<p>I know that I should major in what suits me personally, but I'm curious to know what everyone knows or thinks about Pre-Law versus Pre-Med at Vanderbilt?? Any advice to go about my decision on what track to be on?</p>
<p>That’s a really broad and personal question! There aren’t any particular courses or majors for “pre-law,” as you can go into Law from any major and I don’t think law schools have any particular preference. </p>
<p>Pre-med courses at Vanderbilt tend to be pretty difficult but Vandy is pretty highly regarded by Medical Schools.</p>
<p>Seems to me that pre-law (if there is such a thing) vs. pre-med might be affected by whether you want to go to law school or to medical school.</p>
<p>The chances of making a reliable income and landing a job are much better if you commit yourself to sought after work in the health care industry. Loan repayment for either pathway can be a heavy burden with law school a pretty bad gamble if you are not in a strongly regarded law school for starters. A high percentage of law graduates are finding employment elusive with no signs of improvement on the horizon. Law is a profession I would only recommend for the fervently engaged and committed student who is very shrewd and realistic regarding landing employment. There used to be a traditional pathway for law interns/summer associates that could lead to offers of entry level employment in big firms but the “old pathway” is undergoing massive change with globalization --among other reasons.
Why don’t you study up on the various professions in the health care industry? Vandy also does a strong job in health care management preparation, nursing, sends students to very competitive entry PT school, sends graduates to Nurse Practitioner programs, graduates med students who also major in Public Health along with their MD studies etc. HCA is a Nashville based corporation. If you are interested in medical studies, you must understand the common prerequisites for med school applicants.<br>
Then your queries on college curriculums can gain more focus. Obviously a lot of students note that they are pre-med and drop those plans in the first two years of undergrad school. Another fact is that many law students have previous masters degrees and or career experiences, military experience etc, and probably this is true (maybe less so) for those matriculating to med school.</p>
<p>^ Devil’s advocate - if the affordable care act is not replaced, you will not be able to make a reasonable living if you are entering college now and expect to be a medical professional. The only way it will work is by rationing care which will lead to price controls and paying back your med school will be too pricy. </p>
<p>You may see law pick up conversely as people sue more and more to get what they want out of the act.</p>
<p>As for your actual question. What do you want to do with your life. Very few people are truly interested in both medicine and law. When I see this question, I think you may be shooting for dollar signs rather than for a life-long career choice. Spend some time thinking over what you love and do that. Being happy is more important than being rich. </p>
<p>Chemical Engineering. You can do anything with that degree and employers value it highly.</p>
<p>Heading into college now, I don’t know what I’m passionate About career wise yet. I’ve done a medical internship already and got an opportunity as an intern at a law firm this summer. Thats why I’ve only seriously considered a career in those fields. I’m open to other career fields, I just haven’t had enough exposure to any of them. @Torveaux thank you for you’re comment by the way. I understand what you said and will definitely keep it in mind </p>
<p>@dtotheustin09 I’ve always been hesitant about engineering. I don’t hate chemistry and/or physics but I don’t love them although I make good grades in the subject. I might be wrong but I feel as if I should have a passion for those type of subjects if I want to get into engineering. </p>
<p>@Abely356, are you starting Vanderbilt in the fall?</p>
<p>From Vanderbilt premed website:
“When selecting courses, pick those that will fulfill your distribution requirements for Vanderbilt University, count toward your major or minor, and/or satisfy the admission requirements of medical or dental schools. These requirements show that at least one year of biology, two years of chemistry, one year of physics, one year of English, and one year of mathematics are necessary for admission to almost all medical schools. Check the MSAR early (or better still, the catalogues of the specific medical schools) to make sure that you select the necessary courses to fulfill the requirements for admission to all the medical schools in your home state.”</p>
<p>Here is the thing with pre-med at vandy. The courses described above (with the exception of Physics) are very difficult classes. Many students will describe coming home from first year chem crying after exams. One professor’s exam was so difficult this year that the average grade on it was a C-, which is technically a “deficiency”. Biology labs are not as hard, but if you are taking them in the same year forget about doing anything but “pre-labs” during the weekend. Physics is easy, you should have no problems (many students, my self included, take physics lab to fulfill axle gen-ed requirements). Math can be hard if you don’t put in the required hours for the class, but is very manageable. </p>
<p>Keep in mind that pre-med is not a major. You still have to fulfill major requirements for <em>something</em> in order to graduate. It would probably be a good idea to over lap majors with pre-med requirements (Be a chem or bio major, for example) so you don’t have a huge coarse load. My roommate last year was a bio-medical engineering with pre-med major. He has to take summer school or take multiple semesters of 18 hours. So be careful.</p>
<p>As for pre-law… that is more up my ally seeing as I am a philosophy major. I know a lot of “pre-law people” for a school that doesn’t offer it as a major. Most pre-law people I know take a philosophy major because it is ridiculously easy to fulfill it and axle (courses spread all over axle…) and because of its flexibility (it has very few pre-reqs and very few required classes). Many pre-law students I know also double major in economics or poly-sci. If I remember correctly we do have some undergraduate law classes that on can take (introduction to American law, for example) that are relatively deep in the “polysci” track.</p>
<p>Also, you have a while to select your major, so you can go in doing some of both tracks and decide later.</p>
<p>@Checkbook yes</p>
<p>@Subcomfreak thank you. I was thinking about majoring in medicine, Health,
And society if I were to go pre-med. I’ve heard of people going to med school with that major at Vanderbilt. </p>
<p>@Abely356 the medicine-health-society route sounds like a good way to split the difference between pre-med and pre-law. Take economics, too. When you realize you don’t have passion for either medicine or law, but just want a good income, you’ll end up looking for a corporate job, and for that it will help to have some money-related coursework on your transcript. Also, if you don’t understand why @Torveaux’s comment is wrong on all counts, you have a lot to learn about health policy and economics.</p>
<p>@Checkbook 100% agree on the econ comment. Plus, you don’t want to leave vandy without taking a class from the legendary Buckles, do you?</p>