Major/Field for Undecided Pre-health Need Help Deciding

[HenryP9626]

Hi guys. This is my first time here on this forum. I am a undecided/pre-health major. What I want to do is help find cures for diseases and also discover new diseases that no one has heard of so this would be some type of engineer which is what I think a bio medical engineer. Also I want to try to help people with cancer, try to at least cure people with cancer as well. I know this is an oncologist, but I want to try to do both if possible. If not then my primary is what I said in the first sentence and then my other options are, like I said oncologist, then neurologist, or cardiologist, or even become a surgeon. Mainly I want to treat and find undiscovered diseases that haunts the earth. If it is bio-medical engineer, I will have to change college, but I do not want to since I already have a full-tuition for free for over 4 years. I was mainly a computer engineer, and realize I want to do something that helps people, such as find treatments for diseases, or become a doctor. The college I'm in has Pre-Health/Pre-Med, but does not provide bio medical engineer. It is not a medical school at all. Basically an engineer school with many types of major but not medical stuff, but they do prepare you to go to medical school.

So what do you guys think? Is it bio medical engineer if so should I change college or be a biology major and go to medical school or pick biochemistry. Practically my school has a lot of majors accept bio medical. I need help I need to decide my major soon, and I know what I want to do but I don't know what major to go into. So what major is treating and finding diseases as well as curing cancer. If it is bio medical then I might just have to think about this even more. Also I know fields/majors don't matter in going into medical school, but if I don't make it. At least I have a field where I can try to treat diseases and find new ones. If it is biochemistry, if not then I may have to decide a whole new different major.

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[eteshoe]

Biomedical engineering is not going to focus on disease discovery or treatment (at least not in the way you're describing). Also many lower level BME courses tend to be ME topics with some light bio sprinkled in.

If you want to discover treatments for diseases - basic sciences is usually the way to go (e.g. PhD in pathology, pharmacology, etc). Treatment of diseases - med school is the way to go (e.g. MD). Cancer is a classification for over 100 different diseases (so be careful with this 'cure' language you're using).

Before you go changing your major, I suggest you take an intro biology course (and maybe an anatomy/physiology course) and talking to some physicians and biomedical engineers (which should be easy since you're at an engineering school).

 

[tetley]

What year of school are you in?

I'll tell you this - I have 2 degrees in BME and I am applying to medical school. I think you don't really understand what the major involves, so I would encourage you to read as much as you can about it online before making a big change. There are many other routes to get to the end point you want, but from the post, it seems like you didn't do the serious science pre-reqs yet (orgo/biochem - upper level).

Try meeting with someone from that track and sitting in on some classes. Also, make sure that this is interesting to you - like REALLY interesting to you. I say this because for the things that you want to accomplish, the process of research, discovery, and development can be really slow and requires a significant amount of patience and dedication to the craft. Just make sure that you do your homework before you make a big career change.

 

[HenryP9626]

What year of school are you in?

I'll tell you this - I have 2 degrees in BME and I am applying to medical school. I think you don't really understand what the major involves, so I would encourage you to read as much as you can about it online before making a big change. There are many other routes to get to the end point you want, but from the post, it seems like you didn't do the serious science pre-reqs yet (orgo/biochem - upper level).

Try meeting with someone from that track and sitting in on some classes. Also, make sure that this is interesting to you - like REALLY interesting to you. I say this because for the things that you want to accomplish, the process of research, discovery, and development can be really slow and requires a significant amount of patience and dedication to the craft. Just make sure that you do your homework before you make a big career change.

As of now I am taking higher chemistry courses, and I am liking it so far. Many people in there want to go to medical it seems like, but many that I talked to don't really like the class, but for some reason I do. Also this is my second semester, I am taking biology this summer to see if I like it or not, but I am pretty sure I want to be a doctor while in school. I realize I was following the footsteps of my friends, who were Electrical and Computer Engineers. I wanted to be a Computer Engineer for the wrong reasons. I wanted to create CPU and GPU's, which is Graphics Card and Central Processing Units, so I can create a more powerful gaming or pc/laptop component. Only because if I do I can game. I was a huge gamer in high school, and I have cut it down when I started college, I only game on the weekends now, but all those months I started realizing I don't want to make powerful computer components. I want to save lives ever since I started reading the news more often. I saw deaths by diseases and I saw war. At first I wanted to just go in the military to fight but realize war isn't the answer, but I know I want to save lives. Then realize a doctor is where I need to head, and I know how hard it will be and I am ready to face the challenges, but I still need to pick a major. Which I can't decide yet, and it's pretty difficult. That is why I need help.

 

[HenryP9626]

Biomedical engineering is not going to focus on disease discovery or treatment (at least not in the way you're describing). Also many lower level BME courses tend to be ME topics with some light bio sprinkled in.

If you want to discover treatments for diseases - basic sciences is usually the way to go (e.g. PhD in pathology, pharmacology, etc). Treatment of diseases - med school is the way to go (e.g. MD). Cancer is a classification for over 100 different diseases (so be careful with this 'cure' language you're using).

Before you go changing your major, I suggest you take an intro biology course (and maybe an anatomy/physiology course) and talking to some physicians and biomedical engineers (which should be easy since you're at an engineering school).

Thanks, I'll keep on researching.