Major for med school? ?

Question

Does it matter what I major in for med school? I want to eventually become a Psychiatrist, but not sure if it matters ta all what major I pick.

I realize that most people going to med school go with biology major or other sciences, but would a psychology major apply as well? (perhaps with a biology minor?)

Thanks..

Answer 1

I've seen people who majored in Computer Science and were pre-med. Psychology with a biology minor wouldn't be bad as long as you squeeze in some chemistry and all the other recommended pre-med classes. I was a psychology major and seen future psychiatrists majoring in psych all the time.

Answer 2

The others are right--you can major in anything, but I think biochemistry would be good for you if you want psychiatry.  The most important aspect is pharmacology of the drugs used in psychiatry, so it would be good to have a solid background in it.  

Answer 3

Most people who go to medical school major in biology, chemistry, or biochemistry.  However you can major in anything you want to and go to medical school.  Statistics show that your major has very little correlation with whether you get in or not:

http://www.knox.edu/statistics.xml

Medical schools do require you to take a lot of prescribed courses in college.  They don't call these prescribed courses a "major" though.  Minimum college course requirements to get into most U.S. medical schools include one year of each:  

Biology

General (inorganic) chemistry

Organic chemistry

Physics

Related lab work for each science course

In addition, many schools require English and math courses.

This information from :  

http://www.mommd.com/admissionreq.shtml  

Many schools will have arcane special course requirements, so you must research the schools you are interested in to make sure you have the courses they want.  

One thing I would not recommend majoring in is premed.  If you don't get in, it looks bad on your transcript when you go into something else.  

Other links:

http://gradschool.about.com/od/medicalsc...

http://www.washington.edu/students/ugrad...