# Thinking about changing my major...



## korey (Apr 25, 2006)

I'm almost at the mid-point of my first semester in college, and I've already started considering changing my major :b 

My current declared major is chemical engineering. I've tried to make myself interested in chemical engineering for a long time, but I just can't seem to do it. My interest lies in the medical field. I've been considering changing my major to either pre-pharmacy or pre-med. Pharmacists get to work with medications and are well-compensated for it. Doctors get to work in hospitals and prescribe stuff, not to mention they're very well-compensated, too. Going to medical school means I would be close to 30 before I would get to practice. Going to pharmacy school means I would almost be in my mid-20s before I would get to practice.

Anyone else ever been torn between two major choices like this (particularly in the medical field)? What would you all suggest? I really don't know what to do. I think being a doctor would be more rewarding, but I don't know if I could handle med school. Being a pharmacist would be rewarding to an extent, but I think I could handle pharmacy school for sure.

:con :stu :fall


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## Guest (Sep 21, 2006)

Change your major to something you ENJOY and you will save yourself a lot of trouble. You are a freshman. If there are several subjects you enjoy you still have plenty of time to take classes in both subjects and then make a decision. Don't worry about salaries, what your friends say, what your parents say....just pick what you ENJOY! I wish I had!


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## Kelly (Dec 12, 2003)

And don't worry about how much time its going to take. If you're learning something you enjoy learning about that's what's important. It doesn't have to be a race to the finish line. (I should take my own advice!)

Of course, the longer you stay in school, the more money it costs, but you could always find a way of getting funding...

Have a nice day,
Kelly


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## Prodigal Son (Dec 11, 2005)

People put such a big emphasis on age and they often use this to compare themselves with other people & IMO nothing good can come from this. If I worried that much about it I would never have gone back to school and just try to ride it in a career I was unhappy with. 

Hell, I'm 26 and just have a lowly B.S. in Biology. I'm a college student and it doesn't bother me one bit. You get to spend your late teens and majority of your 20's in college? Sounds like bliss. I'd go for the pre-med degree and I would study my *** off. If that doesn't work out for you, go for the pharmacy school. 

If you get accepted into medical school they will find a way to get you through it. That is where a lot of the money is involved, the pre-med stuff isn't that expensive unless you are going to a prestigious or private school. I have two friends in med school, well one is doing his externship where he gets to travel all over the US and then he goes into residence. Lucky dog. It is a lot of work but also a lot of fun from what I hear.


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## millenniumman75 (Feb 4, 2005)

Korey,

Believe it or not.......there is a Biomedical Engineering major out there (we called it "BME" for short in college). That is an interesting field. I was once told that you can never get the exact same cold twice. Every time you get a cold/flu, the virus has some genetic mutation somewhere. Our immune system picks up on them. :banana

I have a B.S. in C.S. (Computer Science, that is) heh heh!


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## korey (Apr 25, 2006)

I'm aware of biomedical engineering. I don't think I'm cut out for engineering at all, though. Too much math. I'm in Calculus I right now, and it's already annoying. According to the requirements I've read for pre-pharmacy and pre-med in my state's one and only pharmacy and medical university, Calculus I is the highest math those two concentrations require.


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## korey (Apr 25, 2006)

I've decided to change my major to pre-pharmacy. I'll be able to be a pharmacist or do pharmaceutical research with the Doctor of Pharmacy degree I plan to get. Yay.


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## kikachuck (Nov 10, 2003)

Cerberus said:


> I'm thinking about changing my major too. Right now it's biology. I'm thinking of doing a double major in philosophy and psychology. Damn it. And I promised myself not to major in what everyone else is majoring in (psychology).


that does seem to be a pretty popular major in general, not just here on SAS. I've always wondered why as it seems like a terribly impractical one unless you plan to go all the way through the ph.d level. I dunno, maybe there is something to it that I'm missing. :stu


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## keem (Jun 23, 2006)

I changed my major to psychology. I'm planning on being a physical therapist, which requires 3 years of graduate school. There's no standard major for that, so the admissions counselor I talked to said just major in something you enjoy. They have people who majored in everything from biology to Spanish in the physical therapy program now. I decided to major in psychology because my intro psych class was the first I did well in and enjoyed.


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