Guest music Posted February 24, 2002 Report Share Posted February 24, 2002 Just curious....anyone out there a music major trying to get into Meds? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Wong Posted February 27, 2002 Report Share Posted February 27, 2002 Thought I'd pick up your question. There is a student in the class below me who was a music major before getting accepted to med school. However, I believe that these folks are few and far between simply because there's a pretty significant gulf between the courses you would traditionally take in a music degree, and those science courses that are used for med school pre-reqs and in preparation for the MCAT. I'd say she's probably one of the very few, if not the only music major in UBC med currently. Ian UBC, Med 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mn Posted March 1, 2002 Report Share Posted March 1, 2002 I have a music degree under my belt, as well as theology and a B.A. in Social Development Studies (interdisciplinary social work focus). Yep, three bachelor degrees (plus my ARCT), and I'm going back for more! After high school, I chose university courses that I was really interested in, and which also gave me some options for my future career direction. For various reasons, I have chosen to change my career path and head toward medicine as my ultimate goal. I want to encourage those choosing undergrad courses to diversify and add humanities to your pre-reqs. There are just so many fascinating and enjoyable courses out there, and your undergrad years are the ones when you have the opportunity to branch out and explore a variety of studies. When you get to your honours thesis or possible Masters degree, you need to hone in on your chosen academic subject, and certainly by the time you're in med school, you have less time for other (academic) interests. Contrary to popular opinion, university is not just the means to getting a good job! It's about exploring the world, making yourself a better and more interesting person, and enveloping yourself in the sheer love of acquiring new knowledge. (Besides, admissions committees seem to look for individuals who stand out from the generic scientific crowd, and who have developed their own pursuits and passions.) Anyone else with so-called "different" (that is, not mainly bio/scientific) academic backgrounds care to comment? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest scared of arts Posted March 1, 2002 Report Share Posted March 1, 2002 Hi mn, I thought your thoughts on the university as a means to explore the world was quite nice. However, I wonder if the average person really ought to take on a music-meds route? Certainly, it is often believed that an arts course could be quite subjective. An essay (or sculpture, for that matter), could be marked highly by one T.A. and torn up by another. Personally, if I wrote a bad science exam I might blame myself for not memorizing all the formulae, whereas getting a poor mark on an essay could mean I got "shafted" by the teacher. What are your thoughts on this? If someone who was good at science, but was interested in playing the violin, decided to enroll in a music degree, that person may only get a 3.5 GPA which somewhat limits their choice of med schools. Was that person "the better for it" having been enlightened in musical performance? Or did he inadvertently close the door on the career that he really should have entered? I personally did not have the courage to get into arts, and though I regret not being able to take any arts classes "for fun", I think maybe it was one of those "having your cake and eating it" kind of scenario. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UWOMED2005 Posted March 1, 2002 Report Share Posted March 1, 2002 It definitely is possible to get into medicine with a music degree - we have one such student in our class. Don't know the details, but she did do her undergrad in music. When medical schools say you can get in with ANY kind of undergrad degree, they mean just that. All you need is to take the necessary prereqs for the school you're applying to (highly variable, but 1st year chem, 1st year bio, 1st year physics, 2nd year organic chem, 2nd year biochemistry, and a 3 arts courses including 1st year english would cover just about every school in Canada's prerequisites!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TimmyMax Posted March 2, 2002 Report Share Posted March 2, 2002 Hey all, Just to toss my two cents in- I have the equivalent of a minor in music (long story), which admittedly kind of screwed up my electives, and arts-related prereqs, but I had a great time doing it, which is what counts! I say that if something interests you, TAKE IT, because if you don't you'll forever be wondering what it would have been like if you did. And besides, music rocks! Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BlueWooster Posted March 3, 2002 Report Share Posted March 3, 2002 I actually have a Bachelors and a Masters in Music (some of us need two degrees to learn our lesson) and have interviews for Med school this month. Scared of Arts' fears are actually relevant - my overall average of "just science" is upper 90s but combined with my undergraudate degree, it lies around low 80s! I would never say that the arts are more difficult but it is certainly more difficult to produce results (ie. marks). However, as much as I hated it at the time, I have to admit that the MCAT can be an asset to someone with an eclectic background. If you can do a decent job on the MCAT, who cares if you have some low marks in orchestration and counterpoint? (at least, this is what I comfort myself with!) Blue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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