<p>Hey guys. I'll be attending Georgetown in the fall and, although I was accepted for physics, I'm strongly considering switching gears and going Spanish with pre-med coursework.</p>
<p>Languages are a great passion of mine, and they come very easily to me (A+ in AP Spanish, anyone?) I spent last summer in Honduras, teaching in a rural kindergarten and living with a host family, and I am, at this point, pretty close to fluent--my vocab, etc isn't at a native speaker level, of course. I promised myself that I'd take the time to learn all the languages that I can while I still have the chance, so I think I'm going to go for this major. It gives me ample room to take classes in Italian and Portuguese, as well--two languages that I've always wanted to learn.</p>
<p>In your opinions, would it be more valuable for me to stick to my Physics major, or switch to Spanish, or even Psych? I love Spanish, and it comes easily to me, but I don't know what it would be like on the college-level--I'm not sure how my grades would do...; Psych has always fascinated me, but I have no idea what to expect, or how I would do; Physics (so far) comes easily to me, too (and I've gotten As in my AP physics class without much effort) but I'm just not sure how I'd stack up against other physics people...the material could go over my head, and my gpa could take a beating.</p>
<p>You don’t have to commit yourself to a major just yet. (At most schools, you can’t even declare your major until some time during your sophomore year.)</p>
<p>Why don’t you try taking a course in all of your possible majors and see which you like best?</p>
<p>Of the 3 possible majors you list, physics probably has the most rigid sequence of coursework. If you think you might want to be a physics major, it might be best to start out taking the required major courses and co-reqs. You can add in an upper level Spanish and Intro Psych as your gen eds freshman year. Once you’ve had a taste of all 3 majors, then you can make a more reasoned decision.</p>
<p>Georgetown offers this sample 4 year curricula for pre-med physics majors</p>
<p>(P.S. Both DH and D1 were physics majors. DH was one of those gifted people for whom math and physics came easily. He went on to earn a PhD from a Top 5 physics program and had a long, very successful career; D1 found physics more of a struggle but graduated with an award in quantum mechanics and is now a MS1.)</p>
<p>BTW, some physics depts do have a reputation for eating their young alive. Not sure if Georgetown is one of them. But Intro to Modern Physics will tell you pretty quickly if you have the aptitude for the field.</p>
<p>One more thing w/r/t to language majors. A foreign language major isn’t focused on the mechanics of the language, but more on the literature and culture.</p>
<p>Foreign language and literature majors can also have long sequences of prerequisites, unless the student is already advanced enough in the language to skip the beginning courses in the language (which may be the case for the OP being “pretty close to fluent” in Spanish).</p>
<p>Do major(s)/minor(s) combo. One of D’s friends graduated with triple major Zoology/Spanish/Latin Studies and currently is MS1. D. originally planned on major/2 minors, but had to drop one of minors because one of her Med. School added to requirements. D. graduted with Zoology major/Music Composition minor and was short of 2 classes for minor in Neuroscience. Language is also very easy for my D. She took one semester of Spanish in college (placed in 3rd year) and is able to speak, taking Medical Spanish while in Med. School. Yes, language is a great plus, but you are speaking fluently already, so is there additional benefit of having Spanish major vs. having just one/couple additional high level classes?</p>