Engineer looking for pre med advice

[chemmed123]

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So I am a undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania, as a Chemical Engineer student sophomore. I have this program that I am looking into, where I can get BSE/MSE in 5 years ( 1 year of grad school). One of the biggest opportunities is that if I do this program, not only is the time shorter, but I would only have to pay $4,000 for the 5th year, where my undergraduate costs are completely free. This degree will be my backup, if I would not be able to get accepted to med school. My only concerns are that, if I do this, would it better for me to apply during my junior (3rd year), rather than my senior year? Would this be considered a gap year for me? Also, in consideration of the science gpa, does my major classes (chemical engineering) count as a factor in that?

 

[Goobs]

Someone else can cover the other questions, but I'm fairly certain if biomedical engineering classes are engineering then your chemistry engineering ones are engineering classes and do not contribute to your bpcm gap.

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[boshtrich]

So I am a undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania, as a Chemical Engineer student sophomore. I have this program that I am looking into, where I can get BSE/MSE in 5 years ( 1 year of grad school). One of the biggest opportunities is that if I do this program, not only is the time shorter, but I would only have to pay $4,000 for the 5th year, where my undergraduate costs are completely free. This degree will be my backup, if I would not be able to get accepted to med school. My only concerns are that, if I do this, would it better for me to apply during my junior (3rd year), rather than my senior year? Would this be considered a gap year for me? Also, in consideration of the science gpa, does my major classes (chemical engineering) count as a factor in that?

I will start out by advising that you do not do the 5 year master's plan. I graduated with a ChemE degree from a top 20 school and the advisor for our 5 year MS/BS program basically told us only to do it if we were planning on taking 5 years anyways. While a master's degree can be very useful for many engineering fields, chemical is not one of them. Graduating with a BS in ChemE gives you ample knowledge to be a very solid chemical engineer in industry. You will get paid more initially with an MS, but that difference decreases quickly with experience, and is often offset by the lost salary from the extra year. An MS can open doors for more research oriented jobs, but you really need a PhD to advance.

In terms of applying to medical school, you are right in that you would have to wait until your fourth year to apply. The fifth year would not be considered a gap year though because you would still be a full time student and would still not have a bachelor's degree. As for your science GPA, chemical engineering classes are class depend on how they are classified. For example, AMCAS considers Thermo a chemistry class, but considers Heat Transfer an engineering course. Classes like Kinetics kind of fall into a gray area. I classified Thermo, Data Analysis and Kinetics as BCPM courses, and Fluids, Heat Transfer, Material and Energy Balances, Separations, and Materials Science as Engineering courses. I don't think the people at AMCAS are going to dig through the course descriptions to overrule someone classifying Fluids as a physics class though. Generally, just go with what you consider a class to be, and to some extent what grade you got (have to protect that sGPA).

Overall, your main objective should be to keep your GPA up. ChemE can be a very competitive major and you can tank your GPA in a hurry if you don't keep on top of things. If you are doing well in classes, start to get some hospital volunteering and shadowing, as you will need it for medical school apps. Take solace in the fact that if you don't get into a school, you can easily fall into a job that pays 60k+ right out of school. Good luck and let me know if you have any other questions.

 

[ShenanigansMD]

I did 4 years materials, 1 year biomed, basically the same program at a different but similarly awesome school (it's top ten engineering).

I am applying right now, with a year off, and I'm enjoying my life before med school since I didn't have much of one as an engineering major for five years. I had others in the same program who applied during the summer after completing their BSE. I was unsure about MD so I waited until after I got the 1 year MSE.

By all means, DO IT! You look pretty cool and it doesn't cost that much relatively. And apply to med school whenever it fits your interests, med schools don't care too much about what year you apply, just get good grades, mcat, and extracurriculars and you'll be set.

Also, engineering classes aren't BCPM classes, although there are exceptions I believe, like a math or stats class "for engineers," which I classified as Math.

Medicine needs more engineers, the future of medicine will require a lot more math and design.

 

[BigBlueBear]

I classified all my engineering classes as BCPM, no matter how engineering-ful they were. AMCAS didn't change a single one.

Moral of the story: Classify the ones you got A's in as BCPM, and the ones you didn't get A's in as engineering.

 

[dmf2682]

Do the masters. It's hard to do one while working, trust me I've done that. It'll give you a leg up if you decide to not go to medical school.

 

[chemmed123]

So if I did decide to pursue my masters, would it actually be beneficial, in all perspectives, to appeal more to medical schools, or even if I wanted a job in engineering? Also, just out of curiosity, if I ever decide to do it junior year, would a 3.6 cGPA, 3.6 sGPA seem relatively low for a chemical engineer? Depending on the MCAT score, what tier school would it seem possible to get into?

 

[Goobs]

So if I did decide to pursue my masters, would it actually be beneficial, in all perspectives, to appeal more to medical schools, or even if I wanted a job in engineering? Also, just out of curiosity, if I ever decide to do it junior year, would a 3.6 cGPA, 3.6 sGPA seem relatively low for a chemical engineer? Depending on the MCAT score, what tier school would it seem possible to get into?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm under the impression that they look at gpa fairly independent of major so a 3.6 would be on the low side. There's a nice spread sheet floating around sdn that chances you at schools given your gpa and major. I'm not sure where it is anymore, but it might help you to get an idea.

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[chemmed123]

^ In this case, would it seem better if I did a 5th year, to get my masters degree, as well as have a graduate GPA, along with taking undergrad courses to boost up my GPA?

 

[jlayers2]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm under the impression that they look at gpa fairly independent of major so a 3.6 would be on the low side. There's a nice spread sheet floating around sdn that chances you at schools given your gpa and major. I'm not sure where it is anymore, but it might help you to get an idea.

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If anyone would happen to have a link to this spreadsheet that would be amazing

 

[Vladimir B]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm under the impression that they look at gpa fairly independent of major so a 3.6 would be on the low side. There's a nice spread sheet floating around sdn that chances you at schools given your gpa and major. I'm not sure where it is anymore, but it might help you to get an idea.

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You may be right, but I just find that very hard to believe. Because, after all, a major plays an important role in how you performed. Consider a 3.6 gpa engineer versus a 3.8 gpa biology major. Blindly choosing the bio major seems foolish.

I'm a bio major, btw.

 

[dmf2682]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm under the impression that they look at gpa fairly independent of major so a 3.6 would be on the low side. There's a nice spread sheet floating around sdn that chances you at schools given your gpa and major. I'm not sure where it is anymore, but it might help you to get an idea.

Sent via mobile

I've heard that a difficult major won't excuse a low gpa. I think while what you're saying is similar, it's not quite the same thing.

 

[boshtrich]

So if I did decide to pursue my masters, would it actually be beneficial, in all perspectives, to appeal more to medical schools, or even if I wanted a job in engineering? Also, just out of curiosity, if I ever decide to do it junior year, would a 3.6 cGPA, 3.6 sGPA seem relatively low for a chemical engineer? Depending on the MCAT score, what tier school would it seem possible to get into?

For chemical engineering, there are very few jobs that require an MS. This is different from other engineering fields, such as civil where a master's degree is almost required to get a job. The main benefit of the master's degree is that you will be paid more in the first couple years (I believe an MS is worth about 1-2 years of experience). However, after about five years, the pay difference is minimal. When you factor in the cost of tuition and lost profit from an extra year of school, you end up losing a fair amount of money. Overall, getting a master's degree does not make all that much of a difference for getting a job as a chemical engineer.

A 3.6 GPA is perfectly fine for applying to medical school. It is lower than median GPA for most schools, but not to the point that you get screened out or rejected solely because of your GPA. Getting a good MCAT score will also offset any concerns about GPA. Right now it is impossible to say what tier school you could get into since you don't have an MCAT score, and since we don't know any extra-cirricular activities.

 

[Socrates25]

You guys are blowing the GPA thing way out of proportion. Hell, there are plenty of people at scrub med schools who get accepted with a 3.1-3.5 GPA. The OP will be fine. Will he get into Harvard? Probably not but he'll get in somewhere.

 

[chemmed123]

In regards to your post about the MSE, I would be able to do the masters in just 1 year after undergrad, and if I push myself, i could keep it at one semester. The debt would be close to nothing (~$4000), and I'll be able to take on most of my masters classes in my undergrad years. Would it still seem like an unwise decision to do this masters? I would obviously be in work one year later, and I wonder if med schools would look down heavily on it.

 

[boshtrich]

In regards to your post about the MSE, I would be able to do the masters in just 1 year after undergrad, and if I push myself, i could keep it at one semester. The debt would be close to nothing (~$4000), and I'll be able to take on most of my masters classes in my undergrad years. Would it still seem like an unwise decision to do this masters? I would obviously be in work one year later, and I wonder if med schools would look down heavily on it.

Med schools would not look down on it. If anything it would provide a small boost to your application and help you stand out a little more. I don't think getting the MS is an unwise decision. If you want to take the extra year to gain a more in-depth understanding of topics like thermo, transport phenomena, and reactor engineering, then definitely do it. I was just saying that if you are only doing the master's to increase your job chances, that it wouldn't necessarily give you that much of an advantage over someone with a BS. Getting the MS will not hurt you in any way (unless you get bad grades) and will not be looked down by medical schools, but it also isn't required to get a job or to get into medical school.

 

[chemmed123]

So if I did this gap year, would a biotechnology in a way that works with drugs/pharamecuteials, would this mean that this would be sufficient to show that I am interested in doing pharmacology in med school?

 

[Morsetlis]

So I am a undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania, as a Chemical Engineer student sophomore. I have this program that I am looking into, where I can get BSE/MSE in 5 years ( 1 year of grad school). One of the biggest opportunities is that if I do this program, not only is the time shorter, but I would only have to pay $4,000 for the 5th year, where my undergraduate costs are completely free. This degree will be my backup, if I would not be able to get accepted to med school. My only concerns are that, if I do this, would it better for me to apply during my junior (3rd year), rather than my senior year? Would this be considered a gap year for me? Also, in consideration of the science gpa, does my major classes (chemical engineering) count as a factor in that?

You should do it if you like it... I regret not doing an integrated BS/MS, and my friend who did one got accepted into a US med school.

It would be better for you to apply with an intent to matriculate, if accepted, in the same application cycle.

 

[chemmed123]

You should do it if you like it... I regret not doing an integrated BS/MS, and my friend who did one got accepted into a US med school.

It would be better for you to apply with an intent to matriculate, if accepted, in the same application cycle.

Do you think it would be more advantageous to go for this, and apply during the junior year cycle or senior year cycle?

 

[mechengmed]

I classified all my engineering classes as BCPM, no matter how engineering-ful they were. AMCAS didn't change a single one.

Moral of the story: Classify the ones you got A's in as BCPM, and the ones you didn't get A's in as engineering.

What type of engineering are you? I had had thought about this but seeing as most of my classes are ME it seems they might be a little less likely to be BCPM than something like ChemE. I will however probably put my BME electives in BCPM.