JHU BME and GPA

<p>I've looked quite thoroughly through CC, so if this is an old topic or something, if someone could kindly send me a link to a thread with more than 1 answer, or 1-2 very biased and content-less answers, that would be great.</p>

<p>Anyways, if one were to be in the BME track (and not switch out), and thus graduate with a fully accredited engineering degree from JHU WHILE doing premed (keep in mind that the goal is to be a doctor), how hard is it to get the GRADES NECESSARY to go to a top med school (I capitalized so its easier to sort through the long question). By top, I dont mean just JHU/Harvard, but anything top 10-15.
I realize that theres a lot of math, blah blah blah, I'm a math kinda guy, but I have the tools to be successful in the JHU Neuroscience major as well. Is it worth doing BME and winding up with a lower gpa when I'm just as interested in Neuroscience, with the goal being to become a doctor? How much will the slightly lower gpa affect me, if at all? </p>

<p>The way I'm looking at it is, if i get in to JHU, and am admitted to BME, then I will take one year of BME. at the end of that, I will assess myself, and talk to my advisor about this, as well as the premed advisors. At that point, I will either choose to drop or keep BME, depending on whether or not I believe taking it will hinder my shots at a top med school.
As far as I have heard, a switch from BME to Neuro at the end of freshman year is no problem at all, as A&S students havent declared their majors yet.</p>

<p>You’re plan is almost a good one… but the reality is that BME doesn’t get challenging until sophomore year, or at least that’s what I hear. I’m a freshman and I really haven’t had much trouble thus far. So you might go through freshman year and think you’re fine but find out you hate it and its killing you sophomore year. That’s the year the most people drop out. From what I’ve heard, the BME’s have an advantage over a neuroscience or anything science major really. The engineering background and the fact you’re different than the majority of applicants is really helpful.</p>

<p>I know a lot of people say don’t be a BME if your goal is definitely to be a doctor. In all honesty, I think I agree with them - It’s one thing to be undecided, but if you KNOW you want to be a doctor and don’t really want that engineering background you’re not going to be motivated or maybe not even interested in doing all the engineering courses (of which there will be many, some of which are extremely challenging). Choose the route that you will be most motivated to do well and be happy in. When it comes down to it, you have to make the decision because everyone is different. You could be a genius and get a 4.0 like one of my friends and get accepted to basically everywhere, or you could flop and kill your GPA. I think you probably want to be neuroscience, though. Just find other ways to differentiate yourself from the average applicant and you should be able to get into some top schools with a solid GPA and good MCAT scores.</p>