Residency Advisor
Why do so many premeds still believe they “have to” major in biology or chemistry when admissions committees keep saying they do not care what you major in?
Someone is either lying… or someone is not looking at the actual data.
Let’s rip this apart with numbers instead of vibes.
The Persistent Myth: “If I Don’t Major in Biology, I’m Screwed”
The standard story on campus goes like this:
- Medical schools prefer traditional science majors.
- Biology/chemistry/biochemistry look more “serious” and “rigorous.”
- Non‑science majors are a “risk” unless you’re some standout unicorn.
Students hear it from older premeds, from a random advisor who graduated in 1995, from Reddit threads where half the commenters are not even in medical school.
The irony? We have yearly, detailed data from the AAMC that tells a very different story.
(See also: The Truth About Double Majoring as a Pre‑Med for insights on major choices.)
Let’s look at what actually happens to applicants by major category: who applies, who gets in, and what their stats look like.
Spoiler: the data does not support “you must major in biology.” Not even close.
What the AAMC Data Actually Shows About Majors and Acceptance Rates
Every year, the AAMC releases tables on “Applicants and Matriculants to U.S. Medical Schools” broken down by major. It is not perfect (majors are self‑reported and grouped), but it is far better than gossip.
The broad buckets include:
- Biological Sciences
- Physical Sciences
- Social Sciences
- Humanities
- Specialized Health Sciences
- Other
Exact numbers vary by year, but the pattern has been stable for a long time. I’ll walk through representative data patterns from recent cycles.
Biological Sciences: The Default, Not the Favorite
Biological sciences majors make up the majority of applicants. In many cycles, they account for roughly half or a bit more of all applicants.
That sheer volume distorts online perception. You see more biology majors getting in because there are more biology majors, not because biology is magically favored.
When you look at acceptance rates (percentage of applicants in that major category who matriculate), biology majors usually land somewhere around the middle of the pack.
They do not dominate. They do not tank. They’re just… average.
So if biology were “preferred,” you’d expect clearly higher acceptance rates for biology students controlling for MCAT and GPA. That does not happen.
Instead, we see something else.
Non‑Science Majors: Smaller Numbers, Often Slightly Higher Acceptance Rates
Humanities and social science majors consistently show equal or slightly higher acceptance rates compared with biological sciences.
Why?
Not because philosophy is a golden ticket. Not because English majors are secretly the chosen ones. Two simple explanations cover most of it:
Self‑selection
Fewer non‑science majors apply. The ones who do tend to be:- Very intentional about premed
- Often stronger test takers
- More likely to seek advising early because they know they’re “different”
Weak or casual applicants cluster in large, default majors. Stronger, more deliberate applicants are more common in non‑traditional paths. That alone moves the numbers.
Academic performance advantage
Many humanities/social science majors applying to med school still take the full premed core, but they often:- Earn higher GPAs in their major courses (curve differences, fit with their strengths)
- Bring strong verbal/critical reasoning skills that help with CARS and MCAT overall
Committees do not reward “English” or “History” on the transcript. They reward high GPAs, strong MCATs, and coherent narratives.
You are not seeing “major preference.” You are seeing differences in who applies and how well they perform.
Physical Sciences and “Tough” Majors: The Classic Excuse
What about physics, engineering, or other traditionally “hard” majors?
Their acceptance rates again are usually similar to, or slightly higher than, biological sciences. The catch?
Average GPAs in these majors are often lower because the grading curves can be brutal.
Admissions committees know that differential exists. They do not completely ignore it, but they do not give you a massive discount because your major was hard. A 3.2 in chemical engineering is not automatically “better” than a 3.8 in psychology in the way premed legend claims.
When you account for MCAT and GPA, the major itself explains very little.
The simple, annoying truth: performance matters far more than label.
What Medical Schools Actually Say (And How to Read Between the Lines)
Look at the admissions pages of a few random med schools:
- Harvard Medical School: explicitly states that no specific major is required and that students may major in any discipline as long as prerequisites are met.
- University of Michigan: says they encourage a broad education and accept all majors.
- UT Southwestern, UCSF, Yale, Oregon, wherever you look: same basic message.
If schools secretly preferred biology majors, this level of uniformity in messaging would be weird. You’d see at least some schools quietly signal, “We like life sciences backgrounds.”
You do not.
But here is the subtle part most applicants miss:
They don’t care what you major in. They care that:
- You’ve mastered the core scientific and quantitative foundations (through prerequisites and MCAT).
- You can handle rigorous upper‑division work in something.
- You’ve demonstrated that you can think, write, and reason like an educated adult, not just memorize pathways.
A classics major with:
- A‑level performance in orgo, physiology, biochemistry
- A strong MCAT
- Demonstrated intellectual curiosity
is not handicapped. They’re often interesting to committees drowning in nearly identical biology transcripts.
That is not preference for non‑science. It’s preference for evidence of ability plus differentiation.
Where Major Does Matter (And Where It Definitely Does Not)
Let’s be precise. There are a few domains where your major has real consequences, but it is not in the way people usually think.
1. Course Preparation and MCAT Performance
If you major in biology or biochemistry, your upper‑division coursework will overlap a lot with MCAT content. You might:
- See biochem and molecular bio repeatedly
- Get more comfortable with cell signaling, genetics, physiology basics
- Have more built‑in practice interpreting graphs and experimental setups in the same style as the MCAT sciences
That’s a legitimate advantage in efficiency, not in admissions preference. You’re taking classes that double as MCAT prep. A history major just has to be more deliberate about filling those gaps.
But the flip side is ugly and rarely discussed: a biology major who scrapes by with B‑ grades in the “easy” prerequisite courses is not signaling strength. You’re telling committees: I live in the sciences and still cannot dominate them.
A non‑science major with As in the same prerequisites may come off as stronger in core competencies because the contrast is sharp.
2. GPA Dynamics and Damage Control
Some majors have:
- Harsher curves
- More weed‑out culture
- Fewer opportunities for GPA rescue with “lighter” electives
Engineering and some physical sciences fall into this trap. Biology can as well at certain institutions.
If you choose a major known locally for destroying GPAs and you end up with a mediocre 3.3, no admissions committee will say: “But they suffered nobly in Major X.” They will say: “Competitive? Maybe. But not stellar.”
The myth that “a lower GPA is okay if my major is hard” is one of the most damaging beliefs among premeds. At best, a tiny contextual bump. At worst, a comforting lie.
Medical schools have tens of thousands of applicants. They are not in the business of fine‑tuning difficulty coefficients for your course catalog.
3. Narrative Coherence and Differentiation
What committees will remember:
- The anthropology major who did fieldwork related to health disparities and connected that back to primary care.
- The philosophy major whose thesis on moral responsibility in end‑of‑life decisions makes their personal statement hit harder.
- The English major whose writing is simply better — clearer, more reflective, less cliché.
That is not “preference” for a major. It is preference for coherent, mature intellectual development.
Biology majors can do this too. A student who dives deep into immunology research, infectious disease, or experimental design and then ties that into a thoughtful career trajectory can be just as memorable.
But if your entire story is: “I majored in biology because I want to be a doctor,” congratulations — you and 25,000 other people did the same thing.
The signal is not “biology is bad.” The signal is “generic is forgettable.”
The Hidden Risk of Chasing the “Right” Major
The obsession with picking the “right” premed major hides two very real dangers.
Danger 1: Misalignment With Your Strengths
If you:
- Enjoy literature, writing, or history
- Have always been stronger in reading and analysis than in straight memorization
- Come alive in seminars but die inside in huge lecture halls
then majoring in biology solely because you believe it looks better is sabotaging yourself.
You’re choosing:
- Courses you might tolerate rather than thrive in
- Environments where you’re average instead of excellent
- A path where your GPA is at the mercy of curves you hate
Admissions committees do not reward suffering. They reward excellence. Choose the path that lets you dominate, not just survive.
Danger 2: Back‑Up Plan Illusion
Medical school is competitive. Plenty of qualified applicants do not get in the first time. Some never do.
If you pick a major you dislike, justified solely by “it’s good for med school,” and then med school does not happen on your timeline, you’re stuck with a degree that does not fit you.
The more rational approach:
- Pick a major that you could see yourself using or enjoying even if medicine is delayed or rerouted.
- Layer the premed requirements on top.
- Build skills — writing, data analysis, communication, language, policy — that are transferable inside and outside medicine.
That is not giving up on medicine. It is refusing to bet your future on a narrative that admissions committees themselves do not endorse.
So What Should a Premed Actually Do About Majors?
Forget trying to outguess what “looks good.” Stop treating your degree as a costume for the admissions committee.
Instead:
- Choose a major where you have a realistic shot at a high GPA and genuine interest in the material.
- Make sure you complete all required premed prerequisites, no matter your major.
- Push yourself to take a few rigorous upper‑division science courses (beyond the bare minimum) and do well in them to prove academic readiness.
- Use your major — whatever it is — to develop distinctive strengths: communication, quantitative reasoning, cultural competence, ethics, linguistics, whatever actually fits you.
- Remember that your MCAT and science GPA are the great levelers. Major in physics or philosophy, and if your MCAT and science coursework are strong, you’re in essentially the same ballpark as the bio major statistically.
The “traditional science major” isn’t a golden key.
It’s just the default option a lot of nervous people pick because everyone around them is doing it.
Years from now, you won’t be graded on whether you chose biology, history, or engineering. You’ll be judged on how well you learned to think, how deeply you understood people and science, and how you turned four years of college into proof that you’re ready for the hardest training of your life.
