Hey guys, super quick here
I know I want to go the medical route in college, but I’m undecided on whether I should apply straight to a medical undergrad program or go the bio-med engineering route (which I’m fully aware falls under a school of engineering).
You see I don’t know if I want to become a straight-up doctor or do something medical related (right now it’s bio-medical engineering because I’ve always loved to design)
If I go the bio-medical engineering route via an undergrad program and decide that I’d much rather go to medical school, would I still be eligible to apply to said medical school?
Yes, but it would be hard for you to keep a high enough GPA to get in. Medical schools don’t care if your major is difficult or not. They just look to see if you’ve fulfilled the necessary prerequisites and have a very high GPA.
Wait so are you saying that bio-medical engineering is an even more difficult major than medicine?
There’s not a “medicine” major. You can major in ANYTHING as long as you get the prerequisites required by medical school.
Medicine is a graduate level school. Your undergrad school provides pre-med requirements while taking any major, as @MaineLonghorn stated.
Yes, OP. To clarify, you can major in anything - biomedical engineering, music, philosophy, chemistry - and still go to medical school as long as you take the pre-med prerequisites. There’s no ‘medicine’ major, just a set of classwork that you have to complete like a year of calculus, a year of physics, a year of chemistry, a year of biology, etc. Each school will have a pre-med track that you can complete and likely a pre-med advisor who will make sure that you’re taking the right classes.
The only “straight to a medical undergrad programs” I know of are the BS/MD programs. They’re generally 7-8 year programs; the way they work is that you are admitted to a special, potentially accelerated course of study at an undergrad and a cooperating medical school. You study at the undergrad school for 3-4 years, and as long as you maintain a certain GPA (and sometimes achieve a certain MCAT score), you are guaranteed admission into the medical school part. Students usually do this if they are nearly 100% that they want to be physicians, have a deep dedication to the field and have displayed that through volunteering and shadowing, and can handle the accelerated pace (particularly at a 7 year program or the few 6 year programs out there). These are highly competitive programs, and few students are admitted. One example is Brown’s BS/MD program (8 years; brown.edu/academics/medical/plme/prospective-students/prospective-students); another is the joint program between Siena College and Albany Medical College (https://www.siena.edu/academics/academics-at-siena/additional-academic-opportunities/albany-medical-college-program/).
When you said “straight to a medical undergrad program,” this is what I assume you meant.
My opinion is that if you are unsure whether or not you want to pursue medicine, you shouldn’t do a BS/MD program - you should just go the traditional route, major in whatever you want, complete the medical prerequisites and then apply to medical school later if/when you are ready and want to.
I also personally don’t think you should shy away from a major you’re really interested in just because it’s a bit harder to keep a higher GPA, especially if you aren’t really sure about medicine. There are great medically-related careers in biomedical engineering itself, as well as many other medical careers. (If you love design, for example, I once had a student in my public health summer class who was an industrial design major. She used her major to design medical products to improve public health in resource-poor areas - for example, a low-flush latrine system for women in areas with no plumbing and running water.)
I may be a bit late, but thanks for your help julliet! Considering how indecisive I am at this point, I think I’m going to consider the traditional route.