A Bunch Of Questions From A Freshman

I have a few questions since the closer I get to starting my freshman year at Vandy the more I realize I had no idea what I wanted when I made my plans for college:

  1. I applied as a molecular and cellular bio major because it just seemed like it would make sense and be easy since I'm pre-med, but I'm starting to realize I don't know if I really even like biology. So I guess my question for bio majors is: how boring would you say it is honestly? Would you pick it again if you could start over? It just seems like it's mostly memorization rather than actual problem solving or creative thinking. Not sure if I'd want to do that for 4 years...
  2. If my first year schedule was Gen chem, Intensive elementary spanish, FYWS, and Math 1300 and I just took intro to bio sophomore year could I still major in MCB? Or do I really need to take intro to bio freshman year to major in MCB?
  3. How hard is a math minor? I'm not a math genius or anything but I like it. Would majoring in MCB and minoring in math while also being pre med be doable?
  4. I was also thinking about majoring in BME instead of MCB, but still doing pre med. What is the average GPA of a BME major?
  5. Final question: Would I have a life if I did any of these options?
  1. I've taken plenty of bio upper levels. It is pretty much memorization, since that is the easiest thing to test. A couple of good classes will have a more systems based thought process or ask for you to solve problems or make inferences that aren't in the textbook, but most don't. It's still enjoyable if you are interested in the stuff though. Pretty much all of biological and social science classes are like this though. If you want a problems based approach maybe look into physical science or compsci or something. Or you can be a humanities major. You have plenty of time to figure it out later.
  2. You can take bio sophomore year and be fine, tons of people do it. If you're pre-med you have plenty of pre-req classes to do at first, and you have to do your AXLE classes anyway. Might as well do them early to balance out the hard pre-req sciences with some easy AXLE classes. It all balances out in the end; if you go fast on your major you have AXLE at the end, if you hold off on your major classes you do AXLE at the beginning.
  3. That wouldn't be too hard. It depends on your math background and skill. Math here can be tough to get good grades in. If you have a 5 on calc AB, that's an alright background, you're not at any disadvantage, and you might do well. If you have a 5 on calc BC you have a good background. If you already took linear algebra/differential equations you're golden. If you don't have 5s on anything, you'll probably struggle in the calc I/II series and you should be careful. If you like it a lot and work hard though it could be worth it though.
  4. BME is a bad choice for premed. Med schools now want you to have a wider variety of classes, including plenty of english, psychology, and sociology. A lot of BMEs don't end up taking those classes. Also they get bad GPAs a lot. and if they get good GPAs, usually they had to work so hard to get them that their extracurriculars are pretty bad. Only go BME if you are seriously considering a career as an engineer and aren't sold on premed.
  5. Yeah you could have a life in any of these. Depends on how good you want your grades to be though. The harder your major, the harder it is to have a life while getting good grades. So as far as free time, bio>bio+math>BME.

Thanks for answering all my questions! Helped out a ton @fdgjfg

@anlb2016 : FWIW, BME can, in theory (if it medical schools were less GPA sensitive, it would likely be the optimal major and usually yields larger MCAT returns along with less memorization oriented neuroscience programs. Any STEM dept mainly focused on applications, especially interdisciplinary perspectives, is advantageous for handling the MCAT), be a wonderful pre-med major IF you are willing to work harder than in most natural sciences. You can get around what fdgfg suggested would be a problem (ECs), by really focusing on a few EC’s and doing them well (they could even be BME or major related) and then getting in the hours of volunteering and shadowing in when you can allot time to do so.

I know some BME majors from Georgia Tech who did really well and ended up in medical school. Sure they were smart, but so are you.

Before considering it, I would maybe see how general chemistry goes for you and if you find yourself enjoying it (because it is the more problem solving oriented course you are in as a freshman) or at least doing well. If you are like the many who thinks it is unusually hard (it isn’t-fairly standard, probably just way too many pre-healths in there making it feel much more tense than it should be), then BME may not be the pathway for you. However, if you think you may enjoy problem solving in another discipline or are still interested in the concept of BME, once you get physics (calc. based-which I imagine is the only offered at Vanderbilt) and biology done (and well), you can explore interesting upperlevel courses in either biology (I saw the materials from the genetics course and it was one of those that differed in a good way, very problem solving oriented) or even BME (maybe one of the intro. levels in BME). You can diversify your schedule in within your science course work without actually majoring or minoring in a different area of science or math than intended.

If you intend to do research, there is also that and a potential honors thesis, where I would honestly recommend taking a graduate level course in the field even though it is not required there. Graduate courses in biology are usually much more systems and experimentally focused and also graded relatively lenient so you get your cake and can really enjoy it in that you learn the skills you should be in STEM (and those skills are actually tested) and you can very well score really well (at many schools, undergrads, who are more grade conscious, tend to outperform grad. students in STEM courses).

You’re at an elite school. Many people do what you are suggesting (as a pre-med) and much more, while maintaining a life. The trick is to gauge your performance and drive and then determining if you are one of those folks. Your freshman year performance will be revealing in terms of that. And note that it doesn’t have to be perfect, but if you go one of the more difficult routes, you need to have done well enough so that you can confidently move on to higher level course work in a more challenging department, or at minimum reflect and know how to improve your study habits so that you can improve where you need to.

@fdgjfg : Is that fair for the social sciences?lol. Unlike many STEM courses, the assessment is not based on midterms or finals for many of them. They tend to mostly use other assessment methods that usually involve deeper engagement and understanding of the material (lots of writing and at least one major research assignment or paper…also, the class-room setting is generally more lively and many instructors do much more than lecture), unless you typically took larger courses in the social sciences, but I imagine even those had a solid reading load and a major writing assignment(s).