Should I ditch the accelerated program to be able to pursue a minor?

Hello,

I don’t remember making this account but kinda glad I did. I am currently a freshman in my second semester at Temple University. I currently have a 3.91 gpa, majoring in Chemistry, and pursuing a career in dentistry.

I applied for the accelerated dental program and was granted provisional acceptance. The faculty informed me what is really required for me to ensure my acceptance in the program (they said I lacked volunteer/community service work…etc). Some things that have been throwing me off is that I cannot pursue a minor if I go with the accelerated track and that I am restricted to Temple’s dental school and that I have to pursue a bachelor of arts instead of bachelor of science (not sure if this is a big deal or not?). Anyway, I have recently been thinking about minoring in computer science. I really, really, want to learn programming as it is something I have always been interested in my entire life. I want to learn how to program and take it as a hobby for me to practice and strengthen in my free time. The issue is that if i want to pursue a minor, I have to ditch the accelerated option. This will allow me to apply to different dental schools when the time comes (I love you upenn!) and I can grab a bachelor of science instead of arts.

So what are your thoughts and suggestions? Is the minor worth it? How about the accelerated track? I am a really open guy and would love to hear some serious opinions. I really appreciate you taking the time reading this. thanks!

Can you not learn coding in your free time? There are tons of open resources on the web.