I’m a chemical engineering major and I got a 3.3 my first semester and it looks like I’m on track to raise my GPA by the end of the year, but not drastically. I plan on going to med school, and I know it’s a popular thing now to do chem e with a pre-med ‘direction’, but can I raise my GPA to med school standards by my senior year? I am already signed up for tons of EC’s this summer (Shadowing in memphis, D.C., Charleston, and Belize) but can that kind of excludes me from co-opping, doesn’t it? So would that not negate the whole point of a chem e major? Basically what I’m asking is if I should switch to pre med or should I stick with chem e given this information.
Depending on what your GPA looks like at the end of junior year, you may need/want to postpone applying to med school until after graduation to give yourself some additional time to raise your GPA. (The average age at med school matriculation is 24 and about 1/3 to 1/2 of all applicants take a gap year or two before applying.)
If you don’t continue as ChemE major, what would you change your major to? (Hint: there is no such thing as a “pre-med major.”) What would your Plan B be with a new major? (All pre-meds need a Plan B because admission to med school is getting tougher all the time and right now 60% of those who apply don’t get a single acceptance.)
A co-op program is a semester-to-year long job working in your field. Not all colleges offer co-op programs, and at those that do it usually take 5+ years to graduate with a BS/BA. A summer work/job exploration program is called an internship.
You’re not able to do an chemE related internship this summer, but that doesn’t mean you won’t be able to do an industry internship in a future summer. In fact, I think it’s pretty uncommon for rising sophomores to intern in job-related fields. Most internships go to older students–rising juniors and seniors. (Freshmen just haven’t developed enough of a knowledge base in their field yet to be useful on the job.) Also shadowing is far from a full-time occupation. You could do an internship or work/volunteer full-time at a summer job and still have plenty of time leftover to shadow.
BTW, shadowing in Belize is a low-yield investment of your time. The healthcare system in Belize is significantly different than in US and so teaches you nothing about US healthcare. Also overseas voluntourism is not looked upon highly by med school adcomms since there are significant pitfalls associated with it. ( Read this: http://almost.thedoctorschannel.com/14323-2/)
Thanks for the reply, this is exactly what I was looking for. Actually, the reason I’m going to Belize is not to shadow but it’s more of a missions trip type thing, it’s less for resume and more for getting to know the doctors that I will be shadowing this summer. So I think I will stay in chemical engineering and co-op another semester or summer, so in case I don’t get into any med schools I want to attend I have a strong back up plan.
Mission trips aren’t a profitable use of your time. They’re often called “voluntourism” and there are significant issues surrounding them. Please read this: [7 Reasons Why Your Two Week Trip To Haiti Doesn’t Matter: Calling Bull on “Service Trips”](http://almost.thedoctorschannel.com/14323-2/))
I not sure if I read it on CC or SDN but there is a post that I once read that I thought makes a point about the value of these medical volunteerism trips. As I remember the post made the point that the overseas organizations that would be medical students go to in order to beef up their ECs would benefit more by a check for the amount the student paid for their trip but writing “check paid to …” as an EC (especially if from a parents acct) isn’t impressive to adcoms. It’s my understanding that adcoms view these ECs as jokes.