Covers the cell and human biology coursework most medical schools list as prerequisites, and remains the single most common undergraduate major among US medical school applicants.
Pay96
Resists AI92
Barrier to entry98
A Biology background connects to 5 professions on this site, ranked by pay. Each card explains why the major still matters for that job.
Where it leads
The most common undergraduate major among medical school applicants generally, giving the physiology and genetics grounding every specialty, psychiatry included, builds on in the first years of medical school.
Pay81
Resists AI73
Barrier to entry86
The most common undergraduate major among US medical school applicants, giving direct grounding in the cell biology, genetics and physiology that dominate the first two years of medical school and the MCAT admissions test.
Pay80
Resists AI67
Barrier to entry88
Supplies core science prerequisites for master's programs.
Pay58
Resists AI72
Barrier to entry68
Covers the core science prerequisites — genetics, cell biology, comparative anatomy — that every veterinary school requires, leaving room to add the specific chemistry and physics courses each programme also demands.
Pay56
Resists AI78
Barrier to entry85
Where this major is taught
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
United StatesWhere William Halsted founded the first formal surgical residency in 1889; still one of the most competitive surgical training programs in the world.
University of Oxford Medical School
United KingdomOne of the world's oldest medical schools, feeding graduates into the UK's Royal College of Surgeons examination and specialty-training pathway.
Karolinska Institute
SwedenThe institution that awards the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, and one of Europe's leading centers for medical research and surgical training.
All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi
IndiaIndia's top-ranked medical school, admitting a few hundred students a year from among well over a million NEET exam entrants nationwide.
University of Cape Town Faculty of Health Sciences
South AfricaTrained Christiaan Barnard and hosted the first human heart transplant at its teaching hospital, Groote Schuur, in 1967; a leading surgical training center across southern Africa.
Universidade de São Paulo Faculty of Medicine
BrazilLatin America's highest-ranked medical school, linked to the Hospital das Clínicas, one of the largest hospital complexes in the world.
Seoul National University College of Medicine
South KoreaSouth Korea's most selective medical school and a primary training ground for the country's academic surgeons.
University of Tokyo School of Medicine
JapanJapan's most prestigious medical faculty, historically the dominant feeder of professors and department chiefs into the country's university hospitals.
Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London
United KingdomBased alongside the Maudsley Hospital in South London, among the largest mental health research and training centers in Europe, and a common route into UK psychiatric specialist training.
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
GermanyWhere Emil Kraepelin worked and, in 1917, founded the German Institute for Psychiatric Research, later renamed the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, still a leading psychiatric genetics and neuroscience research center.
NIMHANS (National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences)
IndiaBangalore's NIMHANS is India's premier public mental health and neuroscience institute, training a large share of the country's psychiatrists and setting national treatment guidelines.
University of Tokyo Faculty of Medicine
JapanJapan's oldest medical faculty, with a psychiatry department shaped by both Western biological psychiatry and homegrown approaches like Morita therapy taught elsewhere in the country.
Credentials on this path
American Board of Surgery certification
United StatesRequires completing an accredited residency, then passing a written qualifying exam and an oral certifying exam. Voluntary in principle, but in practice expected by nearly every US hospital before granting operating privileges.
Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons (MRCS)
United Kingdom & IrelandThe exam surgical trainees must pass to progress from core training into specialty registrar training in the UK and Irish systems, administered jointly by the four UK and Irish Royal Colleges of Surgeons.
Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (FRACS)
Australia & New ZealandAwarded after completing the Surgical Education and Training (SET) program and passing both written and clinical exams; the credential required for independent surgical practice across both countries.
Japan Surgical Society board certification (専門医)
JapanA specialist-surgeon certification administered by the Japan Surgical Society, requiring a set number of logged operations and cases in addition to written examination, renewed periodically throughout a career.
ABPN Certification
United StatesThe American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology administers the certifying exam that follows a US psychiatry residency; passing it, and periodically renewing it, is required to practice and advertise as a board-certified psychiatrist in most American hospital systems.
MRCPsych
United KingdomThe Royal College of Psychiatrists' Membership exam, taken in three parts across residency, is required to complete UK psychiatric specialist training and is also used as a benchmark qualification by psychiatrists trained in several Commonwealth countries.
Facharzt für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie
GermanyAfter medical school and the Approbation license, psychiatrists complete five years of supervised Weiterbildung (further training) before a regional medical chamber certifies them as a Facharzt in psychiatry and psychotherapy.
RANZCP Fellowship
Australia / New ZealandThe Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists requires a five-year training program combined with written and clinical exams before granting Fellowship, the credential required to practice as a specialist psychiatrist in either country.