Although many premedical students at the University concentrate in the natural sciences, data shows that a growing number of students choose to major in social sciences instead.
The past four years of premed students have seen 143 molecular biology concentrators, 76 ecology and evolutionary biology concentrators and 111 concentrators in the social sciences, including anthropology, history, psychology, sociology and the Wilson School, according toDirector of Health Professions Advising Kate Fukawa-Connelly.
Premedical students are able to pursue any concentration at the University, regardless of its association to science, she said, adding that the most popularconcentration among premeds over the past four years has been molecular biology.
Fukawa-Connelly said that graduates who entered medical school in the fall of 2014 represented a variety of concentrations. Out of these medical students, 41 had concentrated in molecular biology, 19 in the social sciences, 18 in a STEM major outside of biology, 16 in ecology and evolutionary biology, 13 in engineering and computer science, and eight in the humanities.
She explained that graduates who will begin medical school this upcoming fall had similarly dispersed concentrations -- 35 concentrated in ecology and evolutionary biology, 34 in molecular biology, 27 in social sciences, 19 in STEM other than biology, seven in the humanities and four in engineering and computer science.
Adel Mahmoud, a lecturer in molecular biology and public policy, said he works with premedical students in the Wilson School and molecular biology concentrations and thinksthat an undergraduate concentration matters little for a medical future.
He added that he believes students should pursue what truly interests them, because that will lead them to success, and one’s concentration is not too influential in an entry to medical school.
“My best students have been those who really care about what they’re studying,” he said. “I really don’t think [the specific concentration] matters at all.”
Premedical students who were interviewed for the article demonstrated a variety of academic interests, ranging from public policy to languages.
Janine Cadet ’17 is a Wilson concentrator and said that she has known since before high school that she wanted to become a doctor. In the 8th grade, she said that she and her family went on medical mission trips to impoverished countries, which she said inspired her medical aspirations.
“I was always interested in public policy,” Cadet said, adding that although she considered chemistry, molecular biology never interested her as much as an undergraduate major.
Cadet doesn’t feel that she is at a disadvantage by not concentrating in a strictly STEM-based field.
“I think it will give me a more well rounded education than just focusing on sciences,” Cadet said.
Bernardo da Silva ’17 also opted for a less scientific track and is concentrating in French and Italian language, though he said that he initially entered the University thinking he would concentrate in molecular biology.
He has continued taking the required molecular biology and organic chemistry classes, but he decided on his French and Italian concentration a few weeks before sophomores declared.
“I just loved the department and the professors,” he said about the French and Italian department.
By following this concentration, he said he is able to pursue a medical career while also studying what he truly loves: French, art history and Italian.
Sarah Morgan ’15, a premedical student pursuing a concentration in English,said she knew she wanted to be premed coming into her freshman year, and she said she was pleased she could concentrate in English and still be premed.
“It was an awesome discovery that I could do both,” Morgan said.
Morgan said she believes it is becoming more accepted for premedical students to pursue concentrations that are not strictly science or math.
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