humanities,  med school

i believe in miracles since you came along you sexy thang (sci courses)

Hi Aska, Before my question, I just wanted to say: this is a great site, and you’re very funny and informative, so thanks!
OK so I’m applying to UTSG for Humanities, but lately I’ve been thinking of going into medicine. (Yeah I know, the door to academic hell awaits)How hard would it be for a Humanities student to take the pre-med prereqs such as PHYS, BIO, CHEM, CALC I was told that it is still possible to take these courses, but that you are not guaranteed a spot if you are not actually enrolled in the Sciences.
Also, how common is it for pre-meds to pursue Humanities bachelors instead of the usual Life Sci stuff?

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Whaddup conflicted soul/mind,

I’ve always liked to think that my arts degrees will land in the office of Gregory House. Aska … the new (but possibly better) House.

It will be hard! Students enrolled in subject posts that the courses are required for will have first choice. Then it opens up to everyone else if there is space left. We get alot of questions regarding med school requirements and whatnot, but you may be the only person asking from a humanities point of view

Cheers to the underdog

love,
aska

3 Comments

  • Tim

    It’s definitely doable. You can probably get into the pre-med prequisites even if you don’t have priority on them, especially since they’re such huge classes (they’re in con hall and there’s plenty of room for students there and it doesn’t always get filled up, I think…). If you don’t get in, you can even take these courses in second/third/fourth year.

    It’s definitely not something unheard of for people who want to get into medschool to choose humanities instead of science majors.

  • E

    Hey there, I agree with what Tim has to say. Also, do not believe that a science major is a MUST for med school. As long as you have the core first year science courses, a second year biochemistry, and your MCAT scores, med schools pretty much don’t give a crap if you are from humanities/social sciences. When I was in my first year (2009), I took my acceptance for U of T towards a humanities degree, and changed my mind during the summer time – although I was in “humanities” for the entire freshman year, all my courses were the life science core courses, and there were lots of space (a few hundred) for each of the courses AFTER the life science students have picked.

  • MedToBe

    oh my friend you are in for a world of hurt.
    I am in Psych and Soc and had aspirations to go to med school in the last 2 of my 4 years and now as I am staying a year extra this is what I have to say:
    whatever you did in highschool (mark-wise) is not that will happen in university. I did very well in high school even in courses where the marking is more *ahem* subjective *ahem*, gasp! and especially in the hard sciences. But in university the playing field can change a little bit. I have hardly heard of anyone with a 4.0 in the humanities, and you must remember it is not only your hard science courses that go towards your med school application!
    I would wait it out until first year ends and you’ve taken your general courses to see whether you still feel the same. You may be surprised by the things you learn, (and don’t learn) about how marks go. And you may learn a lot about what it is you can tolerate and you can’t, or don’t want to. Or, like me, you may find that you love exactly the same things you did when you came into UofT but don’t quite have the marks to get into med school (yet). There’s a lot of heart-break and prioritization and soul searching involved. Don’t get too ahead of yourself.

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