Need help picking a major

[^=^]

Hello everyone!

I was wondering if you could help me pick a major from the following list. I've always loved math and so that won't be a big problem. I tried to pick out a major, but it was too hard to decide (they all seem good). Anyway, here's the list:

A. Biochemistry
B. Biomedical Engineering
C. Psychology
D. Neuroscience

Thanks.

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[CptCrunch]

BME is hell. Don't do it.

 

[Heimerfink]

I would hate biochem because I hate memorizing that pathway crap. This is a terrible question without listing more strengths than just "math".

 

[MediMama23]

Hello everyone!

I was wondering if you could help me pick a major from the following list. I've always loved math and so that won't be a big problem. I tried to pick out a major, but it was too hard to decide (they all seem good). Anyway, here's the list:

A. Biochemistry
B. Biomedical Engineering
C. Psychology
D. Neuroscience

Thanks.

If you love math, you should be a math major.

 

[psipsina]

Pick whichever you are most interested in and feel like you could achieve the best grades in. I agree that BME is pretty hardcore and it might be a bigger struggle to come out on top of the curve in these classes, but if it is what you would truely enjoy the most go for it. I have a special spot in my heart for neuro, as it was my major, but I chose it because it was what I was really fascinated with and wanting to learn more about, and because I truely enjoyed the material I have a bunch of upper level bio courses with A's which looks great. Just figure out what you are most interested in, no one on this board can answer that for u.

 

[^=^]

I see...So basically I should major in whatever I'll achieve the best grades in right? I guess I'll look into Psych. with a minor in Neuroscience..
? ?

 

[physicsnerd42]

I see...So basically I should major in whatever I'll achieve the best grades in right? I guess I'll look into Psych. with a minor in Neuroscience..
? ?

Yeah, not necessarily. Don't pick what's easy; pick what you're interested in. I think med schools weigh (to at least a small degree) the difficulty of a major vs. your grades. I'm not saying that a 3.3 in BME will beat a 3.7 in psych, but they will take it into account. Also, if you don't get into med school (or decided to not go to med school, which happens to many people), you'll want to think about what major will allow you to do things that you enjoy. I think most pre-meds miss the point of college. Undergrad isn't just a stepping stone to med school. It is a valuable in and of itself, and you should get the most out of it. I chose a physics major with minors in chemistry and religious studies not because these subjects are easy (and they're definitely not at my school), but they're what I love. I would encourage you to see where your passions and gifts coincide and then try to pick a major based on that. Just my $.02.

 

[^=^]

Thanks for the advice. I guess I'll just wait for now and see how well I perform in other weeder classes like Organic and Physics, then I'll pick whatever suits me. Congrats on your acceptance btw. Oh year, how was Santa Clara University, I was thinking about going there.

 

[lookslikerain]

Hello everyone!

I was wondering if you could help me pick a major from the following list. I've always loved math and so that won't be a big problem. I tried to pick out a major, but it was too hard to decide (they all seem good). Anyway, here's the list:

A. Biochemistry
B. Biomedical Engineering
C. Psychology
D. Neuroscience

Thanks.

Um, so if you've always loved math, why don't you major in that? Seriously, I can't stress how important it is to major in something you love (or at least like) and not a science because you think it "looks good." Though if that's what you love, major in it, of course.

Now if I HAD to major in one of those, I'd pick neuroscience, because it fascinates me and I've done 3+ years of neuroscience research. (And b/c the other three are not appealing to me at all)

 

[physicsnerd42]

Thanks for the advice. I guess I'll just wait for now and see how well I perform in other weeder classes like Organic and Physics, then I'll pick whatever suits me. Congrats on your acceptance btw. Oh year, how was Santa Clara University, I was thinking about going there.

Thanks. I LOVED Santa Clara. If I could do it all over again, I wouldn't go anywhere else. PM me if you have any questions about it.

 

[modelslashactor]

if you want to be a real hot dog, double major in math and psych, and then top it off with biomedical imaging or neuro research. at least given what you said your interests were, that's what i'd do.

 

[Zoom-Zoom]

I see...So basically I should major in whatever I'll achieve the best grades in right? I guess I'll look into Psych. with a minor in Neuroscience..
? ?

Or you could double major in psych and neurosience like all the really cool people

 

[obiwan]

Yeah, not necessarily. Don't pick what's easy; pick what you're interested in. I think med schools weigh (to at least a small degree) the difficulty of a major vs. your grades. I'm not saying that a 3.3 in BME will beat a 3.7 in psych, but they will take it into account. Also, if you don't get into med school (or decided to not go to med school, which happens to many people), you'll want to think about what major will allow you to do things that you enjoy. I think most pre-meds miss the point of college. Undergrad isn't just a stepping stone to med school. It is a valuable in and of itself, and you should get the most out of it. I chose a physics major with minors in chemistry and religious studies not because these subjects are easy (and they're definitely not at my school), but they're what I love. I would encourage you to see where your passions and gifts coincide and then try to pick a major based on that. Just my $.02.

Have to agree that schools do take into consideration major vs. GPA cause I think being a BME with below average med school GPA got me into med school.

 

[Zymogen]

If I could do it over I would have done biochem. I think it would really help you with the mcat. However, at my University it is a very difficult major.

 

[Wrigleyville]

Study whatever you're interested in. Admissions committees don't care as long as you have the prereqs.

 

[DrBowtie]

I'd like to throw my major, Physics, into consideration. Also consider Math.

 

[^=^]

Hmm...How about Neuroscience w/ minors in Psych. and Biochem?

Damn, Brett you're still fighting off those A-'s with that No.2, pure skills

 

[MediMama23]

Hmm...How about Neuroscience w/ minors in Psych. and Biochem?

Take one, and stick with it. Take classes in the others for fun. If you concentrate too much on what you think adcoms want to see in the way of majors, you'll never figure out what you want.

I can't even tell if you're actually in college or trying to figure this out as a senior in high school. What if you find out you're in love with English? Are you going to scrap that just because it's not a science?

Explore. If there's one thing I wish I had done more of, it would be explore my options.

 

[^=^]

Oh yeah, I guess I forgot to mention that I'm still a senior. Sorry folks!

 

[StevenRF]

Did BME and Biochem. BME was much funner. The math will also give an advantage, where as biology is the bastard child of the sciences.

Do yourself a favor.... major in communications. Just trust me. (That cringing feeling and the thought that the major is for dumb sorostitutes will pass.)

 

[Flopotomist]

OK - I sound like a broken record, but I will say it again...

MAJOR IN WHATEVER THE FLIP YOU LOVE. If you aren't waking up in the morning excited about going to school to explore more of your favorite subject, you are majoring in the wrong thing. You can get into medical school with ANY major as long as you have the minimum science courses. If you love math - then major in math. If you love music, major in music.

If you look at the numbers, there is no magic major that gives you an advantage in the process. I will say it again - there is NO magic major that helps you at ANY stage of this process - including MCAT prep.

Good luck!

 

[^=^]

Steve are you serious? You did BME and Biochem! What was your gpa/mcat? Jw.

 

[disque71]

If you are dead set on medicine, it really doesn’t matter the major. Just pick something really easy that enables you to focus on your PreReq courses, bio, chem., ocher, phys etc.

Do not do any type of engineering. Average engineering GPAs are significantly lower than any other major in the university. Adcoms give you no credit for choosing the more difficult route either. Do psychology, ace everything, and junior/senior year will be a cake walk getting into med school.

 

[Em1]

Echoing others- pick what you love!

I've been asked in interviews why I chose to major in biology... you DON'T want your answer to be "b/c people on the internet told me to"

 

[Thundrstorm]

All of them. You should quadruple major. Adcoms love to see students who rally push themselves. You might want to consider a History or Foreign Language minor, though, to prove that you're well-rounded.

 

[crazy_cavalier]

BME is hell. Don't do it.

BME kicks ass. Definitely look into it. Now that I think about it, there really isn't any other major I would enjoy doing as much. My only gripe is there are a few crappy BME classes, and then there are some awesome ones. Depends on your school's department, but in general BME is a great bridge that connects things like medicine, biology, math, physics, etc.

 

[Shredder]

economics or finance. avoid engineering like the plague, its pointless for premeds. social sciences give good perspective on life, human behavior, and society and are not too career oriented, which is positive for premeds. theres no sense in majoring in anything for the sake of getting a leg up in medicine. youll end up relearning it later and that time in college will be mostly squandered. theres too much knowledge out there to bother relearning material over and again. take the opportunity to expand beyond medical/scientific knowledge.

 

[MediMama23]

You should just take every class offered at your college. That way, you can say you majored in everything (adcoms will REALLY find that interesting), and if med school doesn't work out, you could become an academic advisor for your school.

I see a win win here.

 

[Shredder]

actually if you take too many classes/show too many interests outside of medicine schools will doubt your commitment to medicine. if you take all science theyll bi7ch about you being one sided. nothing works, best thing to do is whatever you want without any regard to what you think schools want. its a sad life to live constantly playing guessing games about what makes others happy with you, you know

 

[crazy_cavalier]

avoid engineering like the plague, its pointless for premeds. social sciences give good perspective on life, human behavior, and society and are not too career oriented, which is positive for premeds.

I don't know. My engineering curriculum really lends itself to developing a sense of the ethical and social implications of engineering projects. Moreover, you develop skills related to professionalism and you hone an appreciation of quantatitive analyses. Engineering in general also has a huge focus on problem solving. But really the point I want to make is that any respectable / credited engineering school will integrate concepts of social dynamics (i.e. human behavior, ethics, etc.) and promote life-long learning in their curricula.

There is no way in hell I would say my undergraduate training in BME was a "waste" or otherwise not applicable to my future career in medicine. There are definitely skills that I will look forward to applying in the years to come.

That is not to say that other majors do not offer similar or applicable skills as well, but this is what makes the diversity of the entry class a fun dynamic. Your colleagues will have an appreciation of things that you may lack, and you will have unique skills / viewpoints to offer as well. It makes teamwork that much better.

Good luck with whatever you pick. Just pick something that makes you happy. I just felt the urge to defend BME in response to that earlier post ("BME is hell" or whatever). Heh.

 

[MediMama23]

actually if you take too many classes/show too many interests outside of medicine schools will doubt your commitment to medicine. if you take all science theyll bi7ch about you being one sided. nothing works, best thing to do is whatever you want without any regard to what you think schools want. its a sad life to live constantly playing guessing games about what makes others happy with you, you know

And obviously, it can't be done, as you'd have to stay for years and years just to do so.

Sarcasm, anyone? Can we get a sarcasm button on here?

 

[Shredder]

And obviously, it can't be done, as you'd have to stay for years and years just to do so.

Sarcasm, anyone? Can we get a sarcasm button on here?

i dont comprehend, my gist was that no matter what a person does to curry favor with others (med schools in this case) there will be a way to perceive it negatively. therefore its futile--you cant please them all, basically. so just do what you want and be content

there is a sarcasm smiley, if rolled eyes can be considered that

 

[CTSballer11]

actually if you take too many classes/show too many interests outside of medicine schools will doubt your commitment to medicine. if you take all science theyll bi7ch about you being one sided. nothing works, best thing to do is whatever you want without any regard to what you think schools want. its a sad life to live constantly playing guessing games about what makes others happy with you, you know

LOL. This whole process is such a joke.

 

[Shredder]

LOL. This whole process is such a joke.

everything is a dual edged sword. lots of research? do a phd. no research? no top schools. no service? too selfish for altruistic medicine. too much service? join peace corps or nursing. on and on--anyone can find a way to pick on you depending on their personal biases. thats why all the subjectivity is bs but im looking into book as to how it came about

 

[eastsidaz]

Hello everyone!

I was wondering if you could help me pick a major from the following list. I've always loved math and so that won't be a big problem. I tried to pick out a major, but it was too hard to decide (they all seem good). Anyway, here's the list:

A. Biochemistry
B. Biomedical Engineering
C. Psychology
D. Neuroscience

Thanks.

I've always found biochem to be really cool...but neuroscience is the final frontier. I'm actually sitting in a sensory neuro class as I type this. It's interesting, albeit not enough to pull me away from SDN on my laptop.

 

[CTSballer11]

everything is a dual edged sword. lots of research? do a phd. no research? no top schools. no service? too selfish for altruistic medicine. too much service? join peace corps or nursing. on and on--anyone can find a way to pick on you depending on their personal biases. thats why all the subjectivity is bs but im looking into book as to how it came about

Really, what is the title?

 

[CptCrunch]

BME kicks ass. Definitely look into it. Now that I think about it, there really isn't any other major I would enjoy doing as much. My only gripe is there are a few crappy BME classes, and then there are some awesome ones. Depends on your school's department, but in general BME is a great bridge that connects things like medicine, biology, math, physics, etc.

Don't get me wrong, it's a great field and I've enjoyed a bunch of my BME classes. But considering the courseload of major requirements and pre-med requirements, I think I would have been better off majoring in another field and taking some BME courses as electives.

 

[Shredder]

Really, what is the title?

The Chosen : The Hidden History of Admission and Exclusion at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton

 

[MN81]

If you really want to impress American allopathic Med schools, major in Eastern Medicine.

 

[happydays]

Basket-weaving.

 

[notdeadyet]

What's most important in selecting a major is basing it on the input of total strangers on an anonymous web board. Can't stress enough how critical that is.

 

[StevenRF]

The Chosen seems pretty interesting. I liked how the editor commentator talked about using the paradigm to exclude asians now instead of jews... When I look back at how much of that BS crap I had to put up with just to play the admissions game I want to cry.

I remember some other book my TA told me about on how the universities have turned into a glorified day care for undergrads as they have been dumbed down to incorporate all the students that would have previously gone into some trade.



Don't bother double majoring, you can easily summa but it don't matter. Do a single major, and stay out of the classroom AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. If your interested in something, go buy the text book and read it, or go join a lab and do something that is actually useful in the world. There is nothing more useless than spending your day going to ochem lab so you can watch something distill for 3 hours, then going to bio class so your prof can read off her power points that just summerize the textbook, then going to physics so the prof can do the examples problems on the board, and then going to your liberal arts class so your prof can spend 2 hours telling you why the US should kick out all the citizens in wisconsin and turn it into a giant indian reservation. If it wasn't for med schools requiring a B.S. I would suggest dropping out.

 

[notdeadyet]

There is nothing more useless than spending your day going to ochem lab so you can watch something distill for 3 hours, then going to bio class so your prof can read off her power points that just summerize the textbook, then going to physics so the prof can do the examples problems on the board, and then going to your liberal arts class so your prof can spend 2 hours telling you why the US should kick out all the citizens in wisconsin and turn it into a giant indian reservation. If it wasn't for med schools requiring a B.S. I would suggest dropping out.

Thank you. This illustrates my last post beautifully.

 

[StevenRF]

Thank you. This illustrates my last post beautifully.

Oh come on. Its not like he would have actually done it or anything. Here's what I'm going to do. After every post I'm going to add because obviously I really think he should.

 

[SLPI]

hey major in whatever interests you mosts and/or you think you will do the best in if your goal is medical school ultimately. however try to do not just the prereqs for med school but also take some other classes that may help out a little first year. biochem, anatomy, histology, physiology, neuroscience, immunology etc. dont do all but choose a few to ease you through first year.

 

[Scalpellum]

Hello everyone!

I was wondering if you could help me pick a major from the following list. I've always loved math and so that won't be a big problem. I tried to pick out a major, but it was too hard to decide (they all seem good). Anyway, here's the list:

A. Biochemistry
B. Biomedical Engineering
C. Psychology
D. Neuroscience

Thanks.

It depends what year you are. If you have taken a neuro class and loved it, then choose the neurosci major. Same for the other three choices. Don't declare a major until you are sure.

 

[Shredder]

The Chosen seems pretty interesting. I liked how the editor commentator talked about using the paradigm to exclude asians now instead of jews... When I look back at how much of that BS crap I had to put up with just to play the admissions game I want to cry.

I remember some other book my TA told me about on how the universities have turned into a glorified day care for undergrads as they have been dumbed down to incorporate all the students that would have previously gone into some trade.

Don't bother double majoring, you can easily summa but it don't matter. Do a single major, and stay out of the classroom AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. If your interested in something, go buy the text book and read it, or go join a lab and do something that is actually useful in the world. There is nothing more useless than spending your day going to ochem lab so you can watch something distill for 3 hours, then going to bio class so your prof can read off her power points that just summerize the textbook, then going to physics so the prof can do the examples problems on the board, and then going to your liberal arts class so your prof can spend 2 hours telling you why the US should kick out all the citizens in wisconsin and turn it into a giant indian reservation. If it wasn't for med schools requiring a B.S. I would suggest dropping out.

this is the story of so many classes. rare is the prof who does anything more. some dont even do a good job of this. im going to order Chosen shortly. most colleges are turning into diploma mills; a college degree doesnt command the same respect it once did. i wish i had done the required premed prerecs and proceeded to med school without even getting a degree, or at least graduated super early. solid post

 

[physicsnerd42]

Don't bother double majoring, you can easily summa but it don't matter. Do a single major, and stay out of the classroom AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. If your interested in something, go buy the text book and read it, or go join a lab and do something that is actually useful in the world. There is nothing more useless than spending your day going to ochem lab so you can watch something distill for 3 hours, then going to bio class so your prof can read off her power points that just summerize the textbook, then going to physics so the prof can do the examples problems on the board, and then going to your liberal arts class so your prof can spend 2 hours telling you why the US should kick out all the citizens in wisconsin and turn it into a giant indian reservation. If it wasn't for med schools requiring a B.S. I would suggest dropping out.

Wow, this is pretty cynical. I guess it depends on where you go. The vast majority of profs I have had have been funny, engaging, and have generally cared very much about how well their students are learning. I've never gone a week in a class without the professor knowing all of our names (and I've never had a TA teach anything). In most of my science and math classes I've learned much more from the professor than I ever could from the textbook. For all of my classes, the professor's lecture has been pretty much independent of whatever text we're reading (and they don't read off of power points very often). Textbooks and powerpoints are supplements to a class, they aren't the meat of the class. And, most of the liberal arts classes I've had have had between 5 and 25 students so that you get a combination of lecture and discussion. As to the dumbing down issue: I've actually asked professors about this. They tell me they teach the same level of material they learned in undergrad and even grad school. If someone wants to ask questions about things they don't understand, that's fine, but they're not gonig to "dumb the class down."

Also, how do you plan on joining a lab if you know nothing (and, no offense, high school students know very little)?

And, I think you're missing the point of college. Reading college textbooks fills your head with facts. Undergrad is about teaching you how to think, analyze, solve problems. That's something that's very difficult to get from just reading a text. College also allows you to mature socially and ethically (hopefully).

I really don't understand people who see college as nothing more than a loathsome stepping stone between undergrad and med school. Had I followed the path I thought I would have followed coming out of high school, I'd be an electrical engineering sitting in a cubical somewhere next year designing high pass filter circuits instead of going to med school.

 

[StevenRF]

Also, how do you plan on joining a lab if you know nothing (and, no offense, high school students know very little)?

Well I went up to a professor after reading his webpage and said, "I'm a freshman, can I join your lab?" He said sure. Then he had me read a nice stack of textbooks, the manual for every machine in the lab, and all the papers published from his lab and those referenced. While doing that, he had me be his scut monkey for 3 months by cleaning and organizing everything in the lab. After summer ended he let me have sole use over a nice million dollar UHV machine. Guess I had to pay my dues.


And teaching "problem solving" works so well in college... One of my profs gave an EE problem on his exam that he did in class, except he rotated the circuit 180 degrees. Half the class got it wrong.

But hey, this is just my own anecodotal evidence, so do with it what you will.

EDIT: This thread has gotten way off topic. Just major in whatever you will enjoy most, because it won't matter in terms of medical school admissions as long as you keep getting A's.