Pre-Med vs Business

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Berkeley
1

<p>Hello, I am an incoming freshmen this fall and I am currently trying to figure out my curriculum. I won't be attending CalSO as I am an international student. Right now I have my eyes set on either pre-med or business as my "major." I know that I have until sophomore year to pick but they say the earlier the better, specially if I am pre-med. So first I will start with this question</p>

<ol>
<li>Is it possible to major on both? Or minor in one of them? </li>
</ol>

<p>Right now I am more concerned about my first semester, I am hoping by second semester, I will be at UCB and some advisor can help me. So I need to know what classes I can take. </p>

<p>Here is a possible curriculum:
Math 1A (4 units)
Chem 1A (4 units)
English R1A (4 units) (Might be able to skip with a 4 in AP lit)
UGBA 010 (Principles of Business) (3 units)
PreMed 101 Decal (2 units?) </p>

<p>Is this alright? Are the classes too competitive and hard that I should drop one?
I am also interested in a few seminars and I am not sure what are my choices here since I think I should start with 13-15 units. Also, how many seminars/decals/transitional courses should I take maximum?</p>

<p>Then, there is a problem with both majors</p>

<p>Business: I am not very good in Math. I am logical and I will need people to guide me step by step on how everything works. I am quite tired of math, but that might be because I didn't do very well recently with math. If I do understand it, then it is quite enjoyable. I also am afraid of not getting into Haas. If so, would it be too late to do pre-med? </p>

<p>Pre-Med: I don't feel ready to commit so many years to become a doctor. I hear it takes an average of 12 years, which means that getting out I will be around 30. Not to mention doctors will always have to study so they know about new medicine, practices, etc. </p>

<p>So now I am struggling with the two. What should I consider? I am not a person who thinks ahead and I am rather clueless on a lot of things, so any help or advise would be appreciated.</p>

2

<p>Pre-med is not a major; as far as coursework is concerned, it is a set of courses that can be taken alongside any major. Typical Berkeley courses for pre-med are listed here: <a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Medical/PrepPrereq.stm[/url]”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Medical/PrepPrereq.stm&lt;/a&gt; . However, check each medical school for specific requirements that may vary.</p>

<p>While a lot of pre-meds major in biology out of convenience (since biology majors include the pre-med courses anyway), there is no reason why you cannot major in something else (including business) and take the pre-med courses with careful schedule planning.</p>

<p>That said, both medical school admissions and Haas UGBA admissions are very GPA focused, which implicitly discourages taking “harder” courses.</p>

<p>For Berkeley purposes, a 4 on AP English allows skipping R&C A and taking R&C B. Check medical schools about their English requirements and what other writing intensive courses are accepted if you skip R&C A with AP credit.</p>

<p>Both Haas and medical schools generally accept Math 16 (versus Math 1). However, some majors require Math 1. If you have no AP Calculus credit, see this page on selecting your first math course (an on-line placement test is included):
[Choosing</a> the First Math Course at UC Berkeley - UC Berkeley Department of Mathematics](<a href=“http://math.berkeley.edu/courses_1stcourse.html]Choosing”>http://math.berkeley.edu/courses_1stcourse.html)
If you do have AP Calculus credit, see this page for sample Math 1A and 1B final exams:
[Choosing</a> an Appropriate First Math Course — UC Berkeley College of Engineering](<a href=“http://coe.berkeley.edu/students/current-undergraduates/new-students/choosing-an-appropriate-first-math-course.html]Choosing”>http://coe.berkeley.edu/students/current-undergraduates/new-students/choosing-an-appropriate-first-math-course.html)</p>

3

<p>Yeah, I did not know how to put it, as it is not a major. I have read the pre-req’s and I am fine with them. I am more concerned whether I can do both, and still graduate in 4 years. Right now my priority is getting my first semester curriculum right. </p>

<p>If I am pursuing pre-med, I guess my major would be business administration, if I can get into Haas in 2 years. Or vice versa. I have 3 paths I would like to take: </p>

<p>1) Pursue both, get into Haas, finish in 4 years, then Medical school
2)Pursue both, can’t get to Haas, finish in 4 years and try Medical School
3)Pursue both or just try to get into Haas while I try to find another major, do International Business somehow. </p>

<p>Or course, things don’t alwats go the way I want which is why I want to try both and I will have more chances of getting one of these 3 options. </p>

<p>R&C I wanted to skip, but seeing as my English sucks, and MCAT has a Reading comprehension part, I figured it would be best to take it, or would it not?</p>

<p>I took Calc AB so I will not get credit. I took the placement earlier and got mostly green, which people say means I should probably take Math 1A</p>

4

<p>You do get credit for AP Calculus AB with a 3 or better, but you lose it if you take Math 16A or 1A. Although Haas wants you to take 16A+16B or 1A+1B, they do say that 53 or 54 will fulfill their requirement (so you can take 1B+53 or 1B+54). Check medical schools on their policies on taking more advanced math courses if you decide to do this (although some do not even require calculus at all).</p>

<p>For R&C, you may want to check if medical schools accept other writing intensive courses (e.g. College Writing courses, Rhetoric courses, etc.) in lieu of R&C A if you skip it and take R&C B. Haas accepts AP English for R&C the same as the rest of Berkeley.</p>

<p>An example of a specific medical school’s requirements:
[Harvard</a> Medical School: Requirements](<a href=“http://hms.harvard.edu/admissions/default.asp?page=requirements]Harvard”>http://hms.harvard.edu/admissions/default.asp?page=requirements)</p>

<p>There is a pre-med forum that you can ask in more detail about medical school requirements.</p>

<p>As far as fitting pre-med around a business major goes (assuming no use of AP credit):</p>

<p>Haas requires 28 units of lower division prerequisite courses, 38 upper division business units, and about 28 units of breadth courses, for a total of 94 units, leaving 26 units of free electives. Also, 12 of the non-business (breadth or free elective) units taken have to be upper division.</p>

<p>Pre-med requirements in English and math should overlap, requiring no additional courses. In the sciences, you will need to take about 35 units of chemistry, biology, and physics, but about 8 of them will count as breadth for business, so a net of 27 additional units taking up all of your free elective units (since only 4 units may be upper division, you’ll need to ensure that some of your other business breadth is upper division).</p>

<p>So it is doable with very careful schedule planning. But you have to make sure that every course fulfills some requirement, and that all of the numerous requirements are covered.</p>

<p>If after taking UGBA 10, Economics 1, and one or more Chemistry and/or Biology courses, you find that you strongly prefer one over the other. In that case, you may want to drop one or the other (i.e. either drop pre-med, or drop business and take some other major with fewer requirements for a less cramped schedule).</p>

5

<p>Word of advice, be open to various career options, don’t live with your head in your wallet and/or purse.</p>

6

<p>^ (coin) purse within a wallet within a purse.</p>

<p>…</p>

<p>inception.</p>