Programs Which one of these majors would open the most doors for me?

[orgin21]

Which one of these majors would "open" the most doors for me?

Hello all again. As of now, I am finishing up my senior year of schooling and I have deposited my tuition to the school I wanted to go to. However, on my application I put down Pre-Med as my "major" and therefore I have an undecided major that I want to decide on when orientation start. I've decided against Chem, and I overall would like to go to medical school.

I want to have a backup plan in case I cannot get into medical school (I read it is quite competitive) and so I have decided on a math oriented major since I have always loved math. I guess, it is between Mechanical Engineering, Math, or Physics. Someone has stated Math is the "safest" major since I can get a graduate degree in either Physics or Mechanical Engineering, become an actuary(I do not wish to become a teacher, my school got me that mindset lol), or even Economics.

How true is that statement? Wouldn't I have to take other classes related to that field of study (almost like a minor?) to do that? Also, where could I work with Mechanical Engineering or Physics or Math?

Thanks in advance for all the help. I just want to be certain on this choice so I don't wind up changing majors many, many times. If you could include other information, that would be wonderful too

 

[j93]

I would say math is safer because it might help you with GPA which is important and give you the flexibility to take the classes for med school.

 

[Jack21222]

Medical physicists make a boatload of money. If you get a physics degree you can still pursue the medical field from that angle. That allows you to avoid some of the competition in med school, but still be in the health care industry.

 

[orgin21]

How would one become a medical physicist, is it simply from a physics grad school?

Also, for a math major to apply to grad schools other than math, I would just need to take classes in that area and score decently on the GREs, correct?

Thank you for the information so far by the way :)

 

[j93]

Medical physics are not trained through the physics dept.

Yes, but you might need to score above decently to clear any doubts.

 

[Jack21222]

Medical physics are not trained through the physics dept.

Yes, but you might need to score above decently to clear any doubts.

Some medical physics programs are run through the physics department... at least in part. For example:

http://www.physics.upenn.edu/graduate/mmp.html

Many call it an "interdisciplinary program" which features classes from both a medical department and a physics department.

This is just speculation, but I'd imagine going for the physics degree and then looking for a medical physics graduate program may be a bit less crowded than the more traditional path into the medical field.

 

[elfboy]

lol medical physics

if a scalpel is dropped from a 3 foot operating table how long will it take to impact the ground?

 

[Jack21222]

lol medical physics

if a scalpel is dropped from a 3 foot operating table how long will it take to impact the ground?

Ignoring air resistance, about 0.43 seconds.

But, that's not medical physics.