What to major to become a sports medicine doctor?

D013: What to major to become a sports medicine doctor?
I am interested in becoming a sports medicine doctor and I was wondering what undergraduate degree program do I need to major in to become a sports medicine doctor. I am looking forward to attend the University of Missouri.

Answers and Views:

Answer by Emily
Before you think about your specialty in medicine, you need to get into (and through) medical school. To be best prepared for medical school, a biochemistry-type major is best. That’s what you mostly study in medical school. To be more likely to get into medical school, they like to see something out of the ordinary and difficult (it proves you’re smart and work hard): engineering undergrads often have very high acceptance rates. Chemical or biomedical engineering would both be good. Math would also be good, or genetics, pathobiology, and the like.

Answer by aneurodoc125
You have to be an MD first. Take the Pre-med curriculum. Most major in a science, but you can major in anything. Most Sports Medicine docs are Orthopedic Surgeons. So after Medical School, you take a Residency in Orthopedics, then a Fellowship in Sports Medicine. You have a long way to go. First work on getting the MD.

Answer by toxdoc333
The sports part comes after the basic medicine part. In other words, get into medical school first which means a pre-med curriculum in college (calculus, physics, at least a year of chemistry and at least a year of biology). Make sure you go to a college/university that has an established pre-med curriculum that medical schools will require. For example, you can’t take “Everyday Chemistry 101” and think that a medical school is going to only look for “chemistry.” Rather, you will need to take at least organic and inorganic chem, etc. You pre-med advisor will tell you what you need both course-wise and grade wise to realistically get into a medical school. The three sports medicine docs I know all did a residency in orthopedics but there may be other routes. The path will be obvious once you get through the first year or two of medical school. For now, focus on good grades in high school to get into a good college/university and do very well (3.8 GPA for college) is about what you need. It doesn’t matter what you major is as an undergrad as long as you have all the science and math premed courses and you did well in them. Medical schools are more likely to find someone who majored in something different more interesting than someone who was a chem or bio major. Again, you have to have all the science courses (and more) anyway so choose a major that interests you and might be a unique advantage as a physician.