My daughter just got her acceptance letter and she was thinking of going biology for premed or predental was curious if others have opinions on this.

I know a lot of people that did biomedical science for their bs before going to med school.

Agree with ElGato. I was BiMS for vet school.. Got in and love it, but realized as I was going through that it was not a great major if I did not get accepted to professional school. Have her choose a major she loves and take the prereqs for the professional school she wants to attend. One of the best veterinarians I know was an English lit major at Rice. My daughter is majoring in human nutrition and plans to apply to vet school.

I also agree. Engineering will help build the foundation of work ethic that's required for med school. If your daughter doesn't want to do engineering, she should do something that she is interested in or something that will get her a job. Med school is really far down the line so I think it's best to take one thing at a time. Plus the prereqs are not many and should be easy to work in

I cannot speak for BIMS, but the prudent student who is considering professional school would want to look carefully into the degree plans of the undergraduate majors when deciding which to select. For example, six semesters of Biology (2) and Chemistry (4) --and these are all courses with labs--are going to add a little time to your plan or take up 'elective' space. (If a non 'science' major is selected.) It can certainly be done, and has been done, but a lot depends upon your timeline, scholarships etc. Oh, and that doesn't include taking Micro either which isn't a bad idea.

I am not suggesting that you go one way or another as much as urging your student to research her path carefully so she is as informed as possible. As others have pointed out, that path may diverge (and that's okay too!) but the more she informs herself of the various plans, etc the less likelihood she will paint herself into a corner.

my son is majoring in Biochemistry.

MS2 here.

I would just like to echo everything mentioned above. I was a science major and after graduation decided I needed a break before professional school because I wasn't actually sure if I still wanted to pursue it. Thankfully, I did choose to continue to pursue medicine but if I hadn't I would have much rather majored in engineering or business. I still wish I had done that now.

Do something different that will set you apart. If you still do well in your sciences it will only be a positive on your application.

Pre dental here majoring in Biology, my dentist who is my mentor majored in it another good choice is chemistry. Prepares you good but theres other good choices too. As long as its in the Science area

I'll leave this here for you. Look at Table 6.

http://opsa.tamu.edu/OPSA/media/library/Documents/PDFs/2013-report1.pdf

I am a dentist and was BIMS, graduated in 95. Originally shooting for physical therapy. Didn't get in anywhere. BIMS office couldn't give a damn. So many BIMS majors who all think they are going to be Orthodontists or Orthopedic Surgeons. Lousy major if you don't get in to the professional school you want. Moved back home, ended up being encouraged to pursue dentistry by a family friend and it all worked out, but the BIMS advisors back in the early 90s can pound sand. Ralph T Smith and Lyndon Kurtz, this means you.

Do something that gives you a backup if you don't get in. Biology or Chemistry and get teacher certified, for example. You'll get your same pre-reqs and have a marketable skill in case you don't get in or change your mind. Heck a business degree would not be the worst thing in the world.

I was a business (MIS) major and I am now a dentist. I wanted to be a dentist before college but I was scared that I wouldn't get in so I picked a major that I thought would give me a good backup career.

Pros
1. Business classes were very easy which allowed me to finish undergrad with a very high GPA and this helped in the admissions process.
2. Taking only the prereq sciences which were lower level allowed me to also have a very high science GPA which is also important.
3. Had options for a decent career if dental school rejected me.
4. The business school background helps now that I am a business owner.

Cons
1. Many prereqs did not fit into my degree plan and it required a bunch of extra hours.
2. My science background was not as strong as students that were biology or BIMS majors and this made a handful of early dental school classes harder for me than they would have been if I wasn't a business major.

With all that being said I have a relative trying to get into dental school and he is going the biology major route.

Any major can get you into medical school as long as prereqs are completed. BIMS has the highest success rate of getting students into professional school of all the majors but as said before, if you don't get in it is a fairly useless degree. Engineering would be the best if she is really smart, but hard classes and hard to keep a GPA up. Every med school class is made up of people from every major you can imagine.

Just make sure she gets advice from the office of professional and graduate school advising early and often. These are much better than the individual advisors assigned to each department as they are geared towards getting you into professional school.

GenericAggie said:

---

My daughter just got her acceptance letter and she was thinking of going biology for premed or predental was curious if others have opinions on this.

---

My son is a 2nd year medical student and majored in Biomedical Science at Colorado State. A&M also offers that major. But here is the secret. For medical and dental school it is all about your GPA and MCAT/DAT scores when thousands are applying for a couple hundred seats in every school. If my son could do it again he would have been a biology major in lieu of Biomedical Sciences because the classes are easier and he would have had a higher GPA.

I would have given anything to have had the information in this thread as a freshman. Much wisdom here! It should be the duty of A&M advisors to present this information to their perspective students. So many students (back in my day) could have used this information before starting a four year degree to no where. Fortunately, I am one of the lucky ones.

I would not advise majoring in engineering with the express intent of pursuing medical or dental education, except perhaps for a very rare student who is interested in trying to solve some specific problem in medicine for which an engineering degree makes sense.

The primary downsides are that medical schools typically have GPA cutoffs below which you are unlikely to be considered. A 3.3 GPA is not going to get you interviewed at most schools, much less accepted. It also requires some extra coursework to fit into an already packed schedule.

Now if you have done well in an engineering program and then decide that you want to pursue a medical career, that's certainly possible. Some engineering disciplines (biomedical and electrical) are easier to spin a story around than others (petroleum, civil), particularly for a student applying straight out of college.

Hard science majors are good choices for strong students who can see themselves working in academia, industry or education in the event professional school doesn't work out. A language degree, if you manage to become reasonably fluent, can position you well for a career in a variety of fields. Liberal arts is a perfectly viable degree path for pre-med, but be aware there is little margin for error (a 3.6 GPA in chemistry may be acceptable where a 3.6 in psychology is less so).

Business is viable...you need a narrative and make sure you don't come across as in it for the cash.

IMO, biology and what TAMU calls BIMS are among the weakest choices--although they are (naturally) the majors that send the most students to professional schools, what you want to look at is the acceptance rate per number of applicants from that major. Biology degrees leave grad school and education as secondary options, in addition to working as a lab tech. BIMS has even less non-professional school career options. If you are two years into a BIMS program with a 3.0 GPA, changing your major is a good idea.

Nutrition

YokelRidesAgain said:

---

Biology degrees leave grad school and education as secondary options, in addition to working as a lab tech. BIMS has even less non-professional school career options.

---

Wouldn't BIMS also have grad school as an option?

The Department of Health and Kinesiology also has degrees that will build in all of the prerequisites for professional schools. For medical school or dental school I would recommend Kinesiology- Basic Exercise Physiology option.

I graduated BIMS and went straight into medical school. I found that major extremely advantageous in professional school. I'd had biochem, microbiology, immunology, physiology, pathology, and pharmacology at TAMU so when I took them in medical school I already knew a lot about those subjects and did really well. Doing well in medical school meant I had my pick of residency spots which set me up nicely for later.

Had I not been accepted I'd have done a special masters program in physiology like one of my BQ upperclassmen did. He then got in and trounced medical school, last I heard he was a professor at MD Anderson in Houston.

I loved history classes A LOT, could've been happy as a history major and taken the pre reqs. I'm not sure I would've been as prepared for professional school. Plus I had a lot of veterinarians teach me, they taught from a clinical perspective which pulled things together for me very well.

I do agree with the other posters that there are fewer options for BIMS graduates who don't go on to professional school.

Holst said:

---

I graduated BIMS and went straight into medical school. I found that major extremely advantageous in professional school. I'd had biochem, microbiology, immunology, physiology, pathology, and pharmacology at TAMU so when I took them in medical school I already knew a lot about those subjects and did really well. Doing well in medical school meant I had my pick of residency spots which set me up nicely for later.

Had I not been accepted I'd have done a special masters program in physiology like one of my BQ upperclassmen did. He then got in and trounced medical school, last I heard he was a professor at MD Anderson in Houston.

I loved history classes A LOT, could've been happy as a history major and taken the pre reqs. I'm not sure I would've been as prepared for professional school. Plus I had a lot of veterinarians teach me, they taught from a clinical perspective which pulled things together for me very well.

I do agree with the other posters that there are fewer options for BIMS graduates who don't go on to professional school.

---

As a BIMS grad direct to med school in the past I'd agree it helps you tremendously in professional school. That being said I would only advocate for it if you're very motivated to pursue a professional career and not have the primary goal in college be how many nights a week you can make it to north gate.

bctnln1059 said:

---

YokelRidesAgain said:

---

Biology degrees leave grad school and education as secondary options, in addition to working as a lab tech. BIMS has even less non-professional school career options.

---

Wouldn't BIMS also have grad school as an option?

---

Yes, although "pre-med" type measures tend to feature breadth over depth (a lot of intro to microbiology, immunology, neuroscience, physiology, etc.), which may be less helpful (particularly for PhD admissions) than concentrating on a specific field. BIMS majors would also have to be deliberate about seeking out laboratory research opportunities to be competitive for research intensive programs, which doesn't always happen in that major either.

Holst said:

---

I loved history classes A LOT, could've been happy as a history major and taken the pre reqs. I'm not sure I would've been as prepared for professional school. Plus I had a lot of veterinarians teach me, they taught from a clinical perspective which pulled things together for me very well.

---

I was a liberal arts major. I did about 60 hours of liberal arts + foreign language in residence at TAMU and 42 hours of science (not counting additional Advanced Placement credit), including anatomy, physiology, microbiology, biochemistry + standard biology and chemistry sequences.

One of the advantages of a liberal arts education is that there is a lot of time in there to explore other interests, including science.

For purposes of professional school admission, however, both liberal arts and BIMS are good choices IF you are absolutely sure that you want to go to professional school and confident that you are going to make the necessary grades.

if shes been accepted to UT go there

?

I'm on an admissions committee for med school. Engineers do well in med school but it doesn't help with getting accepted.

Oh and I have a business degree, but would study history and go to med school if I had it to do again.

This is the route my son is doing. He mechanical engineering. And he is taking Organic Chemistry and a few other key classes. He is in involved with Dental Club and he is getting guidance.

If the dentist thing doesn't work out he can be a good engineer.

WFSC to UNTHSC masters to DDS