What’s the Best Pre-Med Major?

By Authors at Earnest | Published on March 2, 2026

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Medical school is a huge undertaking, and getting into top schools can be competitive. Not only will you need good grades, strong extracurriculars, and a standout personal statement, but you’ll also need to earn a bachelor’s degree that demonstrates your commitment to your field—without being so difficult as to impact your ability to maintain a good GPA.

Choosing a major isn’t easy for any student. But for pre-med students, your choice of major can make a difference in what schools you get into, not to mention how prepared you’ll be for your medical school coursework once you arrive. So, what is the best pre-med major? And how can you decide which is right for you? Here’s how to choose.

What’s the best pre-med major?

When choosing an undergraduate major and/or minor for a pre-health career track, the most important thing to do is make sure it will allow you to take all the required med school prerequisite courses. Those typically include biology, chemistry, organic chemistry, physics, and occasionally some math or English. Because so many of these are science courses, many students end up choosing a science major just to make it easier. However, that’s not necessarily the only pre-med track that will earn you an acceptance letter.

While different majors may be better for certain students, there is no single, one-size-fits-all, best pre-med major. Some majors may help students earn higher MCAT scores while others have higher matriculation rates. Some majors may be slightly easier, which could help you maintain a strong GPA. Others may be more popular for aspiring medical professionals, which can provide valuable camaraderie. Here are the factors to consider.

The best pre-med major based on matriculation rate

Acceptance rate by major is another useful statistic. According to AAMC data, humanities students were slightly more likely to matriculate, or enroll in, medical school than students in other majors. However, this may be more a matter of correlation than causation.

Humanities students, on average, tend to have relatively high GPAs and MCAT scores, which is likely the real cause of the higher matriculation rate. AAMC’s data suggests that MCAT and GPA are much greater predictors of med school acceptance rate than major.

Source: AAMC

The best pre-med major based on graduation rate

What about students who not just get in but actually graduate from medical school? Do certain majors better prepare students for their med school coursework?

Analysis of Earnest customers shows that 68% of those who complete a doctorate of medicine have a previous degree in the biological sciences, a health-related field, bioengineering, or psychology. These majors are often an obvious choice for aspiring physicians since most schools have pre-med requirements in the sciences, but are they the best major?

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We crunched the numbers on the educational paths of more than 80,000 Earnest loan applicants to create a typical (and hypothetical) MD class of 500 med students. Of the 500, nearly half — or 245 — previously majored in biology or another biological science. The largest contingents with biological science majors include 36 biochemistry, 35 neurobiology, 21 molecular biology, and 18 physiology.

Besides biology, the rest of this typical MD class is divided among non-biological science majors, the arts (including arts and design, English, humanities, and social sciences), health-related fields, engineering, and other disciplines.

In contrast with law, for example, med schools are much more likely to attract students who’ve been studying in a closely related field like public health or biology. Those who have studied in areas other than science often have a major related to medicine as well, such as bioengineering or neuroscience.

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The best pre-med major based on GPA and MCAT

MCAT and GPA are generally considered the two most important aspects of your medical school application. It’s generally best to have high scores in both, though the MCAT may be slightly more important. That’s because the MCAT is both more specific to medicine and more rigorously standardized. As such, it may be less influenced by other variables, like how your college or university’s grading system works or how difficult your undergraduate courseload was.

According to AAMC data collected in 2022, students with math and statistics backgrounds tended to notch the highest MCAT scores on average. They also tended to have the highest GPAs. Again, that may be because very few math and statistics students apply to med school, which means that those who do are likely the cream of the crop. As you can see, humanities and physical sciences students also did quite well, perhaps because they are also less popular pre-med majors than biological science.

Source: AAMC

The best pre-med major based on number of applicants

According to data from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), the most popular pre-med major is biology. In fact, 57% of all medical school applicants in 2022 majored in the biological sciences. (The number is the same for matriculated students: 57% of all newly enrolled medical students majored in the biological sciences.)

However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the biological sciences leave you better prepared for the MCAT or for med school itself. It may simply be because those majors represent the path of least resistance: because the required coursework overlaps so much with med school prerequisites it’s often easiest to get a biochemistry or biology major.

However, med schools these days often look for students from diverse backgrounds and skill sets to vary their student body. So it’s possible that if you major in something aside from biology, you may be more likely to stand out to the selection committee — as long as you can get a stellar GPA and MCAT score, as well.

Source: AAMC

Key takeaways

The data above show that there’s likely no single best pre-med major. While MCAT score and GPA have a strong influence on medical school acceptance rates, medical school admissions committees appear to be far less concerned with your choice of major.

Rather, it’s likely that the best major is simply the one you’re most interested in and are therefore willing to work the hardest at. That may be one reason why non-science pre-med students tend to do so well: many students find humanities subjects engaging and find it easier to juggle a liberal arts course load alongside their pre-med course requirements. Another theory suggests that the critical thinking section of the MCAT might be easier for those who choose a humanities major, but there’s little data to prove this. (According to AAMC data, humanities students do generally perform slightly better on that section, but they also performed better than average on other sections as well.)

There is evidence suggesting that medical college admissions committees are increasingly looking for students with good communication skills. If you believe a humanities major will help you develop those skills (and learn to write a top-notch personal statement), then that could be a good choice for you.

That said, if you think you might struggle to juggle an oversized course load, then the biological sciences may be your best bet, since they tend to encompass most of the medical school requirements. If biology is also where your natural talents and interests lie, then that’s likely the best pre-med major for you.

Learn more about Earnest student loans

Your choice of major can play a big role in your ability to finish your medical school prerequisites, perform well on the MCAT, and ultimately get into medical school. However, admission isn’t the only step to securing a stellar education in the health professions. You’ll also need a plan to finance your education — and to pay off any student loans once you graduate.

If you’re looking to pursue a career in a medical field, Earnest¹ can help you obtain the flexible, low-cost loans you need to finance your education. Skip one monthly payment² per year without penalty, take advantage of special discounts, and pay back your loans on your schedule. Use our free online loan calculator to see how much you could save with Earnest.