Confused engineer, but considering pre-med now.. advice appreciated!

[JJD]

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I am currently a first-year at UCLA, with two weeks left this quarter. I'm a Computer Science and Engineering major right now, and my grades the first quarter were rather terrible. (C+, B, B+ with a 2.87~ish GPA) And now, considering how I got below the 25th percentile on Computer Science midterm last week, I feel as if my GPA this quarter won't be any better either. I screwed up my first two quarters as an Engineer, with one quarter left to go my first year, and I am now considering pre-med, and switching into a Life Science major that would better prepare me for med school. Will two quarters of 2.7GPA hurt me in the long run? Am I doomed to fail if I do decide to pursue pre-med, or should I stick with engineering? I've done calculations, and I found that if I got all A-'s (3.7) next quarter, and even the next three quarters my second year, I'd still only have a 3.4 GPA.

I have always wanted to become a doctor in high school.. biology was always my favorite subject, but as I entered college, I just decided to go Engineering for the hell of it. Don't get me wrong, I find computer science interesting and I like it too; but I just felt so discouraged with my grades this/last quarter, questioning myself whether I was really meant to do it.

I always thought Biology/pre-med was another option, but now with my current grades, I'm doubting myself. I feel like I should have just went to an easier undergrad school, or maybe a school that had a pre-med program for undergrads, but that's too late. I guess it's the fear of not getting into med school, and being stuck as a failure with a useless biology major. If I get rejected from every med school I apply to, then what are my options? I don't really want to go to do research my whole life with a biology major, nor do I want to go to dental school, nursing. Maybe pharm though. Do alot of pre-meds who get don't get into any med school they apply to, eventually get in after just applying the next years? Are there programs after undergrad that can help you get into medical school?

Any word of advice is appreciated!

 

[surftheiop]

I am currently a first-year at UCLA, with two weeks left this quarter. I'm a Computer Science and Engineering major right now, and my grades the first quarter were rather terrible. (C+, B, B+ with a 2.87~ish GPA) And now, considering how I got below the 25th percentile on Computer Science midterm last week, I feel as if my GPA this quarter won't be any better either. I screwed up my first two quarters as an Engineer, with one quarter left to go my first year, and I am now considering pre-med, and switching into a Life Science major that would better prepare me for med school. Will two quarters of 2.7GPA hurt me in the long run? Am I doomed to fail if I do decide to pursue pre-med, or should I stick with engineering? I've done calculations, and I found that if I got all A-'s (3.7) next quarter, and even the next three quarters my second year, I'd still only have a 3.4 GPA.

I have always wanted to become a doctor in high school.. biology was always my favorite subject, but as I entered college, I just decided to go Engineering for the hell of it. Don't get me wrong, I find computer science interesting and I like it too; but I just felt so discouraged with my grades this/last quarter, questioning myself whether I was really meant to do it.

I always thought Biology/pre-med was another option, but now with my current grades, I'm doubting myself. I feel like I should have just went to an easier undergrad school, or maybe a school that had a pre-med program for undergrads, but that's too late. I guess it's the fear of not getting into med school, and being stuck as a failure with a useless biology major. If I get rejected from every med school I apply to, then what are my options? I don't really want to go to do research my whole life with a biology major, nor do I want to go to dental school, nursing. Maybe pharm though. Do alot of pre-meds who get don't get into any med school they apply to, eventually get in after just applying the next years? Are there programs after undergrad that can help you get into medical school?

Any word of advice is appreciated!

Browse around here, the engineering/premed topic comes up ALOT

If your getting crushed GPA wise in engineering and your even considering medicine, it might be good to quickly evaluate things and make a change if need be. The more semesters you stick in there, there more damage gets done to your GPA that is tough to fix later.

 

[snorlax]

Take LS2 next quarter if you're serious about switching. I know that Chem 20A isn't offered next quarter, but if you have a 5 on AP Chem then you can take Chem 20B.

Don't worry about your GPA. With the quarter system, we have so many grading periods so 2 quarters won't make that much of a difference in the long-run.

 

[SimplySmile]

Hey I currently know how you feel. I just switched majors from mechanical engineering to human biology. I took three semesters of engineering courses and currently have a 2.74.

FYI if you look the average gpa of an engineer is like a 2.8. You're GPA will raise with the different courses. Life sciences are very different from engineering courses.

I have a blog which describes more of what I'm going through and what it sounds like you're going through if you want to check it out. www.candidcerebrations.com

I'm sure you're school has a premed program. I mean it's UCLA. Contact the biological science departments I'm sure you'll find a premed advisor in there. My premed advisor is a biology professor. Also see if there is a premed club at your school you can join.

As of right now if you choose premed you'll want to get your grades up so make sure your semester have light loads so you aren't overwhelmed. That's what my academic advisor recommended. I might end up taking five years to graduate =/ But if med school is what you want to do you have to be willing to do anything for it.

A biology major isn't useless. Check this site http://www.aibs.org/careers/
And you can always consider grad school if you don't make it into med school or a post-bacc and reapply.

Make a back up plan just in case. If I don't get into med school I'm planning to continue on to grad school and do some sort of mathematical application to biology. I'm currently in a mathematical modeling in biology class and it is very interesting. Especially as a former engineer major.

Feel free to contact me personally if you have any questions. It's good to know there are others like me out there.

 

[Limvostov]

I am currently a first-year at UCLA, with two weeks left this quarter. I'm a Computer Science and Engineering major right now, and my grades the first quarter were rather terrible. (C+, B, B+ with a 2.87~ish GPA) And now, considering how I got below the 25th percentile on Computer Science midterm last week, I feel as if my GPA this quarter won't be any better either. I screwed up my first two quarters as an Engineer, with one quarter left to go my first year, and I am now considering pre-med, and switching into a Life Science major that would better prepare me for med school. Will two quarters of 2.7GPA hurt me in the long run? Am I doomed to fail if I do decide to pursue pre-med, or should I stick with engineering? I've done calculations, and I found that if I got all A-'s (3.7) next quarter, and even the next three quarters my second year, I'd still only have a 3.4 GPA.

I have always wanted to become a doctor in high school.. biology was always my favorite subject, but as I entered college, I just decided to go Engineering for the hell of it. Don't get me wrong, I find computer science interesting and I like it too; but I just felt so discouraged with my grades this/last quarter, questioning myself whether I was really meant to do it.

I always thought Biology/pre-med was another option, but now with my current grades, I'm doubting myself. I feel like I should have just went to an easier undergrad school, or maybe a school that had a pre-med program for undergrads, but that's too late. I guess it's the fear of not getting into med school, and being stuck as a failure with a useless biology major. If I get rejected from every med school I apply to, then what are my options? I don't really want to go to do research my whole life with a biology major, nor do I want to go to dental school, nursing. Maybe pharm though. Do alot of pre-meds who get don't get into any med school they apply to, eventually get in after just applying the next years? Are there programs after undergrad that can help you get into medical school?

Any word of advice is appreciated!

This topic is being discussed in two other threads right now, but if you're serious about engineering I would recommend slowing down a bit and taking it easy next term. Back down to the minimum full time and get yourself together. It may put you "behind" according to your adviser, but in the long run adding a 5th year to engineering is not going to hurt you at all and doing it right is much more important than doing it "on time". Engineering starts out hard and only gets more so and it takes some time for most engineering students to adjust to that kind of course load. That's why so many change majors in the first year or so. You will need to keep those grades up to get into professional school and to be eligible for many engineering internships so for your own sake (in medicine or engineering) take a manageable course load next term.

Schools want to see that you can do well and knowing your limits is part of being successful. Having bad grades just because you're in engineering will not be looked over any more than bad grades in say micro by the Adcoms. Besides, taking that extra year will allow you more time to date, do EC's, volunteer, and really make sure that you want to pursue medicine.

Good luck.

 

[MonkeyNuts!]

I graduated undergrad as a biomedical engineer with a 3.2 average and 3.0 science GPA.

I had to do alot of stuff to pad that up - research+pubs, volunteering, SMP program 4.0, worked for a year.

8 interview invites, turned down 3 of them, interviewed at 5, accepted to 3, waitlisted at 2. These were all US MD schools. This was back in 2007.

Your GPA is one thing you should avoid screwing up, because it's hard to fix and they don't give you slack for being an engineer.

 

[confusedchild]

I am currently a first-year at UCLA, with two weeks left this quarter. I'm a Computer Science and Engineering major right now, and my grades the first quarter were rather terrible. (C+, B, B+ with a 2.87~ish GPA) And now, considering how I got below the 25th percentile on Computer Science midterm last week, I feel as if my GPA this quarter won't be any better either. I screwed up my first two quarters as an Engineer, with one quarter left to go my first year, and I am now considering pre-med, and switching into a Life Science major that would better prepare me for med school. Will two quarters of 2.7GPA hurt me in the long run? Am I doomed to fail if I do decide to pursue pre-med, or should I stick with engineering? I've done calculations, and I found that if I got all A-'s (3.7) next quarter, and even the next three quarters my second year, I'd still only have a 3.4 GPA.

I have always wanted to become a doctor in high school.. biology was always my favorite subject, but as I entered college, I just decided to go Engineering for the hell of it. Don't get me wrong, I find computer science interesting and I like it too; but I just felt so discouraged with my grades this/last quarter, questioning myself whether I was really meant to do it.

I always thought Biology/pre-med was another option, but now with my current grades, I'm doubting myself. I feel like I should have just went to an easier undergrad school, or maybe a school that had a pre-med program for undergrads, but that's too late. I guess it's the fear of not getting into med school, and being stuck as a failure with a useless biology major. If I get rejected from every med school I apply to, then what are my options? I don't really want to go to do research my whole life with a biology major, nor do I want to go to dental school, nursing. Maybe pharm though. Do alot of pre-meds who get don't get into any med school they apply to, eventually get in after just applying the next years? Are there programs after undergrad that can help you get into medical school?

Any word of advice is appreciated!

Hey I'm also a UCLA engineering premed and actually got in this cycle. I'm a 5th year EE major and have three more weeks of school left so I'm taking a total of 5 yrs + 2 qtrs to complete my EE degree + premed requirements, and I can tell you it definitely does not look bad. No one questioned me at my 10 interviews why it took me more than 4 yrs. My process went surprisingly smoothly and a large part of it I think had to do with my major. But I also know that if you are serious about med school and that's what you wanna do, you should preserve your GPA even if it means dropping out of engineering. Doing well in engineering will help you, but they won't cut you slack simply because you're an engineering major if your grades are below average. They expect you to choose something you like and do well in it. I also went into engineering for the same reason you did knowing that med school was an option. I wanted to be able to have an engineering degree in case my grades weren't high enough for me to apply successfully to medical school - so your mentality is right I think, but if you do want to go to med school, you do have to keep in mind that they do care a lot about numbers. Beyond a certain point they don't but you have to have the basic stats to be competitive. It's very possible to pull up your grades. It's the quarter system here so you have 1.5X the number of grades that semester students have.

There are postbac programs that you can go into after undergraduate to prove to med schools that you really want to go and also that you can take classes as rigorous as those offered in medical school and do well. However, you're only a freshman so I wouldn't be thinking about those just yet. You still have time and it's much better to just get in from undergrad if going to med school is your ultimate goal. I mean, taking the shortest path to the same goal is always better. Consider those programs and alternate routes if your grades aren't up to par in two or three years - as of now, just focus on bringing them up. And in terms of applying, you can apply multiple times but from my experiences talking to others, you want to do it once and do it right the first time around, which is why i applied so many schools and also waited 5 years. Medical schools will almost always ask you in their secondaries if you've applied to schools before, and if you have, they will ask you what have you done to significantly improve your application. It just makes it a lot harder because not only are you being compared to others you are being compared to yourself the last cycle you applied. And if not much has changed, that's a big red flag for them. That extra year I took allowed me to take classes at a comfortable pace, keep up my grades, get involved in a lot of volunteering programs, meet more professors to get better LORs, and take on a biotech internship - all of which proved to be invaluable in my opinion in getting into the schools I got into. Had I applied a year earlier, my application most definitely would have been weaker.

Just work hard and try to bring those grades up and hope it pans out for you. If you have any questions, you can PM me.
Good luck~!

 

[fizzgig]

I can't tell if you're premed for sure and just not positive on which major to use to get there, or if CSE is a possibility of an alternate career path because it interests you.

I would say do try (I know as a freshman it's hard to do, because I'm rethinking it years and years later!) to evaluate what your options are and which one you WANT. You can major in what interests you and what you like, then look for careers that relate, or you can major in what will get you to the career you want. If CSE doesn't have what you want for a career skillset and you don't find it personally interesting and nerdily cool enough to suffer rough learning curves, then no reason to suffer it, but if it does fill either of those criteria, don't let it scare you off too easily is all I'm saying.

If you want medicine, without a doubt, and just picked an engineering major to get you there, then you gotta decide how fascinating you find CS as a side interest/hobby.

If you picked engineering because you're not positive about med and you actually might want to do something with engineering, but you're scared now that if you stay in engr your gpa will mean you can't hold onto both possible careers, then hold on a sec and breathe. You haven't flunked out but it's easy to panic about suddenly not cruising through classes.

If you stick with it and bust your tail, I'm sure you'll get over the learning curve and do fine, and if you want to have that skillset, then I'd say go for it, though it might be harder for you than a subject that comes more naturally like bio. Also if you're definitely premed no matter your major, then keep in mind upper level CS classes could be tough with chem/orgo/bio classes you'll be taking too. Just stuff to consider.

If you decide it's not worth it, that's fine too, and you can always take the CS classes that you want on the side as electives. I understand that (I took some great electives that I sure wouldn't major in... science was much more predictable to me).

I understand the CS learning curves too - I'm in grad school for biomedical engr and I had minimal programming in college, and I need those skills now. It slowed me down a lot, and I eventually just sat down and read a C++ book cover to cover like it was a novel. Sad but true. But, you can get it done 🙂

 

[Corpsman Up]

I was in a similiar boat. I was doing engineering because I wanted a solid back up plan in case i didnt get into med school. I quickly realized that if i stuck with engineering, I wouldnt get into med period. My GPA for that engineering year was 2.98, and im currently trying to fix it. I accepted the fact that im smart enough to be an engineer, im smart enough to be a doctor, but im not smart enough to do both.

 

[bradleyd16]

I also went through a similar experience as you and so many others. I studied mechanical engineering and didn't decided to go to medical school until the end of my Junior year. It was frustrating trying to try to graduate in 4 years while also getting in all my premed classes, research, work, shadowing, and all else. I was at school at least 12 hours a day, and my poor wife probably had the hardest time with it. I was taking 17 credits a semester, working 20 hours a week, doing 20 hours of research a week, homework, and everything else that comes with a college life. Like I said, it wasn't easy, but it's all about managing your time wisely, and most importantly making sure that it's what you want to do. In the end I finished with a 3.40 GPA cumulative and science and got in my first round of apps.

In your case I wouldn't get too nervous yet. The first year is a rough time with trying to figure out what schedule and study habits work best for you and making everything else work for you. I agree with what has been said that it's important to take a comfortable load and not try to necessarily cram everything in as fast as possible. It is possible to cram, and I would still try not to cram everything in, but it worked for me and I had other things to consider such as a family and child on the way. But in the end, study what you really truly enjoy. You've got years ahead of you to prepare and study, so do what works best for you and don't try to rush things. But it is definitely possible as an engineer to get into med school.