Identifying the undergraduate coursework that will make you the best medical school applicant—and eventually help you succeed as a medical student and a physician—is an inexact science. Still, the bulk of prospective medical students tend to follow a science-heavy course trajectory in their studies. Is that the wisest course of action?
A look at the data and insight from veteran faculty members shed some light on the relevance of undergraduate majors to medical school performance and physician career paths.
Biology the top major for medical school applicants
According to the most recent data released by the Association of American of Medical Colleges (AAMC), among more than 54,000 candidates who submitted scores on the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) as part of their medical school application during the 2025 admissions cycle, roughly 60% had an undergraduate major that could be classified as focusing on biological sciences.
That major, however, didn’t necessarily improve the chances an applicant will matriculate to medical school. In total, the AAMC has data tracking 23,440 students who matriculated to medical school—meaning they applied to an institution and enrolled that same academic year—in 2025. The breakdown of primary undergraduate majors in that group generally had a heavy emphasis on science and math, which tend to align with medical school prerequisite requirements, although not necessarily biology.
The most common majors were:
- Biological sciences—13,480 total matriculants.
- Physical sciences—2,175.
- Social sciences—2,014.
- Specialized health sciences—1,041.
- Humanities—755.
- Math and statistics—192.
It is worth noting that the second largest group of matriculants (3,783) tracked by the AAMC fell into the “other” category.
MCAT scores, medical school matriculation by major
The data seems to indicate that no particular major confers an advantage when it comes to medical school admissions. For instance, 30,038 students with majors in the biological sciences applied to medical schools in 2024–2025 cycle. Of that group, 13,480 entered medical school in 2025, a matriculation rate of 42.1%. That figure was lower than the matriculation rates for several other primary majors, including math and statistics (57.3%), humanities (52%) and physical sciences (51.3%).
Among the listed majors, students who had biological sciences majors also had an average total MCAT score of 511.9, which places those applicants in the middle of the group of tracked primary undergraduate majors. The figure was lower than the averages for math and statistics (515.8), physical sciences (513.8), humanities (513), and social sciences (512.2), but slightly higher than those for specialized health sciences (511.1) and other majors (511.7).
Medical students who log in to read the entire article will learn about:
- The average GPA for medical school matriculants by specialty.
- How medical school admissions office evaluate undergraduate majors.
- How the view of non-STEM majors has shifted in med school admissions.
- What majoring in a STEM field means for your performance early in med school.
- The importance of maintaining a broad interest and keeping an open mind during undergrad.
- Reasons humanities majors may pursue patient-facing physician career paths.
