Changing Major: Biochem to Biology (Very imp.)

[comp]

Hello everyone,

I really need some help. I'm a junior and my major is Biochem. In my senior year, I've to take Physical Chemistry to fulfill Biochem requirements. However, I've heard that students find P. Chem course very hard and end up getting C's and lower B's. Now I'm worried that if I take this course (which I have to as Biochem major), it might lower my gpa. And so I'm thinking to change my major to Biology. With Bio major, I can take courses like immunology, endocrinology etc., which will be helpful in MCATs and in medical school.

Do you think that med school will look at it negatively that I have changed my major from Biochem to Bio in my junior year of college?

However, my gpa is around 3.6

Any advise will be greatly appreciated.




[This message has been edited by comp (edited 06-16-2000).]

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[raindodger]

Biology Majors are a dime a dozen and grades aren't everything in life. I know several physicians who gained acceptance to med
school with gpa's lower than yours. (They matriculated in the early 90s.) (and no, they weren't minority applicants) What's more important nowadays, it seems, are grade trends, as opposed to gpa's, but that's just from information i've gathered online and by chatting with professionals in the field.

Admissions committees will also take a
look at your mcat scores, which include
a section on verbal reasoning and another
on writing. You should perhaps focus
more of your time on those two, judging
from your post, rather than changing your
academic regimen to satisfy what you think
admissions committees are looking for, as
they can change from one year to another.

Best of Luck.

-Where there's a will, there's a way.

 

[Djanaba]

I think you need to balance what you want for you with what you want for a transcript. Which course of action will make you a happier person? (If you think pchem is fun but hard, that may be better than immuno as "useful" but personally boring.) I would totally agree that some bio courses would help you out in the first years of med school, and it could benefit your long-term sanity, but don't switch unless your heart is in it. Your GPA is *fine*, and one course at this point won't change it that much.

 

[PimplePopperMD]

The bottom line is that you should do whatever is most interesting to you... regardless of admission committees.

HOWEVER... these committees aren't stupid. They know that P Chem is hard. In fact, oftentimes schools will know what the avg grade was for your school (for some schools many A's, while others are stingy) for each class. In other words, a B in PChem may look much more impressive than an A in immuno.

But either way, you need to take what you're more interested in.

 

[Catya]

Re: "Biology Majors are a dime a dozen"

Would you suggest that a person in a similar position as comp change his/her major to a humanities major as opposed to science? Would that make a person stand out better or would it look like the person was "taking the 'easy' way out" by not majoring in the sciences?

 

[raindodger]

Medicine is an institution in which well-roundedness will be particularly helpful.
Science majors tend not to have this ability because they spend most, if not all of their time isolated from people, and even from what they really love to do, in order to succeed with high marks. But, i have to disclaim this, with biology majors, the iota is on them to demonstrate their well roundedness to the committees despite their focused study on a biological specialty in college. This can be done in many ways.
(and this explains why some 3.8/38 gunners receive rejections all over the place)

Humanities majors simply find more time to get to know who they are, although they have to take the same premed courses, and college
is perhaps the only time during which we can really explore fields beyond what we'll have the pleasure of studying while in medical school.

Everyone is different, find a major that suits you. I began looking at a humanities major, but then decided to take on a science major because I enjoyed it much more. And also, don't conform to what other people are doing, simply because they are pre-meds and definitely, no, literally, do not change your path halfway to please admissions committees, they'll see right through you.

If you persist with the bio or science major, there are still ways to break the cookie cutter mold, but you'll have to explore those ways on your own.

Hope that bit helps,
raindodger

"I'm slim shady, yes i'm the real shady, all you other slim shadies,
are just imitating, so won't the real slim shady please stand up."
-eminem