<p>Hey everyone. I will be an entering freshman in fall 2011, currently a Bioengineering major in the Integrated Life Sciences program and a Banneker/Key scholar at UMCP and I plan on doing a pre-med track of courses during my time in college. At the present time, I have no clinical or research experiences related to medicine, but I do know that I most likely do not want to be a pure bioengineer at this time. There were three reasons I chose the BioE major 1) it involved things that interested me: math, physics, chemistry, and biology 2) the Engineering school at UMCP is excellent and 3)I was thinking that if I don't want to become a doctor or if I really become interested in engineering two or three years down the road, then I would be stuck with a degree that wouldn't be as much use (not to bash the pure science majors out there).</p>
<p>Right now, I am seriously debating changing my major to chemistry or biochemistry because pre-med with engineering, even though it's bioengineering, seems extremely daunting, even though bioengineering students have gone to good medical schools. My question is: is this a wise choice? I really enjoy chemistry and everything involving it, so being interested is not a problem. Should I stick it out with bioengineering and hope that I am smart enough to get that 3.7+ GPA so I have a back-up in case I decide not to pursue medicine? Or, should I switch to chem or biochem or even biology, likely get better grades, but risk getting a non-engineering degree if I don't go to med school? I know I am very very early in "the game" as it were, but can anyone offer me any advice?</p>
<p>Biology and chemistry have worse job and career prospects than bioengineering (which is not as good as most other engineering, such as chemical engineering), so you would have less of a “plan B” if you do not get into medical school.</p>
<p>According to [National</a> Trends in Grade Inflation, American Colleges and Universities](<a href=“http://www.gradeinflation.com%5DNational”>http://www.gradeinflation.com) , sciences tend to have less grade inflation than engineering (which has less grade inflation than humanities), so it is not at all obvious that biology or chemistry will necessarily lead to a better GPA (unless your university differs from the overall trend here).</p>
<p>So then should I think about switching engineering disciplines? I was also thinking about ChemE, but the only problem is that their curriculum does not allow as much flexibility as BioE to fit in the biology classes necessary. If I do decide to pursue engineering, I could always get a Masters in ChemE right?</p>
<p>The Pre-med advisors at UMCP might be able to give you department specific inside track about GPA, grade deflation/inflation & so on. Once you get a sense of which majors might be less daunting, then you want to verify with that specific departmental advisor and see if he/she can provide you with average GPA, top quartile GPA of the departmental sophomores and juniors, and the number of students achieving a GPA, say > or = 3.7. </p>
<p>Also, you may ask the pre-med advisors about early assurance options at UMCP and the general profile (GPA, community related ECs, Research, shadowing, Leadership etc.) of the students taking the early assurance route.</p>
<p>[Early</a> Assurance Programs | The Reed-Yorke Health Professions Advising Office](<a href=“http://www.prehealth.umd.edu/specialprograms/otherearlyassuranceprograms]Early”>http://www.prehealth.umd.edu/specialprograms/otherearlyassuranceprograms)</p>
<p>Even though you may come in with many APs, and since GPA is one of the major consideration for med school admission, you may want to register for normal level classes instead of advanced level as incoming freshman., Many a times, the placement exams in BCPM may suggest taking higher level courses; use caution. </p>
<p>Also, take a few preparatory engineering (pre-reqs) classes in the first 2 years without committing to engineering as a major, so if you do get into an early assurance program, you can switch to bio engineering or other engineering and graduate in 4 years. You might be able to finish the pre-med requirement in first 3 semesters, giving you some leeway to prepare for MCAT exam.</p>
<p>Like I said, I’m probably not completely set on medicine since I haven’t had any clinical or research experiences yet, so I don’t want to do anything drastic. I am not considering early assurance options at all because I don’t want to be tied down at any time. I’m actually thinking that I’ll stick with BioE because of the post by ucbalumnus. At UMCP, I’ve heard it’s really difficult to switch back into an engineering major once you’ve switched out. I think I’ll stick with BioE for now. Maybe I’ll change my mind later, but I guess it’s better to be secure with options with engineering rather than inflexible in another department.</p>