<p>^cobrat,
This is so unusual since they both got acceptances to places like UChicago, that rejects most applicants (including my D. who got acceptances to 4 other Med. Schools on her first try, including couple in top 20s). And in addition, they got Merit aid (none in D’s case, except for very little at one Med. School).
Maybe they obtained PhD or become lawyers in the 5 years before Med. School? D. has PhD, MS’s and lawyers in her first year Medical School class. I would assume that some additional Grad. school degree would make a diff. It is extremely unusual that 3.75/3.85 did not get single acceptance, unless they lack in other area, but according to you, they were fine all way around. Wvery Med. School has about 5000 applicants for about 170 spots, bu people apply to multiple Med. Schools and 3.75/3.85 usually get accepted to few if other aspects of application are taken care of. D. has graduted from state UG, most of her pre-med friends had multiple acceptances and had very good choices of Med. Schools.</p>
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<p>Actually…from what I’ve heard from several medical doctors…including 3 who were my roommates for 5 years…their experience was actually very typical of applicants from the mid’90s onward. </p>
<p>They cited skyrocketing numbers of applicants, little/no increase in med school spots, and the level of competition being such that a 3.6 cumulative undergrad GPA was widely considered an absolute minimal baseline to be admitted to a US AMA accredited med school. </p>
<p>Only thing unusual was their dogged persistence as most med school hopefuls tend to give up after 2-3 failed application attempts. </p>
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<p>Nope. The Buffalo grad worked 5 years as a research assistant at a university hospital and the UC Berkeley grad bounced around…including doing a stint as a Starbucks Barista. </p>
<p>Neither had the desire or in the case of law…the financial means to accumulate graduate degrees in areas they had no career interest in.</p>
<p>I don’t really understand why but I often get criticized for picking Chemical Engineering by some of my family. It doesn’t really bother me since I’m doing what I love.</p>
<p>Yes. I am an East Asian Studies major, and I hate it when my family say it’s useless just because it’s not within the math or science field. Sorry, but the Humanities and Social Sciences departments need love, too.</p>
<p>cobrat,
“3.6 cumulative undergrad GPA was widely considered an absolute minimal baseline to be admitted to a US AMA accredited med school.”
-My understanding that it is still true today. That was my primary reason for confusion about 3.75/3.85 NOT getting accepted multiple times. There must be another reason, definitely not GPA. Maybe they applied only to very top Med. Schools? It is a common sense to apply to schools that match your stats.
Again, both seems to be very unusual. I do not believe that requirements went down since 90’s. There are more applicants every year while # of spots remain the same.<br>
I still believe that one does not need to be perfect or genius or apply 5 / multiple times to pursue medicine or any other field. They have to prepare to work hard and apply appropriately where they would fit with what they have.
I agree that it is important to follow your heart. However, situation might not be completely under your control if somebody else is paying for college. In our family, it was important to research a job market for specific skill set/degree. If we found our that there are no jobs, then this major was closed. Other families might have different goals. If one wants to be truly independent, then try hard in HS, get full ride Merit award and then you truly do not need to listen…but you might face a possibility of asking for financial support after graduation. Never close any doors, leave as many of them open as possible.</p>
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<p>I don’t know about the Berkeley grad…but the Buffalo HS classmate applied to a wide range of schools and still needed 5 tries. </p>
<p>Also, if 3.6 is considered the absolute baseline…then most of the viable applicants would probably be in the 3.7-3.8 range…so those GPAs wouldn’t be considered anything special…even with near-perfect MCAT scores as was the case with the Buffalo grad friend. </p>
<p>In that context…a 3.75/3.85 may just be “average” or slightly above average in the viable applicant pool after they weeded out those who didn’t meet the bare minimums.</p>
<p>No, I’m a computer science major and all my family doesn’t say a word about it. I think they are secretly pleased about my choice. Or maybe they think I only chose it please them, which I really can’t say if I did or not. Either way, I think I’m starting to enjoy it so I know this is the major for me.
My parents are both computer engineers, my grandmother was a computer engineer…and so on. I come from a computer engineer family basically.
My grandparents living in my home country are proud when I tell them and people like friends are generally impressed, because they think it must be super hard or something. </p>
<p>If what I like is eating, sleeping, watching TV series, being on the computer and going on vacations…I think my job/paycheck will allow me do this, so I don’t really care if it’s not fun all the time, or as fun as arts majors. xD I’m lazy by nature so it can’t be “do what you love” when it comes to career and work for me haha</p>
<p>The medical, law, technology, engineering fields are valued for a REASON, and if you can’t accept that their value surpass the humanities and social sciences, than you need to start living in this century. Medicine and law are more selfless fields, about helping people, rather than making a profit or fame. This is why these fields are regarded more highly.
Of course, humanities and social sciences are important as well.</p>
<p>Everyone needs some technical skills and some liberal arts knowledge. There are very few people that are 100% in love with STEM fields. Even liberal arts major should have some technical skills (like accounting, programming skills, etc).
I’m taking a Asian Languages and Literature minor to balance my math/science courses and get a more well rounded education that I want too</p>
<p>I’m an international relations / economics major. My (Asian) mom is super supportive of me in general but she still drives me nuts about major-talk. </p>
<p>Before college: “why are you interested in international relations? why not international business?” </p>
<p>Beginning of college: “take an accounting class! Why are you not majoring in accounting?” (I took an accounting class to placate my mom…hated it…loved my economics courses and added that as a major instead. Showed her the stats that economics majors make just as much/if not more than other business majors…).</p>
<p>Now: “look at your best friend! She’s a civil engineering major! Why can’t I have her as a daughter?” *says it half-jokingly</p>
<p>The rest of my family (non-Asian) doesn’t really insult my studies, aside from sharing the random annoying anecdote (“my sister’s niece’s cousin majored in international relations, she couldn’t find a job” - hello, not your sister’s niece here). A lot of them are confused as to what my majors actually are about and always ask “so what are you going to do with those?” or “what exactly is international relations?” but then I tell them about my internship experiences and pretty well-defined career goals and they seem satisfied with my explanation.</p>
<p>Come to think of it, I used to joke that I wished one of my sons had been a plumber instead of a software engineer. For what those guys charge, it almost seemed worth it! But in actuality, my sons can afford to put their feet up and let the plumber do the work. :)</p>
<p>Thankfully my parents are not this way. They fully supported me when I wanted to be any major (English, Anthropology, Journalism), but now I’m a Biology major (but not pre-med). They still support me and believe that as long as a love what I do then I will find a job somewhere and make the most of my situation. </p>
<p>I can’t say that I haven’t been judged by others though, especially when I wanted to be an English major. The common jab: “So you want to be a professor.” *******s.</p>
<p>I have been decided on a history major for the past year and I get flack from my mother and my aunt. My aunt has 2 masters degree’s and works in Human Resources and when ever she asks me what my planned major is (I love how she always ‘forgets’) I hear " History ? O… My friends daughter blah blah blah details … Is going to be an engineer! She has a 4.0 and walks on holy ground!" I know History isn’t the ideal major and don’t get me wrong if I had any skill or interest in the science field I would jump on it but I don’t 
. I agree with the comment below if you have a realistic plan that can pay for your education, do it! I eventually just told her I am taking the most logical plan with a history major and just spewed stats the demonstrate my point. Now I just don’t care. I know what my plan is and I know it’s a good route to take.</p>
<p>I’ve come to expect certain people to not approve. It’s water under the bridge at this point. However, it still bothers me when my relatives are really ignorant about my studies. They immediately start asking me about American Idol or something, not knowing how that can be pretty insulting to someone who is working on a bachelor of music in an elite program and is very serious about pursuing a career in music.</p>
<p>I used to be self conscious about it, but then i got to a stage where it didn’ bother me. People have the best will in the world, but i am getting wearing of people asking me what i want to do after college when i don’t really know myself.</p>
<p>I jumped around majors a few times. Starting with theater, then to communications, then to physics, before I realized what I truly wanted to do and I ended up switching schools for it. </p>
<p>Now I am majoring in video production. I know MANY would scoff at that thought, but most people who know me can’t see me doing anything differently, and I am quite good at what I do. If I wasn’t, my mom would never let me even consider it, because she went to college for business relating things and has a masters now. Instead of putting me down for majoring in VP, she has every confidence that I will succeed. </p>
<p>I do, too.</p>
<p>I have snobby relatives who look down on what i’m doing,it’s almost as if they want to make you feel guilty. That’s what i don’t like about family occasions, you’re guarranteed to be asked many questions about your degree.</p>
<p>I am in Mathematical Physics and my parents think I am majoring in “magic show”. Actually my mother doesn’t even know what “physics” is until I told her because she is extremely religious. So yeah I can relate…</p>
<p>“Well what are you going to do with something like THAT?”</p>
<p>Is a common comment…</p>
<p>Come on now, at least i’m doing something i like instead of something i’m no good at… (was gonna go the computer science route until i discovered my love for history/anthropology was greater than it… and then saw how much math was required).</p>
<p>I’m going to be a French major starting in the fall. Most of my family never went to college, so they are just happy I’m going and don’t have the right to criticize. My mom went to college for a “practical” major but then switched careers to follow her passion (teaching), and she is happy for me to do what I love. I sometimes get annoying questions like “what do you want to do with that?” and “why not Spanish instead?”, but I have well-rehearsed answers, and it doesn’t bother me too much.</p>
<p>From everybody else, it’s a different story. One man whose sons are also liberal arts majors made some rude comments to my mom about how we are just wasting our time and none of us are going to get a job, right in front of me and one of his sons! I know some of my friends think the same, although they stick with “what do you want to do with that?” and not “you’ll never find a job with that”. </p>
<p>A lot of the time, when I’m telling someone about my plans, I’m holding my breath to see how they react, and if they’re going to be happy for me, or neutral/privately disapproving, or outright scornful. I don’t care what they think enough to let it influence my plans, but it still hurts to have people say things like “Why would you want to study that? Do you just want the easy way out? I’m going to be/my child is going to be a doctor/lawyer/nurse/engineer/scientist/computer tech/businessman. That’s a much better career path.”</p>
<p>my family keep asking me what I’m supposed to do with a major in East Asian Studies. Truthfully I don’t know what I’m going to do, but I know for sure that I ain’t majoring in anything science related since I’d suck at it (and I’d be on academic probation immediately after the first quarter because I’m a general D/F student when it comes to college-level science). Right now, my options lie in either teaching English in Japan, Taiwan, or South Korea or becoming a translator.</p>
<p>I’m a biology major so everyone in my family looks up to it because they know I’m going to do something medical related. However you guys shouldn’t take it personally. They just want you to have a good job and seeing that you might major in something that’s unmarketable to them might make them worry a little. Especially in this economy.</p>