<p>Hello Everyone!</p>
<p>First of all, I would like to thank you for all of the help I have received during this process from reading this forum. I initially found out about the National Merit Finalist scholarship on CC, as well as the Computer-Based Honors Program (which I am now proudly a part of!!), as well as the wonderful research opportunities going on at Alabama. </p>
<p>I am trying to decide what I should major in. I love math and science, and I have been working on a medical research team for the past year developing software to do bone marrow biopsies for sickle cell disease patients. This project showed me that there is much beyond being a practicing doctor in the field of medicine, and I am now hoping to have a career in medical research or epidemiology. </p>
<p>This brings me to my questions… The three majors I am considering are Mathematics (Scientific Computing Track), Computer Science (Software Engineering Track), and Computer or Mechanical Engineering. I am coming in with 47 credits (even more if I decide to go the graduate school track instead of medical school and use my science APs for prereqs.) </p>
<p>How much more marketable would an engineering degree be than a scientific computing or software engineering degree be if I end up not deciding to go the med school route? I would like to be able to explore some fields outside of science while in college, and the number of courses required for a BE makes that more difficult. </p>
<p>How common is it to prepare for medical school while completing an engineering degree? What engineering degrees would be most useful to pursue a career in biomedical engineering?</p>
<p>Is it possible to use the 5th year of tuition in the NMF scholarship for the University Scholars MS program?</p>
<p>Thank you for all your help. If you can think of any other questions I should be asking, please let me know. </p>
<p>How set are you on being a doctor? Without the pre-med requirements, it is manageable to double-major in both Math and Computer Science with that many credits coming in. Likewise, a math minor can easily be added to any of the majors you listed. The University Scholars program (And STEM to MBA) is covered by the NMF scholarship as far as I know. According to BLS.gov, mechanical engineers make on average $80,000 a year while software engineers make $94,000. US news says both have around a 3% unemployment, but computer science jobs are projected to grow faster. Ultimately, all the major choices you listed are very marketable and high paying.</p>
<p>It is pretty common for someone with an engineering degree to go to into med school. Alabama has a pre-med track in their chemical engineering program, and a very large number of Chemical engineers do intend to go to med school. In fact, students in physics and certain engineering degrees have higher average MCAT scores than many students in traditional pre-med majors like biology & chemistry.</p>
<p>I recommend going to Degreeworks (go to Mybama and then the student tab) to plan a rough schedule of what classes you will take in college and play around with your options.</p>
<p>I would typically recommend that students in your situation initially declare an engineering major, computer science being an engineering major, so they’d get an extra $2500 per year in scholarship money which is not available if they switch into engineering after starting at UA. Mathematics is relatively easy to add as a second major or minor.</p>
<p>You can major in anything and go to medical school as long as you complete all premed requirements with a high GPA, do well on the MCAT, and have an otherwise strong application. For example, there are multiple premeds at UA who are business majors because they want to have the educational background to run their own practice.</p>
<p>If you’re looking at the STEM to MBA program, I’d highly suggest considering the Business Analytics track as it’s a great career path for those with strong quantitative and computer skills. Many of the professors teaching the courses have degrees in engineering. </p>
<p>SEA_Tide is right…declare some sort of engineering now, so that at least you’ll get the 2500. If you were to do that later, you woudnt get it.</p>
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How common is it to prepare for medical school while completing an engineering degree? What engineering degrees would be most useful to pursue a career in biomedical engineering?
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<p>It is becoming more common, but doing so comes with a warning. An Engineering major is arguably the most difficult major, so getting a high GPA (needed for med school) can be more of challenge. </p>
<p>My own son was a Chemical Eng/g major at Bama and is now in med school. many ChemE majors at Bama are premed.</p>
<p>for biomedE grad school, the best undergrad majors are ChemE or MechE.</p>
<p>If you do decide med school, I recommend using the AP Bio II credit because that class is often boring and can challenge your GPA and isnt needed for MCAT prep (that class is about plants). You can replace that med school req’t with a higher level Bio class with a lab that is more relevant to you.</p>
<p>My son actually used his Bio I and II, and Chem I and II AP credits and replaced them with higher level classes for premed reqts, but I wouldnt recommend that. </p>