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Is is really hard to get into medical school if I choose to go for a ChemE major? I heard that it is really difficult to get a good GPA in ChemE, is it true?
ChemE Undergrad
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Chemical engineering is the dryest and one of the most difficult subjects on earth. Honestly I think it's second to EE on the difficulty totem pole of engineering. Unless you really ****ing love chemical engineering (I really really really suggest you look into what the major entails, I hope you like integrating the navier-stokes equation and finding velocity profiles of viscous fluid in narrow no-slip pipes), I suggest you do something different if your ultimate goal is medicine.
I have seen the darkness that is chemical engineering since I was a biomedical engineer, and a many of our classes overlap. I will say that all my chemical engineering friends are making a pretty penny in industry.. the average salary was around 70k/year with benefits.
I have seen the darkness that is chemical engineering since I was a biomedical engineer, and a many of our classes overlap. I will say that all my chemical engineering friends are making a pretty penny in industry.. the average salary was around 70k/year with benefits.
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If your ultimate goal is medical school, you're going to have to a lot more effort into any engineering major as you would a different major, for the most part. The rewards of having a tough major are far, far, far outweighed by the cons.
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I dunno, man, some of those physics/engineering courses weren't made to get A's in. If you pull a B, you busted your butt and might top out your class. If you're more interested in engineering but want to keep med school open as an option, engineering majors aren't so bad. If you eat some C's and wind up with a not terribly competitive GPA, you're still in a position to do the career you wanted. If you're aiming for med school but want to do engineering because it's cool, there are better options. I don't suggest adding that kind of pressure for no reason other than taking interesting classes.
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Do something you enjoy even if its engineering. I am prospectively going down that path now, and yes, its extremely difficult. True there are some students who get a lot of A's and B+'s...but realize that most of those students have been doing these things probably since high school building a good background. On top of that, they are the same students many who are looking for PhD's and many who dont have to take classes like Bio, Ochem etc...(think chem is required though).
I dont know your personal stance on it. If you are those who want to major in something less rigorous just because your main goal is med school and care a lot about GPA then you might just want to test it out before you declare it.
Im not saying theres anything wrong with that, its just that i personally dont feel right about sacrificing knowledge i would like to have because it MAY effect my graduate school future.
I believe there is someone here with the username ChemE or something...you might want to look for him, im sure that user is atleast past undergrad or in the final years.
But again it all depends on you. Also one thing to keep in mind for students who are reading this about to go onto college. Dont let a B or C, that you got even if you worked hard discourage you. Those are just numbers on a paper. What matters is how much you actually learned.
I dont know your personal stance on it. If you are those who want to major in something less rigorous just because your main goal is med school and care a lot about GPA then you might just want to test it out before you declare it.
Im not saying theres anything wrong with that, its just that i personally dont feel right about sacrificing knowledge i would like to have because it MAY effect my graduate school future.
I believe there is someone here with the username ChemE or something...you might want to look for him, im sure that user is atleast past undergrad or in the final years.
But again it all depends on you. Also one thing to keep in mind for students who are reading this about to go onto college. Dont let a B or C, that you got even if you worked hard discourage you. Those are just numbers on a paper. What matters is how much you actually learned.
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...until you apply to med school...
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All I know is that the Salutatorian from my highschool, who got a perfect on the ACT, is a ChemE major at Vanderbilt. All his status' on FB are about how much his classes suck.
Although one year of engineering isn't a great view on giving tons of advice about the ridiculous upper-division classes, what I would tell someone to do is to try it out the first year. You will DEFINITELY get a feel for what the program entails, but it won't be ridiculously hard, and shouldn't sink you. The vast majority of attrition in engineering students is freshman year. Besides, you will be taking mostly pre-reqs (chem, physics, and if BME, bio).
The guy EyEnStein 07 was talking about is ChemEngSoonMD
Although one year of engineering isn't a great view on giving tons of advice about the ridiculous upper-division classes, what I would tell someone to do is to try it out the first year. You will DEFINITELY get a feel for what the program entails, but it won't be ridiculously hard, and shouldn't sink you. The vast majority of attrition in engineering students is freshman year. Besides, you will be taking mostly pre-reqs (chem, physics, and if BME, bio).
The guy EyEnStein 07 was talking about is ChemEngSoonMD
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Well depends on how many you get...one or two on classes you studied hard or and understood all the material then i would say dont worry about it. I know many people who might not have done well in bio or chem, but mcat time did well because they knew the material.
The professor that you have matters also, no one would deny that they purposely took easier professors for sciences when given the opportunity so they can have a grade boost.
It's better to do something that you can manage and ace. With that said, admissions staff can easily differentiate between easy and difficult coursework. Anyone can take easy classes and get top grades...your best bet is to find something you're passionate about. This will make studying it a lot easier. Take difficult classes and do well in them. It will only help you down the road.
I did electrical and biomedical engineering at a top 10 school in the US. It was very challenging! My overall GPA was 3.5. You have to realize that the admins also weight the difficulty of an institution. A 3.5 at my school is considered a 4.0 at a local, semi-competitive institution. Engineering was harder than med school in a different way. The material is very technical and challenging to understand. Med school is difficult to study because of the insane volume of material. It's not as challenging conceptually IMO.
Right now, I'm a third year med student and I have done well in med school. God has pulled me through this challenging path!
