If your kid wants to go to med school, what are they doing as an undergraduate major?

[Anonymous]

DH thinks DS should major in chemistry or some sort of biomedical engineering. I think DS should major in something like history and take a lot of science courses. DH thinks the chem or engineering majors are good majors for jobs in case DS doesn’t end up in med school.

Our son just wants to go to med school. He is a top stat non URM.

[Anonymous]

I would focus on schools with excellent med school placement like Wash U or Davidson. I would talk to them about what are the majors they suggest and go from there.

[Anonymous]

Kid was a bio/history major in college. Now M3 in T20 med school. It is so dang hard to get into one.

[Anonymous]

My son and DIL are first-year residents. DS majored in physics; DIL majored in English. Most of their friends were science majors; with a couple of exceptions: one did psychology and one did anthropology.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would focus on schools with excellent med school placement like Wash U or Davidson. I would talk to them about what are the majors they suggest and go from there.

Not OP but my son is also interested in medical school. We've been trying to figure out which undergraduate schools have good pre-med advising and strong placement rates. Are there any sources that you know of?

And to address OP's question, someone we know suggested Public Health major is the route to take. IDK?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son and DIL are first-year residents. DS majored in physics; DIL majored in English. Most of their friends were science majors; with a couple of exceptions: one did psychology and one did anthropology.

DH is a physician and he majored in chemistry. BIL is also a doctor and majored in biochem. Many of their friends are physicians from the same majors.

[Anonymous]

If you go on Wash U site and Davidson-they have a lot of information. Wash U in particular is know for their med school placement assistance. I only know more of WashU and Davidson because my child had been recruited both places for sports and it had come up.

[Anonymous]

There is no majic major or school. Someone who truly has the ability and drive for med school can get in from any major and good college.

[Anonymous]

For pre-meds the go to major seems to be neuroscience. In my day, it was biology. I was a biology major that went to medical school.

[Anonymous]

My DD is majoring in Medical Humanities (3rd year @ Columbia)

The bigger question is how do you pay for it, if you get in?

[Anonymous]

major in something you can maintain high GPA. difficult majors don't get bonus points.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:major in something you can maintain high GPA. difficult majors don't get bonus points.

OP here. This was my thinking. I thought DS should major in something he truly enjoys, get As and also take all his science requirements to apply for med school.

I know many guys who did not act very hard chem or engineering classes and never made it to med school.

[Anonymous]

My DS is now an attending physician. He was a biology and chemistry major.

[Anonymous]

My DD is a third year medical student. She majored in Medicine, Health, and Society at Vanderbilt and had a minor in business.

[Anonymous]

The problem with history is the tremendous amount of reading and paper writing. If you are also taking difficult weed-out intro science courses to fulfill the pre-med requirements, the workload could be unmanageable.

I also think — just speculating — that a kid who prefers history to science may not actually end up happy practicing medicine. I have several physician friends from college looking to pivot now to the most random alternative careers, and I can’t help remembering how all along I was surprised they wanted medical school so badly when their true interests seemed to lie elsewhere.