Anyone familiar w/ BME, EECE, computer science, or econ?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Duke University
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<p>Hey, I'm going to be matriculating this fall for my freshman year at Duke and am having some difficulty picking majors. I know I don't technically need to decide until my sophomore year, but because I'm doing the pre-med track, I'd like to get in as many relevant classes ASAP.</p>

<p>The aforementioned majors in the title are the ones I'm having difficulty over (am also considering the typical pre-med major of bio but find it boring). I like that engineering provides a lot flexibility career-wise so that in case medicine is not for me, I could continue w/ engineering or go into finance. I think BME would be easier to do w/ a pre-med track, however, I feel more drawn to computery stuff hence EECE and computer science. That said, I have no experience with any of it and so I wanted to hear your opinions about what would suit me.</p>

<p>Skill level, I feel weak in the math/science areas. In high school, I struggled a bit w/ calculus AB (but got an A) and never took physics. I feel like my struggles in the math/science area stem from having trouble picturing things spatially; it takes me a while but once I get it, I get it.</p>

<p>I'd really appreciate if you could provide any tips about the majors themselves, what skills they require, and where you think I would fit best. For instance, I'm still confused about the difference between EECE and computer science because I've been told that programming is done by both majors and that in finance at least, it's by people w/ engineering degrees.</p>

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<p>Did you get accepted into Pratt or Trinity?</p>

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<p>Famous last words. </p>

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<p>You should seriously reconsider pursuing engineering then. It sounds like you are at a heavy disadvantage.</p>

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<p>I just finished my freshman year, and I came back to CC just to see what was up. After graduating from high school, I was dead set on BME and pre-med, and like you, I felt weak is the math and hard science areas (based on standardized tests and my personal experience, I have an aptitude for the “soft” classes like history and biology). </p>

<p>Let me start out with this: I am one of the few who still survived the pipe dream of BME/pre-med. A lot of kids who come into BME and/or pre-med end up dropping one or both. It is just very difficult. Coming in, I naively though BME would be heavily BM and almost no E. That is just not true. When graduating from Duke, you will have an accredited engineering degree. That means you take a track of 5 math classes, extra physics, and all kinds of other “fun” mind boggling left brain courses. For most people, including me, these classes are hard on your GPA (2 math classes have sunk my GPA by .3). Off the bat, anything that hurts GPA scares away a good half of the pre-meds. Those who stay are really in BME for BME. It takes slugging out the engineering (it my case at least) to get to the fun applications.</p>

<p>As for ECE vs comp sci. the issue is basically biology vs BME or chemistry vs Chem E. etc. Comp Sci is the “soft side” of computers with programing and all that jazz. ECE is, by its name, engineering. You learn circuits, heavy electrical physics, and related knowledge. Neither covers anything near med-school, though ECE gets really close to BME in a lot of biological applications.</p>

<p>For pre-med, you need biology, chemistry, basic math, and some humanities. BME requires way more math than you need, biology, and chemistry, but you need an extra chem or two for a true pre-med application. I took Organic Chem II solely for pre-med, but I have heard that a lot of people opt out of that now for applications. You also generally take an extra semester of inorganic and maybe Biochem depending on where you apply. As for humanities, BME requires 5 and pretty much anything works for the med school apps.</p>

<p>I know the post doesn’t give exact details and is bordering on ranting, but if you have any questions at all, feel free to ask.</p>

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<p>@brownman23: I was accepted into Trinity.</p>

<p>@oneweektodecide: First off, thanks! Your post was informative and reassuring that someone with the same academic aptitudes decided, for better or worse, to pursue BME. Now that your first year is over, are you still considering medical school or strictly BME? And if I do go ahead with BME (engineering wise, I think it’s the best option to fit in pre-med reqs), do you have any tips as far as studying, professors, grading, anything you feel is relevant?</p>

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<p>ECE is widely considered the hardest major at Duke (specifically, ECE27, the intro class, is one of the most difficult classes at Duke). Having taken it, I’d be hard pressed to EVER recommend taking it unless you absolutely needed it for your major (so since you want to be pre-med… do yourself a favor and don’t take it.)</p>

<p>And, as people have said, ECE is much more hardware oriented while CS is more programming oriented. </p>

<p>My biggest piece of advice: don’t worry too much about any of this stuff. Your freshman year will be memorable (and ridiculously fun) not because of the classes you took but because of the people you met, friends you’ve made, etc.</p>

<p>And Duke is awesome. Get excited.</p>

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<p>BME is harder than ECE I’m double majoring and ECE is my gpa booster it doesn’t matter what kind of thinker you are… BME is just harder.</p>