You’ll hear it all the time, from college counselors, premeds, and other online articles: “There is no such thing as a premed major! Medical schools will accept any major, as long as you complete all of the medical school prerequisites.”
And that is technically true. Medical schools only require that you complete prerequisites, so any major is acceptable to medical schools.
But I’m here to say something scandalous, something that “by the book” premed counselors won’t tell you: There are premed majors, and there are easy premed majors.
Premed majors, dare I say, the easy premed majors, are all about satisfying medical school prerequisites in as little time as possible. Most premeds don’t want to spend 6 years as an undergraduate so they can apply to medical school with a “diverse” degree like Art History or Journalism. Sure, you can do that, and if you don’t mind the extra time, I encourage you to major in whatever non-science field you would like.
But if you’re trying to get out of college and into medical school as fast as you can, apply for the “true” premed majors: The sciences. The science majors knock out all of the med school prerequisites and earn you a degree in as little as three or four years.
Don’t you think three or four years sounds a lot easier than five or six years? Not to mention cheaper! When you’re thinking about your path from high school to medical school, the shortest path is the most appealing.
While there is certainly no major officially preferred by medical schools, it makes the most sense to take the cheapest, shortest route to medical school.
So maybe there is no major in a university Course Catalog called “Premed,” but you can consider the sciences to be the “unofficial” premed majors. A science major is the fastest, easiest way to get into medical school, and everybody likes easy.
Maybe “easy” isn’t the best adjective for a major in a rigorous discipline like Biology or Chemistry, but it’s a lot easier to keep your mind focused exclusively on the sciences, rather than splitting your brain between an English major and your med school prerequisites.
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