<p>I’m a senior in high school, living in Knoxville, hoping to get into the University of Tennessee. I plan on studying pre-med but I don’t know what to major in. I want a good back up plan and a major I can make a good salary with. I’m not the smartest kid and getting into medical school isn’t going to be easy. I also plan on joining a fraternity. Could you guys give me some options and ideas for what I should major in? If studying pre-med, majoring in something that will pay well, and being in a fraternity will be hard do you think just studying petroleum engineering while being in a fraternity at LSU will be easier? </p>
<p>your post suggests a certain amount of drift in your college plans, OP. Might I suggest that you sit down with a guidance counselor and go over your options before you go much farther? </p>
<p>Med schools expect only a high GPA and have no prefs for majors. You could major in petro and go to med school. However, by your own admission you’re not the smartest kid. Petro is really difficult, and med school is really difficult. A backup plan would be to major in something like math, physics, or econ, if you’re not the smartest kid but good in math. Each of these would be majors which could lead to good pay down the line and/or med school. </p>
<p>premed isn’t fraternity-compatible. Well, frats are premed compatible, but since they expect a certain number of hours and your classmates will not be devoting those to social activities but to studying, you’ll be at a disadvantage for actual medical school applications especially if you’re not in the top 10% of your class as of now.
At least 2/3 if not 3/4 students give up on being premeds. Of those who remain, only one out of two makes it even to ONE med school.
As for engineering, it’s a great major if you’re concerned about job prospects, but engineers must be ready to work a lot. Many engineers join fraternities but many engineers drop out of engineering due to the workload and academic demands.
As jkeil said above, a better backup plan would likely be to apply “undecided” and see where you get A’s (or B+'s) during your freshman year, and go from there to pick a major.
What math classes have you taken? What are your grades in those?
Are you taking AP Bio? Honors Bio? Other science classes you’ve taken? How well are you doing in Physics? </p>