<p>i'm probably doing the 3/2 engineering program but i was wondering if anybody knew about the flexibility with other fields of study, such as being able to go pre-med or double majoring at fordham and/or at columbia or case western. </p>
<p>another option i'm considering is going pre-med while double majoring in engineering physics and psychology, so i was wondering what anybody might know about the engineering physics program. </p>
<p>would it be possible to switch from 3/2 to my second option considering the physics and engineering physics majors share many of the same required classes? would it be possible to go pre-med while doing the 3/2 since physics and calculus are also required courses for pre-med students?</p>
<p>any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks</p>
<p>Are you going to be a fordham freshman this upcoming sept. or a h.s. senior? If it is a freshman, then you definitely need to sit down with Dr. Haider, physics chairman at Rosehill, this summer if you're contemplating both pre-med and the physics track of the 3-2 engineering program - very intense program of study you'd be considering.</p>
<p>From a pre-med viewpoint, it doesn't matter what major you have as long as you meet the following minimum courses by the time you apply to med. school: One year of general biology with lab, One year of general chemistry with lab, One year of organic chemistry with lab, One year of general physics with lab, One year of mathematics (calculus/applied calculus), and One year of English.</p>
<p>You also need to complete Fordham's core requirement, through taking all of the required courses or a combination of taking most of them and being exempted out via AP tests.</p>
<p>What makes pre-med difficult, even with the standard 4 yr. non-engineering physics program is the extra year of chemistry (organic) and the year of bio - all of these courses (four 4-credit lecture courses and four 2-credit lab courses) a non-premed physics major would not need to take. I would make the bet that you would need AP exemptions to help you out with the schedule, plus some summer sessions. That's why to try to complete these requirements in 3yrs with the 3-2 program is going to be intense.</p>
<p>But, if you're interested in being pre-med -- so I presume you want to go to medical school -- why are you thinking of the 3-2 engineering (unless you're looking at some career to fall back on if you don't make med. school immediately out of undergrad?)?</p>
<p>The other thing I would be very careful about with the 3-2 engineering program is that if you decide to drop out from the program in the middle of your training at columbia, then you don't have any degree and you have to scramble to complete the requirements for a BS at fordham (because only at the end of the 5yr program do you get both the BS from Fordham and the B.Eng. from Columbia).</p>
<p>Think very carefully before trying to do a pre-med and the 3-2 engineering program - avail yourself to all the appropriate advisors at fordham to get their advice.</p>
<p>yeah, i think you should sit down and think about what you want to do career wise. I think i was in you situation last year... i didn't know if i wanted to do pre-med or engineering. and you know what... after a year.. i totally went the other direction.. im now pre-law. who'd a thunk it?
really.. take the time to look at every aspect of the medical career options you are interested in. Are you comfortable interacting with people? Are you willing to not sleep for days at a time to help people? Will you be comfortable with the fact that you might lose patients? there are lots of aspects to a job that people never consider when deciding what to do.</p>
<p>So i guess my suggestion is shadow a doctor/dentist/optometrist/engineer. see what you like. if you don't like anything... take your time and explore.</p>
<p>i'm going to be attending this fall and as of now im doing the 3-2 engineering program, but im thinking it maybe more fulfilling to switch to doing pre-med as an engineering physics major so i dont have to cram so much material into three years at FU. </p>
<p>to answer, "but, if you're interested in being pre-med -- so I presume you want to go to medical school -- why are you thinking of the 3-2 engineering (unless you're looking at some career to fall back on if you don't make med. school immediately out of undergrad?)," im basically extremely undecided in that i definitely want to do science, but cannot figure out what i should do yet - i love electronics and physics, but i also really want to do research and contribute to current neurological research. that's why im thinking maybe i could just major in engineering physics while doing pre-medical research; after graduation, i'd have the flexibility of applying to either med school or an engineering grad school. i also want to know if it's possible to double-major in engineering physics and psychology and if it's possible to do the 3-2 program while studying pre-medical classes.</p>
<p>is it even possible to double-major at fordham?? </p>
<p>thanks for the help!</p>
<p>Always remember that medical schools are training physicians to ultimately manage patients as the main focus of the training. Even in MD/PhD programs, most of your medical school education will be towards the goal of learning how to diagnose and treat a human being. You will need to do an internship after graduation to meet the minimum licensing requirement to practice medicine, and preferably a residency beyond this for minimum adequate training in a medical specialty (even family medicine is a specialty).</p>
<p>So, a word of advice -- if your interest truly lies in research, than pursue a single major in undergrad and consider a PhD. If it is a PhD in a science, then you should have minimum grad. loans to repay plus you can always do medical school afterward, or change your mind in the middle of PhD training (say after you obtain your masters). If you go into medical school and then realize that research was really what you wanted, unless you have fantastic finances to support you, you'll be building up graduate loans at the rate of 50K per year -- this will highly influence what you do in your life because you have to pay these loans back (it's difficult to focus on doing primarily research when you have 200K in loans to pay back).</p>
<p>Oh okay. Wow, thanks a lot for the advice; I didn't even realize Med school was so centered towards training practitioners. I appreciate the advice</p>