Confused about majors

[drcoffeeturtle]

Interested in applying to medical school after my undergraduate studies. Considering getting a double major (Chemistry + Biology) or a Chemical engineering major (good fallback), which would you recommend choosing?

Thanks!

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[PapaGuava]

Both of those majors will cover your prerequisites required to apply to medical school, so it will honestly come down to what you are more interested in as a major. Also, you want to pick something you feel you could be successful in as well since you want decent grades when applying for medical schools (if that's what you're planning on doing).

 

[Obnoxious Dad]

Interested in applying to medical school after my undergraduate studies. Considering getting a double major (Chemistry + Biology) or a Chemical engineering major (good fallback), which would you recommend choosing?

Thanks!

If you want to go to medical school, don't major in chemistry or engineering. The reason for avoiding chemistry and engineering is that those majors are much more rigorous than a plain Jane biology program but most admissions offices will not bother to take that into account when they review your transcript when you apply to medical school. It may be tougher to get a 3.2 in chemical engineering than a 3.8 in biology, but the biology 3.8 will look much better than the engineering 3.2. Admissions Committees do not have the resources, the incentive or the data to normalize transcripts.

If you major in biology instead of chemistry, you can avoid calculus, calculus based physics and (horror of horrors) physical chemistry. The comparison between chemical engineering as a major and biology is even more stark.

 

[Detective SnowBucket]

Your major doesn't matter for admissions, just do what is easiest (for the highest GPA, something that does matter) then do what you like after that, add a second major or a minor in what you actually want to study.