Hello! So I’m a senior currently applying to colleges, and I’m in a bit of a bind in terms of choosing to pursue premed or Biomedical Engineering. I was thinking that maybe the joint program between Emory and GA Tech would be the “best of both worlds” in that I would have time to choose between continuing to pursue premed at the end of three years at Emory, or if I desired, I could pursue Biomedical Engineering at GA Tech. But is it really a good idea to try such an intensive program? Thank you!
@bhopper797 The issue is not it really being so intensive (BTW, choosing BME at Tech AND being pre-med…may not be the best idea), but the fact that it generally takes 5 years and that is IF you don’t take full advantage of Tech (such as the awesome Co-ops that freshman admits have more time to accommodate). If anything, if you are that intense about science but want to keep pre-med AND engineering open, you may want to consider the new engineering sciences program/concentration at Emory or choose something like a physics biophysics or life sciences physics concentration which will basically have you fulfill pre-med requirements while also getting you the training you need if you do decide to try Tech dual degree or continue on to engineering for graduate school.
Also, as a warning…you kind of need to figure out things early on. Pre-med requires a kind of high GPA, yet handling Tech will require the strongest preparation, meaning that you will have to take on a rigorous courseload and ideally with the stronger professors (which are usually more demanding than weaker ones). It is hard to play the pre-med “choose teachers and classes that boost GPA” game while getting the correct prep for a Tech engineering curriculum. The best option is to take on the rigorous/good instruction and work as hard as possible at Emory to get a good GPA (or at least a salvageable one) for pre-med while also having the level of training necessary for if you want Tech. Many won’t pursue this option unless they have an extremely strong background and can test the waters from the very beginning by say…using AP credit in math to go straight to classes like Multi, Diff Eq., or Linear Algebra, and/or skipping a semester of gen. chem. However, Emory isn’t a horrible place to start. For those actually strong in STEM and want to consider something like BME…the chemistry courses are really strong and many new quantitatively oriented biology classes have popped up over the years including physical biology and computational modeling (taught by same instructor as physical biology) for scientists and engineers. And that teacher is really good in that you’ll be learning the MATLAB you would learn at Tech but his class is more project and problem based and not memorization based like the one at Tech. Taking him instead of the huge lectures at Tech for the MATLAB course may actually give you an edge. Taking even a mediocre general (or organic) chemistry instructor at Emory will also give you an edge. As long as you don’t take a weak instructor (such as Cafferty) the same can be said for general biology.
I believe the physics department made concentrations (and created engineering science track) to accommodate people like you: http://www.physics.emory.edu/home/academic/undergraduate/degree-programs.html
5 years for an undergraduate education seems quite long for most people, not to mention the cost of paying an extre years worth of tuition. If you’re leaning more towards engineering, you should go directly to an engineering school (and maybe just GA Tech if you’re in-state to save on costs) and you can always do pre-med at the same time by taking the prerequisites and doing the pre-med ECs. If you’re leaning more towards pre-med, I would try to get into a combined BS/MD program directly from high school since these can often be completed in 6-7 years (rather than the normal 8 years if you apply after 4 years of undergrad) and offer guarantees for med school admission as long as the minimum GPA/MCAT is met (otherwise med school admissions is very competitive these days and involves a lot less certainty of admission). Unfortunately Emory does not offer such a program w/ its med school.
@collegestu816: Uhmmmm…most people don’t have scores high enough to be selected for BS/MD programs…even at less elite U’s, the threshold is pretty high. Even some of those with decent scores (like around the mean) at Emory will not be selected for these programs.
I don’t think Emory should ever get such a program personally as it will just attract more hardcore “I already know absolutely what I want to do in life and will not consider other things” pre-meds to the school which isn’t really needed. We have enough of that without the program. Also, with such a program, the desperation will increase such that people just avoid rigorous instruction every single year as opposed to the current scheme where many students at least try it first and second year and then stop doing so after not receiving enough A’s. However, at least they got 2 years of solid training. If BS/MD set some threshold like 3.5-3.7(because the school wants to protect its rank), then I guarantee you pre-meds in that program will generally be ultra soft. Taking risk away in one area adds to the perception of risk in another.
I suggest the OP pick out a school and then, again, test the waters with classes that overlap with engineering AND pre-med the freshman year and try to figure out what they like more intellectually or can do better in. and then proceed from there. The fact is, if they start at Tech, they may still graduate in 5-6 years if they do the co-opt program which is worth it in my opinion. This “4-year experience” is over-rated in my opinion. If you can receive extra training that makes you more prepared for graduate school or job placement over a slightly longer period of time…so be it. Much better than a standard 4-year experience with no major industry connections in the sciences and much less post-grad options. Co-opt programs provide experience in terms of work and networking ultimately.
Many ga tech students, because of co ops etc take 5 years to graduate.