<p>I am a prospective undergrad for the Columbia class of 2015. I am not certain of many things at this point, but let’s assume my goal is as follows. I would like to attend med school. I am interested in majoring in either biophysics or biochemistry (probably biophysics). Also, I am interested in studying operations research. However, operations research is in the engineering department. </p>
<p>I would like to either major in biochem/biophysics and minor in operations or double major in these two disciplines. I feel it would be better to take the major/minor because it would be more efficient towards med school admission. I know there is the 5 year joint program, however I would like to be done in 4 years.</p>
<p>So is a major in biochem/biophysics and a minor in operations research possible as an undergraduate at Columbia?
Thanks in advance and any advice is greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>no. not unless you do the 5 year program.</p>
<p>in the end the question is, why do you need OR for med school? is it just because you like the idea of it?</p>
<p>why not just take classes and have it as like a hobby - the way i treated philosophy, took a set of classes, nowhere near a concentration, but enough to feel like i learned something useful. or better yet - suppose you enter into columbia college take an OR course, see if you like it at all, and then consider maybe taking more or transferring to the Eng school.</p>
<p>in the end you don’t have to become a doctor, and you don’t have to follow the normal route to med school, you are allowed to deviate.</p>
<p>anyhow - these are all big ‘ifs’ getting in should be your primary concern.</p>
<p>Thanks for the the answers, admissionsgeek. </p>
<p>You are correct, I don’t need OR for med school. In all honesty I do just like the idea of it, and that I am interested in that subject to the point where I wanted to get some kind of “official” recognition after indulging in that course of study. Of course, I didn’t want to overwhelm myself, so I wanted a minor degree in it. </p>
<p>Am I allowed to take OR classes without doing the 5 year program if I am majoring in biochem/biophysics at the columbia college school?</p>
<p>And won’t it cost extra money if I decided to take extra OR classes just for the fun of it?</p>
<p>wont cost you money.</p>
<p>and you can take the classes, so long as you take class prereqs or they aren’t limited to majors. you may find classes taught in the straight econ dept interesting as well. </p>
<p>at columbia, also even at times when it says you can’t do something, try asking, you’ll be surprised how flexible folks ‘can’ be.</p>
<p>if you like OR, you might be interested in the more econ friendly classes in stats and mathematics, just as a thought. (unfortunately columbia just discontinued the econ-OR join major, i wonder why?)</p>