How do I convince parents that I don't want to do pre-med?

…oh, did not see that, Bs in college science classes will not work for Med. School application. You need college GPA of at least 3.7 to apply to Med. school and your science GPA have to be no lower. Here is another argument for your parents.

You can go along with the “premed” thing for now, as long as they let you have an economics major. Which will actually be BETTER than biology both for emloyment and med school admissions.
You’ll need to take calculus for both majors (no matter what AP you took, start with calculus 1, as at least half your class at NYU will be doing), one science class (biology or physics?), your freshman seminar (required regardless/counts for the 2 semesters of English for premed), psychology (counts for premed and gen eds), and economics 1. So, first semester, you have 4 classes they like, 1 class for your major.
Second semester, biology 2, statistics, economics2, 2 gen eds required by the university.
Nobody’s losing.
You’ll have been one year in college by then. If you get anything but an A- in first semester Bio, your odds of being able to continue on the premed track are pretty low anyway, and with a B in high school, your odds of being ALLOWED to be premed are very very very low anyway (yup, you can’t just “decide” if you don’t have the appropriate level - but don’t tell your parents: it’ll be easier if it comes from the college, not from you).

MiamiDAP: OP DOES NOT want to be premed. Hence the greater importance of choosing his/her college.

Here’s what I’d do. Go to the webpages of the economics and poli sci departments at the colleges you were admitted to. Research what grads from these departments do. Here’s the link to a page at BC which posts opportunities for internships and some jobs. http://fmwww.bc.edu/EC-J/EC.jobopp.php

Read through them carefully before showing them to your parents, but be able to hand them a list of employers who are interested in hiring economics majors and/or who recruit on campus. Check to see if these colleges post any info about what grads do immediately after college.

Then show them the bio page. Explain that if you don’t make it to medical school, having a bio degree is not better than having an econ degree. IME, it’s a LOT worse.

^research has shown (but I can’t seem to find the chart) that it’s not just “IME”… biology majors do a lot worse than Economics majors. Economics majors are at the top of the scale, and Biology majors are near (not at) the bottom, albeit above Architecture majors.

Thanks so much everyone for all the advice. I’ve spent the last few days researching and trying to prepare myself for a sound argument. I think my parents are starting to ease up ever-so-slightly with the premed stuff, but they still think I’m in a phase and will eventually end up doing bio/orgo/neuroscience by junior year. They are convinced I simply haven’t “tried hard enough” in my hs science courses.

I have been looking into the Econ program at NYU and found that it is top 15ish globally. I may try to enter the finance sector after graduating, as NYC has excellent opportunities for IB. Or, I’m thinking about double majoring with public policy and going into law school. If I choose the latter, what job opportunities are available immediately after graduation that can help me to raise money to pay for law school? I don’t think I can go directly into law school- my parents won’t want to pay all that money.

Also, can anyone find details on job placement for NYU CAS graduates, particularly with an Econ major?

Also to the previous posters- no, I did not apply to Stern (NYU) or Carroll School of Management (BC) because my parents wanted the science/premed option available, and quite frankly, I’m not sure if I wanted to commit to such a pre-professional education. I appreciate the liberal arts programs I’ve been accepted to. I’m also thankful that I can still take courses at Stern/CSOM if I wanted to, and take advantage of their resources particularly with regards to finding finance-related internships/jobs.