<p>I am planning to major in Mechanical Engineering but my parents also want me to be a doctor. So, I talked to my teachers and they told me that I don't have to do any "Pre-Med" program to go to a medical school. I just need to take Biology 101+102, Organic Chemistry 101+102 and Bio-Chemistry 101+102 to take the MCAT exam and to got to a medical school.</p>
<p>But the thing is that I took Biology in my freshmen year (Outside of the US), Chemistry in my sophomore year and Hon. Physics 1 and 2 in my Jr and sr years. So, basically I didn't take any chemistry or Biology in 2 years. So, I was wondering if this will be a good idea to become a double major (kinda) while studying Mechanical Engineering (which I heard is really hard)? I have a good gpa- 4.21. rank #7 in my class out of 317 students but bad SAT (1540 only) :( </p>
<p>So, should I go for it or just stick with the Engineering Program? What do you guys suggest?</p>
<p>If you want to do Pre-Med, engineering is not a great idea. Engineering majors tend to have lower than average GPA compared to other majors, and this is not a great trait if you want to get into a competitive Med School. I think it could be done, it’s just not a good idea. So if I were you I’d pick one or the other. </p>
<p>Don’t let your parents influence you, stick to what interests you the most. Because even if you are making 200k as a doctor, those 80+ hour work weeks are going to be extremely difficult if that’s not what you are interested in.</p>
<p>I don’t understand what the double major is and why you would get it.</p>
<p>Pre-med is very common in chemical engineering because the ChE curriculum covers the chemistry requirements. I know of some ME’s that have been pre-med as well, but it’s somewhat more difficult because of the course requirements for ME and pre-med, but certainly doable.</p>
<p>GPA’s in engineering are lower than in other majors, but graduate schools account for that when making decisions. The other advantage of engineering is that if you decide not to become a doctor, you always have a good “fall back” career.</p>
<p>Thanks. That’s some good advice but I still have question about the GPA thingy. When is the gpa low? Going into an Engineering school or when getting out of an engineering school and going into a grad school?</p>
<p>gstein-- I don’t think I wanna do chemical Engineering. I am interested into either mechanical or electrical.</p>
<p>Biology 101 is the most basic biology course possible; Numbers below 100 indicate remedial courses meant to make up for high school. If you passed high school chemistry and biology without trouble, you should be able to take the named bio and chem easily enough. Pre-med bachelors is optional.</p>
<p>The obvious problem: you can’t be a doctor and an engineer. Of course, if you went for biomedical engineering, you might walk a middle path by doing medicine-related work while enjoying the challenge of engineering. However, with mechanical engineering, it’s harder to find a compromise career. So that puts you back where you started. Knowing how to be both a doctor and a mechanical engineer will not give you the satisfaction of carrying out both jobs.</p>
<p>Your parents deserve credit for raising you, but they’ve done it in a culture supposedly based on freedom and liberty. That includes choosing your direction in life. If you’re sure you want mechanical engineering, make that clear now. Otherwise, you’ll either waste your engineering training by going on to a different field, or waste time and money learning to be a doctor, just to go back to engineering.</p>
<p>Do what you love, and let your parents know. No matter how hard it seems now, it’s easier than it will be seven years and tens of thousands of dollars down the road.</p>
<p>Great advice Mjb347. I really don’t know what I want to be. I mean I now that I wanna a help out my community as well as job security but I wanna be both engineer and doctor at the same time and I just can’t make up my mind. I mean when I watch scientific shows or shows like Numbers that wants me to go to an engineering field. Again when I watch something like fringe I wanna be doctor. </p>
<p>This thing is killing me. Is there any way that I can find out what I am gonna be good at or something?</p>