<p>I was initially intending on doing pre-med, but after hearing of the cutthroat competition and how basically most of the student's switch out of it, I have decided that I will not be able to survive such a hellish experience of nonstop studying. Anyways what majors do people usually switch to? poly-sci? psych?
What jobs can you even get with such majors, and is there good job security in these majors? Because, I have generally noticed this trend:
For doctors, the bottleneck in life tends to be getting into med school (many will not end up getting in); for others, the bottleneck is getting steady/good-paying jobs(many will not end up getting one). </p>
<p>Don't throw the Duke statistic of 80% getting into medical school. This probably includes those that took a gap year and its most likely full of kids that were valedictorians/2350+ students/basically the cream of the crop of Duke. I have a feeling I will not be as studious as these kids, because for the obvious fact that I do not have the work ethic to study/do hw 7 hours a day. I mean with classes with a B-/C+ average, there is no doubt I will end up with a 3.1 GPA, considering my high school stats are average(3.9/2300*) of an admitted applicant doing premed... somebody from Duke, please advise me...</p>
<p>wow what a strange post. really odd. plus duke has some pdf with more specifics on gpa/mcat for accepted students. generally a 3.5/32 makes you pretty competitive if i recall correctly.</p>
<p>duke is fine for premed, and your major doesnt matter fyi.</p>
<p>The answer to your question is there probably isn’t a list of typical majors pre-meds switch to, they just switch to something else.</p>
<p>Since you talk so specifically about the pre-med track and so generically about other options it makes me think you posted this hoping that people would try to talk you out of leaving the pre-med track.</p>
<p>i’ve thought of the same thing! lol from the looks of this thread, though, i guess there isn’t a specific major for premed dropouts…</p>
<p>personally, i’m also into psych, so i’ll go into that if i can’t get into a med school. it all depends on your own interest. you’ll probably discover something while in college in though. :)</p>
<p>Just so you know, pre-med isn’t a major - I have many friends who are pre-med but majoring in subjects as varied as Public Policy, Biology (most common major for a pre-med), Economics, History, Philosophy, etc. Pre-med is just a track of courses that you take in addition to your major (or, if you’re a Bio or Chem major, many of the requirements overlap). So you can decide to major in, say, English, if that’s what really floats your boat, you can major in English and still be pre-med. If you decide the pre-med classes themselves (and not the pre-med major, which is non-existent at Duke) are not for you, you can still keep the original major and just not take any more sciences. I have a few friends who are Bio majors and were pre-med, but then decided they don’t want to be, so they’re taking the same classes and keeping their major, but with the intent of doing research after Duke.</p>
<p>I know alot of friends who are Pre-med track while majoring in Econ. This seems doubly practical, though I can’t really speculate as to how difficult Econ is compared to your pre-med classes. Frankly, if you can do all of your pre-med requirements at your state school during the summer if you really don’t feel like competing with the Duke kids. Although you can only get two duke credits from transfer credits, you can still apply to medical schools as long as you have all the pre-reqs fulfilled.</p>
<p>1) Where the heck did you hear it was a cutthroat atmosphere? Especially relative to the atmosphere of some of Duke’s peers, that is a completely false statement.
2) It’s not non-stop studying. That’s why I love Duke. As a premed, I still have a LOT of fun. And I still go out.
3) You make it sound as if being premed something you win. You don’t “drop out” of being premed. You choose another life path. Sorry if this sounds *****y, but I don’t like that kind of attitude.
4) There’s no “drop out” major. People major in anything and go into medical school. Meaning people major in anything and everything. That’s the beauty of a liberal arts school such as Duke.</p>
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<p>Dude, no. Lol. </p>
<p>1) Calm down.
2) That number of 85-90% doesn’t include those who took a gap year. Those students are included in the “alumni acceptance” rate.
2) If 85-90% are accepted, it’s impossible that all of them are the cream of the crop. That’s impossible. More than the top (in terms of GPA) Duke students apply. A kid I know with a 3.4 got in to medical school from here.</p>
<p>Sorry about how I came across, I’m not bashing anybody, I just have low-self esteem and I don’t think I would be able to keep up with the competitive nature of Duke students. I mean acceptance rate this year was almost 13%!</p>
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<p>This seems like a good idea. Do you mean I can take classes at a local UC(I live in CA) even though I do not attend it?</p>
<p>Also, majoring in Econ seems like a win-win situation…if i don’t get in med school, I could be an ibanker. lol…</p>
<p>Correct. Though you can only get Duke credit for two of the courses, and the courses will not be as rigorous as Duke’s; however, you will still be able to apply to medical schools.</p>