Civil Engineering and Premed?

[indya]

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Is it possible to finish in four year while doing premed reqs? Has anyone ever done it before? and lastly, is it impossible to maintain a good GPA in civil engineering?

 

[metallica81788]

Is it possible to finish in four year while doing premed reqs? Has anyone ever done it before? and lastly, is it impossible to maintain a good GPA in civil engineering?

I'm sure it's possible. Might be a bit more difficult than non-engineering fields, but doable. You can definitely finish in 4 years.

If you think it will inhibit your ability to get a competitive GPA, then don't do it. It's all up to you. Ad coms probably won't give you points for a perceived difficult major, but then again you never know.

 

[BlueElmo]

I have some engineering friends who were also pre-meds, so it's definitely doable. But if you feel like you won't be able to keep the GPA up, then like metallica says, pursue other majors.

 

[JoshUNCW]

Coming from a computer science major, it's doable. But I also love comp sci so I can keep a high GPA with my major. If you don't love civil engineering, you're gonna have a hard time keeping good grades. And to sound extremely redundant. Find another major.

 

[Quantum Mecha]

I do not know how civil engineering is at your school, but many programs have students concentrate in some sort of subfield, such as transportation or structural, etc..

If your school has an environmental option or a water/hydrology option, these may be good ones for a pre-med student. Often times such concentrations have classes such as organic chemistry or microbiology as options (I know my school has those classes listed under the environmental option, as well as the hydrology option).

If your school does not have such concentrations, they may allow you to customize your own. You don't have to tell them you are pre-med, but you can say something about environmental or water stuff (ie. organic chemistry, microbiology, and molecular biology are good classes for water treatment stuff or air quality/purification)

I spoke to a civil engineering advisor and she said that she knew a few students who went to medical school from civil engineering, and actually felt it was beneficial to them (one student said that her fluid mechanics courses helped her a lot when learning about the circulatory system)

 

[chman]

Civil engineering won't be a very difficult major as far as engineering majors are concerned. If you find it interesting enough, go for it. However biological or chemical or biomedical engineering may be more suited as you'll have more pre-reqs for medical school built into your coursework. I got my B.S. in chemical engineering. Always good to have a plan B if you don't get in, and engineering can keep the lights on for you better than a biology or chemistry degree.

I agree with this. Other engineering degrees at least have some of the pre-reqs built in. That being said, go for it if you want. Just make sure you are able to maintain a high GPA. If you want my opinion, which I'm sure you do, I think engineering is a risky road for pre-meds. On the other hand, if medicine does not work out, you have a good paying job out of college. It's a gamble, as they say.

 

[rclimb]

Check with your engineering adviser about alternative degrees with in civil engineering. I'm a mechanical engineering major but I don't follow the standard mechanical engineering track, I have an abbreviated degree plan for pre-med ME's.

I love the principles of engineering so its been easy to maintain a high gpa--it's doable. Fluid mechanics, deformable bodies, dynamics and heat and mass transfer all offered interesting biological perspectives that I can't wait to apply in med school.

 

[anxiousteen]

i regret being an engineering major. it will lower your gpa by at least .2 points.

 

[Limvostov]

Check with your engineering adviser about alternative degrees with in civil engineering. I'm a mechanical engineering major but I don't follow the standard mechanical engineering track, I have an abbreviated degree plan for pre-med ME's.

I love the principles of engineering so its been easy to maintain a high gpa--it's doable. Fluid mechanics, deformable bodies, dynamics and heat and mass transfer all offered interesting biological perspectives that I can't wait to apply in med school.

And do what with it... calculate the rate of heat being transfered from from the rectum to your index finger through your double layer of gloves?

No test in medical school is going to give you anything related to this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_equation (Seriously, why would you ever want to put yourself through that again???)

It may come in handy for research someday if you can apply it correctly, but there's nothing in the everyday medical world that requires this knowledge.

Do engineering if you love it, it will be hard, and you will have extra courses on top of it to complete your pre-med requirements. Also, engineering is a great backup as a masters can make you more then most physicians, and it'll only cost you a fraction of the time and money.

Yes, I did engineering. Would I do it again... yes, but I would do electrical or mechanical as the jobs pay well in my area and the education only takes 4-6 years as opposed to the ... well whatever medicine ends up being.

Good luck🙂