Hi, I was wondering if anyone knew anything about whether it would be possible for me to have a major in biomed engineering & some sort of buisness admininstration, as well as doing a minor in flute performance. If so, any colleges I should check out? (I am currently a junior with a 3.86 GPA and a 33 ACT 1490 new PSAT (national merit qualifying) taking nine classes at a college-level boarding school. Thanks!
Edit: for pre-med. I know it sounds like a lot, but there’s so much I’m passionate about, and so much I want to learn that this seems like the best way.
That’s too much. For premed you’ll need to do relevant volunteering and extracurriculars, as well as keeping a near-perfect GPA. Doing that along with engineering (GPA killer, time-suck), business (apparently completely irrelevant to your future plans?), and music (time-suck) might result in doing poorly at all four.
I would recommend finding a school to get your engineering degree that has an orchestra where you can continue to play the flute. Most universities do not require you be a music major to be in an orchestra. Purdue University has two orchestras that are a 2-3 hour class each week and are primarily rehearsals. Your grade is attendance based so all in all it’s easy A and the time commitment is up to you.
I agree with Bodangles that a business degree doesn’t seem to benefit you in any way. Attempting to major in two different colleges is a challenge with any majors. Engineering is time intensive enough on it’s own. You will also find that both majors are very sequential and that courses cannot often be scheduled when you need them when attempting a dual degree. When the accounting class and Bio Chemistry are offered at the same time and you need them to move on to other courses which do you take…? They could also require very different Gen Eds which complicate matters further.
I agree - too much.
"taking nine classes at a college-level boarding school " - Have you talked to your GC (Guidance Counselor)? From what I’ve read, they are often very knowledgeable and have fewer students than at public schools.
Funny thing. When you graduate from college and start looking for a job, you will have to choose ONE field. The hiring company will want the best prepared person for the job they are offering. Diluting your major by taking a second major (as opposed to additional classes in your first major) and further diluting it with any kind of minor will hurt you big time for finding that job.
You can “dabble” in other fields within college without having to do all the work for a double major. They call that a “hobby”.
Check out Brown University and Carnegie Mellon as both schools are strong in both departments and have BM and music majors. Find out how a performance minor can be worked into a BM department program or what would be involved for a double major…
WPI is also very strong in biomedical engineering and has a music performance minor, but no major. A management minor is also available at all these schools. WPI has a humanities requirement for engineering majors of 18 semester hours which can be met by the music performance program. The student and faculty tailor the program to meet the student’s interests with 1/3 coursework, 1/3 independent study ensemble and 1/3 the independent study capstone.
Music, math and science are often shared interest among engineering majors.
The number one minor for engineers at Lehigh is music, but heed the advice of @HPuck35. The music paper you get will come at the expense of a weakened engineering degree. There are only so many classes you can take. Every music class is a missed opportunity for an engineering class.
Lehigh also has a combo business engineering program.
So does Penn. Alabama has a STEM/MBA program.
Consider taking 5 years to fit in all your interests.
ABET is the accrediting group for engineering programs. The WPI program as previously mentioned uses ABET’s 18 credit hour humanities requirement to fit in the music music performance program. All ABET accredited programs have a required humanities distribution. The traditional coursework sequence approaches used by most schools do not offer the same flexibility. WPI does not have the traditional semester system. Students take three courses every quarter in place of the traditional five or six courses every semester. The pace in each course is very fast and one cannot afford to let material slide. Each course is immersion. This amounts to 72 semester hours of course and project work per year.
Doing the math in four years:
18 semester hour in music performance minor (covered by ABET distribution requirement),
18 semester hours in business minor;
108 semester hours left for your actual BME studies as ABET humanities are already accounted for.
Management engineering is another major and should not be equated to biomedical engineering.
Another route to consider would be an MBA degree after your BS degree. The engineering/MBA route is common today.
If you love music, your engineering workload may be lightened by cultivating that interest. The school has twelve instrumental musical groups including the flute choir.
I’m also sure that Lehigh’s program is very strong. My PA family roots always wanted me to go there. You may well find that music programs are strong wherever there is a strong engineering school.
@retiredfarmer, I don’t think anyone is saying it CAN’T be done. We’re saying at what price? If the OP wants a job as an engineer, I think most who are doing the hiring would prefer advanced engineering classes over basic business classes.
Did we miss that OP also wants to do PREMED on top of everything else?
On the music minor, think about why you want it. Perhaps just belonging to a music group (and maybe also taking flute lessons) will be enough to continue your music interest.
If you make nmsf go to OU or UA for the scholarship that covers 5 years. At OU it could potentially cover your first year of medical school.
I’m actually at a public school, but you’re right. I’ve talked to the college counselor. The only problem is she’s very humanities-focused and tends to overestimate the difficulty of stem classes (i.e “taking two sciences in one semester is insane”)
Some engineering-bound students do take two science classes in high school. In fact, both of mine did. But one of them crashed and burned because two IB Science classes (with labs) and a full schedule with other IB courses was too much. Looking back, I wish the guidance counselor had advised against it.
I think OP was talking about taking two science classes at a time in college.
It would seem your options are:
- any major + pre-requisites for med school + flute minor (which will probably require private lessons and an ensemble - add up how much practice time is necessary on top of the ensemble and lesson)
- 5 Year with two majors one Science / one business + play in ensemble Or Music minor
Or major in flute performance + business major + prerequisites for med school (5+ years)
Or just major in business and play in ensemble for 4 year