<p>I'm currently in high school and I was researching Colombia University and I came across their BME program. I've searched around for opinions on taking BME for pre-med, but I'm getting mixed answers. Some saying that BME is a really hard major, some saying lots of BME majors get into medical school, and the most confusing thing, some people are saying it has plenty of biology courses and others are saying it barely has any. If I were to keep my GPA high enough, say a 3.7, would I be prepared for MCAT or medical school?</p>
<p>Yeah, it’s definitely possible to do BME and get into med school - some of my friends are doing that. I’ve heard it is a hard major, but if it interests you, then by all means, go for it!</p>
<p>A lot can be said about this topic, but I’ll try to be concise. In general, you should major in a passion, a field in which you want to gain real expertise for a variety of reasons which can include preparation for another field, and often good grades will follow pursuing your passion. That said, engineering in general and BME in particular CAN be a difficult path to good grades. It’s no secret on most campuses that engineers are among the hardest working students (if not THE hardest working students). Engineering problem sets, basic and advanced science and math foundational courses, time consuming labs and lab-work insure that an engineer will generally work many more hours than most college students (a huge amount more than the garden variety liberal arts student, but substantially more than the average sciences major as well). The volume and intensity of the work is not a formula for good grades for many students. And engineer’s grades on most campuses will evidence this – 3.7 - 3.9 grades are great, but still plentiful for most college graduates, but for engineers, 3.7 is truly awesome and 3.8 and above are absolute superstar status. Many believe that engineers graduate with roughly a 0.2 - 0.3 “handicap” to their grades relative to where they might have been with less strenuous college majors.</p>
<p>The above is relevant because grades DO matter for medical school admissions. I have relatives who are career medical school admissions people who confirm the popular belief that at the majority of medical schools GPA is GPA, that is, little or generally no attention is paid to the difficulty of major, the caliber of undergraduate school, or the grade inflation/deflation at that school. They do say that SOME medical schools (often the better ones) do take such factors into account, but it’s impossible to tell how much and what factors did the tipping.</p>
<p>My son majored in BME at Wash U with the goal of medical school. He had a great overall experience. It was absolutely the right substantive major for him, but it was unquestionably a much more difficult road to medical school than most. He and many of his BME friends attained strong enough grades and MCAT scores (BME majors generally do very well on the MCATs) to have plenty of quality options in the med school acceptance game. But he also knows plenty of people whose GPAs took a big hit because of BME and had a lot of difficulty, and even a complete lack of success, with med school admissions (and many of these people would have almost certainly had much stronger grades, and arguably a better shot at med school) had they been more … umm … “strategic” in their undergrad major choice.</p>
<p>BME can be a great major for a pre-med. CAN be. For many students it’s certainly a great substantive background for today’s medical field. But it’s not without significant risk for a potential med school applicant. Think through the variables and choose wisely. That’s all any of us can really do anyway.</p>
<p>I have found some statistics concerning pre-med admissions and the respective MCAT averages and GPAs.</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.aamc.org/download/161692/data/table18-facts2010mcatgpabymaj1-web.pdf.pdf[/url]”>https://www.aamc.org/download/161692/data/table18-facts2010mcatgpabymaj1-web.pdf.pdf</a></p>
<p>You’ve already confirmed that GPA and MCAT scores are the only thing that really differentiates biology majors and BME. The statistics suggest that engineering majors are 2nd in MCAT and tied for 2nd in GPA and that half of engineering applicants are accepted.</p>
<p>That being said, it seems that as long as I keep working on BME, I will probably get into medical school if I’m in the top half of my graduating class.</p>
<p>Am I interpreting this all wrong?</p>
<p>I posted this on another thread but thought you might find the data interesting-
Snow-
I suggest reading this article “Some Statistics on the MCAT and Undergraduate Majors”. BME majors make higher MCAT scores, by about 5 points on average compared to biology majors. While some people argue that med schools do not care about your major, they do care about your MCAT score.
Some Statistics on the MCAT and Undergraduate Majors A Med School Odyssey</p>