Hi im applying to binghamton watson school of engineering for comp sci.
Can I do pre-health in this school?
Or will i have to switch to harpur…
And how hard is it to get into watson?
To clarify, you want to major in comp sci and also pre-health?
@rebeccar no. pre-health is not a major. I’m majoring comp sci but also taking pre - health courses.
Yes, I’m aware of that, I meant do you want to major in comp sci and also complete a pre-health program. As you know, those are two incredibly different fields so you’re going to have a tough time doing it in 4 years. Most people take 4 years to complete a regular major, let alone adding on a pre-health curriculum that has zero overlap with it. My friend is doing this now (major in SOM but also doing pre-health) and it took her an extra 1.5 years to graduate. And that was with many summer and winter courses.
Take a look at the handbook and see how your comp sci requirements would fit in with the pre-health pathway: https://www.binghamton.edu/pre-health/curriculum/index.html
Comp sci requirements: http://www.binghamton.edu/cs/pdfs/2014_ug-sample-4yr-sched.pdf
As you can see, it’s not possible to do in 4 years - do you have a lot of AP credits that could fulfill the gen eds?
If your question is about logistics of declaring the major, here’s how it works: You have to major in the school you are in. So if you’re in Watson, you’d major in comp sci or engineering or something. You can take classes in Harpur, but you can’t major in it (like biology or chemistry) without either transferring to Harpur or doing a dual degree.
@rebeccar yeah I know but in the long run, I feel like majoring in a common major (bio or chem) is much more competitive that majoring in an uncommon major (comp sci or even english). By the time I apply to med school there is going to be so many people applying with the same major as me if I major in bio or chem. If i major in something that I have a passion for, then I feel like I would have more things to say to my med school while at the same time stand out from the other applicants.
I mean, maybe? I don’t know anything about med school admissions other than watching my friends do it but my inclination is that it seems like a big waste if you’re not planning to use the cop sci. You’d spend tens of thousands of dollars on extra semesters to “stand out” with a non-med major on the hopes that maaaybe it’ll give you a boost.
CS is in the engineering school and all the pre-med classes you would want to take are in Harpur. There is very little overlap between CS and pre-health. Now that being said, you will be able to take classes in Harpur as a watson student (they do not allow the opposite, watson has very limited resources and space) BUT prehealth at binghamton is not a walk in the park and while the CS department isn’t as rigorous as some other more well known schools is not that easy either. You are setting yourself up for a very stressful workload. However, if the prehealth doesn’t work out or you change your mind, you have the CS degree to fall back on and that is more in demand than a BS in bio.