<p>So I'm finishing up my college apps right now and it seems that, the more I research the lives of pre-med and med school students, the less I want to be a part of it. I took AP Biology and got a 5 without too much strain. I've always found biology and English to come naturally. I think I would get by fine if my first year as an undergrad consisted of classes like AP Biology, though after that is where I start to get nervous. Anybody who expects to get through college stress-free shouldn't be going into college in the first place, but I'm scared of the remaining three years of undergrad and then med school eating up my life. I've never been one who spends atrocious amounts of time doing things not related to school during the week, but I still like to play video games, surf the web, and get together with friends. I don't want the highlight of my social life after my freshman year as an undergrad to consist of study groups with friends and a small party once every four months. </p>
<p>I feel like my interests lie between two extremes - English and Bio. English is considered to be the easy, open-minded major that will get you a job in the teacher to small-time editor range. Biology/Pre-med is considered to be the most challenging corner of college, with little free time and constant stress. From what I hear, it gets even worse in Med School. There, it's not just "little to no free time", it's "little to no things that are required to be mentally and physically healthy". Seems ironic given the setting, doesn't it? You work your ass off in class, then you do research, volunteer/work at hospitals, do internships, and study in the remainder of what little time you have. You get almost no sleep; it's so expensive that healthy food is out of the question. I don't want to be a surgeon or neuro-scientist. My goal for a while has been a physician. </p>
<p>I got a 2140 (1380 w/o writing) on the SAT and a 33 composite on the ACT. My GPA is rather low (~3.5-3.7), but I took almost only APs and Honors classes. I feel prepared for freshman year, but I don't think I want to give up my life after that. What are everyone's opinions on this?</p>
<p>If it’s what you really want to do then you won’t mind having your life consist of study groups and whatnot because you’ll be working toward something you truly want. I mean yeah it’ll be stressful and burn you out at times but in the end, if it’s what you wanted, you’ll look back on the struggles and accomplishments and smile.</p>
<p>Of course I can major in English and still go to Med School. Thing is, I won’t know very much med-related material if I spent the majority (no pun intended) of my time as an undergrad reading and analyzing literature. I really love biology, but I think that med school takes it too far. I mean, it won’t be another five long years until I’m there, so who know how I’ll change in that time. Plus, I’ve had no experience in it. </p>
<p>Can someone explain what Med School is like, exactly?</p>
<p>Biology is a torturous major that will leave you unemployed if you fail to go to medical school.</p>
<p>English is an easier major that will also leave you unemployed if you fail to go to medical school.</p>
<p>So why not take English? At least then you won’t be torturing yourself for 4 years, as both degrees are totally unemployable alone anyhow. I mean, look at the average salaries for Biology degrees and English degrees. If you fail to go to med school you’ll be a lab serf working for minimum wage; if you got an English degree and fail to go to med school you’ll be a Wal Mart worker for minimum wage, so whats the difference.</p>
<p>The difference is that English doesn’t prepare you for med school , bio does. And I don’t think English majors work at Wal-Mart. I mean, they don’t get fabulous jobs, but you can still earn $60,000-70,000 a year working as a teacher in a good high school or being an editor someplace. And if you do things on the side besides teaching/editing, you can make a lot more money than you may think. As for bio, it’s not torturous until you get to med school. Until then, it’s just really annoying. I mean, if it’s anything like AP Bio then I’ll ace it. If it’s twice as hard as AP Bio, I might have trouble. Anything harder and I don’t know.</p>
<p>The thing is, RussianFlame, university classes are nothing like the AP exams. So, you got a 5 on AP Bio. That’s great. That’s wonderful. So the question is: Did you learn how to take the AP exam or did you really learn the material?
Some students entering college with a 5 on certain AP exams struggle in the higher level courses they placed into because they had forgotten the basics. There are also students who got a 5 on the AP exams thinking that they can retake the intro level courses for an “easy 4.0”; however, this usually isn’t the case. </p>
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<p>(By the way, you should really be looking at the Pre-Med section of CC for your answers.)</p>
<p>If you major in English, you still have to complete the same requirements as a Bio major who is planning to go to med school. You still have to take the MCAT, so why is it a question of whether or not you’ll be prepared?</p>
<p>If you get into med school or are thinking of applying, you should be prepared to handle the coursework because you’ve done enough research about the curriculum. If not, then the adcoms might notice that hesitation and lack of knowledge during the interviews and reject you.</p>
<p>And here comes the part where LastThreeYears was mentioning. If you don’t get into med school, what will you do with your life? It’s always good to have a Plan B or C. </p>
<p>Do your research, think about it, and pick whichever one you’ll be happier with.</p>
<p>Just to clarify-- my mom has been teaching for upwards of 25 years, majored in Education and has her masters, and she still just barely reaches that salary range. You’re looking more at $30 to maybe 40k for a really long time. Not saying that salary is everything, but yeah.</p>
<p>Majoring in biology will not prepare you for medical school. In fact, I can’t think of any undergraduate major that will directly prepare you for medical school. They prefer to see you major in something you actually like; an english major would actually make you more appealing. This is how some pre-meds can major in such subjects as Philosophy, History, Art, or even Music, and still be successful in not only securing acceptances but also doing just as well (sometimes even better) than their science major classmates in medical school.</p>
<p>Seriously, everything you learn in medical school is super indepth and even your uni’s Anatomy and Physiology courses won’t compare or even be helpful. Spare yourself the trouble and become an English major if that’s what you truly enjoy - you’ll probably come out with a better GPA, too. Complete the prereq’s and maybe a couple upper division courses and you’ll be just fine. Bio majors need to learn unnecessary crap like Botany and the life cycle of the c.elegans or something.</p>
<p>Don’t tailor your application for dealing with not getting in, tailor it to getting in on your first try. </p>
<p>Doctors still have lives and many students are very balanced. Don’t believe me, go on SDN and use the search function.</p>
<p>Another thought: Why not double major in English and Biology if you’re THAT worried about your future job prospects?</p>
<p>Also, you’re in High School. You need to chill out a little more and stop worrying about this at such an early age.</p>
<p>You might think that, I got high score on a high school class, university biology is easy!</p>
<p>You might even think, I got straight A’s in year 1, I’m good at biology!</p>
<p>Wait until second semester of year 2 when there’s no more calculations or easy concepts and you’ll be memorizing things like ligand XXX and ligand XXX binding protein (serious names, there are really proteins named N binding protein). Biology is written in Martian; who the hell knows what sonic hedgehog is and even if you do know so what, look it up in a book, your B.S. biology can be replaced by a 100 dollar book or even for free on wikipedia since all you learn is memorizing. On top of that you’ll be torturing yourself for no reason since a B.S. Biology (or even B.S. Biochemistry) is just as worthless as a B.S. in English for work in the real world.</p>
<p>Things change. you might think you want to be a doctor but most people only see the $$$ and not the memorizing that goes behind it (and the fact that doctors will soon be replaced with automated diagnostic databases). You also might think that you’ll be an emergency room surgeon. The thing is, most doctors aren’t emergency room surgeons. 99% of them aren’t. Most sit in a clinic and diagnose things, and that’s the function that can be replaced by a computer program. Chemistry, computer science and engineering can never be completely automated though.</p>
<p>What’s it like to major in computer science (if there is such a thing)? What are the careers like? When I think of computer science, I think of balding 40 year-old men who earn $30,000 a year to pick up your computer and change its harddrive.</p>
<p>^^Think, well, whatever kind of person you want but making $60,000 programming ****. If you really wanna get wild, think NSA agent those guys who pick up your computer to change its hard drive probably just have certifications but not CS degrees.</p>
those guys who pick up your computer to change its hard drive probably just have certifications but not CS degrees.</p>