Effect of undergraduate college major on performance in medical school.

Objective: To determine whether choice of college major has any effect on performance in medical school.

Methods: The author analyzed data for 406 students enrolled in a combined baccalaureate-MD program at Brown University School of Medicine who had matriculated in medical school from 1989 to 1997, determining their undergraduate majors and their medical education performances (as measured by course grades, USMLE, scores and residency program evaluation).

Results: Slightly over half of the students had majored in science or mathematics, about a third had majored in the humanities or social sciences, and about a tenth had had double majors or had been independent concentrators. The author found no statistically significant difference between the medical school performances of students who had majored in the sciences or mathematics and those who had majored in the humanities or the social sciences.

Conclusions: Although preselection bias may influence medical school performance, this study affirms previous findings that choice of undergraduate major has little, if any, statistically significant effect.