<p>Hi! I am going to start freshman year in 2011 (fall session), and I got accepted for the architecture major... I have always been in between wanting to become an architect or a doctor, and I am now deciding that I want to take advantage of the option that US universities displays, so can you give me some insight, please, on which path to take?
a) Try changing majors (preferably going to a biomedical engineering major) - with such major I think it would be very hard.
b) Follow the architecture path and at the same time take courses that would full fill the requisites for medical school admission.</p>
<p>The reason I am considering either a) or b) is because I would have a 'back-up' plan if I, in the future, would not be accepted into medical school. Being an international student would make my chances of being accepted into a medical school even lower, I am aware of that, but it's a risk that I am willing to take, since I wouldn't have to major in biology/chemistry. </p>
<p>“Follow the architecture path and at the same time take courses that would full fill the requisites for medical school admission.”</p>
<p>-Will be very challenging. Expect to take longer than 4 years in UG. (Considering that pre-med requirements alone are not enough for Med. School Appl. Have to have very high GPA, decent MCAT (few months of prep - few hours/day) and various /continuos involvement with medically related EC’s (shadowing, volunteering, Med. Research Lab internships). Architecture major is very challenging and very time consuming all by itself w/o pre-med requirements.</p>
<p>Option c: major in architecture, and then do a post-bac (if possible given your visa status). Architecture is not for the time-challenged; you’ll spend more time on architecture projects than in science labs. Doing well in both would be very, very challenging.</p>
<p>A friend’s kid went this route and is now at Vandy Med.</p>
<p>Agree that the combination of Arch and premed would be extremely challenging for anyone. D1 considered Arch and one of the reasons she decided against it was that she felt it would mean having only that single focus.</p>
<p>True. I agree with all of you, and I am also not an exceptional student (supernatural) so I don’t think it would be worth it to make myself go crazy all the way through four years if I could even survive it. Since I am not one hundred percent sure of what school I am going to attend, some of them don’t offer a biomedical engineering major, and I think I might choose psychology as a major in case the particular school that I end up going to doesn’t have biomedical. Would psychology be a good major do work as a ‘backup’ if I don’t get into medical school? Because I could always go to graduate school to get a higher degree in psychology so I am thinking it is a good back up plan in case I don’t get in any medical school. What do you think?</p>
<p>Also I just wanna add that for a lot of schools architecture majors last 5 years so I would assume this is just more evidence at how time consuming it is.</p>
<p>All I know about psychology is there are no jobs for psychologists. D. investigated a little, just asking some MD’s - parents of her friends. However, Neuroscience classes are very interesting and somewhat easier than general Bio classes (like Cell Bio, Phisiology, Genetics). D. had taken many Neuroscience classes, she loved them all. In regard to biomedical engineering, again it will be very challenging (any engineering major is much harder than other majors, including Bio). At least BME will cover Med. School reguirements. Both Arch. and any engineering majors reguire exceptionally strong math background.</p>
<p>over the summer one of my colleagues majored in architecture at UPenn, graduated, realized he wanted to pursue medicine, went back to school to finish up requirements, and ended up going to University of Rochester Med school. So it’s definitely possible to pursue both paths.</p>