Organic chemistry and biochemistry underpin pharmacology and much of clinical medicine, and are required prerequisites for medical school admission in most countries with a US-style pre-med system.
Pay96
Resists AI92
Barrier to entry98
A Chemistry / Biochemistry background connects to 2 professions on this site, ranked by pay. Each card explains why the major still matters for that job.
Where it leads
Covers organic chemistry and biochemistry in more depth than a biology major typically does, subjects that make up roughly half of the MCAT and underpin pharmacology — how and why drugs work — later in medical school.
Pay80
Resists AI67
Barrier to entry88
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.
University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division
United KingdomCombines a pre-clinical degree steeped in physiology and biochemistry with clinical training at Oxford's teaching hospitals; graduates sit the same MRCP and Royal College exams as every other UK-trained physician.
Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin
GermanyGrowing out of a 1710 Berlin plague hospital, it is one of Europe's largest university hospitals and a common site for Facharzt (specialist) training in internal medicine after German medical school and the Approbation license.
University of Tokyo Faculty of Medicine
JapanJapan's oldest medical faculty, entered through one of the country's most competitive university admissions processes; graduates still sit the national Ishi Kokka Shiken licensing exam before independent practice.
Universidade de São Paulo Faculdade de Medicina
BrazilOne of Latin America's oldest and most selective medical schools, training physicians who go on to staff both Brazil's public SUS health system and its private hospital networks.
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.
USMLE + ABIM Certification
United StatesGraduates pass the three-step United States Medical Licensing Examination to become licensed, then, after an internal medicine residency, sit the American Board of Internal Medicine's certifying exam to practice and advertise as a board-certified internist.
MRCP (UK)
United KingdomThe Membership of the Royal Colleges of Physicians, run jointly by the Royal Colleges of Physicians of London, Edinburgh and Glasgow, requires two written exams and a clinical assessment called PACES; passing it is required to train as a physician specialist anywhere in the UK.
Facharzt (Approbation + Weiterbildung)
GermanyAfter medical school, graduates earn the Approbation license, then complete five to six years of supervised Weiterbildung (further training) in a chosen specialty such as internal medicine before a regional medical chamber certifies them as a Facharzt.
Ishi Kokka Shiken (National Medical Practitioners Examination)
JapanA single national exam, administered by Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare after six years of integrated medical education, that every graduate must pass before beginning the supervised clinical training required for independent practice.