<p>Haheho: have you googled and found out how many applicants for any med. schools? I go to Tulane and the Med. School last year had 10,038 applicants for 187 seats. Other med. schools also have lots of applicants for only a handful (100s) seats/admissions. So, Competition to Med. School is not easy and most of the applicants have very stellar records (High GPA) PLUS super duper high MCAT score. I am not trying to scare you but double major in ENG. plus preparing for MCAT can not be done in exactly four years as you wish. OH regarding BME plus another major in ENG plus you need to have high GPA for med. school?..good luck. BME is hard.</p>
<p>It seems to me that you have no idea what you actually want to do and want to just have the ultimate safety net.
Let’s start with pre-med. Nowadays, given the massive volume of applicants, it really isn’t worth trying to get into med school unless you are naturally very intelligent. Others may disagree, but I personally don’t see why you’d want to fight an uphill battle against a good 20% of all students in all American universities who are at least as intelligent and hard-working as you. Not to mention they have easier majors, so unless you are smart enough to be able to do exceptionally well in hard majors, you will be fighting a massive uphill battle. There is maybe 1% of a graduating class in engineering that can have a competitive GPA for medical school. Without lying to yourself to convince yourself that you should do a pre-med, can you honestly say you see yourself in this position?
Not to mention hard majors do nothing to help you with medical school. There are a total of 3 things that matter for medical school: MCAT, GPA, and clinical experience. Not only does major not matter, but an engineering major will make it more difficult to have time for these regardless of how smart you are. You might still be able to get into medical school, but you’re giving yourself a hell of a handicap from the very start.
The last and most important reason not to go for a pre-med is that medical school isn’t what it’s cut out to be. Not only are you fighting against odds that are impossible for any regular student, but you’re also pursuing a prize that is becoming increasingly unattractive without even realizing it. Medical school is nothing but studying for years on end (doesn’t matter how smart you are), and massive loans. But even if you survive this, what you get is entry into a field that is becoming less and less attractive to be in. The doctors who graduated 20 years ago may have a pretty decent living, but new doctors will receive a prize that was not worth pursuing. Both prestige and salary are fading.
Of course, maybe you still want to do pre-med despite everything I mentioned. But at the very least, I think you should explain why you still feel that it is worth it.</p>
<p>@neo:the reasons r personal and i have given it a lot of thought, mayb i hvent been able to express them, coz i created the post to discuses and highlight other issues but rest be assured that the i have the required motivation/drive…
and i do consider myself to be pretty competitive and even “intelligent” considering my high school grades…
is it hard to get into med school…yes…but impossible…hell no…and the only way i will be satisfied is if i give it my best shot…
and as mentioned above, i need to get my priorities right before i plan anything further.
thx for the reply tho.</p>
<p>and jan 2013, i didnt say "BME plus another major in ENG " i said im open to doing BME itself, solo, but i dont have any interest in it (as in using it to get a job except for to get into med school) and the only reason i want to do the double major is coz i think tht they both complement each other and will come in handy</p>
<p>
I’ll assume these reasons relate to ill family/friends. I’d like to also suggest that you consider non-MD medical paths, such as graduate biomedical engineering work. </p>
<p>
Sorry if this is harsh, but you have no idea what you’re talking about. High school grades mean nothing and are, at best, weakly positively correlated to success in college. High school grading and university grading are not very similar at all, and I know plenty of 4.0/5s on all APs who end up struggling for one reason or another. In any case, high school grades don’t measure natural intelligence. I’m sure you could figure out a better way to gauge that if you really care, but I won’t mention any specific ones at risk of being misinterpreted. </p>
<p>
Sure, it’s not impossible. It’s also not impossible to win big on the stock market. But is it worth the risk and investment? Not unless you have an important advantage over others. And there is no form of insurance that will not compromise your main goal.
I suggest you make a choice: pre-med or engineering? Do you trust your chances well enough to push through with a pre-med without a safety net? If not, I would rethink your priorities.</p>
<p>neo : the reasons r not ill family members or anything like tht…lol…
and u r right, high school grades r nothing. but then again, the only possible way to find out if im good enuf for med school is to try. and try i will…mayb natural selection will play its role and ill get weeded out…or not…either way…only time will tell…</p>
<p>Haheho: you said that you would sit down and talk to your advisor. IF I were your advisor, I would go crazy/confused to begin with. All of these talks are meaningless since you want to do Double Major in Eng, have a minor in English and plus pre-med? all should be done in FOUR YEARS (for financial reasons). Pre-Med and another ENG or two will take longer to complete them. PLUS you have to have stellar GPA to get into Med. School…it is against all odds and wasting your time, money and energy. In the end, you will still come up short since MCAT will kill your dream.</p>
<p>All of Med. Schools require high MCAT Score and it is very difficult to achieve if not taking the prep-classes for MCAT. So, doing pre-med plus one or two ENG. majors will drive you off the wall when combining with taking MCAT classes.</p>
<p>Oh I see that you wanna try BME alone?..have you checked out the classes for BME? have you seen the GPA being required for BME?..it is a hard work.</p>
<p>
So would you be willing to go through a pre-med without a safety net?</p>
<p>Simple fact: Pre-med plus one engineering will take more than 4 years for many if not most people. Doing it with two engineering programs plus an English minor in 4 years truly is nigh on impossible.</p>
<p>I fully support your goal to shoot for medical school. It isn’t something I am personally interested in, but if that is your dream, shoot for it. You are absolutely correct that the only way to know if you are good enough is to try, and, conversely, you fail 100% of the things you don’t try.</p>
<p>On the other hand, don’t unnecessarily handicap yourself. There is absolutely no reason to do what you have originally proposed. It simply confers precisely zero advantages over a single major plus pre-med if you succeed while making it far less likely that you will succeed in the first place.</p>
<p>It seems like you are quite confident in your ability and want to challenge yourself with all this extra stuff, and confidence is great. You have to have a certain degree of confidence to succeed in life. However, this is stepping well over the line toward hubris with regard to your own academic ability, which has yet to be truly tested. Absolutely go test it by chasing your dream of being a doctor. Just don’t be so hubristic that you bite off more than you can chew - more than anyone can chew.</p>
<p>Jan2013 - firstly, i really hope my advisor is nothing like u…i HOPE my advisor actually provides me with some useful advice rather than just throw my plans on my face and call me insane…and plzzzzz do us a favour and never become an adviser…
frm the very beginning, i have been saying that nothing is set in stone, i did the mistake of posting and asking for advice, and i have got very little of that!!!never again…its not that i cant handle criticism, coz i can if its done in the right way for the right reasons…
i never said that im hell bent on doing 2 engineerings!!! i never did…instead i have said it MULTIPLE times that i myself have realised that i need to get my priorities straight and work on getting it right…
I GET IT…MCAT is hard…its freaking hard…fine message received…BUT theres a reason to why i think i can do good in it…its called HARD WORK…i doubt all people admitted to med schools were born with the MCAT scores in their hand…again, i wont knw until i try…and it really does seem like u r trying to discourage me frm even trying :s which is very weird…
Oh I see that you wanna try BME alone?..have you checked out the classes for BME? have you seen the GPA being required for BME?..it is a hard work
as for this…it seems something for ur own ego rather than for my benefit…i think i read somewhere that u were doing BME? good for u…im sure its hard,.thx for the warning…</p>
<p>Neo : the safety net is exactly what im trying to figure out…i thought that the double eng was my safety…until now…sooo im gonna take time off and think…and try to come up with one if possible…if i dont succeed, then ill be at a crossroad and will have to make a decision…but i knw that i haven’t exhausted all possibilities yet and i have time, soo hopefully ill have both? if not then ill just see where i stand and take one step at a time.</p>
<p>Boneh3ad : U r right, i am challenging myself. But lets look at it practically, i can always go to the uni with a certain set of plans, and based on my performance over 1 or 2 semesters, look at my grades and other factors and decide if i want to move forward with my initial plans or not…and as said before, im already rethinking my initial plan…so hopefully ill have a solid plan to start with which can be tweaked along the way on the bases of my performance.</p>
<p>Haheho: lemme play your game! </p>
<p>You said:" firstly, i really hope my advisor is nothing like u… "
I would say: I never said that I would be your advisor, read again my posting.</p>
<p>You said: “I GET IT…MCAT is hard…its freaking hard…fine message received…BUT theres a reason to why i think i can do good in it…its called HARD WORK…i doubt all people admitted to med schools were born with the MCAT scores in their hand…again, i wont knw until i try…and it really does seem like u r trying to discourage me frm even trying :s which is very weird…”</p>
<p>I would say: you told us that you want to pursue Med. School…but when I started saying stuff about MCAT then you think that I am trying to discourage you?</p>
<p>You said: its not that i cant handle criticism, coz i can if its done in the right way for the right reasons…</p>
<p>My last word (s): I see that you got some attitude as this the vibe I am picking up on you; and you are pretty cocky trying do to BIG STUFF but when people start giving you advise, input then you start reacting unbelievably. This just my personal observation.</p>
<p>It is not my nature to pick any fight and neither am I a fighter. IF you have read all of my posting, they all are natural and no pun intended. They all are done in good nature…cultural differences perhaps since you are a foreign/international student after all (that’s the fact right as you told us)? who knows…GOOD LUCK with your future endeavors and may the FORCE be with you.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Right, you can always make changes as you go along. The point is that, given that you want to do medical school, which requires an incredibly high GPA for admission, you are best served by starting on the easy side of what you can handle and then adding more challenges as needed, that way at least you start off with a higher GPA and only risk hurting yourself. If you start out on the extreme end of what you can handle, there is a reasonable chance that you will crash and burn under that kind of load and your GPA will already be shot right from the start just because you chose an ill-informed starting path.</p>
<p>In other words, smart money says start off with a single major plus pre-med. That will probably be challenging enough. If you find yourself wanting more of a challenge, you can beef it up from there.</p>
<p>Jan its not my game…i don’t have a game…i had questions…whereas u have done it again and again…like u have been doing…u break my posts apart,then choose and comment on fractions that suit u…
You said:" firstly, i really hope my advisor is nothing like u… "
I would say: I never said that I would be your advisor, read again my posting
If YOU read my post, u will notice that i never said that u said anything like that… i really have no idea wht u r saying… u said what u would do if someone like me came to u for advice, and i simply said that i hope i don’t go to someone like u for advice… its tht simple…plz don’t complicate it…</p>
<p>Its not the discouragement on the count of the MCAT…im well aware that its a hard test to score good on…its the sarcasm/patronization that makes u come off as discouraging…</p>
<p>My last word (s): I see that you got some attitude as this the vibe I am picking up on you; and you are pretty cocky trying do to BIG STUFF but when people start giving you advise, input then you start reacting unbelievably. This just my personal observation.
This one isn’t for me to argue… which one of my post is exhibiting my unbelievable reaction? I have been nothing but polite as long as i could.even thanked u for ur useful advice, but if u will go on calling people insane then u have asked for it…
And for the last time…i never said that i WILL DO the things i said in my initial post… i didn’t even argue that its possible…all i asked was for reason on why its possible and why its not…and when i was given the right reasons to change my mind, or think more about my plans…i did…ill be honest, before i posed here, yes i did think that it was possible…but i had my reservations, hence i posted here to get an outside perspective…and i found out that mayb,im a bit too ambitious…and once i realised that…i said i need to rethink/replan…CAN YOU please enlighten me with the attitude/big stuff u r talking about…or for that reason…ill love for anyone to point it out…
OH PUHLEZZZZZ don’t pin this on cultural differences…im sure anyone who reads the postings will notice all the underlying mockery in most of ur posts…</p>
<p>Exibit A - Are you posting this just for the sake of practicing your writing skills, wishful thinking?
Plzzz tell me how i miss read that?</p>
<p>@Haheho</p>
<p>I’m gonna go out on a limb here and guess that you are very imaginative thinker like myself and kind of live in fantasy land a lot. Coming back to reality is hard, but I’m afraid that you need to. Here’s the thing though: if you are on financial aid, then they have cut offs. For instance, financial aid says that it will pay for 100% of a degree and only 50% of another degree and then you just get cut off completely: No financial aid, no loans. PERIOD. I was not aware of this, and they just gave me the screws. Most financial aid counselors won’t tell you about this either. I would say go to the financial aid office ASAP and ask them if you have enough financial aid to do all of this because I seriously doubt it.</p>
<p>thx for the heads up jnelsonmarka…ill defo check it out!!</p>
<p>@texaspg</p>
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</p>
<p>I think that you have the best idea yet. I think what the man is really doing is trying to keep his options open: I believe that he doesn’t know whether he wants to be an engineer or a doctor. I think that majoring in ChemE would be his best bet because that way he could still be an engineer or a doctor if he wanted to, and it would give him what he needed to know to get into med school. This is a good idea.</p>
<p>My suggestion is this: Take calculus, biology, chemistry, and calc-based physics mechanics your first year. You pretty much have to take bio and chem again for medical school, and calculus+physics are required for every engineering major. That’s far from risky and you’ll have a good idea of where you want to go next. You’d be able to choose your path reasonably well by then. But I think that you’ve got far too much confidence in your own ability before you’ve even taken the “fundamentals” class (which is based on calc+physics+chem/bio) of your chosen major(s). You sound more like an overeager dreamer than a person talented enough to get everything done (I know plenty of examples of both).</p>
<p>and u seem like a dbag whos judging me based on my virtual presence…and i have seen many of those as well…</p>
<p>Rule of thumb: it’s not nice to insult people who offer you advice.
Do what you want, because I think all you really want is validation of the ideas you already decided upon.</p>
<p>Guess what…Its a two way street…its not nice to insult people who ask for advice either…</p>
<p>Do what you want, because I think all you really want is validation of the ideas you already decided upon.</p>
<p>u really love judging people u dont know anything about…it amazes me…</p>