<p>I am currently a junior in high school and have started to think about college. I would eventually like to go to medical school after my undergraduate studies. What I am having trouble on is deciding on a major.</p>
<p>I know a lot of people who want to go into med school choose biology or chemistry as their majors. However, I've come to realize that if for some reason I change my mind don't go to medical school, I would not have many other career options with those majors.</p>
<p>My parents have been encouraging me to choose biomedical engineering, but I am not a big fan as I am not much into physics or calculus, which compose a large part of engineering majors.</p>
<p>Can you guys please help me by giving me some ideas as to what are some good majors for me? I would like something so that if for any reason I decide not to attend med school, I will have a good amount of career options. I would prefer it not be something related to engineering.</p>
<p>My daughter is a freshman pre-med who is currently considering neuroscience and/or economics. Someone else we know is doing Spanish and/or Latin American Studies. Someone else is double majoring in French and physics, so it’s really all over the place. (These are all kids at LACs, BTW.)</p>
<p>A large part is dictated by what your school requires. Schools with a lot of core courses tend to make you major in things that match the pre-med curriculum, which is why chemistry and biology are popular. That’s also why engineering can be difficult, as engineers often don’t have many electives and the pre-med courses tend not to align with engineering. Few/no engineering majors require that much chemistry, physics, AND biology, plus state schools where engineering is offered often have extensive core requirements.</p>
<p>Also remember you can get a JD or MBA after majoring in anything, if med school is no longer an option.</p>
<p>BiomedE is NOT the right major for a premed who is looking for a back up career in case he doesn’t go to med school.</p>
<p>You can’t get a decent job with just a bachelors in BiomedE. You can with OTHER engineering degrees.</p>
<p>That said, you don’t like all the math and physics needed with an E degree, so E is not for you.</p>
<p>BTW…tell your parents that med schools do NOT give you a pass for having a lower GPA in engineering. You will still be expected to have a high GPA to get into med schools. and med schools are NOT impressed with biomedE. </p>
<p>So, tell your parents that you won’t likely get a high GPA in E since you don’t like math and physics…a recipe for a good number of B’s and C’s…not med school worthy.</p>
<p>You will be spending all of your med school years focusing on bio/chem/medicine. So why not focus on something that you enjoy in college but will also give you enough spare credits for all the prerequisites for med school?</p>
<p>What else interests you? Psychology, sociology, classics, business or economics, womens studies,art or music?</p>
<p>It’s much easier to do well in college if you enjoy your major. I have 2 in med school. Both of my children have med school classmates with majors in everything from agriculture to music performance to theology to English lit to international relations to electrical engineering. (My children majored in physics & math and neuroscience & math. Math offers many excellent non-med school career pathways, but you say you don’t like math–so that’s a moot point.) </p>
<p>I somewhat disagree with Mom2–while it’s harder to get a job with a bachelor’s in BME than it is as a MechE or Chem E, there are jobs. D2’s university offers a bachelor’s BME degree and has for more than 20 years (IOW, it’s a well established program) --that program has had excellent success in placing its grads into jobs and has strong ties to industry. If you’re serious about BME, that would be something to look for when choosing a program–job placement success. Be aware that BME is not a math or physics lite major. BMEs still will take the same 4 semesters of math, 3 semester of physics and 1 semester of computer programming all engineering majors take. </p>
<p>The biggest issue in majoring in something other than bio/biochem/chem will be finding enough space in your schedule to complete your pre-med requirements (which are increasing with the new MCAT in 2015). </p>
<p>You might also consider that at many colleges you cannot declare a major until your sophomore year. This will give you time to take a variety of classes and find out where your strengths & interests lie. (Just make sure you take gen chem as a freshman since the chem sequence for pre med is now 5 semesters long.)</p>
<p>I’ve been asked as to what interests me in the previous comments. I am a fan of computers and programming and things like that and I generally like all science except physics. Also just to clarify I do not dislike math, it was my favorite subject its just that I’m not a big fan of calculus. I like other types of math like statistics.</p>
<p>By the way thanks for the responses, they have some very good points.</p>
<p>Applied math & statistics? Highly employable, but you’re still going to need to take 3 semesters of calc and differential equations for the major.</p>
<p>If you like algebra level math, but not calc— Accounting?</p>
<p>If you like programming–software engineering? Information Science? </p>
<p>If you like computers, major in computer science. It’s a great field and you can get a job right out of college if you decide not to do med school. But I’m pretty sure that requires a lot of math. Have you taken or are planning to take calc in HS? If you take a BC calc and get a 5, most if not all schools will give you 2 semester credits for it. So that’s one way of getting out of college calc. What level math are you taking now?</p>
<p>some people “go with the flow” so to speak and it works perfectly for them. Every road to Med. School is somewhat different. As for my D. it was “go with the flow”. She choose her UG as a place where she felt the most comfortable (aside from the fact that she was accepted to bs/md there and UG awarded the full tuition Merit scholarship). The major was not a question, most pre-meds there were Zoology major. So, here was her major chosen by majority of pre-meds there, why not?
So, my advice, do not think too hard, research, visit, choose the place (ever so carefully), then decide on major…or figure out your own unique road to Med. School. The road is not as important as it may seem to a high schooler, the end result is and the road may be as unique as a walker.
One warning though, keep in mind that majors are not created equal in regard to time consumption. You will be very busy with various medical ECs. While major is not that important, some require much more time than others. Yes, CS is very exciting and practically addictive. This is coming from me, a CS / IT or whatever you want to call professional for over 30 years, There is no piece of software that you (or anybody) will write that will work OK as intended, it needs to be debugged. This process is very time consuming whille you cannot leave it until it works. It will follow you in bed, into shower, everywhere. Cannot get rid of it until all works fine. Not sure, if a pre-med who will have many ubsolutely un-related to this task goals should choose CS, but one may decide that he loves it and just deal with it. There are people who successfully graduated with the engineering degree, and this one is the most challenging. While engineering requires very very strong math background, CS does not require any math at all, none. Accounting is also very time consuming and require math that many would not like at all - numbers, dealing with numbers is tedeous and boring for those who love algebra, trig, calc. But for others, nothing could be more exciting.
. All in all it all depends what you are looking forward to do in UG.<br>
Couple things that you will not have any choice. Your college GPA will have to be very hihg and you will need a decent MCAT score if you want to be among 43% who get accepted out of applicant pool.</p>
<p>…did not see music…Music was a great minor for my D., her R&R, great fun, discoveries, other type of people. She fully enjoyed it, but keep in mind something like this is for those who are not afraid to take risks. But music, art, foreign languages, sports enrich life forever and the time to pursue them is at UG, later you will not have time for any of it…</p>
<p>With a 5 on AB calc you’ll get a credit for 1 semester. Why take BC calc and AB calc? BC calc incorporates AB calc. But considering that you’re a junior you can also take stats in senior year and possibly get credit for that. Sounds like calc might not be your favorite but you’re pretty good at it. I don’t agree with MiamiDP, math is important in CS. I also am in that field and speaking from experience.<br>
Go to a school that you love and take some intro computer classes along with premed requirements and see how you do. You’ll be able to tell right away if this is something that you like and it’s something you can handle. </p>
<p>Thanks for all the responses. I have decided that I don’t mind doing some calculus as long as it is not too much. I am considering a major in computer science while also completing all the pre-med requirements.</p>
<p>Be aware that at many colleges computer science majors are offered thru the engineering dept. For schools that do include CS under engineering, you will be required to complete the engineering math sequence (Calc 1, 2, 3 + linear analysis) as part of your degree.</p>
<p>Colleges that offer a BA in CS or place CS under arts & sciences typically require less math.</p>
<p>Just something to keep in mind when choosing a college program.</p>
<p>My dd is a sophomore in college and is double majoring (as of this writing; things may change, who knows?) in English Lit and Bio looking toward med school. Why? Because she is passionate about both of those subjects. If you are passionate about whatever you do, you’ll most likely do well in school.</p>