Pre-Med, Pre-Law and NCC

During this year's recruiting season, I'll speak to more than a few students who ask if NCC offers a Pre-Med or Pre-Law major.  What these students should understand is that if you want to become a doctor or lawyer, you won't "major" in pre-med or pre-law for your undergraduate degree.  Instead, you'll major in a specific field and participate in a pre-professional program that recommends a variety of courses that medical or law schools require.  You'll take these recommended courses in addition to the courses required for your declared major.

You can major in anything you want for your baccalaureate degree.  Of course, most pre-med students major in Chemistry, Biology or Biochemistry because they have a passion for one of those fields and a science major's classes overlap nicely with the science classes in pre-med programs (the tried-and-true "kill two birds with one stone" approach).  But I've known pre-med students who were Philsophy and Physics majors just because they liked those disciplines.

In fact, I knew a pre-med student who was an English major because he wanted to be able to quote T.S. Eliot to his future patients: 

"Let us go then, you and I,/When the evening is spread out against the sky,/Like a patient etherised upon a table..."

OK, so he was an interesting character. 

But by the same token, a pre-law student doesn't have to major in English or Philosophy.  While these subjects often appear in pre-law programs, a pre-law student can major in Chemistry, History or Theater if he or she desires.  You can easily imagine how knowledge in any of those fields could help you as a lawyer.

So pursue your passion, young future doctor or lawyer, and be excellent at what you do!  

NCC offers a variety of transfer majors -- Chemistry, Biology, Liberal Arts or Theater, among many others -- for those of you planning to begin at a community college before transferring to a 4-year school, and then on to law or medical school.  And don't forget to get involved in extracurricular activities.  Med and law schools like to see well-rounded and community-minded applicants!