Hi everyone! I am currently a rising sophomore majoring in chemical engineering at the University of Rochester. I’m torn between several different career paths because I cannot figure out what to do. I have always dreamed of pursuing medical school and becoming a psychiatrist because I love learning about psychology. On the other hand, I love being able to apply calculus, chemistry, and physics so a career in chemical engineering seems perfect. My problem with pursuing medical school is that next semester, I would have to overload in order to ensure that all my pre-med requirements are met by the end of junior year. I am signed up for six courses during the fall (General Biology I, Organic Chemistry I, a Chemical Engineering course, Linear Algebra & Differential Equations, an advanced psychology class, and a resume/internship based writing course). I ended freshman year with a 3.60 (is this an alright starting point?) cumulative GPA (fulfilled General Chemistry I and II, Physics I, Calc I and II, English Composition, Statistics, General Psych, chemical engineering courses). While I would love to someday become a psychiatrist, I just don’t know if I can start my career as one when I’m basically 30 years old (4 years undergrad, 4 years med school, 4 years residency). Whereas, if I decide to just pursue chemical engineering, I can choose to either get my masters in grad school or look immediately for employment opportunities before I graduate. Another concern of mine regarding med school is getting the required amount of hospital volunteering, shadowing, research, and MCAT prep while trying to pursue engineering internships. This summer I am currently doing an engineering based internship but I don’t think I will have the time to do this next year while trying to get my medical extracurriculars out of the way. I’m really conflicted because in the case that I do not make it to medical school, I won’t have enough engineering experience if all my attention is focused on medical school for my upcoming years. Any advice on this situation is greatly appreciated and I apologize for this long post!
If your goal is going to medical school, having a major in engineering may be not a smart move particularly if you need to overload your schedule to meet the course requirement.
Try checking your campus resources. They’ll know what GPA etc is typically required for UR med school applicants/
https://www.rochester.edu/college/CCAS/health/