<p>I marked it down on my application but am wondering if it may be too difficult. I plan on going pre-med, so I need to get a fairly high GPA. How tough is this subject (anywhere near engineering)? Also, how would it compare to general biology and which of the two majors is easier?</p>
<p>Target GPA: 3.75 (college)</p>
<p>Most people consider general bio easier, but there is a great deal of overlap, so no need to decide this now. IMO, major in what you love, be it engineering, music, biochem, french, etc. You'll do best studying something that fascinates you, and you only get one shot at college, so you might as well enjoy it.</p>
<p>Biochemistry is definitely one of the tougher forms of biology to major in. BioChem is one concentration of biology at my school. I'm majoring in a different concentration (molecular/cell biology) which contains a significant amount of biochemistry but not as much as the biochem concentration (obviously).</p>
<p>i'll comment. From all the websites I've seen, it's usually interdepartmental or mostly in the chemistry department. So, it appears it's much more difficult than the other bio majors.</p>
<p>Biochemistry is difficult not just because the subject matter is difficult, but also for one even more important reason - the large number of premeds that tend to be in biochem. </p>
<p>Paradoxically, because of all the premeds who are in biochem, this might make biochem one of the worst majors for premed. The fact is, med-school admissions are highly numbers-driven, which means that you have to get as high of a GPA as possible. The presence of lots of premeds makes biochem extremely tough because they tend to study extremely hard and fight for every last point on every assignment and exam, which pulls the curve up and makes it extremely difficult for anybody to get top grades. If you want to get top grades in biochem classes, which are almost always curved, you basically have to at least match the scores of the premeds, and many of these premeds think nothing of studying all day, every day. </p>
<p>The real problem is that med-school adcoms don't really seem to care about admitting the best students. They care more about admitting the students with the best numbers, whether those students really are the best students or not. That's why engineering is perhaps the worst major to complete if you want to get into med-school. Med-school adcoms don't seem to care that engineering majors tend to give out low grades. Similarly, med-school adcoms also don't seem to care that it is difficult to get top grades in biochem because of all the other premeds in there pulling up the curve. To get into med-school, you're better off getting straight A's in a stupid cheesepuff major than straight B's in a difficult major.</p>
<p>Why did you choose it as a major if you don't know anything about it? Too many people pick biochemistry because it sounds cool.</p>
<p>mAN this is dumb, why are med schools so superficial in looking at the high numbers but not the capabilities of the students?
From what i gather,
engineering students work their @$$ off and don' t exactly get high GPAs, worst major to consider for premed,
Biochem. and biology, chemistry etc. come pretty near, tho not as bad as engineering majors,
classical and those art, music, drawing, underwater basket-weaking, lint-picking majors generate the highest GPAs.
Now I don't ever wanna major in BME biomedical engineering or biomechanical engineering etc, nor do I want to do biochemistry. Maybe I will still stick with general biology tho since i like it so much , to study life, etc .</p>
<p>Not that I'm a fan of the way med-schools adcoms do their job, but I think it has something to do with the fact that so many massive hordes of people apply that the adcoms decide to use numerical screens as initial cutoffs just to make the applicant numbers more manageable, and this has the effect of hurting those students who chose difficult majors at difficult programs.</p>
<p>Shawn, your second to last sentence was pretty funny. Thanks to all for replying.</p>
<p>So what happens after the cut-off?</p>
<p>Like say one student chose a weave-basket major and someone else chose engineering.
Both had the same gpa and other numbers that are looked at, both went through the screening round.</p>
<p>Does major become a factor then?</p>
<p>The application criteria for the med school adcoms is not based on overall GPA. They will separate the "math/science" courses from the "other". First cut off is how well you did in science/math with extra credit to those who carried more than 1 or 2 of these classes in a semester.</p>
<p>Your "other" classes just show you are well rounded in your education and can handle work outside of your specialty.</p>
<p>Most upper level students can learn enough science to do reasonably well on the MCAT. The basket weavers will usually not have the math/science GPA in their school courses to match. They will usually outscore Mr. Wizard on the Verbal just because everyone overlooks the importance of this section. The net effect is why the basket weavers can still get accepted into med school if they brush up on their bio and take a few basic science courses to give them a decent GPA on that subset.</p>
<p>So, is it really true that the numerical GPA and MCAT scores are the most important? Is there no consideration that a 3.5 GPA at Duke, for example, is different than a 3.5 at a state school or lower tier school?</p>
<p>I just found ALL the answers from sakky and others to this question - I had been looking for the answers on other threads and found the same questions/answers after I posted on this! :)</p>