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Under the current medical school admission system, I would say your pre-med friends game the system better – In other word, they are wiser. (DS is very disdained about this aspect of premed life: Not all GPAs are created equal.)</p>
<p>As it is said: You can not have the cake and eat it too. You want a major that is more marketable with a BS degree only because it is a vocational degree. You choose to have the peace of mind of having a backup plan. Now you also want a good GPA that can make your medical school application job easier. What is worse (this is much worse than your somewhat lower GPA) is that you may not have as much time to do premed ECs as your other “wiser” premed friends do. You also have an extra burden of proving to medical school adcoms that you really like medicine --This is because you have chosen a vocational major meant for another career path and adcoms will see that. (DS is also very disdained about this aspect of premed life: If a premed chooses a major that would more likely be “useful” with a BS degree only (read: those more likely from a poorer family), he or she may be put into a disadvantaged position if he or she is not capable of “having the cake and eating it too.”</p>
<p>Is there any Chemical Engineering major who is also successful as a premed? Sure, there is. But only you will know whether you will or will not be one of these successful ones.</p>