Should I major in chemistry?

aldfig0
Sat, 08 Feb 2014 06:31:19 +0000

If you want to go to med school you should consider a major where it’s likely you’ll get a good GPA - unfortunately, differences in major difficulty aren’t taken into consideration as much by admissions people as they should IMO. A science major isn’t required for med school - as long as you take all the prerequisite classes you’ll be fine.

Note that the things you learn as a chemistry major are quite a bit different than what you learn in typical high schools. Biology majors learn essentially the same things as they do in AP Biology but in more detail - if you can get through a recent edition of Campbell you’ll know what to expect. However as a chemistry major you won’t have any detailed classes on topics like stoichiometry and dimensional analysis, you’ll abandon topics like rules for lewis structures for more modern theories (molecular orbital theory will run your life), you’ll learn completely new ways of looking at molecules (as in here: http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/Physical_Chemistry/Symmetry/Group_Theory%3A_Theory) and completely new ways of rationalizing the behavior of molecules (like here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_effect). I’m not saying it’s bad or not interesting, but many people who liked chemistry in high school find the experience is quite different if you major in it.