<p>Im really interested in going to med school and becoming a doctor but I am having trouble deciding what to major in for undergrad. I am debating between something like chem/biochem or biomedical engineering. Do you think biomedical engineering is too hard to do with pre med? Honestly, i am very strong in math and science, but do you think this major will leave me with basically no free time to do other things that study? This also leaves me with the problem that many schools require engineering majors to apply to the school of engineering. and if i apply engineering and decide i don't like it, it might be hard to transfer schools. Let me know what you think.
Thanks!</p>
<p>People major in all sorts of “hard” fields–like math, physics, astronomy and all species of engineering–and still make it into med school. You just have to be good at managing your time and willing to put in the hours it takes to get good grades. (Having strong math aptitiude helps immensely.)</p>
<p>If med school is important to you–you’ll find the time to do everything you need to do, even on top a challenging major.</p>
<p>If you think you want to do engineering it’s important to apply to the school of engineering since engineering disciplines (of all varieties) have a large number lockstep course sequences. Miss a course and your graduation could be delayed by a year or more.</p>
<p>Transferring OUT of engineering is much, much easier than transferring in. </p>
<p>Unless you’re atending a technical school (you know, a college that has the word Technology or Mines in its name: MIT, CalTech, RHIT, RIT, CSM, Rennsalaer Polytech, NMTech, etc), transferring into the college of arts & sciences from the COE is usually just a matter of getting paperwork signed.</p>
<p>It really depends on the school. I am in the same situation (only with a choice of chem vs chemE). In some schools, it’s easy to switch from an engineering program to another program. In other schools, it’s essentially impossible. The difficulty of the two programs also varies by school. Some schools have strong engineering departments in which case engineering would be harder. Some schools have renowned natural science departments and virtually nonexistent engineering programs in which case engineering would probably be easier. For instance, when I spoke to the assistant dean of engineering at my school to switch, he said that ChemE was a hard way to do pre-med. But then again, the ChemE program at my school is ranked in the top ten in the nation, so that might have something to do with it.</p>
<p>Also, it depends on the person. If you’re naturally inclined towards chem/bio, it may be the easier major for you. If you’re naturally inclined towards engineering, that may be easier. It’s different for each person and if you’re in a field that you don’t truly have a passion for, you will most definitely find the work much harder than somebody who like what they’re doing.</p>