<p>I'm currently a rising senior and making plans for college. I recently noticed that entering college I would have around 85-95 credits already and many colleges I could be considered for senior status my first year. Instead of graduating in 1 or 2 years or such, I was wondering if it would be possible to triple major (Math, Computer Science, Biology) and do a Pre-Medicine program and graduate in 4 years instead or would it be too work load intensive?</p>
<p>I plan on eventually going to Medical School or earning a PhD in Computer Science.</p>
<p>I would be very surprised if a school accepted all of your credits. General education courses would be covered, but a school is not going to want to give you credit for courses in a major that may not really be on par with what they would teach. Courses are NOT all the same at every school…Intermediate accounting principles would be very different at a community college vs. Harvard! You will have to check with each school to find out exactly which credits they would take, and some schools may not determine that until after you have been admitted and chosen that school as the one you will attend.</p>
<p>If you’re planning on going to med school, some schools may require that you take the prerequisite courses at a college; if you’ve obtained these credits through dual-enrollment, though, you should be fine. If the schools you’re looking at don’t offer triple majors, you might also want to consider combined majors, where it only counts as one major (e.g. comp sci and psyc combined major), that you could then pair with another major (or combined major).</p>
<p>teachandmom has a very good point, though, as there may be limitations on the amount of credit schools will accept, even if all of the credit will transfer.</p>
<p>summerchica: I earned 85-95 credits through a combination of AP tests, college courses taken over the summer and during the school year (as a non-degree student), and dual enrollment credits.</p>
<p>teachandmom: I checked on most of the schools I’m considering and most of they do not have a limit on the number of credits you can transfer and the college courses I took were not taken at a community college but at a 4 year university (actually one of the top public universities - while still not close to Ivy League level, I don’t think it’ll be a problem).</p>
<p>TitoMorito: I haven’t looked into specific medical schools but the one closest to me and also happens to have a guaranteed admission program by application doesn’t require that.</p>
<p>I’m sure it would be possible to triple major but the problem is if it would require too much work - I also need to maintain a high GPA for medical school admissions. Also I think a lot of Computer Science and Math major requirements overlap so that’s great.</p>
<p>I’m going to be honest with you, in that they probably won’t credit you at some of the ivy leagues, even if it is a top public university (which is what dual enrollment credits are primarily used for). You can probably skip all the basic classes though, like a lot of kids do through AP’s or talk to other colleges.</p>
<p>I know that dual enrollment, according to the deans I talked to, do not really mean as much in terms of credit. In fact, in the prep school I currently attend, we are taking it out of the program, even though we dual enrolled at a 4 year university.</p>
<p>I know I must be a total bubble burster right now, but I am trying to do the same thing as you, so I’ve done a lot of research on it. By sophomore year, I could do almost all levels of calculus and other sciences. The Ivy Leagues sort of think they are above that in a certain way, because its true, they get tons of geniuses or kids with amazing feats.</p>
<p>I bet you’ll find a way though, and I wish you the best of luck! Congrats on your credit :)</p>
<p>Med schools don’t take AP credits so you can cross off all the sciences that you want credit for. You’re not just going to apply to one med school so dont depend on the one you have in mind. There’s usually a limited number of credits you can transfer towards your major too.</p>
<p>If you’re planning on med school doing well in one major and going through your prerequisites would be hard enough (when you factor all of the extra-circulars you have to do). I don’t think you’ll score any brownie points by triple majoring either. Doing well on the MCAT is what will get you where you wan to be. I wouldn’t triple major because it seems kind of pointless. I have an interest in biology as a math major, but I’m not going to major in it. I’ve learned a few programming languages, but I didn’t major in CS. It was just part of doing my major because a lot of it involves computer programming. </p>
<p>I’d say do a first semester and then decide whether you can really handle everything. And I highly suspect that you’ll change your mind as most undergraduates who sign up for pre-med or pre-pharm do. I actually did all of the prerequisite courses for pre-pharmacy (for the past 3 years) and ultimately in the end decided I would not be willing to dedicate my career to this, even if it pays well.</p>
<p>I triple majored. I had a fair amount of ap credits and Wash U is really flexible with second plus majors, I had ap credit for econ for example, so doing a Econ major required 18 units or six courses, which I finished my junior year. I had the math requirements done as I am also a math major. Having ap credit for calc 1 and 2, I only needed six or seven more math courses. I’m up to 10 after four years. </p>
<p>My main program is CS, which required the most classes. With the triple major I only had to take 3 classes outside one of the three majors (tech writing and 2 humanities electives). Every other course in 8 semesters was in one of my majors. </p>
<p>Is it worth it? I got to take all the courses I wanted to take. They all just fit into three departments with a fair amount of overlap. Even if I didn’t get the triple major, I wouldnt have made any changes to my schedule.</p>
<p>So it obviously varies by school and how close the majors overlap. I don’t think I could have handled premed on top.</p>
<p>It’s better to be well rounded. Do things outside of class. Volunteer, take on intershipS, join the student body or become president of a club. DO SOMETHING.</p>
<p>Everyone takes classes, not everyone does everything else.</p>
<p>FYI I never took more than 15 units, which is 5 classes. That is the norm at my school. Two semesters I even took 12 units. I was still able to triple major and have plenty of free time.</p>
<p>I don’t recommend triple-majors, even though it’s possible. Let’s consider the possibilities:</p>
<p>-you triple major with the intention of getting a good job in private industry, except now you look overqualified and unfocused, potential employers worry that you won’t stick with them because you are just using them as a temporary job until something better comes along, since you are a big fancy triple major and all.</p>
<p>What you should do instead: It’ll take you six years to finish with a triple major for any kind of rigorous, worthwhile program(s), it’s better to just single- or double-major (with two majors that overlap) and spend that extra two years getting a MS. It’ll boost your employment potential and starting salary. Or skip the MS and head straight for the job market (after all, you aren’t making money while you’re getting that MS, and it costs more, talk it over with an advisor).</p>
<p>-or you want to go to grad school for a PhD in one of your fields. With all of that triple-majoring, did you leave any room for participating in undergraduate research? No? Then good luck getting into a good grad school. Instead you should get some undergraduate research experience under your belt, either a few summer REUs or a permanent on-going thing at your university.</p>
<p>Granted, all of my advice is from a STEM perspective.</p>
<p>I did a triple in four years. And did half my MS in CS as well. Stay focused, use ap credits, come up with a schedule in advance, and anyone can do it at a school with fairly lenient requirements. </p>
<p>General statements saying its dumb or takes six years are untrue.</p>
<p>I know someone who is a triple major in Theatre, Marketing, and Women/Gender studies at Wake Forest. He has no free time, no job, and is a very high-strung, overworked person. He is also on a 5 1/2 year academic plan at this point. Med School is hella expensive, you DON’T want to add that extra tuition money onto your undergrad debt.</p>
<p>It’s possible. Just don’t expect to enjoy yourself very much. If you don’t know which you plan to do (med school or CS Phd), just go in undeclared or pick the one you’re most interested in now. Something like 80% college students enter undecided or are not entirely sure about their choice of major, and an average student will change their major 3 times, many of them still manage to graduate in 4 years.</p>
<p>And as far as med school, I know a medical student at Wake who majored in Philosophy. No lie, he’s studying to be a pulmonologist. How, you ask? He filled his electives with Biology and other pre-med courses. You really can major in anything for pre-med if you play your cards right.</p>