What type of degree before med school?

[Guest mossflower661]

Hi everyone,

 

I am new to this site and am very happy that I found this place, there is a lot of useful information here...

 

I am currently a student at the UofC right now and actually have not decided what my major is.......

I have heard that most students that have been accepted into med school usually have a BSc degree (botany, biology, zoology, biochemistry, etc..)......I would really like to go to med school but getting a degree in biological sciences just does not interest me that much (plus I am afraid of going into some discipline and not doing so well (affecting my gpa and chances of admission).....

I was actually thinking of maybe getting a degree in psychology.....

Can someone please tell me whether med school (especially UofC) prefer's a particular degree over another...

Thx.

[Guest wattyjl]

there is supposed to be no preference given as to your undergrad degree, most medshcools however do require that you complete certain 'pre-req' undergrad courses - typically these can be 'outside' of your degree, e.g. taken during the summer. go on the OUAC med-app website and there will be a pdf you can download listing all the ontario schools and their prereqs. for other schools go to their individual websites and look it up.

 

everyone says study what you're interested in, not what you 'think' will get you into medschool. i agree. if you're interetsed, you'll be motivated to work hard and that usually pays off when it comes to marks, which, unfortunately, medschools are unanimous in requiring (to differing relative degrees).

 

i think you have the logic around the wrong way: it's not "many people accepted to medschool have a BSc", it's, "many people who do BSc's are interested in medschool". probably some of them do it because they feel it might be a bit easier to get into med, and do well once you're in, with a solid background in science. there's probably truth to that, on average. however, you can take whatever you like, be it psych or whatever, and as long as you have the prereq's for the particular school they won't worry that your degree wasn't in 'biology', 'science', etc.

[Guest scrubbed]

From the site:

 

admissions.myweb.med.ucal...tions.html

Is any particular undergraduate degree preferred?

 

No. We strongly suggest that applicants take the recommended courses but do not give preference to any particular undergraduate degree. Applicants are urged to have an alternate career in mind and their program should reflect this.

What are your required courses?

 

We RECOMMEND, but do not require, that applicants have taken a full year of each of: biology, chemistry, physics, English, organic chemistry, biochemistry and physiology as well as a semester of psychology, sociology or anthropology and a semester of calculus or statistics.

 

Take what courses you enjoy. If you enjoy psychology, then you'll probably enjoy your studies and do well.

 

Keep in mind that some of the recommended courses will also come in handy for the MCAT. In addition, although medicine is an art, it is also a science. Thus, if you don't enjoy the science behind the medicine, medicine may not be for you. I'm not suggesting that this is the case, but it is something to keep in mind.

 

Best of luck!

[Guest purplefairy13]

They say it doesn't matter, but consider that its probably easier to do well on the MCAT if you have a science background (i.e. probably less overwhelming than if you've spent the last few years studying humanities...well, except the verbal where you will probably kill the rest of us... ). If you want to go into medicine though, chances are (as was previously mentioned) that you also like physiology, biology....etc

Bottom line though: do what you love, the rest will follow.

[Guest marbledust]

They say it doesn't matter, but consider that its probably easier to do well on the MCAT if you have a science background

 

I come from a non-science background (undergrad background in political science and computer science...the fake "sciences" lol).

 

The only science courses I took were the ones U of C recommends--and I didn't even have all of them. They were sufficient for me, at least, to do well on the MCAT. I probably had to put more study hours in leading up to the exam than those with science degrees, but there are enough study materials and prep courses out there that help you target what you need to know and study. The U of C recommended courses give you sufficient background to do well, I think.