Choosing a Major

“Pre-med” isn’t really an option for a college major these days. At least not at most schools. It’s more of a track…meaning you can still be pre-med, but you have to designate an actual major. 

I remember being a Senior in high school and talking to my Chemistry teacher about my college major. I was preparing to go to Duke in the Fall and knew I wanted to be a physician so I thought I had to choose between a hard science like Biology or Chemistry as a major, as if those were my only options if I wanted to get into medical school. So, when he asked me if I knew what I was going to major in, I said: Yeah, chemistry, because I’m gonna be pre-med. He looked at me and said something like, I know you’ve made good grades in Chemistry in high school, but I also know from the look on your face in my class almost every day that you hate Chemistry. So why would you major in it? And wasn’t he right?!?! I mean I hated chemistry with a passion that still burns deep in my soul. Taking enough classes of it to fulfill a major would’ve been torture!! 

In addition to pointing out my apparently obvious dislike of Chemistry, he also gave me some great advice that I share with you now: choose a major in something that you like. Something that if medicine doesn’t work out (God forbid) you can get a job in and not hate it. He asked me if I would want a job teaching Chemistry, working in a lab, or doing something else with my Chemistry degree? To which my response, even as a high school student, was: hell no (he was a cool teacher, so saying that to him was okay). But I meant it…nope. Now of course I know that your life job doesn’t have to have anything to do with your major, but whooooo is trying to spend all that time, stress, and money learning a subject to never use that knowledge??? (the answer is actually a lot people, but that’s another story…)

So as a Freshman, equipped with this new knowledge that I didn’t have to major in Chemistry or Biology, I took some time to figure out what I was really interested in, what I could sit through 10 classes of (your college may call them hours and maybe Duke does now too, I’ve never understood that hours system…) and not lose my mind. And for me it was psychology. I loved the classes and found the material to be really interesting. And I knew that if, somehow, I’d heard God wrong and medicine didn’t work out, I would be a psychologist. I also loved my African and African American studies and was able to scoop up a minor in that. And just by way of being pre-med, I had enough chemistry classes to declare it as a minor too. So boom! 

But again, you’re still pre-med. And pre-med is gonna get those pre-med requirements, you can believe that. You’re still taking all of the chemistry, biology, physics, and everything else on the list (you’ve checked out the list for your school, right?) but you don’t have to major in them! Remember, medical schools are looking at your BCPM (biology, chemistry, physics, and math) GPA pulled out and separated from your overall course GPA. Are we really out here trying to be taking extra classes in these subjects that may negatively affect our GPA because we don’t like them but think we have to because we’re pre-med? Nope.

I spend next to no time considering the applicant’s major when I’m reviewing applications. And I’m a reallythorough application reviewer. Why don’t I spend a ton of time on this? Because it’s not everything. What matters is that the admissions committee knows you can handle the academic rigors of medical school. And lucky you, they’ve already made a nice little list of which classes show them that (again, look up this list for your school).

Now the flip side of that, I know what you’re thinking, is: well if I’m halfway done with a major just by fulfilling the pre-med requirements, why wouldn’t I make it my major? My response to that is: You’re absolutely right and, by all means, go for it if you can handle taking those last few extra classes to finish out the major requirements. But you need to know what you’re signing up for with those extra classes and you need to know that it isn’t required. Majoring in a humanities subject (like languages, performing arts, history, literature, philosophy, etc) is just fine and actually may make you stand out as an applicant! People are out here majoring in dance, English, history, African-American studies, Spanish, accounting, you name it. The days of wanting medical school classes where everyone fits in a cookie-cutter mold are over. As a matter of fact, let me drop this AAMC stats jewel, in the 2019-2020 cycle, humanities majors were accepted to medical school at a slightly higher rate than non-humanities majors. You can major in whatever interests you…if your BCPM GPA is good, you have clinical experience, research, sustained service, can show a history of leadership and teamwork, and can kill an interview, you’re just as well on your way to a white coat as someone who was a biophysics major. And we have something interesting to talk about in your interview!

So, what interests you? If you’re early in the declaration process, really think about that question. You must knock out the required pre-matriculation classes, of course, but don’t let anyone tell you that a hard science major is required for medical school acceptance.

If you have any thoughts or questions, feel free to drop them in the comments section below! Or shoot me a private email! I love hearing from y’all as much as I love practicing medicine!