<p>Hey so I'm a freshman at Arizona State's honors college and I feel like it's becoming that time to start picking a major/path I want to take. I did a bunch of the core curriculum this year because I also plan on transferring and I found myself deciding between a finance major or pre-med path (major in biology?). I have a couple questions about Pre-Med.</p>
<p>First, is it too late to start? I feel like everyone knows they want to do pre-med when they're still in high school then jump on it as soon as they enter college.</p>
<p>Also, do you think its wise to just pick the pre-med path and "try" it? What I mean is that I'm pretty confident now I want to do it and I'm confident in my ability to succeed in the area, but do many people just nonchalantly choose to do pre-med?</p>
<p>I guess I'm just worried that in 3 years I find myself as a bio major but I cant make it in the medical world because I dont know enough about the path and just chose it because I was simply interested in it.</p>
<p>1) Never too late if it's what you really want to do. It might delay graduation, especially if you do end up transferring, but never too late. </p>
<p>2) The path to becoming a physician is a lengthy one. Undergrad, 4 years of medical school, then 3-7 of residency before you're finally out on your own earning the salaries everyone associates with being a doctor. I personally don't think it's a decision to be taken lightly because of that. However if you aren't really set to go in any certain direction, "trying out" pre-med is a good way to do it. Given your academic success, coursework is the least of my worries for you. I think you should, for the moment, place a greater emphasis on doing the outside things needed to get into medical school. Start volunteering at a hospital, find some physicians in the area that will allow you to shadow them, go to the pre-med club meetings for info and resources (normally I find pre-med clubs rather worthless, but since you're just starting out, it might actually be very helpful). If you enjoy and feel inspired by these experiences, then medicine might be for you. It might also be wise to consider other professions in health care as well - dentistry, pharmacy, physical therapy, occupational therapy, physician's assistant, public health, etc. </p>
<p>3) Major in whatever you want. You could major in finance and be pre-med. Major in something you're passionate about. Major makes absolutely no difference in acceptance rates.</p>