<p>please be as brutally honest as possible...
i want to do a double major (history and pre-med bio) and a minor (south asian studies) in college and also study abroad for my junior year and the summer before</p>
<p>how possible is it to do that in four years? will trying that completely destruct my GPA? i have AP credit in english, bio, and history, if that makes a difference</p>
<p>Depending on the college you go to, AP credit may make all the difference, or absolutely none whatsoever. It's probably extremely difficult to study abroad an entire school year while maintaining two majors and a minor. For example, if you want to study abroad in South America, my best guess is that you're probably going to be taking a lot of intense language classes and courses dealing with, well, South America. This will sincerely detract from your ability to do history, biology, and SAS. Since you're a premed, GPA is very important to your application, and you wouldn't want to do anything to hurt it by pursuing too many majors/minors or undertaking time-consuming programs like study abroad. Since you're probably still in high school (or in the anticipation-filled summer right before college), I'd suggest taking survey courses in all of the subjects you're interested in for your first year, just to get a feel for what you want to do (you may not want to do SAS, or even premed anymore after you finish a semester or two--this happens to a surprising number of college students). High school and even AP courses are drastically different from actual college courses; it may seem obvious now, but actually living this distinction first-hand is a real wake-up call, or slap in the face, whichever way you want to look at it.</p>
<p>thanks blah...
i'm going to be at Penn next semester, so, as far as I know, I can get credit for bio and history...as far as SAS studies go, I'm thinking that I may be able to concentrate on the language component b/c I'm already fluent (just illiterate) in 2 of the languages and i can supplement w/other courses, but I haven't talked to my advisor yet, so i'm still not quite sure
for study abroad, i was planning to do 3 semesters--biology in london, history/french in paris, and south asian studies in india...so i'm kinda covering all my bases...but will that make anything easier?
also, if i can't finish college in 4 years doing all that, would it be advisable to just spend a 5th year in college...i'm not worried about the extra tuition right now</p>
<p>there's nothing wrong with taking a 5th year, especially if you seriously plan on completing all those degrees.</p>
<p>keep in mind when you study abroad, depending on your skills, the language barrier can make it harder to take a full load of courses.</p>
<p>thanks, soccerguy! your words are reassuring, and i'm ready to spend a 5th year in college if that's what it'll take for me to fulfill my dreams :)</p>
<p>i'm not too worried about the language barrier b/c i'm fluent in gujarati and hindi (for india), and i've had enough french to survive (i think)...but i'm still plannin on taking a semester b4 i go...and hopefully, england won't be a problem <em>shrugs</em></p>
<p>My question is why? Just because you are interested in something it doesn't mean you have to major in it. Practically speaking, how would a history major or SAS minor benefit you?</p>
<p>some things to keep in mind</p>
<ul>
<li><p>your history and southeast asian studies might have some overlapping classes, so that helps</p></li>
<li><p>many pre-meds have expressed difficulty in studying abroad because i think it is preferred to stay on-campus for all the classes and activities (research, volunteer work, etc)</p></li>
<li><p>AP credit only helps you graduate faster if you have classes remaining AFTER you finish all your major/minor requirements. but since you're going to be taking many units for your majors and minor, the AP credits are of no use. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>another possiblity is that you dont have to MAJOR in bio to be pre-med. in fact, the second most popular "pre-med" major (according to one of my profs) is english. that is, you can major in history and just take the core requirements for biology (bio, chem, physics, math) and not take the upper-division classes for the biology major. that way, you'll still touch upon the subjects tested on the MCAT, but not have to spend your time majoring in biology.</p>
<p>another alternative is that there might be a major called "history of medicine," but i'm not sure if your school offers it or if that's what you're looking for.</p>
<p>the reason for my majoring in bio is because that is my true passion...ever since i took my first bio class in 7th grade, i fell in love with it, and i know that i want to spend the rest of my life doing something related to bio (hopefully medicine) if at all possible; i think majoring in it will give me the best chance to explore all aspects of the subject and obtain a better understanding of exactly what biology is</p>
<p>at one point in my life, i seriously hated history; but i took ap us history my junior year and fell in love with it; considering that i don't love euro history quite as much, i thought that maybe i was just in love with the class, but i read a book about colonial america or the guilded age or reconstruction, and i fall in love again...i one day had a dream to earn a Ph.D. in history and hope to still pursue that dream</p>
<p>south asian studies have been a large focus of my life thus far...i know that it's not absolutely advisable to have a minor considering that i would probably already have a double major, but i think i could easily fulfill those requirements...i'm fluent in two of the languages that count as SAS classes, and, like kfc4u said, i think i could take some history of india classes to also fulfill my history requirements </p>
<p>it's not really the "history of medicine" that i'm interested in--which is kind of my problem, i guess; i'm fascinated by american history (especially pre-civil war and teddy roosevelt)</p>
<p>i understand that, as a pre-med, i might have a hard time studying abroad...at the same time, though, i can imagine that biological research in london and the condition of people in india (even thought i wouldn't be going there to study medicine) would give me a new take on medicine; i think that some of the things i see outside of the country would really make me more interested in medicine; also, study abroad may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me to travel to another country and spend so many months at a time there...i don't want to miss out; also, i think there are many things in both london and paris that i could study that would count toward my history major</p>
<p>i can't tell if i'm completely disillusioned or just really stubborn...am i making any sense? i still haven't talked to my advisor, but maybe taking a couple of classes during a summer semester would help?</p>
<p>if bio's your true passion, go for the major... it sounds like you're interested in degrees for history and SAS for personal enrichment. perhaps a double minor would fulfill these interests without impeding on your major and plans to study abroad?</p>
<p>i can totally relate to you-- my passion is painting and fine arts, but i also have strong interests in psychology, biology, and IST and had hoped to combine one of the three with my BFA for a concurrent major. i just hope that you're assigned to an advisor that's not a total flake-- mine helped me plan classes and degree programs to cover all of my bases until (as another poster said) i've actually taken a few exploratory classes in each area and can make a more educated decision on what to major in.</p>
<p>in my case, i'm looking to double major in studio art and graphic design, as this double major satisfies both my art and IST interests with many more overlapping classes. i'm not sure of the options with penn's bio/history/SAS majors, but kind of like how someone suggested looking into "the history of medicine", this game's all about being creative and compromising in how you schedule and satisfy your interests. try to honestly ask yourself why you want to study all of the aforementioned and what you plan on doing with each degree-- it might help to focus your plans.</p>
<p>bump, please</p>