I’m new to this and I’m not sure where I’m supposed to put this but I’ll just get to the point.
So I’m a rising senior who’s starting college applications as we speak. I really want to study Economics at college, however, my parents are your stereotypical South Asian parents who decided when I was born that I would be a doctor. I’ve never wanted to follow their aspirations, and this summer I even interned at a large nearby hospital, and it fully confirmed that I have no desire to go into the medical field. I think my stats are good enough to get into a top school (4.0 UW, 1540 SAT, IB Diploma, six 5’s and two 4’s on AP exams, DECA VP of Finance, good EC’s).
The problem that I have is that I have tried talking to my parents and they have repeatedly said that they will only pay my tuition if I’m on a pre-med track at college. I’m from an upper-middle class family, meaning that I probably wouldn’t get much in financial aid. So what can I do the ensure that I study what I’m passionate about? Can my parents see my common app after I apply for college? Meaning that I show them I’m studying biology and change my major choice right before I submit my app? Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
What colleges are you applying to? Many colleges allow you to easily change majors after you apply. Others do not. In any event they will eventually see your grade report and know that you ae studying something else. they may then cut off your tuition payments.
From what I understand, you can be any major and be pre-med. In fact, a doctor friend of mine told me that medical schools actually like it when people have majors other than biology (as long as they have all the required courses for med school) because it shows they are well-rounded people. Maybe you could tell your parents this and they will allow you to study Econ?
Plus, at some point your parents are going to find out you didn’t major in biology.
As for your question, they can see your common app after you apply if they have your user name and password. If they don’t have it, they won’t be able to login.
Hi, I’m planning on applying to Georgia Tech, NYU, Colombia, Penn, U of Chicago, Vanderbilt, Duke, USC, UCLA, and UC Berkeley. And yes I was considering changing my major, but how easy is it to change into a different college? As majors like biology are typically in the School of Life Sciences while something like economics is normally in the School of Social Sciences.
A pre-med track is not a major and most schools will require you declare a major no later
then the beginning of junior year. Why couldn’t it be Econ? A student can major in anything and still qualify for med school, as long as certain classes and the MCAT are completed before applying to med school.
If your parents are paying your tuition R&B, I wouldn’t rock the boat too much at this point and instead kick this particular can down the road for two or three years. Have the conversation with them then – when you have demonstrated evidence of which career path better suits your learning style and temperament.
As an Econ major, you can take Bio and Chem classes that would only improve your chances of being hired after undergrad, as well as keeping you in contention as a candidate for med school.
Your MCAT (should you decide to take it) scores would be a determining factor.
Your longer term problem is getting them to pay if they insist on seeing your grades because your transcript will list your major. @mom2collegekids can tell you about med school and undergrad majors. I don’t think bio is the best choice for a student who wants to go to med school. If you can convince your parents of that, you don’t have to tell them you don’t want to be a doctor yet.
I would not advise deceiving your parents this way. Things like this have a way of coming out… if your parents are serious about this stipulation on their funding college, what will you do if they find out you deceived them after you’ve enrolled? They could refuse to pay any more to that college, and if you are at an expensive school that you can’t afford on your own you will have to leave that college.
One option is for you to find schools that will be at or near full ride for your stats (for example Alabama). Also, research some potential career opportunities that you could pursue with your economics education. When you have such a list of colleges and career potential approach your parents and calmly explain that you tried to like the medical field but it’s not for you, and that you would like to pursue economics at a university that will cost them very little or potentially nothing. If you are calm and well-prepared, they will be more likely to listen to you.
Although it may be hard to swallow, you must accept that your parents are not required to fund your college education. Lying to them about your major is cowardly and childish and very likely to blow up in your face; taking action to find a way to fund your own education and approaching them calmly with a rational plan is mature and is much more likely to yield a positive outcome.
Here’s what I would do. I would explain to them that the major you take isn’t relevant to whether or not you go to med school or not. Also explain to them that as an asian person applying to college, it is much harder for you to get in a pre-med course than a econ course. Tell them that applying as an econ major will increase your chances of getting into a better school, and will not harm your chances of going to Med school, assuming you get all the requirements down.
Have you explored other options too? I come from a fairly similar background, where my parents also wanted me to become a doctor. However, I really like creating thing, which originally led me to want to be an english major, so that I could become a writer. My parents of course were concerned, since they thought 200,000 dollars of tuition for four years for an english major would be a waste of time and money. So we sat down and discussed why I liked writing (again, the whole creative aspect of it) and at the end we agreed that another perfectly good choice for me was engineering. As such, I’m going to happily apply as a biomedical engineering major, pursuing both my passion of creating things, while also keeping good relations with my parents.
The other thing you can try is to see if you can work out a compromise. Find out why it is you like econ. Is it the math aspect of it? Perhaps you could also see if you could agree with them for a math/engineering degree (I find that parents tend to approve of their kids wanting to be an engineer). The medical field is also incredibly diverse, going anywhere from your traditional family doctor, to a surgeon, lab technician, or researchers. Maybe research might appeal more to you.
Have you also considered double majoring? Maybe you really can do both econ and biology. I know that schools on the quarter system (like northwestern) make it really easy to double, and even triple major.
The one thing that I would directly advise you not to do is to lie to your parents and go behind their back. Ultimately, it’s their money, and if they don’t think an econ degree is worth it, that’s their right. Lying won’t work anyway. One way or another, your parents will find out about what you are majoring in. It’s best that you are super upfront about everything. Don’t lie. It just won’t end well.
Yes, you can be any major and be pre-med. But you would have to take the requisite pre-med courses such as biology, chemistry, organic chemistry, physics, calculus etc. Also even if you put biology as your major at many schools it is easy to switch majors once you are on campus.
That said, I firmly think that you are best off being upfront with your parents for both practical and honorable reasons… Otherwise after a semester or a year your parents may well ask to see your transcript. (If your parents insist on seeing your common application it is reasonable to assume they will ask to see a college transcript at some point) When they do look at your transcript and don’t see the pre-med courses you then will be in a terrible situation of: 1) potentially having your education funds cut and 2) having your parents know that you willingly mislead them. A compromise may be to major in what you want and agree to take the pre-med coursework to leave that door open.
Will your parents really not want you to go to GaTech or Penn if you aren’t going to be a doctor? They’d really want to you to go to community college if that is all that you can pay for on your own? If so, you have a big problem and you have to decide if you will major in biology to please them or go to community college.
I think the better road is to talk to them, tell them that you’ve tried the medical route and it’s not for you. Tell them you still want to be successful and feel the better (and more expensive) schools are the right choice for you, but community college it is if you have to pay for it yourself.