Please help me decide my major. Please!

WayOutWestMom
Sun, 03 Apr 2016 03:45:24 +0000

Start by reading this thread:
[What should a pre-med major in?](http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/214387-what-should-premed-major.html)

1. Pre-med is not a major (except at Penn State) ; it’s an intention. A pre-med can major in anything so long as med school pre-reqs are fulfilled.

2. Pharmacy is not an undergraduate major; it’s graduate level professional degree.

3. Occupational therapy is not an undergraduate major; it’s a graduate level professional degree.

4. Nursing, nutrition &dietetics, and health service management are all vocational majors–which are less than ideal majors for a pre-med for a number of reasons, including the fact that science coursework for vocational majors usually doesn’t meet med school admission requirements. (There are different levels of science courses at college. At many colleges, vocational students take a less competitive/comprehensive version of science classes than do science majors.)

Vocation degrees also signal med school admission committees that you are less than committed to becoming a physician. (For example, nutrition & dietetics will cause your interview to ask: if you want to be doctor, why are studying to become a dietitian? Ditto for nursing or health service management.)

Additionally according to AMCAS data, vocational majors are less likely to score well on the MCAT and are significantly less likely to gain an acceptance to med school even when the lower average MCAT scores are taken into consideration. IOW, vocational majors hurt your chances of gaining a med school admission.

tl;dr-- major in any academic subject you enjoy. It’s not necessary to major in a biological or physical science. My daughters’ med school classmates have majors ranging from agriculture to music performance to women’s studies to mathematics to theology to computer engineering.

AP or DE--it really doesn't matter so long as you understand that any classes you take DE must reported to medical schools and all DE grades earned will be included in your GPA and sGPA when you apply to medical schools.

(IOW, you need to be earning As in your DE classes. Don't slack off.)