bioengineering and pre-med

[anindecisivestudent]

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[Dr panda]

First of all, change your major ASAP. It is clear that it is too hard for you and it posses no value in med school admissions, so unless you are really excited about being a bioengineer just drop it. It is common that students struggle their first and maybe second year, but you have to ace everything since now to show an upward trend. Other than that, I would consider about just getting all prerequisites done and trying an SMP or a post bacc, it is clear that your sGPA is around 2.0 which is horrible. Know you limits, don’t overload yourself.

 

[m1redsox]

hey yall,

I am half way through my third semester and am majoring in bioengineering on somewhat of a pre med track. I say somewhat because my first year at university was really difficult for me. I received a total of 6 c's in science courses (both gen chems, both physics, honors bio, and chem lab) by taking the minimum of what was required of me as a bioengineer. I am not sure whether to focus on bioengineering now and try pre med classes later or try and cram it all in now.

To be honest, I really am struggling taking the course load required for bioengineering as it is, and cannot imagine tacking on orgo as my electives. Another detail is, the curve at my school is very competitive so the pre-meds in non engineering majors have less sciences to account for a semester. I am by no means using this as an excuse because I have seen engineering students at my school do exactly what I am worrying about.

i believe my real question is, what are my options if i decide to not take orgo 1, orgo 2, orgo lab, and biochem during my undergrad degree. I am trying very hard to raise my cGPA which is essentially my sGPA (as I already take 4-5 STEM courses a semester). It took me time to convince myself that I belong in engineering and am not looking to give that up. I dont know what lies ahead because the post bacc's ive been looking at either want less than 50% completion of premed courses or full completion with an unreasonable sGPA. I know I am not stupid; I got a C in intro to mechanics, but am currently nailing biomechanics, which deals with bioengineering applications in torsion and bending which are significantly harder concepts imo.

If you want to do medicine, you’re going to have to take the MCAT, which definitely encompasses material from Orgo 1, Orgo 2, Biochem, and Orgo lab. On top of that, the grand majority of med schools require those classes anyways.
If you’re really interested in going MD, it will take a lot of work. Like @Dr panda said, you’ll probably have to do an SMP (with a much higher GPA to show you can succeed in tough post-bac courses), ace the rest of your undergrad classes (including the prereqs like orgo and biochem), and kill the MCAT.
If you get straight A’s throughout the rest of your undergrad and you kill the MCAT, you might be competitive enough for a DO school without having to do an SMP. However, keep in mind that you will also need to be involved in other application-building activities like volunteering and getting patient exposure. Stats just get your foot in the door.