CHOOSING A MAJOR

When students identify themselves as premed, they merely declare their plans to prepare for the study of medicine by fulfilling the requirements for admission to medical school. In fact, the courses required for admission to medical school will constitute only a portion of your undergraduate program. Completing all the required premed courses leaves considerable room for taking courses in other areas.

The medical profession seeks students who are well-rounded, whose undergraduate years show academic and extracurricular depth and diversity. Certainly, medical school admission is a highly-selective process; however, this need not translate into prefacing all decisions about academic and extracurricular pursuits with “How will this entry on my resume look to medical schools?”

Accordingly, premedical students can carve out a personalized undergraduate experience in any of the six undergraduate schools with virtually any academic major. Medical schools do not require that applicants major in biology, chemistry, or any other natural science, nor do they give preference to natural science majors, or any other majors. Pursue a program of study that you will excel in and enjoy. If you are passionate about your classes, you are much more likely to learn, get better grades, be a happier person, and eventually be a better physician. The admission rate to medical schools along learning discipline lines is quite even.

Medical schools seek well-qualified and unique applicants. Any major you choose can provide the educational background needed to apply. In addition to a strong academic record, medical school admission committees also like to see evidence of leadership, community service, research, and motivation things about you that your GPA and MCAT score do not reflect.

Beyond the required premedical coursework, students majoring in areas outside of the natural sciences may want to take some additional, selected coursework in the sciences

Both because your application to medical school may prove unsuccessful and because you may ultimately decide that medicine is not a good fit, you should follow an undergraduate program flexible enough to allow alternatives. Your undergraduate education should be a time of personal and intellectual exploration, a period of stimulating discovery and not merely a joyless means to some distant and possibly unattainable end. To take only courses that you need to take for medical school, plus ones you think will enhance your chances of admission, and to postpone to some other day the pursuit of your real interests, is to cheat yourself of much that Northwestern offers.

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