<p>Hey guys, so there's just a few more months left until college!! I've already been accepted into the College of Natural Sciences under the Biology major, but now I am kind of iffy as to what I want to major in. My future goal is to get accepted into dental school and so I want to choose the best major that will give me the greatest chance of getting accepted, with, of course, good grades, and a high DAT score. Anyways, I'm wondering if I should switch my major to biomedical engineering or double major? Because if I don't get accepted into dental school, there really isn't that much I can do with a simple biology degree. I know that those two majors don't share a whole lot of courses and so I will probably have to stay more than the normal 4 years. I also want to know if the biomedical engineering major is extremely difficult or not. I know that Texas dental schools require several hours of courses for science-majors, so the biology major would work for that, but not as much the biomedical engineering. I also don't want to minor in either.</p>
<p>So it would really help if I could get some input/suggestions as to whether I should go with only a biology major, only a biomedical major, or double major? </p>
<p>I hardly ever use all caps, but Biomedical Engineering (BME) is DEFINITELY not a major that you want to transfer in to if you are worried about getting denied by dental schools. BME is one of the most rigorous degrees at UT and is hard to gain admittance to in the first place. It’s best to avoid blanket statements, but I would still say that your chances of getting a dental school acceptance would be significantly lower if you were in BME as opposed to biology. </p>
<p>In being an interdisciplinary major, BME’s degree plan incorporates all the notoriously difficult courses from each major (e.g. physiology from bio, Ochem1/2 & others from chemistry, probability and others from engineering, etc.). A lot of advisers try to be PC and tell you that different majors are easier for different people but I do not believe that BME fits under that description. BME is indisputably more difficult than biology.</p>
<p>Also, I don’t see how double majoring between anything, especially BME and biology, would offer you any benefit. The unfortunate truth is that biology or some other natural sciences degree will give you the best shot at dental school acceptance, but the worst degree for a job in industry. Meanwhile, BME will leave you with a lower GPA and, honestly, a smaller job market than many of the other engineering fields.</p>
<p>My recommendation: plan for success in biology. Don’t go in expecting to fail. And if you are at true jeopardy of being rejected at all dental schools you apply to, transferring into BME will likely be the final nail in the coffin.</p>
<p>He would be able to apply for transfer at the end of freshman year. As this [url=<a href=“Undergraduate Education”>Undergraduate Education]table[/url</a>] on Cockrell’s website shows, some 22 students applied last year and 15 were accepted. At least one of those accepted had a 3.5 GPA, which is by all means attainable. I’m not sure how selective transfer admissions is, but the numbers seem to indicate that it’s not so tough.</p>
<p>Go big or go home. No, seriously. That is the mindset you need to have if you are pre-health related profession because you can’t have the mindset of ‘what if I don’t get in?’. I have had people ask me the ‘What if you don’t get in?’ question and I still don’t have an answer for that other than ‘I will get in’. However, I will say that BME is significantly harder than a traditional pre-med major in Biology or even Biochemistry. You will not only spend more time studying, but you will in turn lose time for ECs, hobbies, hanging out, etc.</p>