{"id":233,"date":"2023-02-22T13:17:06","date_gmt":"2023-02-22T21:17:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/earth\/?page_id=233"},"modified":"2025-04-10T09:21:14","modified_gmt":"2025-04-10T16:21:14","slug":"why-earth-sciences","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/earth\/undergraduate\/why-earth-sciences\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Earth Sciences?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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\n Top Ten Reasons for pre-meds to Major\/Minor in Earth Sciences \n <\/h2>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
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  1. Physical science majors have a higher acceptance rate (42.5%) than biological science majors (36.0%) for medical school. Source: Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC)<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. Understanding mineralogy is helpful for health sciences because bones and teeth are made of minerals, as well as the mineral deposits on teeth and organs.<\/li>\n
  3. Some pre-meds are fascinated with the study of \u2018the body\u2019. Consider a major in which anatomy, physiology, ecology are all studied (paleontology).<\/li>\n
  4. A med school wants to know about you as a reliable and dedicated student.\u00a0 Nearly all Earth Science majors know ES faculty well enough to get detailed and personal letters of recommendation<\/li>\n
  5. Publishing primary literature scientific papers is an advantage for getting into health post-graduate programs. The small number of Earth Sciences majors means you will likely get to do primary scientific research and potentially publish with a world-renowned researcher.<\/li>\n
  6. Med school admissions are touting the \u2018well rounded\u2019, \u2018globally aware\u2019, and \u2018big thinker\u2019 applicant. Recent Earth Sciences undergraduates have had research experiences in Morocco, Spain, Indonesia, Argentina, Peru, Sierras, Cascades\u2026<\/li>\n
  7. Imaging (MRI, x-ray, etc.) is important in the health fields. With an Earth Sciences major, you will learn about tomography and seismic wave function analysis.<\/li>\n
  8. The greatest global human health issue facing students today involves the impacts of climate change. As an Earth Sciences major, you will learn deeply about climate change.<\/li>\n
  9. Making an important measurement, understanding what that measurement means, is highly important for people in health fields.\u00a0 Earth Scientists make a lot of sophisticated chemical measurements and learn these skills.<\/li>\n
  10. Many of the core Earth Science prerequisites (Chemistry, Physics, etc.) overlap with courses required for med school.<\/li>\n
  11. The Maymester courses in Alaska or Greece are required for Earth Sciences majors, so you can have a study abroad experience while graduating on time.<\/li>\n
  12. Earth Science teaches a systems level approach, considering all aspects and scales, much like diagnosing and treating illness in the human body.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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    \n Learn More \n <\/h2>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
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    Please contact Student Services Advisor, Darlene Garza, at garzadar@usc.edu<\/a> to learn more about our Earth Sciences majors and minors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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    \n\n \n\n <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":0,"parent":188,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-233","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Earth Sciences? - Department of Earth Sciences<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/earth\/undergraduate\/why-earth-sciences\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Earth Sciences? - Department of Earth Sciences\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/earth\/undergraduate\/why-earth-sciences\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Department of Earth Sciences\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-04-10T16:21:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/earth\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/76\/2023\/04\/ZHS.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1406\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1016\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@USC_earth\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/earth\/undergraduate\/why-earth-sciences\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/earth\/undergraduate\/why-earth-sciences\/\",\"name\":\"Why Earth Sciences? 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