I am currently in my second year of engineering and have started thinking about a career in Medicine. Thing is I don't think I will get in for medicine at this point in time. Was thinking about finishing my Electronic Engineering and after that at the age of 25 start to study Medicine. What do you all think?
I would like to do this because I would like to develop medical machines one day. But Clinical engineering just seems like it won't teach me as much as I would like to know about Electronics or the human body. is this a good idea or am on the wrong track?
Thanks
I certainly agree with the ppl that have posted above. I am an engineer and will be starting med school in aug '07 and let me a add a slightly different perspective those already mentioned. First let me preface this by saying on the surface the two fields Biology (medicine) and Engineering may seem a world apart - BUT THERE NOT! The more training as an engineer the better off you will be either in clinical medicine or research & development, if ya go the biomedical engineering route. Most undergrad bio classes are all about rote memorization and so hear hear of alot of medicial school. That is critical no question. However, for example, when it came to genetics and the upper level grad classes, alot of engineering practices wether they be problem solving skills, communications systems design, Control systems design ...ect all of these skills came in handy in understand what exactly is going on. So many of the regular bio majors really didnt even know how to separate out the material that is given in the problem to set up the problem vs. what is actually being asked for in some of the genetics problems. Consequently, those students didnt do so well in that class. These are the types of problems you'd encounter on the MCAT, not sure the equivalent test in South Africa, but that is a huge advantage right there. So dont think of the time finishing the engineering degree as wasted time. Its all good and will really ease the time it take to comprehend alot of the material, IMHO.
As another suggestion you might try a double major Biology-Electrical engineering or as other suggested biomedical engineer/bioengineering vs the electrical engineering. This is for your undergrad BS degree I am talkin about. I realize that will take extra time, but in the US your gonna end up having to take a year of Biology, biochem (maybe) ,Organics, and General Chemistry that may not be part of your normal engineering requirements as pre-req's for med school. The reason I suggest it, is its easier for you to get a double degree while your IN the program then to go back and get it later. Just see how much more it would require once ya get the pre-reqs for your med school's required classes and see if ya wanna take the time/money hit for the dual degree.
Then, If your really interested the MD path, and less clinical aspect more R&D focused, then you might look into the MD-PhD programs and major in Biomed engineering/Bioengineering. Alot of US campuses offer the combined degree program with options in the engineering fields. Many are even opening up to non-traditional domains such as Electrical Engineering.
There are many options available to ya. Good Luck!
