Question:what Did You Major In?

[beatnik10884]

hello everyone! I am accepted to the university of georgia (as a transfer, and hope to go to MCG), and i need to decide on a major. I am thinking either biology or child & family development. I know they are very different. the thing is, my gpa is not very high (3.35) and my science gpa (2.63, without chem II, organic I & II,Bio I & II, and Physc II). Is it better to go ahead and major in a science in order to boost my science gpa? I took AP biology in high school and did extremely well. Someone told me that child & family developemnt is a less demanding major, which would mean i could focus on the big three dental prereqs and could be related to what i want to specialize in , pediatric dentistry. I would appreciate any input and advice.

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[wimmcs]

hello everyone! I am accepted to the university of georgia, and i need to decide on a major. I am thinking either biology or child & family development. I know they are very different. the thing is, my gpa is not very high (3.35) and my science gpa (2.63, without chem II, organic I & II,Bio I & II, and Physc II). Is it better to go ahead and major in a science in order to boost my science gpa? I took AP biology in high school and did extremely well. Someone told me that child & family developemnt is a less demanding major, which would mean i could focus on the big three dental prereqs and could be related to what i want to specialize in , pediatric dentistry. I would appreciate any input and advice.

This is a tough one! I know because I DON'T have a biology degree, I'm sweating a little bit. I've seen that typically those with biology or other science degrees get accepted more often than those without a science degree, that's just a fact. You will also hear from people who will tell you to major in what YOU want to major in. If I had my pick of majors now, I would go the safer route (biology), but that's just ME. Also, once you take the "big three dental prereqs" you'll also want to include SOME upper division biologies like physiology, anatomy, biochem, histology, microbiology, etc. When I first looked into the pre-reqs, all I was planning on completing was that, only the pre-reqs, but in this forum I've learned that if you don't have a science degree and want to remain competitive, you should be taking also some upper div. biology courses, that's why IF I get accepted to d-school, I will have taken as upper div biology courses the following: physio, biochem, micro, genetics, cell bio, bacterial physio, etc. I feel confident that even if I don't possess a science degree, I will have some pretty good science background, almost 38 hrs of biology alone!! Good luck!

 

[GoGatorsDMD]

My two cents:

I would go with a hard science major. (I was microbiology). I understand where you're coming from about the child development major as it relates to a pedo specialty, but I really think you should focus on getting into dental school first. I feel classes I took in undergrad such as Bacterial Pathogens and Immunology are going to put me ahead of the curve in dental school.


Good luck and we'll see you in Jacksonville for your annual beating.

 

[Dr.SpongeBobDDS]

beatnik, I would strongly recommend a science major in your case. You need to load up on science courses and do well in them. If you have free electives, pick science classes that have a reputation for being easy. I don't mean to come across as rude, but it is unlikely you would even get an interview with such a low science GPA.

If you have 20 credits of science classes with a 2.6 GPA you'll need to complete another 20 credits of science with ~3.5 just to get your overall average up to a 3.0. And you still need to strive for better than a 3.0 to put on your application. Of course if you have only completed one or two science courses there isn't a whole lot of damage done at this point.

I hope my post isn't discouraging; it wasn't meant to be. I'm just saying you have a lot of work ahead of you (though you probably knew that. ) Good luck.

 

[Dr. Steve Brule]

hello everyone! I am accepted to the university of georgia (as a transfer, and hope to go to MCG), and i need to decide on a major. I am thinking either biology or child & family development. I know they are very different. the thing is, my gpa is not very high (3.35) and my science gpa (2.63, without chem II, organic I & II,Bio I & II, and Physc II). Is it better to go ahead and major in a science in order to boost my science gpa? I took AP biology in high school and did extremely well. Someone told me that child & family developemnt is a less demanding major, which would mean i could focus on the big three dental prereqs and could be related to what i want to specialize in , pediatric dentistry. I would appreciate any input and advice.

hey that's awesome i just graduated from UGA..athens is an awesome town! just don't be like me and literally piss your grades away anyway yeah u should definitely go with a science major, i did micro and it was difficult..but i know if i had studied more i would have done much better..i don't even know what my science gpa is but im sure it's under 3.0...that's why im really counting on nailing the DAT..if u have any questions about the school specifically i would be glad to help u out

 

[sidewalkman]

I agree with SpongeBob. Since you need a bunch of science classes to boost up your science GPA, you might as well go ahead and major in a science. You can always do other activies (shadow a pedo, etc.) to show your interest in kids. Best of luck to you!

 

[gatorfan99]

You should also consider engineering (like me! ). You get to put science into practice! It also always leaves a good impression on ad coms, especially if you take hard-core engineering classes (which are science classes, but much cooler ) like thermo or hydrodynamics.

Child development?


my 2 cents...

Gatorfan

 

[blumnday99]

You need to load up on science courses and do well in them

I hated it when people said that, but it's actually kind of true. I majored in Microbiology, but towards the end of senior year I was getting tired of some of the classes. A bio major is a little more difficult than other majors, but it's not impossible. Even within bio majors I think there is a range of difficulties. At my school, I think ecology was one of the easier ones and microbiology or cell and developmental biology were some of the harder ones. I think it just depends on what you like to study.

 

[beatnik10884]

thank you all for your responses. i have decided on a bio major. The science gpa i currently have 2.6, is from a physic I class and a chem I class. i have only two science courses under my belt, i am currently taking chem II and feel like i will be getting an A in both lab and lecture. thanks again!!!!