Hi everyone! You might not have guessed this from my incredibly mysterious and clever thread title, but I’m a pre-med-oriented student deciding between WashU and Duke. I obviously love both places, but I’m trying to get a better feel for what their atmospheres are like/whether their classes will kill me or not. I have a bit of an interesting situation since I applied to the Arts and Sciences school at WashU but the engineering school at Duke. Can anyone speak to the competitiveness/stress level/general quality of life at either place? I ask because I spent my high school years basically studying and having minimal fun, and while I can handle hard classes, I don’t want to hate my life in college. Any thoughts?
For med school admissions your GPA matters, your MCAT matters, your letters of recommendation matter, and your job shadowing hours matter. Your major doesn’t matter at all. The name of the college or university where you got your degree scarcely matters at all. So if you don’t have a cheaper, slightly “easier” option on the table, you may want to think through the notion of majoring in engineering. Lots of pre-med engineering students find that they can’t keep their GPA up to the level needed for med school admissions.
On the other hand, if you really do like engineering, and you live and breathe hard science, then you may prefer that route over a major in A&S.