<p>Growing up I always wanted to be a lawyer and I love government and politics, so I submitted my common app and put my intended major as "political science". But recently I realized I enjoy AP Bio and I'm really good at it too. So I want to be a Bio major, am I allowed to switch? Or do I have to do political science? Also can I do premed? cause I noticed my strengths are in math and science as opposed to english and social studies. I know these questions may come off as stupid, but I'm so new to all of this and none of family members have ever gone to college so there no help lol </p>
<p>And I regret only applying to Stony Brook because I don't feel like I will get accepted since I have low SAT scores and my GPA isn't great either. </p>
<p>SAT - R: 610 M: 570 W: 500
GPA - 3.4 (I failed one class and did poorly in another) </p>
<p>AP -
Psychology 5
US History 5
World History 4</p>
<p>Current AP courses taking -
AP Computer Science
AP Bio
AP Calc B/C
AP Art History
AP Gov</p>
<p>SAT II -
690 US History
640 World History</p>
<p>Extracurricular activities:
Mock Trial
Model UN
Student Government
Math Tutor (volunteer)
History Honor Society</p>
<p>Looks fine to me. If you’re willing to show initiative in other areas of your life (admissions loves APs and ECs), then your GPA will slide by. I don’t know how to convert grades from the 4.0 to the 100 or letter scale, but it looks to me like you’ll get in.</p>
<p>As for preferring biology over politics, don’t worry about it. Just take courses in another major.</p>
<p>Oh, and two things;</p>
<ol>
<li>Out of curiosity, are you getting a lot of projects in AP Computer Science, or just AP questions? Unfortunately, the latter for me for most of the year. (Note that I enjoy programming in my spare time.)</li>
<li>Pre-med is notoriously difficult. It’s not that you shouldn’t do it, it’s that you should evaluate your circumstances and abilities carefully; far too many people (ESPECIALLY at Stony Brook) think they’re hot **** and that they’ll blow through pre-med easily, when in reality they usually switch to something else midway through Organic Chemistry, which is absurdly complex. Enough people certainly take this risk to cloud legitimate candidates. But apparently if you can do Orgo (as it’s called), you can do anything. I’m not going into any sort of biological (or even natural) science however, so my word is not that of God. I’m not trying to discourage you, I’m trying to get you to think.</li>
</ol>
<p>Switching majors is fine. As a Poli Sci major I don’t think you’d be taking any Poli Sci courses your first semester anyway, and same goes with Bio, too. Both of them start to come 2nd semester. After you decide to enroll, I remember there being an option that says what major you intend to do, just switch it to Bio then. That might not work, so when you go to orientation just tell your advisor that you want to do Bio. It really won’t affect much. If you are intended as Bio, they will have you take Chemistry and lab, Writing, Calc (or pre-calc, or whatever your placement test gets you), and maybe some sort of humanities/whatever interests you (can be for General Education requirements, which we call DECs)</p>
<p>Anyway, 2nd semester is when you would start your real bio classes anyway (either Cellular Biology or Physiology, usually) So this really isnt something you should worry about now. Its easy to switch majors within the college of arts and sciences. </p>
<p>A 3.4 on the 100 scale is like a high 80. I think maybe like an 87…? And recently I talked to my Bio teacher and he said premed is very very hard but not impossible, as long as I have good time management skills, I should be able to survive (hopefully lol)</p>
<p>But is it possible to major in poli sci, minor in bio and do premed? Can someone get into medical school by not majoring in any of the hard sciences? Is it frowned upon? I enjoy science (especially Biology and Chemistry) but I’m still on the fence because I find poli sci so interesting! And how is majoring in poli sci like? </p>
<p>In my comp sci class we NEVER have hw or ap questions. My teacher is unfortunately very laid back. Comp Sci is the only AP class I feel unprepared for the AP exam. We do a lot of in class programming, but by programming I mean all we do is copy the code on the board, we don’t learn what the code means or do anything beyond copying. A lot of people call it a typing class, cause it feels like all were learning to do is how to type faster lol It’s unfortunate cause I actually do want to learn java and I thought taking this class will help me. The ap comp sci class is notorious for getting 1’s and 2’s on the AP exam every year…</p>
<p>Oh man, I thought I had it bad. I’m never complaining again. My advice? Program a bit on your own. Learn a graphics library, and you can do some interesting and fun things to teach yourself. If SFML had Java bindings I’d recommend that, but it doesn’t so I can’t really help you there unless you’re willing to do a bit of C++ as well (which is similar to Java at this basic level anyway). Sorry. If you PM me I can help you get up to speed on a lot of the material fairly quickly.</p>
<p>Yes, you can major in political science and still be pre-med. Supposedly med schools don’t discriminate between majors. My suitemate is a poli sci major and is doing pre-med too.</p>
<p>It is just a track so that both you and your advisor know that you will have an additional set of classes that you need to take. Stony Brook does not have a pre-med major, so I’m guessing you’re talking about options on something like your application, or that stuff you fill out after being accepted, where you check off saying “Pre-Medicine” or whatever. Yeah, that is pretty much just for your advisor to know that you will need to be taking Chem and lab, math, and writing in your first semester (some pre-med requirements)</p>