<p>For instance, a chemical engineering major from Stanford with a 2.9 GPA versus psychology major from OSU with 3.5 GPA… why does the med school almost always go for the psych major at a much easier school?</p>
<p>Clearly the 2.9 shows a greater aptitude in this case (I would hope)</p>
<p>Your major doesn’t really give you additional information that is necessary for success at med school, med schools will teach you everything you need to know to be a doctor, though a class on anatomy or physiology might help.</p>
<p>Major difficulty can be a wash sometimes. Majors might sound easy, but there’s always the really tough professor or tough class with an easy sounding name. I am a bio major, and some of the hardest classes I’ve taken have been outside of my major such as 300 and 400 level history and anthropology classes.</p>
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<p>Frankly, you’re not going to get into an allopathic medical school in the US with a 2.9 GPA as an undergraduate and no further coursework no matter what your major and alma mater were. </p>
<p>There is a world of difference between a 3.5 GPA and a 2.9 GPA, and that difference does not lie in the institution or the major.</p>
<p>A 2.9 at Stanford is abysmal, considering that the average GPA is a 3.6. You overestimate the difficulty to get a 2.9 at top schools, which often curve of a B+ I hear.</p>
<p>Ok ok then let’s make the comparison a little more fair.
3.5 Chemical engineer at Stanford
versus
3.8 Psychology major at Texas State University</p>
<p>How will med schools look at that?</p>
<p>The 3.8 will be looked at more favorably - med school admissions is a numbers game, pure and simple. (obviously, other things are taken into account, moreso at some schools than others, but the numbers are still the most important pieces of the puzzle)</p>
<p>It would depend on the school. There have been many discussions in the past about how medical schools use average GPA and MCAT scores from a given school to gauge the difficulty of obtaining a given GPA.</p>
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<p>The cynical answer is that the med-schools themselves care about their own rankings within USNews and other publications, and those rankings tend to calculate selectivity based on GPA without regard for how difficult that GPA might be to obtain. Admitting too many “low-GPA” students would therefore result in a lower apparent selectivity and therefore a lower ranking.</p>
<p>Why should they reward you for taking hard classes unrelated to medicine?</p>
<p>And frankley, do you think a med school gives a rats ass about engineering? No more than they will care about my D’s Latin or Greek classes.</p>
<p>Ok… what if that psych major was a history major? Then you couldn’t say that’s more related to medicine than engineering. And at least chemical engineering has some chemistry in it…</p>
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<p>Who ever said that having more chemistry or any science for that matter automatically made an applicant more qualified or desirable? In the old days maybe but these days being a non science major can be an advantage at some schools.</p>
<p>Just major in something you like for god’s sake. Stop trying to mold some perfect pre-med application. It can’t be done, there is no such thing. Be what you want to be, not what you think will get you into medical school. A resume is as much about putting in what you feel is important as it is about putting in what you think others will feel is important.</p>
<p>my $0.02:</p>
<p>If your sincere about what you want to do then you will have the motivation to do it. In my opinion the people who get into top medical schools do what they like because THEY wanted to, not because it would be attractive on a med school application.</p>
<p>It doesn’t matter what you major in, and where you do it from. As long you are sincere about it you will be fine. As far as im concerned, sincerity is probably one of the most important traits of a good doctor…</p>
<p>OP, You will not change anything by asking this question. What is a purpose of asking?</p>
<p>You will not change anything by asking this question.</p>
<p>umm… maybe because I was curious???
lol… did you think I was trying to take over the world or something?</p>