Is Premed a Major? Understanding Your Path to Medical School

“Premed” sounds like a major. It is not. It is the set of courses and experiences students complete so they are eligible to apply to medical school. You follow it alongside whatever major you actually choose.

What that means in practice

Medical schools require coursework. They do not require one major. Many students major in biology, chemistry, or biochemistry. Others major in public health, psychology, or a humanity, and complete the science prerequisites next to that major. The useful test is whether you can do well in the major you picked and still finish the required science.

Typical prerequisites include:

• General biology with lab
• General chemistry with lab
• Organic chemistry with lab
• Physics with lab
• Biochemistry
• Math, often calculus or statistics
• Writing-intensive English
• Social science, such as psychology or sociology

Schools use those courses, and the MCAT, to judge whether you are ready for the science. Exact lists differ. Read the schools you care about rather than a single unofficial checklist.

Students are also usually expected to have spent time near clinical work, research, or service. Those experiences are how you learn whether the job is what you imagined. They are not a scoreboard.

If you are still in middle school or early high school, you do not need to pick a major or a medical school. You can learn what the thinking feels like. That is what the Academy courses are for. If you are closer to college and trying to understand the track, the same cases are practice, not a major of their own.

Questions about where to start go to the contact page.