Will pre med or undergrad business from umich open more doors for me. Salary, job opportunity, work life etc are all considered. (Specifically I would lean towards being a neurologist) Thanks!
There are no pre-med undergraduate degrees. You just take the pre-reqs required by medical schools and the classes you need to prep for the MCAT. 40% of med school students weren’t even STEM majors - so knock yourself out and major in art or history or whatever else you love. The important thing is that you will need top grades - in your science classes and overall. Here’s some helpful data: https://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicantmatriculant/157998/mcat-gpa-grid-by-selected-race-ethnicity.html
And you don’t pick a specialty (like Neurology) until you apply for residency at the end of your 3d year of medical school. By then, you will have rotated through many specialties and may have changed your mind several times.
Know that if you go the med school route, it will require immense effort - many years of study, long hours, and disruption to your personal life. My son mourns that he is missing his 20s. There are compensations. But if you don’t love it, don’t do it.
These are not comparable.
You will have a muc more peaceful, most likely on a low side compensation wise with no job security life with the Undergrad business. You will have very challenging academics, much more stressful, well compensated, life with great job security after Medical School. There is no pre-med major in UG.
I can tell you about both because I have an MBA and my D. has graduated from Med. School yesterday. She never mentioned that she missied anything in her life, she loved it and certainly had experiences and opportunities in her ealry 20s (she is 25) that are not open at all to the general crowd of the 20 years olds. If you do not love it though, you will not have a chance at completing even at UG level, passing MCAT, etc. If you do not love it, you will fall off pre-med track early in a process.
I disagree with some of Miami DAP’s statements. You mention U Mich. I received my undergrad business degree from there over 30 years ago. I also have a business masters. I know relatives and friend’s kids who have recently gone through the U Mich B school. I would not say it is more peaceful, less stressful, no job security and low compensated. It is alot of work and alot of stress to attain the undergrad business degree at UMich ( or other top b-schools). The academics are challenging. If you major in accounting and want to be a CPA, the CPA exam is much harder and longer than the MCAT. Starting undergrad business salaries are surely less than what a new doctor would make, but over time there are many business people that earn salaries much higher than doctors ( CEO, CFOs, etc.)
My S just finished his undergrad with a science major ( not at Mich) and will start medical school this fall. He also worked his butt off to maintain a high GPA and do well on MCAT. So do what you want at U Michigan, you can’t go wrong.
^ I said MORE while trying to compare the MD and MBA academics / career, while I still believe that they are quantum leap apart in everything. There is NO comparison to the stress / academics / pushing to the limits in every direction possible, emotional, mental, physical, social, intellectual, there is nothig out there that would compare to the career of the MD, NONE. And it was evident with the very first sememster of the frenman year at college.
I got my BS in business and MBA while working full time and having a family. My H. also obtained his MBA while working full time as an engineer. 2 of my managers received an MBA from U of Mich. while working full time and having family and they had to travel there for every class - 1 hour one way to drive. Many (most?) do that as many companies used to pay for the MBA and some continue doing so (incuding my employer). Working even part time is NOT possible for the medical student, unless they have a special physical trait of not needing any sleep at all.
“CPA exam is much harder and longer than the MCAT” - MCAT is the easiest of the series of the medical examinations. It is simply not comparable to the Step 1, Step 2, Step 3 of the Medical Board exams and MDs have to take it every 10 years. MCAT does not license a person to practice medicine, CPA exam opens the doors to the future accountants.
Vast majority of MBAs are NOT CEOs, CFOs,…etc. Vast majority of us just work our regular jobs, I am in IT, my H. is an engineer. There are MDs who are in charge also in addition to their normal routine care for patients, some are heads of the national organizations in addition but majority are just practicing doctors.
When I compared these 2 uncomparable fields, I compared MAJORITY, i did not compare relatively few people in charge.
Everybody has a different experience. However, be prepared for the stories from your future medical student. They will not be anywhere close to anything that you ever heard from any others. But looking back, I believe that my D. had fun and currently is trying to prepare (psychologically) for her first year of residency - 12 hour shift / 6 days a week, no Holidays, only one holiday a year hopefully of her choice, but 2 vacations - 2 weeks each. She is trying to relax as much as she can now. Everybody is saying, do not read anything, do not do anything, sleep in, relax.