Which Premed Majors Have the Highest Med School Acceptance Rates?

The conventional wisdom about “best” premed majors is statistically wrong.

When you dig into actual data from the AAMC and institutional reports, the pattern is clear: no single major guarantees higher medical school acceptance rates. Differences exist, but they are modest and often explained by confounders like MCAT scores, GPA, and self-selection, not the major itself.

This is a numbers story, not a mythology story.

Below, I will walk through what the data actually show across majors, how large the differences really are (in percentages, not rumors), and how you should use that information to choose a premed major strategically.

(See also: How Many Clinical Hours Do Accepted Pre‑Meds Actually Have? The Numbers for more details.)

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What the AAMC Data Really Show About Premed Majors

The most robust source we have is the AAMC’s annual “MCAT and GPA Grid by BCPM and Total GPA” and their tables on applicants and matriculants by major. The exact numbers shift slightly year to year, but the patterns are remarkably stable across application cycles.

To simplify, let us summarize recent trends from multiple AAMC cycles (e.g., ~2018–2023). I will use rounded values because the precision of tenths of a percent does not change the interpretation.

Overall Acceptance Rates by Broad Major Category

Using AAMC categories, approximate acceptance rates (matriculants ÷ applicants) break down like this:

• Biological Sciences

  • Applicants: ~58–60% of all applicants
  • Acceptance rate: ~40–42%

• Physical Sciences (Chemistry, Physics, etc.)

  • Applicants: ~8–10%
  • Acceptance rate: ~45–47%

• Social Sciences (Psychology, Sociology, etc.)

  • Applicants: ~9–11%
  • Acceptance rate: ~44–46%

• Humanities (English, Philosophy, History, etc.)

  • Applicants: ~3–5%
  • Acceptance rate: ~45–50%

• Math and Statistics

  • Applicants: ~1–2%
  • Acceptance rate: ~46–50%

• Engineering

  • Applicants: ~3–5%
  • Acceptance rate: ~44–47%

• Other / Health Professions / Interdisciplinary

  • Applicants: ~10–15% combined
  • Acceptance rate: typically ~36–42%, with wide variation by specific major

You can already see the key point: the difference between “lowest” and “highest” major categories is on the order of 5–10 percentage points, not 30–40. That is real but not decisive.

The data do not support a narrative where, for example, biology majors are doomed and humanities majors are virtually guaranteed admission.

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Major-by-Major: Who Actually Has the “Highest” Acceptance Rates?

The raw acceptance rate is simply:

Acceptance Rate = (Number of Matriculants in that Major) ÷ (Number of Applicants in that Major)

From repeated AAMC cycles, the top categories by raw acceptance rate usually come from:

1. Math & Statistics
2. Humanities
3. Physical Sciences / Social Sciences / Engineering (clustered tightly behind)
4. Biological Sciences
5. “Other” and some Professional/Health majors tend to lag slightly

Let us quantify it with approximate ranges.

1. Math & Statistics Majors

• Typical acceptance rate: 46–50%
• Often the highest or tied for highest category in AAMC tables.
• Very small sample size: usually <2% of total applicants.

Interpretation:
The data suggest strong performance, but we must be careful. This group is tiny and highly self-selected. Math/stat majors who also complete premed prerequisites tend to be very academically strong, comfortable with standardized tests, and quantitatively inclined. That profile correlates with higher MCAT scores and GPAs, which drives acceptance more than the label “Math” on the transcript.

2. Humanities Majors

• Typical acceptance rate: 45–50%
• Applicants: often 3–5% of the pool.
• Frequently outperform biological sciences by 3–8 percentage points in raw acceptance.

Humanities majors often have:

• Strong reading comprehension and writing skills.
• Higher CARS (Critical Analysis and Reasoning) MCAT scores on average.
• Compelling personal narratives and communication skills.

However, they also tend to be self-selecting. Many humanities premeds are highly intentional, often with robust advising support and strong GPAs because they avoid some of the grade-deflating STEM curves outside the required science sequence.

3. Social Sciences Majors

• Typical acceptance rate: 44–46%
• Applicants: 9–11% of total.
• Slightly higher than biological sciences in many years.

Psychology, sociology, and related majors have become more common among premeds. Students in these fields sometimes benefit from:

• Familiarity with behavioral science content that appears on the MCAT.
• Stronger performance in MCAT psych/soc sections.
• Coursework that supports understanding of patient behavior, health disparities, and communication.

Yet, again, the acceptance advantage is modest and usually within a handful of percentage points.

4. Physical Sciences and Engineering Majors

• Physical sciences acceptance rate: 45–47%
• Engineering acceptance rate: 44–47%
• Combined, often slightly above biological sciences.

These majors carry reputations for difficulty. Engineering GPAs are often lower on average, which might be a deficit. However, those who survive these majors with strong GPAs tend to be academically exceptional, with:

• High MCAT scores, especially in Chem/Phys and Quantitative reasoning.
• Evidence of rigorous problem-solving and resilience.

Therefore, the acceptance rate advantage is less about “engineering is favored” and more about strong students in very demanding majors who maintain high GPAs and MCAT scores.

5. Biological Sciences Majors

• Typical acceptance rate: ~40–42%
• Applicants: ~58–60% of total. The majority.

Biology looks slightly worse on a percentage basis. But this is a base rate issue.

Two realities drive this:

1. Volume and heterogeneity. With such a large group, it includes everyone from top-tier applicants to marginal ones applying with weaker stats.
2. Self-selection difference. Many students choose biology simply because it is “the premed major,” without strong alignment or aptitude.

If you restrict analysis to biology majors with similar GPAs and MCAT scores as, say, humanities majors, the gap essentially disappears. The major is not the causal factor; academic performance is.

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The Confounder Problem: Why “Highest Acceptance Rate” Can Mislead

Looking only at acceptance rates by major creates a classic confounding issue. Three main confounders stand out:

1. GPA differences by major
2. MCAT score differences by major
3. Self-selection and advising quality

GPA Distributions by Major

STEM majors, especially engineering and some physical sciences, often have:

• Lower mean GPAs due to grading curves and difficulty.
• But the subset who apply to medical school usually represent the upper tail.

Humanities and social sciences often show:

• Slightly higher mean GPAs on transcripts.
• Less grade deflation in some institutions.

Yet medical schools do not grant a GPA “discount” for tougher majors in a systematic, quantifiable way. The GPA is taken at face value, with some contextual reading, but the numbers still drive screening.

If you normalize for GPA—comparing only applicants with, say, a 3.7+—the acceptance gaps by major shrink substantially.

MCAT Score Distributions by Major

The MCAT creates another layer.

• Quant-heavy majors (math, physics, engineering) often score higher on Chem/Phys and overall composite.
• Humanities majors often perform strongly in CARS.
• Biological sciences sit near the overall mean in many distributions.

Medical schools heavily weight MCAT percentiles. A 2–3 point average MCAT advantage in one major group can easily explain a 3–6 percentage point acceptance advantage, independent of the major label.

Self-Selection Effects

A student who chooses math, classics, or engineering and still commits to premed usually:

• Has strong academic confidence.
• Receives intensive advising.
• Understands the stakes of GPA and MCAT performance.

Many biology majors, in contrast, start as “maybe premed” with highly variable commitment and strategy. Some do not strengthen their profile early and end up applying with borderline stats.

So the raw acceptance rate by major is mostly a mirror reflecting who applied and with what stats, not a signal that admissions committees prefer one major over another.

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What Admissions Committees Actually Care About, Quantitatively

To frame this correctly, it helps to anchor on what drives acceptance in numerical terms.

Across recent cycles, approximate national averages:

• Mean MCAT: Matriculants ~511–512; Applicants ~505–506
• Mean GPA (overall): Matriculants ~3.7–3.75; Applicants ~3.5

If you move from:

• MCAT 506 → 512: your acceptance probability can roughly double in many GPA bands.
• GPA 3.5 → 3.8 with similar MCAT: also a large effect.

Comparatively:

• Moving from biology → humanities with similar GPA and MCAT changes acceptance probability by, at most, a few percentage points based on historical trends.

From an effect size perspective:

• MCAT & GPA: high-impact levers.
• Major choice: low to moderate impact, largely mediated through the effect on GPA and MCAT.

Medical schools repeatedly state—and the data back this up—that they admit students from “all majors.” The grid that really matters is MCAT × GPA, not Major × Anything.

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Strategic Implications: How To Use the Data to Choose Your Premed Major

The data do not say “major in X for guaranteed admission.” They say something more nuanced:

Choose a major that maximizes your probability of achieving a high GPA, strong MCAT performance, and compelling experiences.

From a numbers-driven standpoint, three principles emerge.

1. Prioritize Major–Student Fit, Not Perceived Prestige

Ask: In which discipline are you most likely to:

• Sustain a 3.7+ GPA?
• Stay engaged enough to do deep learning (supports MCAT retention)?
• Build authentic extracurriculars (research, service, leadership) that fit your interests?

For one student, that might be biomedical engineering. For another, it might be philosophy or economics.

Empirically:

• A biology major with 3.3 GPA, 506 MCAT faces much lower acceptance odds than a
• history major with 3.8 GPA, 513 MCAT, regardless of stereotypes.

2. Watch Course-level Data, Not Just Major Labels

Within each major, course difficulty and grade distributions vary dramatically.

• Some “premed heavy” departments are notorious for grade deflation.
• Some smaller departments (e.g., classics, anthropology, some humanities subfields) provide closer faculty contact and more manageable averages.

If your institution publishes grade distributions or historical averages, treat that as real data:

• Identify courses and sequences where maintaining A-/B+ averages is realistic for you.
• Avoid unnecessary GPA sinkholes that do not add clear value to your medical school profile.

3. Ensure Your Major Leaves Room for Prerequisites and Upper-Level Science

Most successful non-science majors still complete:

• All standard prerequisites: 1 year gen chem, 1 year orgo (or integrated chemistry), 1 year biology, 1 year physics, biochemistry, statistics, and often psychology/sociology.
• Some upper-level science: e.g., cell biology, physiology, immunology, or neuroscience.

The reason is not only box-checking.

Students with more advanced science coursework:

• Tend to perform better on MCAT science sections.
• Have an easier transition to medical school curriculum.

Quantitatively, MCAT performance and early med school grades benefit from this redundancy.

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Major-Specific Pros and Cons, Through a Data Lens

Let us look at major clusters with a probability mindset: where they tend to help or hurt.

Biological Sciences

Pros:

• Built-in overlap with premed prerequisites saves time.
• Dense with premed classmates, so easier access to study groups and advising.
• Content alignment with MCAT biology and biochemistry sections.

Risks:

• Higher competition curve; many students with similar goals.
• Slightly lower acceptance rate statistically, likely reflecting a wide distribution of applicant strength.

Best for students who genuinely enjoy biology and can rank near the top of their cohort (top 20–25% or better) GPA-wise.

Humanities

Pros:

• Historically higher acceptance rates (by 3–8 percentage points over bio).
• Strong training in critical reading and advanced writing—valuable for MCAT CARS and application essays.
• Potentially less grade deflation in some institutions.

Risks:

• Requires careful planning to fit in all science prerequisites.
• Some advisors may be less familiar with premed scheduling in small humanities departments.

Works well for students with strong verbal skills who are committed to layering in enough upper-level science to perform on the MCAT.

Social Sciences

Pros:

• Solid acceptance rates, often similar to or slightly above biology.
• Excellent alignment with MCAT psych/soc sections and themes in modern medicine (health disparities, public health, behavior).

Risks:

• Same planning issue as humanities: you must proactively schedule science sequences.
• Some majors (e.g., certain applied tracks) may not inherently strengthen MCAT science without extra effort.

Ideal for students who gravitate toward behavioral health, public health, or policy and still maintain rigorous science coursework.

Engineering and Physical Sciences

Pros:

• Often higher average MCAT scores among successful applicants.
• Signal of quantitative rigor and resilience.
• Competitive but respected majors.

Risks:

• GPA risk: engineering GPAs are often lower; a 3.3 in engineering is not automatically “curved up” by admissions.
• Heavy time demands; may limit time for volunteering, shadowing, research, or MCAT prep if not managed carefully.

Best for students with strong quantitative aptitude who can realistically maintain a ≥3.5–3.6 GPA in a tough environment.

Math & Statistics

Pros:

• Consistently among the highest acceptance rates in AAMC categories.
• Strong overlap with MCAT quantitative reasoning; builds disciplined analytical thinking.

Risks:

• Very small applicant pool; self-selection bias is extreme.
• Requires deliberate effort to obtain depth in biology and chemistry concepts.

Works best for students who excel in math and are willing to invest heavily in self-directed or structured learning of biological content.

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How Big Are the Real Differences? A Simple Scenario

Assume 100 applicants per major with realistic acceptance rates:

• Biology: 41% → 41 accepted
• Humanities: 48% → 48 accepted
• Engineering: 46% → 46 accepted
• Math/Stats: 49% → 49 accepted

The maximum spread is 8 students out of 100 between biology and math/stats.

Now adjust for GPA and MCAT:

• Biology major with 3.8 GPA / 514 MCAT may have acceptance probabilities >70%.
• Humanities major with 3.4 GPA / 505 MCAT may fall to <25%.

The within-major variation driven by stats dwarfs the between-major differences.

This is the key quantitative insight: the major category explains a small portion of variance in outcomes compared with academic performance metrics.

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Key Takeaways: Where the Data Point

Stripping away the myths and focusing on the numbers yields three core conclusions:

1. No major delivers a decisive acceptance-rate advantage by itself. Math, humanities, social sciences, engineering, and physical sciences often show modestly higher acceptance rates than biology, but the differences are usually in the 3–10 percentage point range and largely driven by GPA/MCAT and self-selection.

2. GPA and MCAT dominate the statistical picture. A strong biology major dramatically outperforms a weak engineering or humanities major in acceptance probability. Choose the major where you are most likely to achieve top-tier academic performance and stay engaged enough to excel.

3. Strategic fit beats perceived prestige. The best “premed major” is the one that aligns with your strengths, supports high grades across demanding science prerequisites, and leaves time and energy for MCAT preparation and meaningful clinical experiences.

The data are unambiguous on one point: medical schools admit high-performing students from every major. Your task is to build the strongest quantitative profile you can—MCAT, GPA, rigor—within a major you can thrive in, not merely survive.