<p>Hi,
I will be attending college in the fall this year. I have gotten quite good offers, but right now I am debating between two of them.
I have Saint Louis University (MO), for Biomedical Engineering, with a $6000/year scholarship
And I have the University of Pittsburgh (PA) with an Undeclared Major in the College of Arts and Sciences.
Both universities have put me in the pre-medicine track, and I am confident about attending medical school after undergraduate. However, I am unable to choose, because on one hand, Pittsburgh is a really good university, though I have a good major in Saint Louis.
I would really appreciate it if anyone could help me, as I am very confused. </p>
<p>what are the costs to you of each school (the scholarship is nice to have but is no help to us in figuring the bottom line)? </p>
<p>Also, are you saying that you prefer the BE major to a pre-med track in A&S? Have you talked to Pitt about switching into a BE track once you get to Pitt?</p>
<p>out-of-state fees for SLU: $31000
out-of-state fees for Pittsburgh: $36000</p>
<p>I have no preferred major, but I just wanted to know if your choice of major and undergraduate degree affects entry into med school. And in the event I dont get into med school, will a BE major be better or a A&S major?
I have emailed Pitt, and they replied that it is very difficult to get transfers, so its better to stick to one major. </p>
<p>A biomedE major would be more marketable than most A&S majors.</p>
<p>What are your stats? </p>
<p>There is no such thing as OOS for SLU, it’s a private. </p>
<p>You seem to only be looking at tuition…what about the other costs?</p>
<p>Pitt has lots of opportunities for shadowing, research given the hospitals/medical school/NIH funding going on. If you are really completely confident on pre-med, GPA is key and it would be difficult to keep a high GPA in engineering given that you will be taking multiple science and math courses at once for all 4 yrs, whereas doing what is required for pre-med is much less intense. </p>
<p>What is your total cost of attendance after scholarships/grants but before loans?
Med schools basically don’t look at where you got your degree. What they want to see is a very high GPA, high MCAT scores, a strong major in any subject (could be neuroscience or philosophy!) and strong letters of recommendation.</p>
<p>You should ask what each college’s policy wrt Committee Letters is.</p>
<p>Bioengineering = harder to keep a high GPA for med school than a typical A&S major, but much better career prospects if you don’t get into med school (like half students who completed their premed core successfully.) Furthermore, there is a glut of biology majors, so I wouldn’t advise this as a major.
However Pitt has an excellent relationship with hospitals in the Pittsburgh area and offers opportunities for professional experience. </p>
<p>mom2collegekids: i am looking at all the costs (tuition+housing+personalexpenses)
amandakayak: i am strongly considering Pittsburgh mainly because of those reasons.
MYOS1634: my total cost of attendance for SLU (after scholarship) is $31,000 and for Pitt it is $36,000.
so looking at future career prospects other than medicine, Saint Louis will be a better choice?</p>
<p>How will you be paying the $30k+</p>
<p>SLU with biomedE will have more career opps</p>
<p>what would your major be at Pitt?</p>
<p>Okay. yes SLU would be better if you didn’t get into med school (or would help you find a job until you do - many applicants take a few years after college before they apply), however it’d make it harder to keep the high GPA required for med school, so it’s the trade off and the risk.
A 3.3 engineering GPA is excellent, but med schools want 3.7+…</p>
<p>Yes, GPA is super important. How strong a student are you?</p>
<p>my son was a ChemE major, and he worked his fanny off to get a high cum GPA (3.99) and BCMP GPA (4.0) for med school. So, it can be done…but you need to be very disciplined and focused. </p>
<p>@ mom2collegekids: my parents will be paying for my college; and I still havent declared my major at Pitt, but I am considering either Neuroscience, Biological Sciences, or Molecular Biology</p>
<p>@MYOS1634: so is it better to risk going to Pitt, and getting a transfer into engineering later (which is not that easy), or should I go to SLU? what is the required GPA for A&S? </p>
<p>I am in the top 5% of my class, and I am doing IB right now, and my predicted grades are 42/45
I am willing to completely dedicate myself to getting a good GPA and MCAT scores</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids: where did your son do his ChemE and med school?</p>
<p>You probably won’t get a transfer into Engineering later, so either you do an A&S major and maintain et 3.7+, or you opt for Engineering at SLU.
Based on the info above (IB, top 5%, 42 score) you’re likely a very strong contender for high grades in Engineering.
It’s probably a good idea to email admissions at each college and see if they can put you in touch with a current student in the majors you’re considering, then once you’re in touch with them ask them about their classes, what percentage students were “weeded out”, the curve, average GPAs, etc. (plus… college life, of course).</p>
<p>Okay, I will email the universities and get in touch with current students.
Thank you very much @MYOS1634 
</p>
<p>That’s not true at Pitt, MYOS. Students do transfer into engineering regularly. But I’d suggest the OP reconsider engineering when what he wants is med school. And Pitt has a terrific, long-standing neuroscience department and a new center for brain studies (<a href=“Pitt to develop center to study the brain | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette”>Pitt to develop center to study the brain | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) so you might not even want to transfer to engineering. Plus the city of Pittsburgh has excellent hospitals, and UPitt hospital has been one of the best in the world in several fields. As far as academics and opportunities, I feel no hesitation in suggesting Pitt over SLU. I have no horse in this race.</p>
<p>^I actually agree, Pitt Neuroscience is superb and excellent for premed. But in my opinion students should choose their school based on what they know they can do not what they might do, since it may not happen. If odds are good OP will transfer into Engineering at Pitt then it’s excellent though. :)</p>
<p>@jkeil911 : i just got into contact with a friend at Pitt, so I have enquired about the transfer into the engineering school. At this point, Pitt seems to be my best option. </p>
<p>OP, contact the Pitt forum on CC. Click colleges and universities in the column to your left. Click P, click University of Pittsburgh. Post your question there about how hard it is to transfer from A&S to engineering. They’re helpful people over there. The other thing you could do would be to email your admissions officer and ask him or her what the odds are. That would probably be even more accurate than what the CCers will tell you.</p>
<p>Whether or not you should bother to transfer might be a question for the forum we’re in right now. I’d say why bother since bioengineering majors are a dime a dozen, just like neurosci and biology majors. Bioeng majors will find it easier to find work, but not that much easier necessarily, and neurosci and bio majors will need to get advanced degrees.</p>
<p>MYOS, got it.</p>