<p>I've heard from a lot of people and posts that it's best to be concentrated on something, rather than be crazily well-rounded but not absolutely passionate in one. However, what if more than one thing interests me? I have a strong liking for economics, but I also love medicine, so when I apply to colleges or perhaps even summer programs like SIMR, would it look "sketchy" if they see me focused on economics at first? I'm applying to FTE as of now and planning to do research with my DECA class this upcoming school year (business/economics research). Thanks!</p>
<p>To answer your question indirectly, it is absolutely possible to have an undergrad major in economics while taking the pre-med courses, and in fact it would make you stand out a bit from all the bio and chem majors.</p>
<p>Schools love a Econ/Med focused student. They get flooded by people wanting to be pre-med and flooded by people studying economics who just want to make money on wall street. You have a real focus and, for the most part, the real successes come from combining disciplines. If you can bridge the gaps between different areas of studies you will be able to leap frog many others. </p>
<p>A major in econ and a minor (or double major) in a science will get you a look from a lot of employers from fields that have nothing to do with those courses and give you a lot of options for graduate studies. This is the type of thing Big Pharm, or those that invest in them, look for! </p>
<p>To answer your question, you are concentrated but the degree programs are not so you are forging your own path using the resources provided. </p>
<p>You are not an adult so why not be well rounded. Attempting to focus on a specific career path at 15-17 years old sounds pretty crazy. Stay well rounded. Try a bunch of things. Then you can figure out what you love. If you do well colleges will like you either way, and may even prefer a more interesting well rounded student depending on where you apply. Good Luck</p>
<p>You can certainly specialize / direct yourself in multiple directions without conflict. For me, it was computer science and philosophy. And you may find some very interesting dualities between them, I have for mine.</p>
<p>To the colleges idea, its not that they want specialization in one particular thing so much as SOME differentiation in SOME field. Now, even if you had more than two interests, I don’t think they look at it any worse than someone with one. In fact, so long as a large commitment is made to each, the more the better. I think what they want to avoid is the student that does it all because he can without any strong pulling interest in any direction. Sometimes someone who has a laundry list of activities / EC’s and a wide range of classes can appear that way. If you are one of those students but you DO have a direction / passion / interest in a particular interest/interests, you can bring light to those in essays very well.</p>
<p>It depends on what you mean: don’t be all over the place in high school; colleges want to see focused applicants, who know what they like and try to be good at it (even if it’s 4 different things) rather than students who are members of 13 clubs with no involvement and leadership.
For med school, being an Econ major and completing the premed core would be considered highly, and if you don’t get into med school (as happens to about half applicants) your career prospects are much better than as a bio major.
Note that there are Health Management and Policy majors, too (Georgetown has a highly ranked one).</p>