<p>I will be graduating highschool in June and will most likely attend community college afterward. From there I plan to transfer into a UC or CSU. (I’m seriously contemplating Berkeley) I will be majoring in computer engineering. I know that engineering is probably the most rigorous major I could choose so I’m wondering if I will have time to take my pre med courses during undergrad. I want to be able to devote special attention to my pre med courses so that I can earn A’s in them so I was contemplating taking my pre med courses after I earn my degree in computer engineering.</p>
<p>well, a number of the premed prereqs will already be included in your eng’g req’ts. My son was chemE and I don’t think he had to take any extra classes. But, other eng’g disciplines have less common req’ts.</p>
<p>Why are you going to a CC and not directly to a UC or CSU?</p>
<p>" other eng’g disciplines have less common req’ts."
-Exactly. Computer engineering is NOT chemE. No pre-reqs outsied of English / Math will be covered. Another consideration is that most (all?) are taking Bio well beyond pre-reqs. It is helpful for MCAT to have genentics and physiology and learning Anatomy vocabulary in UG is helpful at Med School. Engineering might take 5 years (depending on school program, some UG do not alllow engineering students to graduate earlier than 5 years). If you take pre-reqs in sequence, it mihgt take you additional 1.5 - 2 years. It does not make sense. As far as I understand most pre-meds are taking pre-reqs while completing requirements of theri major. Why are you choosing computer engineering when the goal is to get into Medical School, this does not sound very logical to me. Another consideration is while I am not familiar with Computer Engineering at all, I have been an Electrical Engineer who hated it and decided to be a programmer. Both were very demanding, but IT academically is NOT challenging…except for hours, days, weeks of non-stop working on debugging your computer programs. Again, I do not know if you will be required to write any software for Computer Engineering. But if you do, in addition to normal demanding engineering material, you will be stuck with very very time consuming task. I absolutely loved it right away, but my goal was to become a Computer Programmer (still love the job after few decades of working), I had no intention whatsoever to attend a Medical School.</p>
<p>m2ck, you may have seen many CA resident high schoolers who start at a CC first before attending a university. As far as I know, students do this for these reasons: 1) they can live at home and thus it’s cheaper and 2) so long as they do well, they are guaranteed entrance into one of California’s universities. 3) Because numbers are a big issue within the CA university system, they may not have gotten into a uni.</p>
<p>Thank you all for replying. I’d want to major in computer engineering so that I could have a back up career that I would be happy with in case medicine didn’t work out.</p>
<p>My D, a senior in college studying Human Bio, will be home after graduation to finish up some pre-reqs. Taking 400 level classes, plus Chem and Physics was just too much. I think you would be wise to choose your course schedule very carefully, and only add in the med school pre-reqs if you think you really can devote enough time to them to not only get a good grade, but really learn the material. You’ll need to retain the physics, chem and bio for the mcat, so taking them later might make retention better. Good luck!</p>
<p>“m2ck, you may have seen many CA resident high schoolers who start at a CC first before attending a university. As far as I know, students do this for these reasons: 1) they can live at home and thus it’s cheaper and 2) so long as they do well, they are guaranteed entrance into one of California’s universities. 3) Because numbers are a big issue within the CA university system, they may not have gotten into a uni.”</p>
<p>I am aware of this.</p>
<p>I’m asking because if it can be avoided, the student should. When Calif premeds start at CCs, it almost always means doing a Glide Year …or having an unsuccessful app year when applying to med schools after junior year.</p>
<p>Many/most Calif residents live within a county that has either a UC or CSU (or both). If this student can commute to one without financially stress, then that may be a better option. </p>
<p>“Thank you all for replying. I’d want to major in computer engineering so that I could have a back up career that I would be happy with in case medicine didn’t work out.”</p>
<p>that’s a good idea. Is CompE the only E that interests you? What about Comp Sci or ChemE? </p>
<p>mom2collegekids I have changed my mind since writing this post and now I’m considering chemical engineering. I’m attending community college first because I didn’t become fascinated with the study of engineering until it was too late in my highschool career to step my game up in the math department. I didn’t have the stats to go to the engineering school that I wanted to. CC is a second chance for me. I figure that if im going to go to college I may as well go where I want. I also think that CC college is a good transition between highschool and a university judging by the fact that my time management skills definitely need some work. Just put of curiosity, why do you say california cc students have unsuccessful app year when applying to med schools?</p>
<p>If a cc transfer applies to med school in the traditional fashion (after jr year), it is often harder to get the needed LORs. Also, some med schools want to see higher level sciences taken at the univ because cc classes can be perceived as easier.</p>
<p>Oh ok thankyou!</p>
<p>First, go for engineering and figure out if yu even like it. Then, see if you are actually making in it. Then think if at this point you want to pursue medicine. How you can tell now? There is no way. I was in engineering, I was OK academically but I never liked the job, so I switched. It is a good idea to be in Co-op program for engineering, so you will see a bit earlier than me (after 11 years on the job, I say enough is enough, went back to school and a very happy Computer Programmer ever since then). Alternatively, you can start with non-engineering major.<br>
Also, from the personal experience, CC is not the cheapest way to go at all if this is what you are tyring to accomplish by starting at CC. The cheapest is to go to a 4 year college (and if you paln for a Medical school, UG name is completely irrelevant) on a full tuition Merit award. My guess is that you are very top caliber student if you are planning on Medical School. Students like you can expect a full tuition Merit award at few places both public and private. So, why to bother with CC and transfering and all the questions surrounding this process, if you can just attend a 4 year college for almost free and have much less to worry about.</p>