Hi all, currently I am a junior in high school taking a rigorous assortment of honors and AP courses centered around the STEM topics (mainly physics and Calc), and next year I have even more AP classes like these lined up. I plan on majoring in engineering/petroleum engineering in college. My question is, if I enter college and end up changing my major, will it be difficult since I’ve taken many stem courses in high school? (I ask because my dad was set on engineering and switched to medicine). Thanks.
The pre-med courses are mostly just more advanced STEM courses like you have already been taking, so you would probably be well positioned to be pre-med. You can major in anything you want as long as you take the pre-med courses too. My nephew was a history & philosophy double major and went to med school.
I hear that most students change their major from what they wrote on the application (upwards of 50%). A lot of high school courses are not accepted in college//are not up to the same level, especially really important ones towards your major. Just take the premed courses and you can do whatever! Engineering though, is tough, and can give you a lower GPA, which may not be super advantageous for med school. It may give you some unique aspects, but it’s not super common due to the rigorous nature of the engineering curriculum and the fact that it has so many reqs already (lots of physics, chem, calc…little to no bio while med requires lots of bio)…but if you switch fairly early on, then there should be no problem!
Your college might give you some credit for your AP exam scores, but that won’t prevent you from majoring in an unrelated field. Most degree programs are designed to be completed in four years without any college credit from high school. If you go to a college that accepts people to specific schools (engineering, arts and sciences, etc.) rather than the entire university, you might need to transfer out of your school and into another one. It can be difficult to transfer out of arts and sciences and into engineering, but probably not the other way around.
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As others have said, you wouldn’t study medicine as an undergraduate anyway. Obviously some majors are more closely related to medicine than others, but any major can complete pre-med requirements.