<p>I want to do the shortened philosophy and allied field major with econ, but I also have to take pre-med classes. Is this impossible or foolish at Chicago with the core?</p>
<p>It would probably require summer school and tremendous focus. Fun, if not dead, would surely be on life-support. There are programs around the country where one can take a year of pre-med requirements (say in chemistry) over the summer, Harvard has one, for example, that is open to anyone with 8 grand.</p>
<p>I hate to be the bearer of pessimism, but I don't think it's possible. Pre-med at uchicago is a track that involves as many courses as a large major, so you're basically asking if you can do bio/econ/philosophy. Here's the math-
philosophy- 13 courses
econ- 13 courses
core- 15 courses
recommended premed- 18 courses
Total- 59
Number of courses you could take, taking four each quarter- 48
Yes, some of the courses for pre-med will already be in the core, but they aren't likely to overlap with majors like econ and philosophy. And yes, you can take summer courses for inordinate amounts of money, but there's an 11 course gap between what you need and what you have without summers, so not only fun, but electives as well as any dreams of summer abroad or extracurriculars or employment will have to go out the window. Wish I had a brighter perspective. How about just taking a few electives in phil/econ?</p>
<p>Why double-major plus pre-med? You can have as many majors as you want, but Chicago will only ever issue one degree. That is, even if you fulfill the requirements for an economics, philosophy, and, say, biology degree, you'll only be issued one.</p>
<p>In my opinion double-majoring is a waste of time. The last twenty yards of many majors often consist of super-specific classes. You'd be better off focusing deeply on biology/chemistry for pre-med and taking a handful of other classes you enjoy in whatever departments. You might not be able to put "with second major in economics" on your CV, but you'll probably have a better education.</p>
<p>The university won't issue a second degree on paper, but it will verify you the honors of having received that degree. Its just a formality. It isn't like you won't actually have graduated with two majors.</p>
<p>The premed requirements do overlap with the Core. The math, one year of the science requirement, and humanities premed requirements (or highly recommended courses) also fulfill the Core. My S is pre-med and has a major and a minor. He will be able to do it and take 3 courses next year (took 4 first year plus summer school).</p>
<p>
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The university won't issue a second degree on paper, but it will verify you the honors of having received that degree.
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Everyone I've spoken with said this is not true. This</a> page seems to confirm it. To wit,
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Students in the College can declare two or more majors, but no matter how many majors one has, the University will grant only one bachelor's degree per student (it is proper to write "Second major in" [fill in the blank] on a resume).
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</p>
<p>can you do say a concentration of some sort, without majoring.. i don't know if this is possible at uchicago.. maybe a minor in philosophy.. i know someone who is doing philosophy as pre med.. he is basically doing it because he wants his GPA to stay up, so he can get into medical school</p>
<p>Some departments offer minors. Philosophy is one of them:</p>
<p>"The minor program in Philosophy provides a basic introduction to some central figures and themes both in the history of Philosophy and in current philosophical controversies. The minor requires six courses: students must take either two courses from the history of philosophy sequence and one course from field A or field B, along with three additional courses in philosophy or one course from the history of philosophy sequence and one course from each of fields A and B, along with three additional courses in philosophy.</p>
<p>No courses in the minor can be double counted with the student's major(s) or with other minors; nor can they be counted toward general education requirements..." </p>
<p>Honors in Philosophy is a GPA of 3.25 and an A on the Honors paper. I'm not sure this translates into a good GPA for med school.</p>
<p>AP's could also be a factor as to whether the OP's stategy is possible. I do not even pretend to understand how Chicago deals with them -but if you were able to place into second year courses for, say, biology and chemistry that might help. That said, I don't think that taking organic chemistry as a first-year is the best plan for garnering GPA points for med school - especially if you are taking 3 other courses.</p>
<p>just don't worry about the recommended premed. you need what? basic chem and orgo, some calc, one year of physics, one or two years of bio, and then just take what interests you.</p>
<p>Here is an article in the Maroon by a Chicago premed that's worth looking at ...</p>
<p>You can get a long way towards this with AP credits. For example, math, physics, most of chem and part of bio can be done with AP credits. Depending on your choices, you could start out with a big chunk taken care of.</p>
<p>Be careful, though, as the med schools look hard at ap credits. Formally, they say NO, but Chicago has found ways around this.</p>