Ok, now just finished my first year in college and I am currently a Bio major for the primary intention of fulfilling my pre-med classes. Right now I have a 3.72 GPA and I intend to start applying for transferring to another school my second year. As of right now I am doing everything I can to keep my GPA competitive in all of my science classes and plan to shadow about 3 or 4 doctors or suregons as well as get an EMT ceterification during the summer. However, I realize that if I don't get accepted into medical school for any reason, I want to have a solid fallback since you can't do much with a Biology degree and I realize that my backup interest is in the Engineering field and I am thinking of changing from Bio to CE while finishing up the rest of my prereq classes. But I heard that CE is very difficult to keep a competitive GPA at and it won't give me enough time for me to build up my medical ECs and resume during semesters. I just need some advice and input on what I am getting into and what else i can do?
Thinking of changing Major from Bio to Computer Engineering. Need Advice
- Thread starter Ziggy213
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Computer Engineers (engineers in general) are introverts and have a different personality than those in healthcare or other service fields. Make sure it's what you want to do. If you like it, go for it. 60k starting salary (or whatever it is right now) doesn't hurt. I started as a CEng and switched to MechEng because the number of computer science courses got too boring. Coding over and over is not fun to me. When I was younger, computer science was the #1 burnout job (age 33 if I remember correctly) so that was another reason to run away. Make sure it's what you want because computer engineering sometimes sounds cooler than the career turns out to be.
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You won't have to worry about a career in Biology if you keep that GPA up and get a decent MCAT. You'll be in med school and have LOTS of job security.
I wanted to do CE with pre-med initially before I did Biology but I was told that Biology would prepare you better for the MCAT. I really didn't want to do Bio to be honest. But now I realize that the MCAT isn't going to test you anymore than the basic sciences(and psych, some biochem, and sociology once the new MCAT is enacted) and was recommended to simply take the required classes as electives. I wanted to do CE from the beginning.
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If you knew you wanted to do CE from the very beginning, go for it. However, like the posters above, CE might not be always puppies and rainbows, so know what you are getting into. Good luck!
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Honestly, I'd probably switch to CE if I were you. If I could go back in time I would have. I took a few gap years and, lets just say, job prospects in bio are complete crap. That said, I loved my gap years.
Besides, you never know in the future how it can help you. I wish I knew how to program from a traditional education. I've been trying to self teach myself and it's been miserable. Just make sure you bust ass in whatever you do and nail the MCAT.
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It's a very tough, uphill battle doing engineering... it's not impossible but I will warn you that you may lose a lot of sleep. Engineering isn't exactly "hard", but it is time consuming if you want excellence and the grades that come with it. In my opinion, it's worth every second. You will not have the time to do a lot of ECs as a CE, this is almost guaranteed. I recommend:
1) Get A LOT of clinical experience shadowing different types of physicians during school breaks (Summer, holidays, etc.). I recommend doing them in large-hour chunks during school breaks i.e. 8 hours x a few days x each break OR two weeks of constant shadowing on one or two breaks. It helps to have family or friends in the field that can work you in. I did one or two full days in various specialties, and I thought this was a great experience. I then got a longer term shadow experience with one physician so I could see more than 20 hours of something. A total of 100 hours or so would be a great amount to get a flavor! If you have the access, getting exposure to medicine should not interfere with your schoolwork at all.
2) Teaching/tutoring is an awesome option for those who like math/science. You can volunteer your time at a local school. This activity was a great release for me and I learned a lot doing it. You don't have to do scut work in a hospital to get into medical school, I promise you... if you would rather work with kids and teach, do it!!! If medicine is your passion, you will get plenty of scutwork later in your career. Do something you'll enjoy that gives back and challenges you in different ways.
3) Get involved in medical research during your last couple summers and see if you can carry a project into the school year for class credit or a senior thesis.
4) Schedule appropriately for studying for/taking the MCAT. Upper level Engineering classes + studying for the MCAT = bombing the MCAT. I had to take an extra year to fit everything in appropriately.
good luck!!!
1) Get A LOT of clinical experience shadowing different types of physicians during school breaks (Summer, holidays, etc.). I recommend doing them in large-hour chunks during school breaks i.e. 8 hours x a few days x each break OR two weeks of constant shadowing on one or two breaks. It helps to have family or friends in the field that can work you in. I did one or two full days in various specialties, and I thought this was a great experience. I then got a longer term shadow experience with one physician so I could see more than 20 hours of something. A total of 100 hours or so would be a great amount to get a flavor! If you have the access, getting exposure to medicine should not interfere with your schoolwork at all.
2) Teaching/tutoring is an awesome option for those who like math/science. You can volunteer your time at a local school. This activity was a great release for me and I learned a lot doing it. You don't have to do scut work in a hospital to get into medical school, I promise you... if you would rather work with kids and teach, do it!!! If medicine is your passion, you will get plenty of scutwork later in your career. Do something you'll enjoy that gives back and challenges you in different ways.
3) Get involved in medical research during your last couple summers and see if you can carry a project into the school year for class credit or a senior thesis.
4) Schedule appropriately for studying for/taking the MCAT. Upper level Engineering classes + studying for the MCAT = bombing the MCAT. I had to take an extra year to fit everything in appropriately.
good luck!!!
