When applying to medical school is a degree in pre med better than a biology, chemistry or nursing degree??

Answer 1

It does not matter which degree (pre med is not a degree) you select as long as you complete your pre-med requirements. Remember the pre-med requirements are minimum requirements for admission to medical school. Most pre-med students major in biology or chemistry but you may choose any major you want (English, math, theater arts, Spanish, nursing, etc.) as long as you add the pre-med courses to your major. The curricula for different pre-med tracks includes biology, biomedical engineering, chemistry, clinical laboratory science, exercise biology, nursing, and psychology. They meet all the requirements for medical school admission. Be sure to discuss with an academic advisor and it would be at your best interest to see a premed advisor of your target university.

Answer 2

You will have to go through an accredited nursing program. The classes that include patient care, IV therapy, blood-drawing, medications, etc, are not part of an undergrad biology or pre-med program. Many schools do offer bachelor's degrees in nursing so you can get your R.N. along with the 4 year degree. Consider going on for a Nurse Practitioner degree if you are serious about a medical profession. Your 4 year degree may also contain most if not all of the prerequisites for med school. Make sure you take full level courses instead of the "baby" chemistry classes sometimes set up for nursing students. These are only one semester classes instead of two and have less content.

Answer 3

Not specifically. In fact, a lot of med schools look for people with different experiences, so that a music or history major might be advantageous. Now, a biochem degree will probably help you in understanding some of the basic science in med school, but not enough to make it worth doing if there's something you love more. As far as "premed" majors, a lot of places offer it, but a lot of schools (including Ivy League schools) don't offer it and their applicants do very well. Personally, I would major in a hard science if you're going to go that route instead of premed. Premed isn't an academic discipline per se, so you can't really be expert in it, as opposed to beingg a chem, bio, physics major.

As far as a nursing degree, I don't think that would help. The basic science classes taught in nursing are usually not up to the same level as the premed classes. Of course, you could take the harder classes on top of the nursing requirements. Also, many doctors probably have some biases against nurses, so they might see the nursing education as being soft. At any rate, it definitely wouldn't be an advantage to most admission committees.

Answer 4

All US med schools are accredited by the same agency (the LCME) and have the same admission requirements (with some flexibility is the math requirements). Whatever your degree is in, you need to complete the required courses. What you degree is in is less important today than it was a decade ago. Med schools are trying to get applicants from variued backgrounds--but those pesky students still keep taking all of those biology and chemistry majors.

Do not pursue a nursing degree. For one, in and of its own right, it is not an easy program. But more importantly, the instruction is focused differently than med school and is nowhere as indepth as med school.

But I believe in giving people sources to verify for themselves. I posted a link below to lead you to a Medical Student Questionnaire that will enable you to compare yourself to the students who were accepted to medical school. The questionnaire is done by the Association of American Medical Colleges. You should check out their web site as it has a lot of valuable information.

Answer 5

Pre-Med isn't a degree it's a set of pre-requisite classes. You cannot graduate with a degree in pre-med. Most med schools value science very highly so you should plan on a degree in biology, chemistry, or biochemistry and follow the pre-med path to make sure that you have all the pre-reqs that your intended university requires. Talk to the Pre-Med advisor at your college for the list of med school pre-reqs.

Answer 6

Premed would include most of the courses taken for those other degrees. But premed would not include ALL of the required coursework for those degrees, just the prerequisites for entering med school.

So, someone who had earned a BS in chemistry, for instance, may have to go back to college to take some of the required course he missed to get into med shool.

Answer 7

None of the residents in the program I coordinate have a 'pre med' degree...a lot of biology, chemistry, zoology, mechanical/biomechanical engineering, microbiology, biochemistry and molecular biology, organic chemistry, biology and psychology, biomedical science.

All 15 of the residents in my program fall under one of those majors for undergrad.

Answer 8

Your question has been well answered above, but I did want to note that, contrary to what some people have posted, some schools do have programs where you can major in "pre-med." It isn't common but I have heard of it. I wouldn't recommend it, though, as I think adcoms like to see something that looks a bit more well-rounded than that.

Answer 9

No. It's just an easier way of making sure you have all the prerequisites. They want you to have a broad background, with strong grades in science. They look at your science GPA, overall GPA, experience with patients, be it volunteer or whatever, and how you do on the MCAT.