<p>I'm currently a sophomore (so finishing up my second year) and want to get some of your guys's opinions on this matter. I'm on track to finish a degree in CS while finishing premed requirements, and then head off to med school after graduating. The thing is, though, I don't like CS. I'm close to finishing (I can finish the major in one more year if I take a normal courseload) but I think it's just dumb and I don't like identifying with the people. I also don't like sitting in front of the computer, which tends to happen to CS majors, surprise. I also don't think CS is the closest thing to medicine. I guess CS is just the "default" major that people jump to at my school, since it makes you seem "smart" and my school's CS department has a great reputation. (please.)</p>
<p>So, in light of all that, I'm considering switching my major to physics. I think it will be more relevant to medicine, and I won't have to sit in front of the computer all day. Also, I refuse to major in something like biology, please don't suggest that. However, the workload will be pretty heavy the next two years and I'm not sure I'll get the most out of the physics major by switching at this point, for I haven't taken any upper divisions.</p>
<p>I don't know what to do -- what do you guys think? Should I just suck it up and finish my CS major (despite loathing it) or switch to physics? Are there any physics majors out there who could comment on how useful it the major is, perhaps to medicine?</p>
<p>I could also switch to math, which would be easy (I'm a math person) but questionable in terms of usefulness after graduation.</p>
<p>tl;dr I'm halfway to a CS degree, but I think it's dumb, and I want to switch to physics, but it'll be hard. Or math. I'm going to med school after. What should I do?</p>
<p>Well, math and physics majors often end up working in computers after graduation, but if you do not like that, the more common destinations would be finance or high school teaching. Math is not necessarily worse than physics in terms of job prospects, though supplementing with courses in applied areas (e.g. statistics) would be helpful. If you do go to medical school, your undergraduate major becomes much less important for your job and career prospects.</p>
<p>Have you taken calculus-based introductory physics for physics majors yet? If not, then it may be difficult to graduate in your remaining four semesters as a physics major due to prerequisite sequencing.</p>
<p>For med school the primary factors are gpa and mcat scores, which is why most applicants are graduates of less intensive majors. They need to protect that gpa. If you really want to go to med school, stick to the major that will not destroy your gpa (which physics might do). </p>
<p>In terms of identifying with people, the same people you find in cs majors are the same people in you’ll find in math, and physics majors. Similar skill sets are needed, which generally attracts similar personality types. This is also true for the engineering and chemistry departments as well. </p>
<p>Math majors aren’t useless, but if you want a distinguish yourself you’ll more than likely need a masters. </p>
<p>Physics can be a sink or swim major and so the increased workload may destroy your gpa and stop you from getting in med school. Conversely true, Physicists usually score highest in the mcat because they are taught to critically think, and even if they don’t know the answer, they can derive the right answer, using logic. This may not be an advantage for you since you are a CS major and you are developing similar skills. </p>
<p>Just stick with CS, as if medical school doesn’t work out, you’ll always have a good backup plan because it is an employable degree. Math and physics degrees, on the other hand, are pure academic degrees and are hence not employable. They’re more comparable to the liberal arts in terms of employment prospects and employable skills learned than they are with engineering/computer science. </p>
<p>The only person who should major in math or physics are people who want to become professors of mathematics and physics. Other than that, it is simply not worth it and a complete waste of time, effort/work, and especially money.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice everyone. I think I’ll just stick it out with CS and <em>maybe</em> minor in math. The physics decision now seems rather rash, I’ll forget about it. </p>
<p>I completely disagree with the statement that physics is a purely academic degree. There are plenty of jobs out there for physics majors, they are just not called “physicist”. it can be engineering, data analyst, lab technician, health physicist, finance, as well as software. That being said, if your goal is medical school, just get your degree in CS and make sure you have enough knowledge of physical sciences to do well in the MCAT. The risk is that if you don’t get into medical school, you might end up working in a job that you don’t like. As an alternative, you might want to get a minor in physics that that might open some other doors after graduation.</p>
<p>I have a CS degree and work as a programmer. I would argue that if you genuinely find no interest in it you should get out. You’ll get a job (if you don’t get into med school,) but you may be miserable. When I was in school I found my CS classes to be stressful because of the workload, but I never really hated them…except for my Data Structures class.</p>
<p>Most people here would probably not recommend a biology degree because we know how hard it is to get a decent job with that. Did you ever think about something like biostatistics or computational biology? Sure, you’ll still spend time in front of a computer, and “bio” is in the title, but a lot of people find these types of academic programs to be much more interesting than typically dry, overly-theoretical CS programs. I’m currently working for a health care company, and more and more clinical medicine and medical research involve computers.</p>
<p>On a positive note, I’ve found most of the programmers I work with to be relatively normal and not totally immersed in computers the way some CS students are.</p>
<p>Even though I never heard of future doctors majoring in hard sciences like physics, math, computer science, I can see the validity in it. I have always thought premed always major in life sciences like biology, chemistry, psychology. But I think you are just feeling a little burn-out after spending so much time in front of the computer writing your C++, C, Java programs. CS is actually not just about software, it’s also about hardware architecture. Using CS knowledge, you can design your own medical software or hardware. Using physics knowledge, there maybe some medical applications into it. Math barely touches medicine. All 3 majors are equally hard. I know because I’ve been a Physics major first, then finished a Math major, and now Computer Programming major.</p>