<p>I'm currently in Civil Engineering, but for the future I'm still not decided on what I want to be (meaning pharmacist or civil engineering). So to get into medical school after college you need to have a background of bio classes I'm sure of, however civil engineering doesn't take bio classes.
What I'm trying to get at is I'm thinking about switching into bio as soon as possible because 1st quater you're taking bio classes. but I didn't take AP bio in high school, so do you think this major would be more difficult? And would it be wise to switch if I'm still not sure but leaning towards medical?</p>
<p>My dad, brother, and sister are civil engineers, I planned to become either a civil engineer or pharmacist since I was in middle school. You’re probably vietnamese or something. Your perception seems skewed, so here I go and try to make sense of it.</p>
<p>It sounds like you think that med school wants you to have a background of bio classes; this is true, but for this, they have requirements. This means that you can’t even apply without having taken biology courses. For instance, some med schools may require that you take 1 year of biology courses, 1 year of chemistry courses, 2 biology labs, etc. There is NO requirement for the biology major though, you can be a civil engineering major or even a psychology major, and take the REQUIRED classes for med school and still apply.</p>
<p>With that said, you don’t need to be a bio major to apply to medschool, bio majors are just good pre-meds because their curriculum covers all the bases required for medschool applicants.</p>
<p>Another big flaw is that you make it sound like medical school is the same as pharmacy school. Applying to pharmacy school is less extensive than medschool, so look at the pre-requesities to applying to pharmacy.</p>
<p>The catch if you don’t switch majors and still want to apply to medicine/pharm: You don’t get priority enrollment in non-major core classes, so you most likely won’t be able to get the pre-requesite courses (For instance, Molecular Pharmacology as a pre-req for Pharmacy applicants, which is hard to get into if you’re not a bio major).</p>
<p>As for difficulty: I did not take AP Bio in highschool, but I did take a highschool introductory biology course is 9th grade (got a B- in that… bio wasn’t my strongest subject). But I don’t feel like I was at too much of a disadvantage, nor was it hard (still top 5% of bio majors).</p>
<p>if you want something more flexible that takes bio classes, you can try biomedical engineering. i am doing that. it’s harder than both bio and civE though.</p>
<p>Ohhh thank you very much for your information guys! :] </p>
<p>Jaganshi, you really helped me sort my ideas out, thanks! lol and I feel better about switching into bio sci major by not having AP bio.</p>
<p>Yeah see thats the thing, I knew that by not being in a bio major I wont get priority over the courses same thing with if I switched majors I wouldn’t get the engineering courses needed. </p>
<p>But if I switch into biomedical engineering that is harder than both. How much harder is it ShoeFactory?</p>
<p>The unfortunate thing is, I’m a freshman, aren’t I suppose to worry about GE instead of thinking about preparation for grad school? (Like what my sophomore yr will be). This is frustrating because you kinda have to have an idea of what you want to major in, otherwise you’ll get behind if you switch.</p>
<p>you have to be versed in physics/chem/ochem/bio/math if you want to be BME and be premed.</p>
<p>if bio, you only need chem ochem bio
if CE you need physics math</p>
<p>Ok, thanks shoefactory. That is pretty insane on handling both majors. I personally don’t think I would be able to do that. Is there anyway you could give me an estimate of how many units you need to take? And if summer school will be needed every year?
Currently, I’m going to be taking Math1B this quarter. I’m already behind huh? lol</p>
<p>being premed isnt a major – it’s more of the requirements that you need to take for medical school.</p>
<p>I’d say 17-20 units per quarter every quarter. Maybe only dedicate one summer to summer school.</p>
<p>Math 1B… do you mean math 2b? if it were math 2b you wouldn’t really be behind, but its not ahead either. i believe 1b is the remedial class.</p>
<p>Oh i know, by both majors I meant biosci and civilE.</p>
<p>But, 17-20 units is definitely too much. :[
Looks like I’m going to switch my major to biosci.
And no, I mean math 1B. I passed the precal test (barely), but my adviser suggested that I take math1B to make sure i have a solid foundation.</p>
<p>biosci would probably be a better way to go.</p>
<p>i advise u take math 2a though.</p>