<p>Hello all, I come from a PLTW HS program that has blessed me with some pretty rigorous classes and some near suicidal nights of hard work and deadlines.
Anyway, this Fall I will be attending UIC (illinois) as a part of their bioengineering program.</p>
<p>My orientation was a less than satisfactory experience as I did not like the type of people I saw, their general character and lack of worth ethic I feel would ruin me if I was exposed to it for the next 4 years. Due to my grades and financial standing, I am set to incur a less than average debt so money is not as terrible an issue as it normally is. I apologize for ranting but I feel this info is necessary for you all to better understand me.
From my HS program I learned EE definitely is not my forte, but to be honest, I didn't really give it a fair shot. I would say I am very good at problem solving, working hard in general, and working under pressure, and I absolutely love science. For this reason I went into bioengineering, hoping to take advantage of this new field. UIC is a research university so I was hoping this environment would perfectly match my needs, but after orientation I am little bit skeptical. I will definitely give it a fair chance when the school year comes around, but for whatever reason if things aren't going as I'd like, how likely is it that I could possibly transfer to a more competitive uni such as Madison, UofI, even Purdue (not sure how this would conflict with their underclassmen undeclared engineering major policy). I have been told either UIC is a great uni or a terrible one, never anything in between and I am sad to say my orientation has me on the path to vote 'terrible.'
Overall, I have two main passions in life:
The ultimate dream would be to work my way through BioE and eventually design or research something that benefits the world so much so that it is deserving of a nobel prize.
But I also have a passion for cars, and so I could see myself also going into mechE and getting into the automotive industry.
(If you read this far I appreciate it as your response will be far more insightful, thank you).
Currently I am set to take just 14 credit hours, Calc I(5), Bio +lab(5), Intro to engineering(1), and intro to bioengineering (3) at UIC. Finally my question is, what can I do schedule-wise in the coming semesters to make it easier for me to switch majors if necessary or transfer my credits to a more competitive uni if necessary? And lastly--and the purpose for my wall of text--what other advice do you have for me based on my aforementioned goals and situation? The major change and school transfer are simple safeties, I guarantee that pursuing bioE is my #1 priority and failure didn't even cross my mind until a little while ago hence the creation of this thread. I have heard I could major in Mech E and then go into bioE for graduate school so long as I took plenty of bio classes during my undergrad, is this true? If so, I would love this option as I wouldn't be limited and could go the automotive or bioE route. I definitely don't know enough about the college system as I'd like. Also, I feel as an important detail, so long as I have at least a B in Calc I (I got a B in Calc BC in HS) I am guaranteed a paid internship or research opportunity next summer. The only things keeping me at UIC is that guaranteed internship and the fact that it has an emphasis on research. I would much rather prefer a more competitive uni, but again I won't officially judge UIC until my first semester there. As an absolutely final detail, I want to be involved with cell and tissue engineering rather than designing prosthetics and medical equipment. On another forum I asked about this issue and I got bashed for my ambitions towards a nobel prize so for my sake it would be nice if we could all just focus on helping me in a critical point in my life. Thank you again for reading and I thank you in advance for your responses :D</p>