Hi everybody, I am a new member here so please don't be mean to me! 🙂 I have a few questions and I was hoping if you can help me.
I am currently a junior by hours (2nd/sophomore year at Texas A&M this fall) and during my "freshman" year I majored in biomedical engineering. Back then, I was not sure whether to take the pre-med/vet/pharmacy route or the engineering route so I went ahead with engineering in my first year of college. After giving it a try, I felt like this career path wasn't right for me and I found myself enjoying my chemistry classes more than my math/engineering courses. I enjoyed taking chemistry classes back in high school as well.
After a year of serious thought and a bit of research, I have decided to pursue a career in pharmacy. Since I find myself enjoying learning about chemistry more than biology (even though biology can be interesting at times), I have decided to switch majors to B.A. Chemistry with a biological chemistry track this summer. My plan is to earn my degree in four years (graduate in spring 2014) and then apply to pharmacy school.
I had an argument with my brother recently because he suggested that I should transfer to another school to do pre-pharmacy for two years and then apply to pharmacy school. He said that earning a bachelor's degree in chemistry wouldn't give me many job opportunities and I agree with him on that. But he also said it would be a waste of time so why not just do pre-pharmacy at another school?
These are my reasons for staying:
1. I currently have a free ride at Texas A&M thanks to several grants and scholarships. Transferring to another school would make me lose some money and I would have to pay off loans.
2. Since I am taking my general biology courses this sophomore year, I am bit behind in that area. I would take my gen. biology courses this year, microbiology/P&A junior year, and then genetics/biochemistry my senior year. I have already finished my math courses but along with those biology courses, I will have to take organic chemistry, quantitative analysis, and physical chemistry for my degree in chemistry. I don't think it's a good idea to rush and take these biology courses in the summer nor do I feel comfortable transferring to another school just to do 2 years of pre-pharmacy. By the time I finish most of my pre-requisites, that'll be the end of junior year so why not just stay at A&M for an extra year to earn the degree in chemistry?
3. While having B.A. in chemistry isn't so much to brag about, it will look good on my application right? I heard that more than 50% of the current pharmacy students have a bachelor's degree in something.
4. If somehow I can't get accepted into a pharmacy school, I can always spend an extra year or two to earn my chemical engineering degree (since I already took the two introduction to engineering classes and I have my physics mechanics/electromagnetism credits), yes? That or try to earn a teaching certificate.
Even though it is most likely that I will stick to my decision, it would be nice to hear what you think about my situation. Thank you for reading such a long post. This has been stressing me out for a bit.
Oh, and I hope to be more involved in the forums! 🙂
I am currently a junior by hours (2nd/sophomore year at Texas A&M this fall) and during my "freshman" year I majored in biomedical engineering. Back then, I was not sure whether to take the pre-med/vet/pharmacy route or the engineering route so I went ahead with engineering in my first year of college. After giving it a try, I felt like this career path wasn't right for me and I found myself enjoying my chemistry classes more than my math/engineering courses. I enjoyed taking chemistry classes back in high school as well.
After a year of serious thought and a bit of research, I have decided to pursue a career in pharmacy. Since I find myself enjoying learning about chemistry more than biology (even though biology can be interesting at times), I have decided to switch majors to B.A. Chemistry with a biological chemistry track this summer. My plan is to earn my degree in four years (graduate in spring 2014) and then apply to pharmacy school.
I had an argument with my brother recently because he suggested that I should transfer to another school to do pre-pharmacy for two years and then apply to pharmacy school. He said that earning a bachelor's degree in chemistry wouldn't give me many job opportunities and I agree with him on that. But he also said it would be a waste of time so why not just do pre-pharmacy at another school?
These are my reasons for staying:
1. I currently have a free ride at Texas A&M thanks to several grants and scholarships. Transferring to another school would make me lose some money and I would have to pay off loans.
2. Since I am taking my general biology courses this sophomore year, I am bit behind in that area. I would take my gen. biology courses this year, microbiology/P&A junior year, and then genetics/biochemistry my senior year. I have already finished my math courses but along with those biology courses, I will have to take organic chemistry, quantitative analysis, and physical chemistry for my degree in chemistry. I don't think it's a good idea to rush and take these biology courses in the summer nor do I feel comfortable transferring to another school just to do 2 years of pre-pharmacy. By the time I finish most of my pre-requisites, that'll be the end of junior year so why not just stay at A&M for an extra year to earn the degree in chemistry?
3. While having B.A. in chemistry isn't so much to brag about, it will look good on my application right? I heard that more than 50% of the current pharmacy students have a bachelor's degree in something.
4. If somehow I can't get accepted into a pharmacy school, I can always spend an extra year or two to earn my chemical engineering degree (since I already took the two introduction to engineering classes and I have my physics mechanics/electromagnetism credits), yes? That or try to earn a teaching certificate.
Even though it is most likely that I will stick to my decision, it would be nice to hear what you think about my situation. Thank you for reading such a long post. This has been stressing me out for a bit.
Oh, and I hope to be more involved in the forums! 🙂
