, so in case if pre-med doesn’t work out there’s no clear back-up plan.
Big classes are not all bad. My favorite class in college was a Shakespeare course taught by “famous professor” in the largest lecture hall in the university and there were students sitting in the hallway just to hear his lecture. Enrollment was capped at seating capacity but anyone could “audit” and kids would be sitting on windowsills, on the floor, or in the hall just to hear him.
Small classes can be duds. Huge classes can be amazing and life altering. And sometimes the “famous” professors are famous because they are masters of their craft, phenomenal lecturers, amazing researchers, and incredible teachers.
Agreed, but for our purpose (pre-med) we seek small classes where a student can get to know professors, establish relationships, see them outside of classes, get into research, secure recommendations, etc.
Your kid is about to learn that weed-out can happen in a 19 person seminar, a 30 person chem lab, OR a 200 person lecture! If it’s going to happen, the size of the class makes no difference.
Ever seen a tiny seminar graded on a curve? I have.
Big classes can be fascinating. Small classes can be abysmally boring. Students can get to know their professors well no matter what size the class by being regulars in office hours. All of this is true.
One can still have a decided preference about class size, however.
The professor makes a statement and something’s unclear to the student or it raises a related question…make sure to scribble it down in the margins while continuing to take notes because raising your hand in the middle of a 400-person lecture isn’t likely to happen. And if it’s a misunderstanding of something, a student might continue with that false understanding until office hours…meaning it could take more effort to unlearn.
All those engineering programs that talk about being hands-on? The equivalent for many subjects is discussion classes. The ability to interrogate ideas and play with different interpretations of them from classmates and see them from different angles all helps them to understand the material better. Rarely will the big classes break out into discussions on the daily, and certainly not enough for almost everyone to participate. And discussion/recitation sections represent maybe 1/3 of class time vs. 100% of smaller classes, and those sections may be led by a grad student who doesn’t have the range of knowledge of the professor to answer more off-the-beaten path questions or to guide the discussion toward deeper understandings.
So one shouldn’t aim for small classes because they think the grading will automatically be easier. But depending on how one learns, one may end up learning better in a small class, and learning is the point of college.