As a premed you’re wondering, what’s the best major for medical school? If that’s your concern you’ve come to the correct place.

I’m going to share everything you need to know about majors to become a doctor and how to actually choose the major that works best for you.

Before jumping into a pre med majors list I want to set the record straight.

Is Pre med a Major?

No.

You do not major in pre med at college or university or wherever you are studying.

Rather, you take the required courses to satisfy medical school admissions requirements.

Congratulations!

You are now free to major in whatever field of study without worrying about the best major for medical school.

For instance when I arrived at Northwestern University I already knew that I wanted to be a doctor, however I did not seek a pre med major.

Instead, I thought carefully and took the advice of counselors and mentors which led me to pick a very typical major for someone attending a liberal arts college.

I majored in Political Science.

Why?

I knew that pre med is not a major for medical school. Plus, I chose a college major that I ultimately enjoyed and would be happy to study regardless of whether I went to medical school or not. And I encourage you to do the same too.

Growing up and even to this day I’ve always been a bit of a news junkie where even in high school I would get satisfaction in reading the newspaper every day it was delivered to our house. Plus, I remember being glued to the television set on the day President George W. Bush was inaugurated while watching the Clintons leave Washington, DC for the final time as Commander-in-Chief.

If you know anything about medicine and becoming a doctor you know it’s a lifelong commitment where you will spend the rest of your life immersed in science.

Armed with this knowledge I decided my best major for medical school would be Political Science because it would be my only time to formally take up this field of study. As the rest of my life would be devoted to medicine.

There was also a very pragmatic outcome to my decision too. 

Being premed is a grind.

There’s tons of Powerpoints and reading to get through let alone all the problem sets and preparing lab reports.

With a major outside of the sciences I was able to take a “break.”

Whenever I got bored, frustrated or tired of the hard sciences I could also revert to my Political Science coursework which mainly consisted of reading and writing papers which proved to be a wonderful change of pace from having to plug and chug numbers on my Texas Instrument calculator (back then it was TI-89 model). 

What's the Easiest Pre med Major? 

Are you looking for a shortcut on choosing the easiest pre med major?

I’m going to share a tip from my Dad when I was in medical school and I could not decide on what medical specialty to choose. 

He told me, “Jason there’s two things you need consider: What do you like? And What are you good at?”

That’s the thought process I had for choosing a medical specialty and the same philosophy applies for choosing your college major as a premedical student.

Do not be lured into falsely believing there is a best major for medical school that is going to give you an upper hand in getting into medical school because if that were the case all pre meds would choose that major. However we all know premeds come to medical school with a diverse array of majors.

But if you pick a college major based on the two factors my Dad mentioned:

1. What you enjoy
2. What you’re good at

Then this will automatically become the easiest pre med major for you. 

Because when things get tough, you’re tired or lacking motivation you can still power through the material because you actually enjoy the topic at hand.

Whereas, imagine you choose a major because you think it will boost your chances of getting into medical school so that you can become a doctor.

You're struggling through coursework you hate and despise and only doing it for some future career down the road which if I’m being honest may not ever come to fruition.

Yes, not everyone who declares premed will finish out the sequence of courses required to apply to medical school.

Organic Chemistry is called a weed out course for a reason along with General Chemistry.

So Northwestern University is on the Quarter System meaning there were three quarters throughout the academic year along with a summer session. During Fall Quarter of freshman year of college the lecture hall for General Chemistry was packed with students who needed the class to satisfy a number of requirements including applying to medical school.

However, as the Quarter moved along there would be more and more empty seats in lecture as students dropped the class. Some dropped knowing they were not cut out to be a doctor and it just wasn’t worth it while others dropped because it was just too hard and they would try to take the class another time.

Honestly though.

Those who dropped rarely came back. 

Essentially, if you dropped you were forever walking away from a potential career in medicine.

Those science classes were beyond hard and difficult for me but I always told myself, “I’m going to be a doctor, I’m going to be a doctor, no matter what I’m going to be a doctor” so no matter how many obstacles I faced there was no way I was dropping out of premed. 

My parents took many phone calls where they had to listen to me vent my frustrations and list the difficulties I was having with my courses but they always encouraged me. Especially my Mom because she went to Northwestern too and knew the academic demands the school placed on its students.  

Here's Your Pre med Majors List!

Without further ado here’s your pre med majors list.

This is your chance to see exactly the best majors for medical school that your classmates had when applying to medical school. 

But you have to take this list with a grain of salt.

We do not know if there is a bit of selection bias for choosing a major for medical school. There is the very real possibility that premedical students are taking these majors with the false belief it will enhance their chances of getting into medical school or that its the tried and true path towards becoming a doctor.

Obviously I have my thoughts but let’s take a look at the data:

Majors for Medical School Admission - Ranked

1. Biological Sciences (57%)
2. Other (16%)
3. Physical Sciences (9%)
4. Social Sciences (9%)
5. Specialized Health Sciences (4%)
6. Humanities (4%)
7. Math and Statistics (1%)

As you can see from the rankings the most likely major for getting into medical school is in the Biological Sciences where 57% of those entering medical school had this major. 

On the other hand, Math and Statistics came in as the least likely major for getting into medical school with only 1% of medical school matriculants having this major.  

I was a bit shocked to see Math and Statistics do so poorly as a pre med major, especially considering the words of my high school science teacher, “Math is the language of science.” But it does make complete sense as a lot of my medical school professors would claim, “medical students are horrible at math.”

Surprisingly I must be an outlier. 

I was a Political Science major in undergrad but I have an aptitude for math. 

I remember it was during my third year of medical school and we were in between surgical cases in the surgical lounge and someone had a question about fluids either the rate or amount (I can’t recall the specifics). But I crunched the numbers in my head and spit out the answer that everyone in the lounge looked at me like I was a genius and asked, “how did you calculate that so fast? And how did you do it without a calculator?”

I don’t know, I just am very proficient at math.

However, I would never major in math or statistics as I derive no pleasure or academic satisfaction from number crunching in the least bit.

Overall, it should not be surprising that most pre meds major in Biological Sciences for medical school. Biology certainly is at the foundation of medicine and you cannot go wrong with this major.

Public service announcement only major in the Biological Sciences if you truly enjoy it. Never choose a major because you think it will get you to some future destination.

Imagine choosing the easiest pre med major, never going to medical school and then being stuck with that major for the rest of your life. Where every time you apply for a job potential employers will only hire you for a role that aligns with your college major. Talk about a working life of misery.

Wrapping Up Best Major for Medical School

You can major in whatever field of study you want as a premedical student who desires to attend medical school. 

There is no pre med major in college. Instead, you only take the courses to satisfy the medical school admissions requirements. 

If you attend a liberal arts university this gives you a lot of latitude in what you can pursue academically. For instance, the best major for medical school for me  was Political Science because I enjoyed the topic and all I had to do was take additional courses in math and science to meet premedical prerequisites for medical school admission. 

As the rankings show, the most common pre med majors are the Biological Sciences with 57% of those going to medical school having this major.

Remember you will have the rest of your life to study medicine but only a short window of time to truly study whatever you want as a pre med so choose your college major accordingly. Plus, as everyone knows college is the best years of your life so you might as well pick something you truly enjoy to blunt the grind of your pre med coursework and not think there is only one best major for medical school.