Pre-meds look at alternate major

Students hoping to go to medical school once they graduate often look to the traditional sciences -- Biology, Chemistry and Physics, for example -- for their undergraduate majors. But the Undergraduate Advisory Board of the History and Sociology of Science Department is working to change that. Through a series of weekly colloquia and other activities -- including an informal gathering yesterday -- the UAB has worked to increase the visibility of HSS over the past three years. A key component of the UAB's efforts is a session held every Monday in which researchers present their work for discussion. Undergraduate Chairperson Nathan Sivin explained that since the department is considered one of the best in the nation, it is "a place where people doing interesting research want to come and report" and that these sessions allow for a critical discussion of research. That gathering took a different focus yesterday as it aimed at drawing more attention -- and students -- to the department. The UAB's work so far has paid off, according to Sivin. He said the board has helped to roughly triple the number of HSS majors by providing support and advice and by "getting the word out." He noted that the UAB, like other departmental undergraduate boards, serves as a forum for majors, plans departmental events and maintains connections between faculty and students. Yesterday's event did just that, bringing together HSS professors and students to discuss spring courses, the major overall and what HSS graduates can do with the degree. College senior and UAB member Sasha Schamber noted that eight prospective majors turned out for the session and "we converted all of them." According to Sivin, the department's goal is "to be a highly flexible major" for students who want a broad education with a focus on science, technology and medicine, rather than to create "historians of science." That appeal has attracted so many students that problems may soon arise. "We are victims of our own success," said Sivin, adding that while the number of students majoring in HSS continues to grow, the ranks of the department's professors remain constant. Sivin said the department is especially popular among pre-med students. More than 50 percent of HSS majors are pre-med. College senior Rich Engel, a pre-med HSS major, said, "I would feel like I'm going in blindly without a realistic idea of what science and medicine have done in the past and where it's all going." HSS UAB member Laurel Siegel, a College senior, added, however, that the department is not solely for pre-med students. She noted that she is interested in law and that HSS gives her a balance among history, health care, bioethics and law.