Major help needed!

College Majors Science Majors
1

<p>Heehee, pun...</p>

<p>I'm a high school senior that's unsure of what to do in college, specifically what major to take according to a career I'm unsure of as well. I am first generation and low-income...but I'm Asian. <em>sigh</em></p>

<p>Relevant Stats:
SAT: 670 CR, 710 M, 720 W (2100 superscore)
Chem SAT II: 790</p>

<p>I get straight A's (in terms of the final class grade) and am currently ranked 2nd in my class. I've taken AP Chem and US History with 5's on both exams and the Bausch and Lomb award for doing well in AP Chem (and Anatomy was probably considered as well). Senior schedule is AP Bio, AP Gov, AP Stats, AP English, honors Calc, honors French IV, and a mandatory project class.</p>

<p>I like the prospects of: becoming a doctor (I feel a duty in me since general physicians are needed!), working on green technology and fuel, and generally making a lot of money to provide for my family and then starting my own family (with a couple of adopted kids lol). I'm applying to 5 top (reach) colleges with hopes of acceptance and them paying for 90% or more of the cost. Matches/safeties are Penn State, UPitt, Drexel, and URochester.</p>

<p>So....what should I do? My family has always put thoughts of reaching for the best and also of becoming a doctor in my head, and now I like it. But now my mom is trying to persuade me to do something else cause she read an article that spoke of the intense energy and money needed to become a doctor....and also one where a med student killed her parents cause she snapped and they were too forceful with prestige and becoming a doctor. -__- She's suggesting pharmacy (doesn't that require the same time and money as becoming a doctor?!) and some typical well-paying jobs. I know that I'll definitely have to rethink even more if I'm not accepted to the generous FA schools.</p>

<p>If I were to go the engineering route, I'd be kind of afraid to apply to the engineering colleges. I'm a capable mathematician and and scientist, but I don't have the 800 for math in the SAT's or SAT II's (though I didn't take it) and exceptional success in EC math/science things that others do have. I also will not have taken AP Calc (I was led to believe that Stats was useful, ok?! >_<) or any physics courses.</p>

<p>Questions:
- What should I doooo?
- Any other well-paying jobs that match with me?
- If a doctor has $200,000 debt, would he be able to pay it off by 3/4 years with conservative living? Should a kid with no money pursue such a high goal?
- Do bio/chem majors make a lot of money (besides doctor jobs)? If I were to major in these and take all the pre-med courses, but decide not to go to med school, would there be good job options available?
- I guess I should apply for QuestBridge as well? My parents do make less than 50k combined, but my brother and his wife lives with us as well, bringing the family income to 85k+...</p>

<p>Thanks for your help!</p>

2

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<p>Generally, no and no. Biology and chemistry majors’ job and career prospects are not very good, probably because there are so many biology graduates competing for a smaller number of low paying jobs and an even smaller number of better jobs (and chemistry graduates generally compete for the same types of jobs; for whatever reason, chemistry majors have a hard time getting into the better jobs available to chemical engineering majors).</p>

<p>However, it is not required to major in biology or chemistry to do pre-med, although it may be difficult to fit the pre-med courses around a major with a large number of non-overlapping requirements (e.g. engineering other than chemical engineering or bioengineering). Medical schools generally do not care about your major; they care first about your MCAT score and GPA.</p>

<p>For working in environmental technologies, several of the more traditional types of engineering (civil, chemical, electrical, mechanical, materials, nuclear) can apply in different ways (note that environmental engineering is usually a subarea of civil engineering, and often focused on subjects like clean water infrastructure and the like). You don’t need to be obsessed with 800 on SAT math to apply to engineering schools.</p>

<p>Try to get at least a high school physics course into your schedule. And if “honors calculus” is less than the AB syllabus, try to switch to a calculus course that does at least the AB or (preferably) BC syllabus. These will be more useful in university than high school / AP statistics (as will a university level calculus-based statistics course, particularly if you go into medicine).</p>

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<p>Oh. And what about the Biochem major? Are there even high paying jobs for science? Now I feel like it’s Engineering and Medicine or else you’ll be average.</p>

<p>I thought about switching Stats and emailed my counselor. Hopefully, an AP Calc is in the spot I need it to be. Honors and AP Calc are the only ones offered (and you have to take honors first) so I think it’s right according to what you’re talking about. Ugh, AP Bio is year-long and the school only allows 4 classes a semester. -___- Physics is a no-can-do, though…</p>

<p>Thanks, ucb!</p>

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<p>Biochem is no better off than Chemistry or Biology. All in the same boat. </p>

<p>Pharmacy is an interesting choice you may want to look into.</p>

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<p>Ouch.</p>

<p>Pre-med and pre-pharm should have overlapping requirements, right? So it’s possible to have the ability to decide if you want to be a pharmacist or doctor after completing undergrad? lol that would be awesome.</p>

<p>Thanks aggie. :)</p>

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<p>I would say that they would have very similar requirements.</p>

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<p>Yes, but mainly if the science is math, physics, statistics, or computer science (and physics graduates are often hired into good paying non-physics jobs because of their math skills). Biology, chemistry, and similar majors like biochemistry face a job market flooded with lots of graduates chasing relatively few jobs. Note that bioengineering job prospects tend to be worse than most other engineering job prospects.</p>

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<p>How hard is it to major in computer science with no experience? …and Physics? It sounds like majoring in something profitable while taking all the pre-med and pre-pharm stuff would be ideal…but insanely hard? I also feel like I’m betraying myself, but the job prospects are so bleh.</p>

<p>Thanks, you two!</p>

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<p>Pre-med and pre-pharmacy generally have similar prerequisite requirements, but they are not the same between programs or between medical and pharmacy schools. You can technically major in anything and still pursue pharmacy or medicine, you just need the prereq classes. You can find lists of these classes on admissions pages for med and pharm schools.</p>

<p>My area of most knowledge is in pharmacy (first year pharmacy student). Pharmacy school requires four years once you’re in the doctorate program and you can tack on another year or two if you also do an optional residency. You can do six year programs that are two years pre-pharm and four years for the PharmD. Whether you do a six or eight year program can vary by your preferences and by which school you would want to attend. Since you sound undecided, you’d probably go for an undergrad degree and then do four years of pharmacy school… if you chose to pursue pharmacy. Pharmacy school is pretty expensive, but is generally less than medical school.</p>

<p>Since you seem to have no clue what you want to do (and there is no problem with that!) I would start shadowing in prospective career paths. Then you can find out what you like and don’t like before you go for a degree in it. The last thing you want to do is spend a ton of money on a degree and then find out you don’t like the jobs that come with it! Major in something that interests you, and don’t do it just for the money.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

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<p>I just shadowed a doctor for the first time today and I really like it. :)</p>

<p>To be honest, pharmacy is a lot less exciting to me than being a doctor. Then again I haven’t been exposed to the field so I’ll definitely take your suggestion to shadow! I’m complying with my mom cause I can do pre-med with pre-pharm (with 4 years undergrad probably). Mwahaha. Money is important (I’ve been promising BMW’s to my ginormous family since I was little -____-) and I want to be practical. Still, I’m pretty easy to please as long as I don’t have a cubicle or something, but I’m not gonna let myself stray from my interests tooo far.</p>

<p>Thanks for the advice!</p>

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<p>No problem! It’s all in the setting. Being a doctor in general would be more exciting, but it all depends on the setting. Being a pharmacist in the ER would be more exciting than being a doctor working in a slower paced clinic, for example. Just go with what you are interested in. However, don’t take your family’s money if you don’t agree about how it’ll be used. From my point of view, they should be happy with whatever you choose to do as long as you like doing it and it’s a realistic option.</p>

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<p>Good point. I just want to work in a hospital. @_@</p>

<p>Yeah…I’m a bit peeved. Duty to your family is great, and I really want to please mine, but they come up with stuff like “don’t be a doctor cause it takes too long and I’ll be dead by the time you finish, so I won’t be able to enjoy the perks.” And then they suggest the generic well-paying jobs in pharmacy and anesthesiology which are at a similar time commitment and a higher one, respectively. /rant</p>

<p>I think it’ll all come down to how much I have to pay for my undergrad schooling…</p>

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<p>So they suggest anesthesiology but do not buy into medical school? You sir are most definitely in a pickle. </p>

<p>Try to get the best undergrad education for your money. Try to get experience in your respective interests to see what you would enjoy most. Hopefully by that point you will be able to come up with a solid idea of what you want and will be able to convey it to your family.</p>

<p>Also:

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<p>You do not by any means need an 800 math score to be successful in engineering. Many people boast all these amazing stats such as competitions and test scores, but at the end of the day college is a whole different beast. I know NMF finalists who are struggling. I also know people who were average in High School who are excelling. These people who are hot shots in high school very well may not be in college. By how you are talking, I can tell that you are very concerned about your education and making things happen, so don’t at all get the idea that you cannot tackle engineering. No calculus in high school? No problem. You will start in Calculus 1 just like most of the field. No physics in high school? No problem. Many people come in thinking that they will ace college physics because they were a hot shot in AP Physics C. The reality is that I had 1 year experience in basic physics coming in, and did better than all the rest of the people in the class where many of which claimed they took AP Physics C in high school. DON’T LET THESE THINGS MAKE YOU STRAY FROM ENGINEERING IF YOU FEEL LIKE GOING THAT ROUTE!!!</p>

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<p>To add to aGGieENGiNeeR’s post…</p>

<p>Don’t let things start pulling you back now before you’ve even started! I’ve seen people that did amazingly in high school totally fail in college because they did not try or were not committed to their track of studies, and I’ve also seen people that barely made it through high school that excelled beyond anyone’s expectations – including their own – in college. It’s all about how committed YOU are to what YOU want to do and what YOU are studying.</p>

<p>And don’t worry: just because you’ve never taken a class in a subject before does not mean that you’ll be at a huge disadvantage. That’s what into level classes and placement by testing is for.</p>

<p>Basically, you’ll be just fine as long as you put the effort in :)</p>