Hi, I am a freshman student at Marshall University in Huntington, WV. I am sort of in a dilemma. I plan on majoring in Computer Science because it has been a general interest of mine, the career outlook is good, and it is a good plan B incase I run into any problems in medical school. I plan on doing a Minor in Exercise Science (a personal interest), and taking the required prerequisites for medical school. I would like to stay in-state and get an MD at either West Virginia University’s medical school or at the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine. However, I did some research on Computer Science GPAs and noticed that most students have a low GPA, around a 3.0-3.2. I was wondering if I would still have a good chance at getting accepted into one of these two schools. Based on what I have heard from others, they typically aren’t as strict on GPA than other medical schools. What do you all think about this plan, or should I consider a different possibility? Thank you!
You should consider getting the highest possible GPA, not hoping that a lower one will suffice. And this applies to all medical or DO schools.
I’m going to try to get the highest GPA that I can possibly get, but I’m worried that as a CS major, I won’t be able to get a competitive GPA. I have thought about majoring in Biology or Chemistry as I took AP Bio in high school and was the highest Chemistry average in my graduating class. However, I can’t see myself doing anything else in those two fields if I can’t get accepted into an MD school.
College GPAs are not necessarily better in biology and chemistry or other majors.
Major in what you like and what you will be satisfied with if you do not go to medical school, and earn the highest grades you can.
Med school adcoms do not care which school/major you coming from, but they only look at GPA, if you don’t have it, you won’t get in. It is as simple as that. With a 3.0 - 3.2 you don’t have a chance at MD schools, even DO schools you have a problem.
There ARE straight A students in CS, my brother was one from Berkeley, so go for it.
How are you doing so far grade wise? D is CS premed sophomore at Vandy. It is tough to maintain good GPA, especially if you don’t have those natural programmer brains or have previous year tests 
But D is still soldiering on! Is that a good or bad situation if her science GPA is higher than her overall GPA ?
There are students in all majors with high gpas. Choose what you like and work hard. How are you doing so far?
Problem with CS major (or engineering majors) is that CS courses are very very time-consuming for average students (ie, not the genius who can get straight A without spending much time/effort), and all pre-med courses (Bio, Chem, Orgo, Biochem) are also super time-consuming (they all have labs). When combining the two together, it is a disaster waiting to happen, not to mention most pre-med courses are weeder (ie, purposely made hard to reduce the size of applicants). IT jobs in general do not need a CS degree (that’s why lots of IT jobs are being out-sourced to countries with their IT workers don’t even have college degree, just couple months of training after high school). Best strategy is to pick a major that you like/enjoy and can also get higher GPA (3.7+) because you’ll need the extra time to beat those weeder pre-med courses. Just do some IT training on the side with any college degree will get you an IT job.
@SincereLove - Higher sGPA is always good, but it still has to be above certain level (I’d think anything below 3.5 or 3.6 is less likely to save an applicant, even it is from Vandy/JHU/Ivies…).
How are you finding your classes this semester? Do you think you can handle CS classes combined with the prerequisites that you need for medical school?