Top Undergrad Majors at the Best Medical Schools

Megan Schwehr always knew she wanted to be a doctor, even though she didn't decide on her major until her sophomore year of college.

"I wanted to pick a major that helped me get there," says Schwehr, who initially thought a major in biology would serve that purpose. "I actually enjoyed chemistry more than I thought I would, and it seemed to be a better fit for what I needed to get into med school -- so I switched to biochemistry."

The Idaho native earned her bachelor's degree in biochemistry with a minor in mathematics at Linfield College in Oregon. She recently graduated from the University of Washington School of Medicine, which takes first place among the 2022 Best Medical Schools for Primary Care, and she will soon begin a family medicine residency in Idaho.

"The classes I took catered to the MCAT perfectly," she says. "One concept that was on the test I literally learned in my molecular biology class the day before the exam."

Schwehr says certain aspects of her undergrad education, such as its emphasis on small group discussions and interactive learning, helped her in med school, and the study habits she developed during college came in handy as a med student.

During med school, she discovered that her classmates had a wide range of college majors. "After getting to know my classmates better, I was surprised to learn how many of them had received non-biological science undergraduate degrees, such as political science, philosophy, psychology, sociology, engineering and anthropology to name a few," she says. "Overall, once we were past the biochemistry block, I did not feel that having a biological science degree gave any particular advantage over other degrees."

Schwehr isn't the only premed student who studied a biology-related discipline to be accepted at a competitive medical program. All but one of the top 10 Best Medical Schools for Primary Care provided U.S. News with information about the college majors among newly-enrolled students in 2020 via an annual survey; at each of the nine premier primary care programs that reported statistics, the proportion of first-year medical students with majors in biological science was at least 38%. The average representation of bio majors within the entering classes at those programs was 46.9%.

[Read: How to Choose a College Major If You Plan to Attend Medical School.]

Meanwhile, each of the top 10 Best Medical Schools for Research disclosed data on the college majors of first-year students who enrolled in 2020. At all of those schools, more than 30% of incoming students had biology-related majors. The average percentage of bio majors in the entering classes at those institutions was 43.4%.

Premed advisers say some top-ranked medical schools are more interested in applicants who not only have good metrics in science courses, but have also taken nonscience electives.

"Previously, medical schools were focused upon excellent preparation for biomedical sciences," says Dr. McGreggor Crowley, an admissions counselor at the IvyWise admissions consulting firm who previously served on the Harvard Medical School admissions committee. "Over the last 15 years or so, there has been more emphasis on balance, meaning that premedical students now need to focus on these foundational biological courses and on the humanities."

Every med school hopeful, regardless of his or her college major, will need to demonstrate that he or she is academically prepared for a challenging medical school curriculum, experts say. "The focus on majors may not be as warranted as some might think," Yvette Perry, associate dean for admissions and strategic enrollment with The University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences in Ohio, wrote in an email.

[Read: How to Make Sure You Fulfill Medical School Requirements for Admission.]

Perry says it's ideal for premeds to choose college majors in subjects they enjoy. "The advantage for applicants to choose a major that they are actually passionate about is that they are much more likely to be able to demonstrate and articulate that interest to admissions committees and interviewers. They are also more likely to demonstrate high academic achievement in a major that they are pursuing because of interest rather than merely a desire to check off a box on an application."

Many students at prestigious medical schools have college degrees in physical science disciplines such as physics, chemistry and engineering. Among the top 10 research-focused medical schools, the average percentage of entering students with a physical science major was 22.7%. Meanwhile, among the nine top-10 primary care programs that provided figures on majors, the average representation of physical science majors was 18.3%.

Degrees in the social sciences and humanities at both the top medical schools for primary care and research accounted for only a sliver of new students in 2020.

At the nine top-10 primary care programs that provided statistics, the average proportion of first-year students with social sciences or humanities majors was 11.4%. Meanwhile, at these same programs, the average share of the entering class with miscellaneous college majors, such as mixed majors or double majors, was 20.6%.

Among the top-10 research medical schools, the average portion of the entering class with degrees in either social sciences or humanities was 11.9%, whereas the average fraction of the class with a miscellaneous type of undergrad degree was 18%.

An increasingly popular major among premeds, experts say, is an interdisciplinary health major that combines social sciences with natural sciences.

The University of Texas--Dallas, as an example, offers a bachelor's degree in health care studies that allows students to take classes on the history, philosophy, sociology and psychology of health care alongside courses about the health care system and its norms, according to the school's website. The program also includes the lab science courses typically required for health professions grad programs like dental schools and medical schools.

UT--Dallas alumna Aseel Dweik says she decided on this major for her premed studies because it allowed her to take electives that suited her interests. "You get a taste of everything, and it all revolves around one field." She also earned a master's degree in biotechnology from UT--Dallas.

As a recent medical school graduate from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center who will soon begin an internal medicine residency, Dweik says her undergraduate education provided a solid academic foundation for medical school while helping her grasp the complexity of the health care system and empathize with the challenges faced by medical patients.

"My health care studies degree offered a wide array of courses like Economics of Healthcare, (the) U.S. Healthcare System, Public Health, Issues in Patient Education and Gender in Healthcare, all of which helped orient me to this reality of medicine very early on," she says. "Not to mention, they combined these illustrative classes with the more traditional premedical courses that were needed for MCAT preparation."

[Read: What You Can Do With a Health Science Degree.]

Michelle Grundy, director of the health professions advising office for Vanderbilt University's undergraduates, says two of the school's most popular majors for premed students are interdisciplinary: Medicine, Health, and Society, along with Neuroscience.

"Both include the typical medical school recommended courses, but also allow the student to understand a broader scope of health care in general," says Grundy, who provides guidance to premeds navigating the medical school application process.

The health professions adviser says that about a quarter of the Vanderbilt undergraduate student body is interested in health professions. According to Grundy, undergraduate students benefit from having a well-known, top-tier research medical school nearby. According to statistics published in a university annual report, 70% of Vanderbilt undergrads who applied to med school for the first time and sought entry in 2020 were accepted.

Grundy's advice to undergraduates: "Proficiency in the sciences needs to be there, but a degree in something other than the basic sciences can make a student more well-rounded in the eyes of an admissions committee."

Premed advisers say liberal arts programs can help boost a student's profile when applying to med school.

"I find my colleagues with non-science backgrounds bring a great deal to the table," Crowley says. "They are often attuned to the psychosocial etiology of diseases and may have a leg up on understanding the complexity of illness and its effects on a patient, her family and society."

Crowley says it's a shame if med school hopefuls feel boxed into a particular college major because of their desire to become a doctor. "Students should feel free to choose whatever majors they want, not have that major dictated to them by others. That's such an unfair position to be in, and any student that feels that pressure, I commiserate with."

Aspiring doctors should be aware of the option to pursue nonscience undergraduate majors and simultaneously take premed undergraduate courses, Crowley says. Although it is difficult to complete premed requirements alongside a nonscience major, it is feasible for a serious student who is committed to the medical profession, he adds.

Dr. Mark D. Rego, a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine, says he would discourage most premeds from majoring in science.

"As a faculty member at a major medical school (and obviously a graduate of a medical school), it is my strong opinion that unless you are passionate about science you should stay as far from science as you can in your undergrad work," he wrote in an email. "Obviously, you must take the required science base for the MCATs and for med school. If science deeply interests you, then by all means pursue it. But in most cases undergrads are taking science majors only because they believe this is the best prep for med school."

Rego says med schools do not automatically view science majors as better qualified for med school than nonscience majors. "They want students to have a large amount of life experience and knowledge about the world before they become focused on their medical studies."

Pierre Huguet, CEO of the H&C Education consulting firm, encourages premeds to explore their nonmedical academic interests and discover connections between those interests and the medical profession.

"The possibilities are endless, and they range from sociology and anthropology, to art and the humanities, and even to sports and video games," Huguet wrote in an email. "Most applicants tend to look the same, so finding some unconventional interests is always a great way to stand out in the admissions process."

Dr. Deane Waldman, an emeritus professor of pediatrics, pathology and decision science at the University of New Mexico, says premeds should pursue an undergraduate curriculum that not only teaches them science but also helps them become better thinkers and communicators. Waldman says a great physician is someone who is both imaginative enough to come up with innovative strategies for addressing a patient's health care challenges and eloquent enough to clearly explain treatment options to a patient.

University of California--Irvine School of Medicine graduate Daniel Azzam -- author of the book "Diary of a Med Student" -- says premeds should not choose a major simply because they believe that major will be perceived positively by medical school admissions committees. "Students need to know that all majors are welcome," he wrote in an email. "No one major will be judged higher than another. It matters way more how a student uses their major to take on experiences that make them stand out rather than what the actual major is."

Crowley says he is concerned that premed students who feel obligated to focus on science in college may not have sufficient opportunity to develop their academic skills outside of science, technology, engineering and math before medical school, at which point it becomes harder to find the time to develop those skills.

"A student should be 100% able to major in whatever she wants to, and that's why premedical prerequisites were created in the first place, to allow students to do really whatever they want to do academically as an undergraduate, but with the knowledge that certain courses would be necessary," Crowley says.

Dr. Megan Boysen Osborn, associate dean for students at the UCI School of Medicine, suggests that premeds don't need to pursue nonscience majors in order to stand out from their peers. "I do not believe that there is a 'right' or 'wrong' major to choose," she wrote in an email. "Having a strong foundation in science coursework will certainly help a student to be successful in medical school. Thus, majoring in one of the sciences is probably the most straightforward path to medical school, but it is not the only path."

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