Help me pick a premed major!

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
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Hi,
I’ve decided on the University of Alabama, and now I’m choosing a major. I know I can change later. That said, I don’t know what I want to major in.

I’m premed, and I’m 100% sure about that. I know that can change too, but I don’t think it will.

I don’t want to major in biology, chemistry, or neuroscience. I probably should because I’d have more room for electives since it would overlap with my premed classes, but I just don’t enjoy either of those enough.

Right now I’m deciding between math, philosophy and medicine, or public health to designate as my intended major. I can of course change, but this will affect my first 2 semesters’ classes since my AP test get me out of nearly all gen Ed’s.

The pro of math is that I love math. I’ve heard that med schools like math majors because they are good at problem solving. The con is that if I don’t go to med school idk what I’ll do with it, and my dad says it’s really hard and I shouldn’t major in it for my gpa’s sake. I had no problem getting As on nearly every AP Calc BC test and got a 5 on the exam, but I know math gets really theoretical and difficult as you get to a higher level. I am only 4 classes away from a minor bc of calc BC credit, so I could also just do that.

The pro of philosophy and medicine is that I think it would be very interesting, and would teach me the important non-science portion of medicine. I also think med schools will like this. The classes all look interesting and fun. The con is that if I don’t go to med school, I’ll either have to go to law school or switch my major no matter how late it is because what else could I actually do with a philosophy degree?

The pro of public health is that my current goal now is to be an OB/GYN in a high-need area. If I don’t go to med school, working in public health would actually be something I’d consider, and I can do a 4+1, get a masters and have it all paid for by my scholarship.

The main cons are that only some of the classes actually interest me, and this major leaves me nearly no space for electives after I factor in my premed classes. For math, my AP credits take up 2 classes and it was smaller than public health to begin with. Philosophy is a BA, not a BS, so I have more elective space. That is important to me.

There is a rural community health minor, which is basically only the public health classes I am actually interested in. I will try to get that.

Which is best to start out as and would be best for premed? I’ll need to take an intro honors class, chem I, and bio I first semester, which is already 10 hours. So I really only get two classes to actually choose.

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You can major in anything you want to major in…as long as you also take the required courses for medical school applicants. So…pick something that you like that also might give you a plan B in case med school doesn’t happen.

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Yeah, I guess my issue is that the one that makes the most sense for an actual career (public health) is also my least favorite of the three that I’m considering. I’d be fine with it, but I’d be stuck taking a lot of classes I don’t really like and left with not much room for electives.

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College isn’t HS. You don’t know you won’t like a particular class until you’re there.

I took classes I thought I would love (Intro to field work, since I initially thought I wanted to major in archaeology) and I hated it. I took classes I thought I would hate (music theory-- it was the only thing that worked for my schedule that semester that would allow me to keep my off-campus job due to transportation issues) which were incredible and amazing.

So don’t sweat it. Pick something now and keep an open mind.

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You are lucky you can choose major. Dd is in premed with LECOM can’t choose anything!
LECOM mandatory said physical science. So she was forced to take Neuro instead of Psych. Now she has so many Rhodes institutional requirements (religious classes and others) and so many premed classes, and so restricted school schedule (some classes are given once in 3 quarters!) plus some classes (like 3/4) restricted to majors that every semester schedule is an optimization problem with 10 waitlists. As a result she can’t register at all at classes she is interested. All is what she needs to check numerous boxes. Unfortunately it is the case for many premeds. Just take what you think you like and go with the flow…

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Careers in public health will still require a masters, for the most part. This doesn’t mean you won’t find a job- you will. It just means that you might not do the type of work that you imagine doing.

I just noticed that your scholarship includes a masters if you want- great!

Choose something you enjoy and take your prerequisites. Good luck!

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Yep—I’m on Alabama National merit so I get 4 years of housing and 5 years of tuition. So for a 4+1 program masters, I’d just have to pay for an apartment that 5th year. Pretty good deal!!

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Take the first class for all of them, plus gen chem, and see what you like.

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I’ve heard that philosophy majors are actually some of the most employable non-pre-professional degree earners out there. Students who get a degree in philosophy are required to be able to think very deeply and see issues from multiple angles; they have to be able to complete & digest large volumes of complex readings; and they have to be able to communicate their ideas clearly.

Analysis of the earnings of degree holders shows that philosophy majors consistently have high incomes, even controlling for what field they go into. (Ie, it isn’t just that philosophy majors are becoming lawyers. Even if you take out the lawyers, the remaining philosophy majors tend to have higher incomes than other humanities are social science majors.)

So I think if the philosophy major is highly interesting to you, you should go for it!

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Math and Philosophy are actually both great subjects for future employability because they actually teach you really great fundamental skills.

Obviously Math is relevant everywhere, and people who are comfortable when the math gets serious are prized in many different career fields.

Then Philosophy teaches you how to read and critically analyze really difficult texts, including understanding their logic and evidence, and then talking and writing about your analysis in a clear and compelling way.

It is sorta obvious why Philosophy is a classic pre-law major, but those basic skills are not just relevant to lawyers! All sorts of employers in business, government, and so on are looking for people who can do that sort of thing at a high level, and they will give you the specific technical knowledge you need through their own training programs, on the job experience, and possibly advanced degrees or certificates as relevant.

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Both of my daughters majored in math (and both went to med school). Both chose math because they liked it. One was a natural math talent and the other really had to work at it to do well. Both said that math didn’t get substantially harder as you went further, but it does change in how you approach problems. Both thought it was easier to get good grades UL math classes than Ochem.

There are lots of different branches of mathematics–and not all of them are highly theoretically. Consider applied math which focuses more on the problem solving side of math. You’re not doing hundred of abstract proofs, instead you’re learning techniques to solve problems commonly encountered in business and real world situations.

D2 said probability was probably the most interesting math class she took. It has direct applications in the insurance and risk management industries.

Beside insurance and risk management, math majors are often hired to be data analysts in banking and financial management companies. Math majors are also employed in risk management, data analysis or financial planning offices of city, state and federal governments.
Also by hospitals. A friend of D1’s --and another math major-- was hired by an international telecomm company to plan the optimum way to located cell towers in a region. Still another went to work for an airline doing scheduling and route planning. Electric utility companies hire math majors to manage transmission power load and demand balancing.

Math is also an excellent major for anyone wanting to go into epidemiology (which requires a MPH). Another employment avenue to explore if you want to stay in a healthcare related area. My SIL’s sister is an epidemiologist who works for a regional office of the CDC. Besides, the CDC, every state has a number of epidemiologists working for the state health office tracking outbreaks of measles, influenza and other communicable diseases, children’s vaccination rates, food poisoning reports, animal health reports, death and cancer clusters, etc.

If you’re willing to get a MS or PhD, you can go into healthcare-related field like nuclear medicine technology (making radio-isotopes for cancer treatments), medical physics (oversee the the facilities and equipment for radiation therapy and develop the treatment protocols for individual patients).

So math isn’t a dead end, unemployable major. And math is not all abstract proofs.

But, as one my daughters lamented: Alas there is no math (besides statistics) in med s school. (Though having higher level math can be useful for anesthesiologist.)

P.S. One of my son-in-laws is theoretical mathematician. He’s a professor who used to work in the computer industry. He finds ways to make quantum computers work reliably by compensating for randomness of quantum uncertainties.

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Do you have to declare this early?

I’d start with - what interests me - not with what will impress med school or lead me to a career - because even with public health, you’d need my masters.

My least favorite - is not something I would major in.

Now - if med school doesn’t work, then you have a pickle - but not with a math major (always highly desired, forget med school) - but still, you want to study something of interest to you. Sometimes it doesn’t relate to the real world but at least you won’t be miserable.

So if math truly interests you, it would cover med school and employment.

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If you don’t like public health…then choose something else. Nothing wrong with math- sounds great!

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