<p>What is the pre-med program like at Caltech? Do you take classes along with the core as usual?</p>
<p>I don't think we have an official "pre-med" program as such. That said, there are pre-meds here, so if you have questions about it you should probably try to get in touch with one of them. A good place to start looking for information is here:
Caltech</a> .. CAREER DEVELOPMENT CENTER .. Premed ..</p>
<p>Yep IMSAgeek is right. We don't have a premed program. I think this is the case for most universities. The only thing you need to do is meet the med school requirements. Most of the class requirements are covered by core and being a bio major, but there are a few other things such as taking a year of English. If you are really concerned, pm me and I will send you the requirement sheet that the premed association gave out.</p>
<p>I was thinking about pre-med too. :) Would getting a bioengineering major be an enjoyable process or one I wished I've never even thought about? If I find biology more interesting, I might switch on over.</p>
<p>Bio E is a new major, so I don't think anyone knows how painful it is yet.</p>
<p>Last time I checked (quite awhile ago), BioE looked like a subset of ChemE. ChE at Caltech is much harder and more quantitative than what any normal premed program could possibly look like. If you like math (ie, you assume you would find biology boring), you might enjoy Caltech. That situation described me. By the way, I found Caltech offers pretty good premed support. During the summer, they help arrange preceptorships or rotations with a few hospitals. I did a few weeks with the Children's Hospital in LA. I then realized that I enjoy doing research much more! :)</p>
<p>There is a brand new Bioengineering major. It is not a subset of ChemE. (There might be a bioengineering track for ChemE, not sure, but that would be different).</p>
<p>For those interested, the proposed schedule:
<a href="http://arc.caltech.edu/files/BE_option_0.9.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://arc.caltech.edu/files/BE_option_0.9.pdf</a></p>
<p>This is not finalized, but it's getting pretty close as far as I know. It should be in next year's catalog.</p>
<p>Thanks for everyone's reply!</p>