<p>As a high school senior about to apply to colleges, I'm beginning to look at specialized programs (in the health fields). I was all set and ready to apply until someone mentioned the harm in focusing on a career during the undergraduate level.</p>
<p>So my question to you is:
Do people miss out on intellectual exploration by doing specialized programs and becoming "pre-professional"?</p>
<p>thannnnnkkkkks for the opinions.</p>
<p>Based on my personal experience, I would say yes… With premed, you pretty much are “forced” to be grade conscious when selecting classes. because of medical school admissions yadyadayada. Many premeds end up taking notoriously ‘easier’ classes for a GPA boost, not necessarily for intellectual enjoyment. Most premeds with 3.8 or 3.9 GPAs that I know of are just paranoid trying to maintain it lol. Then there are just the ridiculously smart ppl who pull 3.9 GPA’s and takes courses that they are interested outside the sciences or in other areas of sciences which they would like to explore.</p>
<p>I would love to take classes in quantum mechanics, astronomy, and particle physics classes because I want to explore more fields outside of premed. Pretty much the classes I want to take for intellectual stimulation (at least for me) is a death blow for my GPA… </p>
<p>I would be competing against physics majors in upper level physics course and would probably end up with a B or less in the class (not acceptable). lol</p>
<p>That just sounds horrible to me.
Do a lot of people walk away from college without exploring what they’d like to?</p>
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<p>I’m not a pre-med student, but I’m a pharmacy student in an accelerated 6 year pharmacy program, and it seems like we’re in pretty similar situations. I need to keep my GPA as high as possible, and I would love to take some courses in philosophy or upper level economics, but I don’t in fear of lowering my GPA. It really stinks actually =| But I happen to like political science as well, and those are pretty easy classes ;), so I suppose I’m not totally barred from exploring things I’m interested in</p>
<p>My son’s accelerated physician assistant program only has room for 2 electives (6 credits). He loves his major classes and complains about some of the university’s required classes, such as philosophy and religion. In this economy, we both like the fact that he’ll have a pretty easy time finding a job and we’ll save a year of tuition. He can always take “fun” classes after he graduates or in the summer.</p>
<p>What school does your son go to toledo?
That sounds a lot like one program I was researching…</p>
<p>My son goes to Gannon Univ. in Erie, PA, but I found about a dozen schools that offer this accelerated program.</p>
<p>O.K. I just read some of your past posts. You should be looking into accelerated med schools. My son knew he wanted something “medical” after volunteering at a hospital. Do you have any type of clinic in your area where you can volunteer or shadow a doctor? If not, and you’re not sure about medicine, go the traditional route. With your grades and tests scores, you should be able to anything you want.</p>