Undergrad Major- will this work?

[MemeLord1337]

Hello SDN this is my first post. I'm a senior in high school with straight A's and a 32 ACT. I'm interested in going into medicine.
From what I've gathered from the Internet, I've thought of a plan for undergrad which is:
-Double major in biomedical engineering and computer science.
I'm willing to do whatever it takes for these two degrees alone, because they both have value even IF I choose to not go into med school.
Is leaving myself two ways out indicative that I'm not determined to go to med school? Or is it good planning? Will I even meet all the prerequisites with this plan? Thanks for any responses God bless you all

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[eteshoe]

You can certainly do both majors but just fyi it's not necessary. It will be tough but as long as you plan your time accordingly (for studying, MCAT prep, etc) and keep a strong GPA (3.7+), you should be able to get into med school.

If you choose not to do med school, most BME jobs will require at least 3.0 GPA (3.5 for the best jobs) while CS jobs really don't harp on the grades but more on the skills you have (projects that are self and class initiated).

 

[MemeLord1337]

You can certainly do both majors but just fyi it's not necessary. It will be tough but as long as you plan your time accordingly (for studying, MCAT prep, etc) and keep a strong GPA (3.7+), you should be able to get into med school.

If you choose not to do med school, most BME jobs will require at least 3.0 GPA (3.5 for the best jobs) while CS jobs really don't harp on the grades but more on the skills you have (projects that are self and class initiated).

Thank you for the reply, that's good info. People on forums like SDN always say engineers have terrible GPAs. Is it really that hard or are they just lazy/don't care about grades as much as a bio major? I understand it's a harder undergrad but I think it's overhyped for being hard

 

[eteshoe]

Thank you for the reply, that's good info. People on forums like SDN always say engineers have terrible GPAs. Is it really that hard or are they just lazy/don't care about grades as much as a bio major? I understand it's a harder undergrad but I think it's overhyped for being hard

I was a chemical engineering/biochemistry double major back in UG (and worked as one after college). I can definitely tell you engineering is a tough major, even for hard workers. Most engineering jobs require a minimum GPA of 3.0-3.2+, so most of those students work hard to stay in that range. Most MD programs have avg GPAs in the 3.6-3.7+ range, so you can see that your typical hard working engineering major (e.g. GPA 3.4) would have a hard time getting into med school. Whereas the avg bio major tends to have a 3.4 GPA or 3.6+ if they're hard working (I'm making assumptions for the GPAs based on my friends from UG). So the engineers who tend to get into med school tend to be insanely hard working w/ "astronomically" high engineering GPAs (3.8+).

You're trying to do two tough majors, so while it's possible to succeed at both, I would cautiously advice against it if you want to keep a competitive GPA. A smart approach would be to pick one of the majors while taking a couple elective courses for the other major (think of it as a minor). If you can keep a strong GPA by the end of your sophomore year then I'd say formally go for the second major.

 

[nebuchadnezzarII]

Unless you're 1,000% sure with no doubt that you want to go to medical school, that is a decent plan. You never know what will change and 4 years can be a pretty long time. Good thinking on keeping your options open. It might be a little early to know for certain that you want to go to medical school.

 

[Mad Jack]

Solid majors if you end up not betting a doctor, but they're gonna ding your GPA most likely, and will make the path to medical school much more difficult. Adcoms care much more about your GPA, ECs, and MCAT than they do about your major. You're better off with an extra 0.10 added to your GPA than a fancy hard double major.

 

[MemeLord1337]

Solid majors if you end up not betting a doctor, but they're gonna ding your GPA most likely, and will make the path to medical school much more difficult. Adcoms care much more about your GPA, ECs, and MCAT than they do about your major. You're better off with an extra 0.10 added to your GPA than a fancy hard double major.

Thanks for this, I'll keep this in mind for sure

 

[MemeLord1337]

Unless you're 1,000% sure with no doubt that you want to go to medical school, that is a decent plan. You never know what will change and 4 years can be a pretty long time. Good thinking on keeping your options open. It might be a little early to know for certain that you want to go to medical school.

Thanks man

 

[MemeLord1337]

I was a chemical engineering/biochemistry double major back in UG (and worked as one after college). I can definitely tell you engineering is a tough major, even for hard workers. Most engineering jobs require a minimum GPA of 3.0-3.2+, so most of those students work hard to stay in that range. Most MD programs have avg GPAs in the 3.6-3.7+ range, so you can see that your typical hard working engineering major (e.g. GPA 3.4) would have a hard time getting into med school. Whereas the avg bio major tends to have a 3.4 GPA or 3.6+ if they're hard working (I'm making assumptions for the GPAs based on my friends from UG). So the engineers who tend to get into med school tend to be insanely hard working w/ "astronomically" high engineering GPAs (3.8+).

You're trying to do two tough majors, so while it's possible to succeed at both, I would cautiously advice against it if you want to keep a competitive GPA. A smart approach would be to pick one of the majors while taking a couple elective courses for the other major (think of it as a minor). If you can keep a strong GPA by the end of your sophomore year then I'd say formally go for the second major.

That's a fantastic plan I didn't know it was an option to do something like that. Thank you

 

[AttemptingScholar]

Depends on what college you go to--mine makes it difficult to even get a minor because my schedule is so full. And if your workload means you get low grades or do not have time for volunteering or other extracurricular it will count against you. Keep these in mind, but if you can balance it your diverse interests will be a plus in the application process.

 

[Go_Pokes_11]

Sounds like a pretty tough undergrad to go to med school in my opinion, but if you want to go for it you can always change. I am sure the biomed E. is easy to change to bio if you need to. I would drop the computer science unless that is what you want to do, in which case pursue that and just add the pre reqs. I would think the double major would add a significant amount of hours for you to graduate and with MCAT, shadowing, volunteering, and involvement to be done a constant 17-19 hour semester of hard (I mean really hard some of my really smart engineering buddies are pulling all nighters all the time to keep their 3.0-3.2) classes will eat away at a lot more of your time than you think. Time management skills are in their infant stages going into college, so if you plan to go through with what you posted be sure to keep up.

 

[Umyo]

Engineering is tough and it may or may not lower your GPA to below medical school averages


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