<p>I am a high school Junior who really, really, really wants to go to MIT.
But I also want to do premed as well. </p>
<p>I’ve read several articles and posts at CC and at other websites about it and have gained some knowledge on it.</p>
<p>But don’t know what major to really choose.
No matter what college i go to, I am sure that i want to do premed, but Im not sure what I want to major in.</p>
<p>I am a very math and science oriented person and not even close to literature or arts of writing, etc. ( I read like a slug and SAT reading & writing hovering in low 700s…)</p>
<p>I qualified for AIME and the USAPhO stuff but compared to my friends who seem to have way smarter and more mathematical brain than i do, i seem to be a weak candidate to major in Math or Hard Science (Physics, etc).
(like i don’t get mathematical concepts as fast as my friends do… It takes me more time to grasp the idea, it may take a couple of minutes or weeks!)</p>
<p>So I wanted to ask CCers what Majors do you recommend for someone like me?
and what do a lot of students in pre med program major in?</p>
<p>P.S.) I ultimately want to be a doctor in 3rd world countries. I got this inspiration from books and documentaries and I really feel like this is “meant for me!”
My role model is Dr. Paul Farmer who’s at HMS right now and traveling all over the world treating those who can’t afford medical treatment. He actually majored in Anthropology, and in his books he makes a lot of references to the human relations and geography, history, etc. Which is quite interesting.</p>
<p>Yes! Matter of fact, i think im going to utilize MIT free courseware to take some classes!</p>
<p>Also, I heard that majors don’t really matter that much when you have taken all the courses required for Med school. </p>
<p>I really like music and was wondering if majoring in music would be a viable choice.
according to some people, majoring in things thats not really related to Science can be difficult since classes don’t really match up.</p>
<p>MIT isn’t exactly the best place for people who are interested in practicing medicine like Paul Farmer does. You’d be better off at a peer school like Harvard. MIT specializes in training premeds who want to do MD/PhDs and be doctor-researchers. It’s easy to get a UROP, publish papers, do lots of research and peer pressure/advising/availability will push you toward it. I know 3 people who started out like you wanting to study medicine for humanitarian purposes but MIT’s research culture drew them away from it and at one point or another they all wanted to do MD/PhDs. I doubt any will ever practice medicine for the poor overseas.</p>
<p>Wow… i didn’t really know that MIT was that much research oriented!</p>
<p>But can’t I still potentially do MD/PhD and still pursue for Humanitarian purposes?
True, there may be higher chances that I will lean more toward research if i do get into MIT and attend there, but is MIT really that much different from other schools that have great Pre-med programs?</p>
<p>Im sure that the environment in the school is very important, but doesn’t personal motivation usually override those circumstances?</p>
<p>I personally think that if you went to MIT, you would get a comprehensive education in the sciences, and ultimately what you do with your degree(s) is completely up to you. I am similar to you; someday I want to get an MD and work with Doctors Without Borders for a few years, and yet my first choice is MIT.</p>