<p>Right now, I need to declare a major soon, and I am having trouble deciding between a what is known as a “fluff” major or “rough” major, for being a pre-med. I know there is not one best major, but I wanted to see, between these two theoretical applicants, which one you think would be more likely be accepted to a US Medical school:</p>
<hr>
<p>Applicant One:
Major: Chemical Engineering
GPA: 3.4
MCAT score: 40</p>
<p>Applicant Two:
Major: Media Studies
GPA: 3.88
MCAT score: 32</p>
<hr>
<p>Assume that both applicants come from the same undergraduate institution, and that they have the proper extra-curricular activities =( Physician shadowing, volunteering in a hospital, research, medical missions etc.).</p>
<p>Which of these applicants is more likely to gain admission to med school, just based on major, gpa, and mcat score?</p>
<p>Door Number One, 40 MCAT looks great even with the slightly low GPA. I think the MCAT combined with the CME degree is an acceptable balance for GPA. Just curious, how is this a hypothetical situation? Do you know your MCAT score yet or what your GPA will be by application time? Is your decision of majors really that polarized in terms of fields? Why not double major?</p>
<p>I mean, you’re still going to have to take all the same pre-med courses, so no, I don’t think the major really matters all that much.
I saw on another post you made that you go to Cal and are an IB major, right? I was IB intended for one semester in sophomore year and then switched back to MCB (I’m now declared). I think a lot of people want to scare others (even unintentionally) off of MCB and I’ve found that after biochem (which every pre-med here has to take anyways) it’s all much, much easier. It’s the weeder/pre-req classes that are tough, and IB and MCB have to take the same ones, so the choice is really down to which one you’re more interested in.</p>
<p>Yeah, throwing a 99.9th percentile MCAT score against an 85-90th percentile score is really not fair in this discussion (also, what kind of school are we talking about? A WUSTL/JHU type where the 32 is well below the class average or a lower ranked school where the 32 is close to average?). The whole reason for the MCAT score it to try and account for this type of thing. </p>
<p>If they have the same or much closer MCAT scores, then the media studies major is probably getting interviewed 1st assuming the BCPM GPA is on par with the overall 3.88 since I assume an engineering student’s BCPM will be low. Remember, average GPAs of accepted students are reported much more frequently than majors.</p>
<p>Also, this kind of info is really only important for deciding if you get an interview. Once you have the interview, the interview itself becomes most heavily weighted factor in the decision (according to the survey of med school admissions deans)</p>
<p>From UCB, 3.8 and 38 makes you competitive everywhere irrespective of your major. </p>
<p>However, California residents have it really hard since there are not enough seats in the state to support all of the competitive residents and 63% of all California residents admitted to medical schools during 2012 (2013?) are actually attending schools outside of the state per AAMC numbers.</p>
<p>“fluff” or “rough” is very much in the eye of the beholder. Many students love engineering to the point where studying other subjects is painful. Math/physics students seem to have a slightly greater chance of admission, probably because they LOVE their courses. </p>
<p>Given the considerable pre-med requirements, suggest using the courses left to take what you love, so your spirit and dedication are maintained as well as possible. Great possibilities include just about anything - international relations, languages, humanities, literature, history of science, economics, public policy, sociology, psychology. </p>
<p>You will need TIME for shadowing, volunteering, research too.</p>
<p>My question is why is it assumed the engineering student will score so much higher on the MCAT? Both students will have had to take all the same science/math classes. And why is it assumed the engineering student will have a lower GPA. Some engineering students struggle (especially those who believe it is the only path to success) but for those who are naturals, the grades come as well.</p>
<p>dina4119: Thanks for the tip, I thought a lot of the MCB upper divs were also hard.</p>
<p>@boysx3: At the school i go to (Berkeley), the college of chemistry that offers the chemical engineering major has a really tough 4 year plan, with taking a lot of units each semester and classes that have harsh grade distributions. Since the chemE major is not apart of the college of engineering, the weeding out is done through initial courses rather than at the time of application for admission to berkeley.</p>
<p>On the other hand, the media studies major is assumed to be the easiest major on campus. Many athletes pick it so they can spend less time on classes and the most time on practicing and partying. Therefore, i assumed that the media studies major would have a higher GPA.</p>
<p>The difference in MCAT score is just to give a balance to the GPA’s. I am not saying i expect engineers to score much higher than applicants of other majors</p>
<p>^^
I’m trying to imagine what “media studies” major would then think, “I’ll think I’ll go to med school”. Guess it happens…that’s what post baccs are for.</p>
<p>Bottom line, if MCATs are equivalent (and major probably won’t change that too much), the engineer with the low GPA gets the boot every single time.</p>
<p>trick question: med adcoms are not fond of engineering majors. They tend to prefer traditional liberal arts majors, (which includes Bio, Math and Chem), over vocational majors such as eng & business. But that is a small nit on the application.</p>
<p>I don’t believe that adcoms do consider eng’g majors as vocational majors like they do business or other majors. I think they’re used to eng’g premeds now and see how those trained individuals bring something to the table that others don’t.</p>
<p>I think eng’g majors can do better on the MCAT simply because of how they’re trained to be problem solvers…to take info, process, and come to conclusions. </p>
<p>I don’t think being a ChemE major hurt my son at all. In fact, I think it helped him.</p>
<p>As for the person who suggested that eng’rs who love their majors are somehow going to have an easy time getting A’s, that isn’t really true. A person can LOVE eng’g, but it still takes blood sweat and tears to get those A’s.</p>
<p>yeah, i disagree that med schools put engineering in the “vocational, not academic” major category, but i do agree about the dislike of vocational majors.</p>
<p>Right! When you consider the non-eng’g classes that eng’rs have to take (18+ credits in math, a year of physics w/ calc, along with the other premed prereqs), they’re practically doing a liberal arts major along side their eng’g major.</p>
<p>An engineering major isn’t necessarily harder. Those who go into such a major often do so because that is where their skills and interests lie (like any other major selection!). My S would find a humanities major significantly harder than his engineering major because he is a STEM kid all the way. It comes easy to him and having to do his GE classes outside engineering is torture or boring to him. He’s definitely not alone at his school.</p>
<p>engineering majors have lower gpa’s because its harder
the weed out classes are hard
then the core classes are even harder</p>
<p>tell me this; who do you think will score higher</p>
<p>a person who does engineering and does PROBLEM SOLVING(WHICH IS WHAT THE MCAT IS MOSTLY MADE OF) OR media studies(i have no clue what this is about anyway)</p>
<p>engineers are trained to work hard and they are accustomed to solving difficult problems fast under pressure</p>
<p>yes, few people have an aptitude for engineering but its still hard nevertheless</p>