<p>Hey I just wanted to know the workload I can expect if I take computer engineering as a major. I am fully commited to do pre med so I was wondering if there is a way to do both computer engineering and pre med.</p>
<p>Pick a different major, easier. Unless you are a genius, go for it, but otherwise computer science will generally reduce your GPA to uncompetitive levels because of the difficulty in the major. Im a chemistry major, and now I have to do a 2 year post-bacc program to raise my GPA so that I even have a chance at medical school. Good luck</p>
<p>it’s possible, but it’ll be difficult…CS+EE+bio+chem+phys is a bit much</p>
<p>do what you want, you’ll probably end up fine, but trying to fight for a B every quarter gets old quick…</p>
<p>I can say from personal experience that it isn’t that bad. I’m currently a ChemE (chemical engineer) major doing pre-med and I found that a lot of my major classes overlap with the prerequisites for medical schools (although for CE you have to take a lot of ECE stuff which would be completely off the pre-med track) Your first two years are basically all pre-med stuff: Math 3/5(/6) series, Phys 1-4, Chem 1 series, etc so basically all you need in addition to that is Ochem (which is covered by my major requirements, but not CE reqs) and 6-10 bio classes.</p>
<p>Overall I’d say it’s difficult, but not impossible as long as you’re willing to do the extra work on top of our already incredibly difficult and demanding engineering work.</p>
<p>Don’t torture yourself, you’re about to attend an amazing university, the best in my opinion. Torture yourself in med-school, but not both. Heed my warning. Choose one of the many biology majors, lots of hot girls, lots of time for fun (respectively), & it’s still a prestigious major! You can’t loose! Oh, and on top of everything, it takes care of the medical school requirements… on its own! </p>
<p>You don’t realize how important it is to have time to be able to get internship(s) / research groups! Computer science is gonna eat your time/gpa/motivation unforgivingly.</p>
<p>
to be honest, it kinda loses its prestige when a third of the school is of the same major…and there are more reputable bio schools out there. dont choose a department based on its reputation, choose it based on what youre interested in.</p>
<p>
no need to make judgement about subjects. if he’s interested in CS/CE, then that’s his choice. imo CS is really interesting and finishing a CS project is one of the most satisfying feelings you will ever get in school…</p>
<p>Thats where you are wrong, a third of our school are actually business related majors. The bio-departments (MCDB/EEMB) has less than 1000 students freshman-senior, at any given time. that accounts for less than 1/22 of the student population. & I still stand by my statement that it is a prestigious major, even had you been right about how many people were declared as bio majors.</p>
<p>& why not make judgements about subjects? Is that not what this forum is for? Guidance? Think about it. I agree that it’s his choice in the end, but I’m still gonna let him know how *****ty of a time he’s gonna have. </p>
<p>heres a fun fact I took from a counselor at the college of letters and science (I know it is about transfers, but it still should be taken into consideration): over half of all students that transfer in as science majors change their majors after the first year. Sit on that for a while before you decide. </p>
<p>A “CS” project might feel rewarding, but having your dreams ripped away from you (med school) will overshadow that feeling by 10-fold. I’m a realist.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>youre right i should have done some more research. the bio majors definitely make up a huge portion of the student body though…over 1500 students, or almost 10% of the school: [College</a> Navigator - University of California-Santa Barbara](<a href=“College Navigator - University of California-Santa Barbara”>College Navigator - University of California-Santa Barbara)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>thing is, i dont have a bad time; neither do many other CS majors. there are many harder and/or less rewarding majors out there. there is a reason why people do CS; it’s not just for the money…</p>
<p>FROM A CURRENT UCSB COMP ENG. student:</p>
<p>The workload is pretty big for CE’s. We spend countless hours on labs trying to make lights flash, or in the computer lab trying to fix a small bug in a program. It’s funny to hear non-CE students say it’s not too bad when in reality it is very demanding. Programming classes could be very time consuming and Circuits classes are far from a walk in the park unless you were born knowing absolutely all complex math from calculus to linear algebra and have some intuition beyond that of the average engineer. And it is true that engineering GPA’s are generally lower due to the fact the classes are A LOT tougher.</p>
<p>But keep this in mind: Many Engineers get into Medical school and Law school, because, well, they are obviously more capable of problem solving than their non-engineering counterparts. So yes, I believe you can take pre-med classes as long as you do not double major with biology or something. Engineers are (unofficially) not allowed to double major. Also, getting into grad school is really tough, what if you don’t make it? because most people do not, you would at least have an engineering degree to fall back on. And if you do not at least go for BIO.</p>
<p>I got into medical school with a GPA of 3.7 after getting a BS in Astrophysics. I was able to do well because I truly loved Astrophysics even though as a major it is about as hard as it gets.(Employment prospects in that field though are almost non-existant). I would not have been nearly as motivated to get a good GPA in something like Biochemistry which I find uninteresting. After getting my MD I did my residency in Nuclear Medicine.</p>
<p>@OP, if CE is your passion you will do better in it than you would in Biology if that does not interest you. The most important thing to remember is that what you majored in or where you went for your undergraduate degree has no bearing on your admission prospects for medical school. Medical schools really consider only two things in making admission decisions, (1) UG GPA (must be 3.6 or higher) and (2) MCAT score (you need a 30 or better to be a seriously considered applicant.)</p>