it's a question I've been asked by
hundreds of students and their parents
on Instagram YouTube and email what is
the best pre-med major in traditional
med school insiders fashion we'll take a
look at the numbers analyze the data and
give you actionable advice to optimize
your chances of a Medical School
acceptance doctor jabal med school
insiders comm first it's important to
understand that at most schools there is
no such thing as a pre-med major to get
into Medical School you can technically
choose any major you'd like so long as
you also complete the Medical School
prerequisites each Medical School will
have slightly different prerequisites in
order to apply however there's a shared
core of requirements which are as
follows one year of bio with lab a year
of general chemistry with lab a year of
organic chemistry with lab physics with
lab and also one year of English many
other schools require a few additional
courses for that reason we suggest you
also take the following math
biochemistry psych and Scioscia to take
as many of these courses as possible
prior to taking the MCAT although taking
every single one is not always necessary
for example I did not take biochemistry
until after my MCAT and I still achieved
a 99.9 percent I'll score or 100th
percentile as the statistically
illiterate would say following this
logic many students and advisors alike
conclude that you can choose any major
and it shouldn't matter so long as you
complete your prerequisites I don't
necessarily agree with that and I'd say
that not all majors are created equal -
see what I mean let's jump to the data
when people ask what is the best pre-med
major they're usually asking what is the
major that will maximize my chances of
getting into a good medical school
luckily we have data on just that the
Association of American Medical Colleges
or double-a MC for short publishes
annual data on the medical school
application process for the 2018 to 2019
application cycle we can group
applicants by the major that they
applied to out of the 50 2777 applicants
last cycle 55.8% majored in biological
sciences including majors like molecular
bio salba
neuroscience which is what I majored in
and the like about 9.7% majored in
social sciences including majors like
econ and government approximately 9%
majored in physical sciences such as
physics and chemistry and 3.4% majored
and specialized Health Sciences
including nursing physical therapy
occupational therapy and public health
3.2% majored in humanities such as
history English and literature and point
seven percent majored in math and
statistics the remaining 18.1% studied
other majors not falling into the
aforementioned categories it's clear
that the biological sciences are the
most popular pre-med major and we'll
discuss why shortly but more
interestingly the average MCAT score and
even acceptance rate vary significantly
between these majors on average math and
stats majors topped the list with an
MCAT of 509 point 4 followed by physical
science at 5:08 humanities at 507 point
6 social sciences at 505 point 6 bio at
5:05 point 5 other at 505 and
specialized Health Sciences by far the
lowest at 502 point four in terms of
acceptance rates math and statistics
topped the list at 47 point six percent
followed by humanities at 47.2%
physical sciences at 46 point one
percent and so on biological sciences
were second to last at 40.2% trailed
only by specialized Health Sciences at
an abysmal thirty six point two percent
if you were to go blindly off the data
you may assume that you should pursue a
math physical science or humanities
major after all those are the three
majors with the highest average MCAT
scores and highest average acceptance
rates but such a conclusion would be a
terribly inaccurate portrayal of the
data so how should we interpret these
findings first correlation does not
equal causation just because students
studying certain majors had a higher
MCAT or acceptance rate does not mean
it's because of their major in fact
there are a series of confounding
variables and biases that are likely at
play others have suggested that students
majoring in humanities may have higher
MCAT scores because there
prepare for the critical analysis and
reasoning skills section or cars
arguably the one section on the MCAT
that is hardest to improve your score in
these students are exposed to tremendous
amounts of writing and for that reason
you would expect their car section
scores to be higher but by looking at
the data we see this explanation falls
short while humanities majors do score
highest on cars it's only on average one
point higher than other majors thereby
only accounting for half of the score
difference between humanities and these
other majors in extending this logic we
would expect biological science majors
to score the best on the bio section of
the MCAT but that is not the case in
fact bio majors score right on average
with everyone else and it's actually
math and stats majors that score highest
what about physical science majors do
they score highest on the chemical and
physical section of the MCAT nope again
it's the math majors that win out taking
a step back we can notice two
interesting trends first students
majoring in humanities math and physical
sciences dominated multiple sections of
the MCAT and had the highest medical
school acceptance rates by a large
margin second students majoring in
specialized Health Sciences were far
behind the pack scoring the worst in
both the MCAT and having the lowest
medical school acceptance rates I argue
that the reason we see these trends has
little to do with the major and field of
study rather over the large population
of medical school applicants we're
seeing a survivorship bias of highly
ambitious and driven students allow me
to explain Biological Sciences are the
default pre-med major because it's the
most straightforward most classes that
our medical school prerequisites overlap
well with the courses that are required
for a bio science major for that reason
55.8% of primettes default to a
biological science major and therein
lies the secret it's on average an
easier path if a pre-med chooses a
biological science major they're more
likely to end up applying to medical
school there are fewer obstacles in the
way on the other hand the less than 1%
of pre-meds who major in math or
statistics are generally working in
uphill
you need to not only complete your full
major requirements for math but also two
years worth of medical school
prerequisites for this reason those who
choose this path and are able to get to
the point of even applying to medical
school must really want it remember this
path is more difficult so I'd argue that
a higher percentage of those who choose
this path will actually fall short
they'll simply never even get to the
point of applying to medical school like
most students who enter College as
pre-meds they may decide it's not worth
the effort and ultimately change career
paths we only see the successful
fraction that made it all the way
through those that really want it this
also explains why those studying
specialized Health Sciences fare off so
much worse they're essentially the
opposite of the math majors some portion
of students who choose nursing or
physical therapy may be pre-med as more
of a moon shot something they'd like to
do but they aren't fully committed to
after all they have a backup option in
the health care industry that they can
fall back on but since so many
prerequisites for nursing or PT overlap
with med school it's easy to just apply
to both as you guys know I don't like to
leave you hanging so in classic med
school insiders fashion after busting
the myths and misconceptions I'm gonna
provide you with actionable advice
consideration one a straightforward and
streamlined path if your top priority is
getting into med school I recommend you
actually pursue a major in a biological
science particularly one that is of
interest to you the requirements for
your major will overlap nicely with the
medical school prerequisite courses and
you'll hopefully be studying something
that you were actually interested in
after all you want to be a doctor and
study the human body consideration to
prioritize something you're interested
in if you want to be a doctor there
should be at least one biological
science major that is of interest to you
if you hate the thought of all bio
majors then seriously ask yourself why
you want to be a doctor
that being said there are students who
still would rather pursue something else
after all you have the rest of your
career to study biology and the human
body for those students with a burning
interest in political science the
humanities art or Asian history by all
means follow that passion
simply understand that it's gonna be
more of an uphill battle for you but
it's definitely not impossible
in fact some med schools will even
prefer that you have a unique background
and interests outside of medicine that
you pursuit and consideration 3
preparation for med school medical
school is the toughest most rigorous
schooling in the world
getting yourself prepared for that
process will only make the transition
easier for that reason I suggest you
consider majors that will prepare you
either in subject matter or in rigor or
do what I did and choose a major that
prepares you for both as a pre-med at
UCLA I chose neuroscience as my major
the brain after all is the sexiest organ
in the human body and one of life's
greatest mysteries it's something that I
was and still am deeply interested in it
was a biological science major so the
overlap with my prerequisites was nice
and finally it was tough in fact during
my time at UCLA neuroscience and
bioengineering were considered the two
most challenging pre-med majors in
choosing this difficult path I was able
to hone my work ethic and learn a great
deal about the nervous system in some
areas to a far greater depth than what I
even covered in medical school I learned
so much about the brain and its anatomy
as a neuroscience major that in medical
school setting the curve in my neuro and
psych blocks came easily remember
statistics applied to populations not to
individuals just because you're a math
major doesn't mean you'll do
spectacularly and just because you're a
bio major doesn't mean you're bound to
be mediocre
despite choosing neuroscience a
biological science I ended up with a
killer MCAT score and my pick of
multiple top medical schools some even
with full tuition merit-based
scholarship and you can do the same
that's why I started this YouTube
channel to help you learn the
ingredients to success in both your
personal and professional life these are
the things that took me years of
studying optimizing and experimenting to
figure out and in the end they helped me
become wildly successful and I know that
they can do the same for you if you need
help planning out your college courses
or choosing a pre-med major or even
optimizing your extracurriculars our top
physician advisors at med school
insider.com are
to help they love what they do and they
are the best in the industry they've
passed our highly rigorous application
process and have excelled in their own
medical careers as you guys know I'm a
huge proponent of systems generating
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months perfecting our proprietary and
systematic processes that ensure the
highest quality service for each and
every student unlike other companies
you'll never worry about being unlucky
and not getting a phenomenal advisor our
team consistently delivers an excellent
experience and service and I personally
standby that our results speak for
themselves whether it's MCAT tutoring
personal statement editing preparing for
medical school interviews or anything
else in the medical school application
process we've got your back learn more
at med school insider's calm thank you
guys so much for watching what major did
you decide on let me know down in the
comments below if you have any questions
that you'd like me to answer or even
have featured on one of my YouTube
channels shoot me a message on instagram
at kevin jabal m.d. if you'd like to see
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belt enabled much love to you all and I
will see you guys in that next one