Should I major in Computer Science or am I wasting valuable time?

[ShaggyAce]

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I am having a bit of trouble making up my mind on a major. I really want to go to Med School in the future. A little background, I am essentially a junior in college but a little behind in my studies. I volunteer at the cardiology department at my local hospital in the summers and volunteer as an EMT on an ambulance during the school year. I have a 3.6 GPA currently with only Chem and half of Physics done in terms of Pre-Med requirements. I declared my major recently as Computer Science because I have an interest in programming and could see myself in such an industry if I were rejected from Med School. But at the same time, I see friends around me who are also taking the Pre-med route but majoring in things like Biology and Psychology. I don't feel comfortable with a major that wouldn't be giving me a back up plan but Computer Science also seems kind of useless at times considering the fact that I wouldn't mind going overseas for med school either. Am I just wasting my time with a Computer Science degree? Should I just switch to something like Psychology? Psychology is only a 30 credit major at my school while Comp Sci is 55.

 

[TriagePreMed]

I don't often share this, but one of my two majors was one that I didn't enjoy at all. Why did I continue? Because I felt I was already knee deep and I was "getting a second major that I actually like anyway," but honestly, it was just a mistake. Having to waste time on those classes and even under-perform because I wasn't interested only served to hurt me. I would rather do a major I enjoy and is 10x as hard than one I hate, but hey, you learn from your mistakes.

 

[NuttyEngDude]

computer science is a time consuming major. it's high risk, imo, and one of the reasons why i'm now doing a GPA enhancing post-bacc. If you are dead set on med school then no way do i recommend you do it. just take some "for fun" classes in computers if you want.

 

[MedWonk]

I am having a bit of trouble making up my mind on a major. I really want to go to Med School in the future. A little background, I am essentially a junior in college but a little behind in my studies. I volunteer at the cardiology department at my local hospital in the summers and volunteer as an EMT on an ambulance during the school year. I have a 3.6 GPA currently with only Chem and half of Physics done in terms of Pre-Med requirements. I declared my major recently as Computer Science because I have an interest in programming and could see myself in such an industry if I were rejected from Med School. But at the same time, I see friends around me who are also taking the Pre-med route but majoring in things like Biology and Psychology. I don't feel comfortable with a major that wouldn't be giving me a back up plan but Computer Science also seems kind of useless at times considering the fact that I wouldn't mind going overseas for med school either. Am I just wasting my time with a Computer Science degree? Should I just switch to something like Psychology? Psychology is only a 30 credit major at my school while Comp Sci is 55.

I would go with whichever major you enjoy. If you're interested in comp sci, then do it. If you like psych better, then do that. It will suck to do a major you don't like, and the lack of enthusiasm will show in job interviews. Believe me, I've been there.

 

[scarshapedstar]

If you want to go to med school, GPA is the only thing you should be worried about. Hopefully your grades are best in the classes that you really enjoy, but I agree with NuttyEngDude - comp sci classes mean a lot of all-night hacking runs, especially if you're just starting. Tests can be a real killer, too; there's nothing worse than when you get 30 lines into a handwritten program and realize that your algorithm has a fatal flaw. Basically, depending on your institution, it can be very hard to get an A.

The bigger problem with CS is that it's not like biology where there's just one set of facts to learn. There are many programming languages, and they might force you to learn some that are brain-damaged (F U PLT Scheme!) and when they get around to teaching you real languages, they give you tedious toy projects that still don't teach you anything commercially viable.

It can be a great hobby, or even a side job; I'm writing an Android app (if you have one, Android phones are awesome for development, and the SDK is free!) but I'd say maybe 5% of my knowledge base came from CS classes and 95% came from reading APIs and good ol' google. But if you want to go to med school, don't spread yourself thin with a "backup plan" because if it costs grade points to do it, you might end up serving a few years in Postbac No-Man's Land. 😳

 

[dmf2682]

If you want to go to med school, GPA is the only thing you should be worried about. Hopefully your grades are best in the classes that you really enjoy, but I agree with NuttyEngDude - comp sci classes mean a lot of all-night hacking runs, especially if you're just starting. Tests can be a real killer, too; there's nothing worse than when you get 30 lines into a handwritten program and realize that your algorithm has a fatal flaw. Basically, depending on your institution, it can be very hard to get an A.

The bigger problem with CS is that it's not like biology where there's just one set of facts to learn. There are many programming languages, and they might force you to learn some that are brain-damaged (F U PLT Scheme!) and when they get around to teaching you real languages, they give you tedious toy projects that still don't teach you anything commercially viable.

I would disagree with this one. College is a time in which you should go and find out what you like, not go in with a set goal of medical school and see it through to the end. The OP should do what (s)he is interested in without worrying about the GPA as it expressly pertains to med school admissions. They should just try and do a good job for the sake of learning. If they've the smarts to get into med school they'll do well on their own, without having to worry about majoring in something like psychology.

As far as whether or not it's hard, it's really up to the person. At my school (see my avatar) CS majors were pretty bright, but the major itself was generally looked down on as one of the easier ones. You may think bio is easier because it's straight memorization, but for people like me I do much better at something where I can figure it out as I go rather than memorize it ahead of time.

Going to the OP's question. My opinion is that no major is a waste of time if it's what you enjoy. But if you have an interest in becoming a physician you should try and take the pre-requisites while you're an undergrad.

 

[flyhi]

I do not think you'd be wasting your time at all, just make sure you can keep your gpa super competitive. It's a great idea to have a backup plan.

About the overseas med school though, that's another whole set of issues. Do you really want to have to deal with being a FMG and all the hoops you would have to jump through just to practice in the US?

 

[NuttyEngDude]

Yeah, i find myself sticking to what I said but also agreeing with what dmf2682 said. We nontrads are more about getting from point A to point B, but we're at a different point in our lives. If you're still figuring yourself out, you should by all means explore -- just watch that GPA like it's you're life. like I said, I see it as high risk, and it still may be, but if you are figuring yourself out, it is something you have to do.

 

[startoverat40]

maybe you can study biomedical informatics, if your school offers it. it would offer you a great career option if you don't go to med school, and is still related to biomedical sciences.