<p>Thanks everyone for all of your guidance and assistance. I went on a college tour today at SMU and looked around, and really liked the pre med program they offered. Does anyone know if Baylor offers multiple majors, like SMU does? they allow double and even triple majors. would you guys recommend that? I thought for the longest time that pre medicine was a major, but all of you have cleared my doubts! </p>
<p>As far as passion for science, that won’t be a problem at all because I absolutely love science, especially biology. I am truly a bio nerd, haha! Thanks once again everyone!</p>
<p>I don’t know about Baylor specifically, but I have never heard of a school prohibiting double or triple or dual majors. At my school, a double major is 2 majors in the same college (eg college of arts and sciences eg classics and biology or biology and chemistry) whereas a dual major is one major from 2+ colleges (eg college of arts and science and college of business for biology and marketing, or college of arts and science and college of engineering for physics and chemical engineering respectively).</p>
<p>While these programs seem attractive, some things to keep in mind: 1) med schools don’t care if you double major and don’t prefer you to students who choose just 1 major 2) it is notoriously difficult to get all the requirements done for both majors in 4 years while still having time to do the things you want/need to do 3) you won’t get leeway if you GPA is lower because you chose 2 majors 4) you can probably take classes from any department regardless of if you’ve declared a major from that department, but it may be harder to schedule those classes if they’re initially reserved for students who have declared the major (eg psych is a popular major at my UG; upper level/interesting psych classes are theoretically available to anyone who has taken the pre req, but psych majors get priority enrollment, so if the class becomes full of psych majors, non-psych majors are out of luck)</p>
<p>" they allow double and even triple majors. would you guys recommend that? "
-Again, very personal decision. Just try, see what happen, stay flexible. D. had major / 2 minors combo and had to drop 1 minor in senior year being 2 classes short of completing, because one of the Med. Schools had added to the requirements (BTW, you/your advisor will have to be looking for something like this and stay very flexible). It has heppened AFTER D. has applied to this Med. School and has registered for first semester of senior year. This registration went down the drain, the whole senior year had to be planned differently. It was not very hard to do though for 2 reasons. First, dropping one minor freed some slots for the newly required classes. Second, D. has soo many hours accumulated, that her senior year was very light to begin with.<br>
The lesson - try whatever and be prepared to change on a fly. BTW, one of D’s friends has graduated with triple major, 2 related, but have absolutely nothing to do with her main major. Everything is possible, but will require great time management skills. This skills will help you in Med. School anyway. So, being very very busy in UG is NOT such a bad idea.</p>
<p>No! I do not recommend double/triple majors if you want to be premed unless you’re some kind of genius, easily get top grades, and are some kind of time management genie. lol</p>
<p>If you want to become a MD, then you have ONE goal…getting accepted to med school. Therefore, you don’t do things that can be “extra hurdles” to that goal. You don’t want to sabotage your goal!!! I’ve seen kids ruin their GPA’s because they’re having to take 20 credits each semester to finish their second/third major.</p>
<p>Med schools don’t give a rat’s patootie about double majors or anything else. They just care that you have a bachelors degree and the premed prereqs and that your grades are VERY high. (Of course you also have to have the good MCAT, etc)</p>
<p>I don’t know why someone said that Baylor is cheap. It ain’t cheap.</p>
<p>to be frank, I hate kids who go through college with the mindset that their only purpose for being there is to get into med school. I’m also not even sure whether med schools like those people as it seems like many of my classmates have goals that require them be outside a patient examination room.</p>
<p>“unless you’re some kind of genius, easily get top grades”
-Absolutely NO genius is required. There were NO geniuses around my D. and every one of them had worked very hard, no easy time getting top grades, not even close. Every single of her pre-med friends had a combo of major(s) / minor(s) strictly because they were interesting people with multitude of passions and they wanted to learn more about: Spanish and Latin Culture, art, music, psychology, whatever else. There is NO reason to restrict yourself and totally focus on Med. School. All of my D’s pre-med friends are currently in Med. School and they had good choices of them also. Nope, Med. School do NOT like limited hermits who have been focusing strictly on their Med. School requirements for 4 years of UG. They are looking for regular, outgoing, team players who can related to people easily, who can contribute not only because of their stellar academics but also because of their individuality that makes any community (including Med. School community) much richer.
I do not know college GPA of D’s friends (who are all currently MS3). However, my D’s was 3.98 which was lowered by 3 A-'s, all in singing classes of Music Minor. Yes, it was risky taking singing classes along with music majors, most of whom have had a voice training prior to college. Definitely, no singing genius here, but a VERY HARD WORKING person, who was committed to everything that she has ever tried in her life. If you have plans for a Med. School, there is no other approach. No matter how much you load on your plate in UG, you will never ever come close to the level of time management, hard work and commitment required at the Med. School. It is NOT for the geniuses, it is for the hard working bees. Make yourself into one, pursue your dreams in UG, Med. School is one (the most important) of them, but as all humans, you have others…</p>
<p>to be frank, I hate kids who go through college with the mindset that their only purpose for being there is to get into med school</p>
<p>that’s not what I meant. I agree, those kids can be an issue.</p>
<p>My point is that if a student really wants to become a doctor, and the med school app process is what it is, then don’t do things that will sabotage your GPA and ruin your goal. </p>
<p>A dear friend’s son insisted on a double major that required 20 credits each semester to complete (one major BCMP, one major not). This did have a VERY negative affect on his BCMP GPA…because his time was just spread too thin. You gotta see the forest thru the trees!</p>
<p>All of the information that all of you have given me has truly helped me make my decision. I was thinking about double majoring in Biology and Business administration and minoring in psychology. In case my plan of getting into med school backfires on me, I have the business major to help me and go into possibly healthcare administration. What do you guys think about that, and would you recommend me going forth with this for now? Or would that be too much on my plate?</p>
<p>Also, I want to specialize in pediatrics. I know this isn’t for a long time, but would you guys recommend setting up my own practice, or working in a hospital? Jut out of curiosity since you guys give such prompt and informative responses, lol.</p>
<p>mom2ck,</p>
<p>i’m more amenable to that - although I do think pre-meds who have interests beyond medicine should not forget that they will be studying medicine their whole life but have virtually no opportunity beyond college to really study anything else with any depth. Had an amazing conversation a few months ago with a bunch of other kids in my program about all the non-science stuff (e.g. poly sci, history, drama, etc) we studied in college and we all commented how rewarding it was to think about that stuff again since we rarely get the chance to anymore.</p>
<p>I’ll admit it could be because I went to school “in a certain athletic conference” (can’t remember who said that in response to me once but it’s my fav euphemism/insult I’ve seen for it), but most people I knew didn’t think too much about their concentration beyond “what do I really want to learn more about”</p>
<p>BTW, in addition to my previous post full of questions, how does one improve their SAT score fast? I go to SAT prep and do practice, but I am still struggling with doing well on it!! Any tips for that?</p>
<p>Hey everyone! When trying to decide where we want to study pre med, what factors should we consider important and which schools are the best in TX? Also, which schools guarantee acceptance in TX into the top med schools? I mean, of course the Ivy Leagues will get you anywhere, but that isn’t my level… So what average schools are the best? Thanks!</p>
<p>1) No undergrad can guarantee acceptance into “top” medical schools. Or even any med school for that matter. Not even the Ivys.</p>
<p>2) Your successful admission to medical school is vastly more dependent on the robustness of your application than the name of the school on your diploma. </p>
<p>3) There is a misperception among high school students that medical schools are like undergrad --where there is a wide variation in quality. That simply isnt true. All US medical schools are accredited by the same organization, they teach the same curriculum and their students all take the same national, standardized licensing exams at the end of the second and third years. Pass rate for the exams are nearly identical regardless of the med school attended. </p>
<p>4) The school that is “best” will be the one that is best for you–and that will be different for different individuals. Choose the school the offers you the best combination of fit, opportunity and affordability.</p>
<p>Thanks once again WayOutWestMom! You have helped me so much. Any tips on success with the SAT’s? I am struggling to bring it up to that 2000 range!</p>
<p>*although I do think pre-meds who have interests beyond medicine should not forget that they will be studying medicine their whole life but have virtually no opportunity beyond college to really study anything else with any depth. *</p>
<p>I totally agree with you, but that can be done w/o the double/triple major. That can be accomplished by taking some other classes for interest in other disciplines. That’s fine. The problem with double/triple majors is that you’re required to take classes that you may not like, or may be too time-consuming and they’ll hurt your GPA. </p>
<p>My own son graduated with 3 minors…all in areas that interested him…but, because they were minors, he was free to “pick and choose” the courses that he wanted to fulfill those minors…that freedom doesn’t usually exist with majors. He also took some weight-lifting/conditioning courses, a tennis course, several Spanish courses, and some Italian courses…all just for interest. </p>
<p>Because he had the freedom to pick and choose, he was able to stay away from classes that didn’t interest him, and that he likely wouldn’t have done as well in.</p>
<p>^fair points. I fully agree with that. Much more clearly and eloquently stated than your original statement (which I took too literally).</p>
<p>Would doing 2 or possibly even 3 majors be too much to handle? I am trying to decide if that is right for me or not.</p>
<p>only you can answer that. It depends on the majors, the school, the student’s abilities, etc.</p>
<p>“how does one improve their SAT score fast?”
-Focus on improving math. No other could be improved beyond getting familiar with the format.</p>
<p>"Would doing 2 or possibly even 3 majors be too much to handle? I am trying to decide if that is right for me or not. "
-Try, see how it works. Drop if it does not. Do not let your GPA slide down though. If your “trying” happens to be too much for you. still have to keep up at least for the current semester. Re-assess and drop after. Have to do it every semester, some new opportunities, new interests might come up so you will have to adjust. D. has become interested in Greek. Did not plan to be in sorority initially. This experience was very very time consuming, but happened to be one of the most rewarding for HER in UG. She had to drop her sport (tried club in freshman year). She is still not regretting anything at all.<br>
Make sure to stay flexible, open minded and keep in mind what works for others may not be working for you. The only way to find out is to try and see, while keeping your major focus on very high GPA.</p>