Engineering degree for medical school?

[Michel de Montaigne]

Hello everyone, I'm already a medical students who majored in Biology, however I would appreciate the input of engineering majors who are now in the medical field. I'm trying to think of the most suited undergraduate major for medicine without factoring in GPA. Now that I'm in medical school, every now and then, it crosses my mind that Engineering would've probably been a better degree for medicine than any other major. I think of this especially when I'm studying anything that has to do with fluids, pressures, or the electrical activity of the heart, brain, and the myriad ions that the kidney handles. Do you think that your engineering degree (possibly electrical) gave you a deeper understanding of these subjects? Would you say that some concepts that may appear difficult to the medical student coming from a non-engineering background was rather "easy" for you? Did you ever have a moment where you thought that the subject is not being explained in its pure correct form because it lacked integration of concepts of physics or math into biology?

As an undergrad, our school had intro physics for engineers and for health-related majors. I elected the intro physics for engineers because the professor was known for being great and I was in it for the challenge. Fast forward a few years, I found myself understanding the pressures that involve heart physiology much better when I kept integrating concepts of Bernoulli into the physiology. I am not saying that biology majors don't learn about Bernoulli, however I'm pretty sure we don't understand fluid dynamics as well as Engineers. I say this to serve as an example and provide more context as to what prompted my question.

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[brownman23]

I was an engineering major in college (currently finishing up medical school). I do feel like I understand fluid dynamics and electrical circuits a little better than some of my peers, but I don't think that has helped me in the wards at all. Similarly, I had a few friends who took advanced cell biology classes in college. Their understanding of G-proteins and cell signaling is significantly better than mine...however that hasn't helped them too much in the wards either.

Physicians are not physiologists. For example, there is no need for us to understand the intricacies of fluid dynamics to treat vascular diseases. We just need to know enough to have a solid understanding of what causes the disease states and how we should manage+treat patients.

Overall, as long as you come in to medical school with a baseline understanding of biology, chemistry, physics, and organic chemistry...the preclinical material and clinical rotations will train you to be a competent intern. Residency (and fellowship if you chose) will add on layers and layers of management intricacies as well.

 

[Tangerine123]

Want an undergrad that will make you a better physician?

Psychology, Philosophy, Sociology, History, Theology, Anthropology

You get the gist.

"The one who only knows about Medicine, does not even know about Medicine"

 

[Goro]

Hello everyone, I'm already a medical students who majored in Biology, however I would appreciate the input of engineering majors who are now in the medical field. I'm trying to think of the most suited undergraduate major for medicine without factoring in GPA. Now that I'm in medical school, every now and then, it crosses my mind that Engineering would've probably been a better degree for medicine than any other major. I think of this especially when I'm studying anything that has to do with fluids, pressures, or the electrical activity of the heart, brain, and the myriad ions that the kidney handles. Do you think that your engineering degree (possibly electrical) gave you a deeper understanding of these subjects? Would you say that some concepts that may appear difficult to the medical student coming from a non-engineering background was rather "easy" for you? Did you ever have a moment where you thought that the subject is not being explained in its pure correct form because it lacked integration of concepts of physics or math into biology?

As an undergrad, our school had intro physics for engineers and for health-related majors. I elected the intro physics for engineers because the professor was known for being great and I was in it for the challenge. Fast forward a few years, I found myself understanding the pressures that involve heart physiology much better when I kept integrating concepts of Bernoulli into the physiology. I am not saying that biology majors don't learn about Bernoulli, however I'm pretty sure we don't understand fluid dynamics as well as Engineers. I say this to serve as an example and provide more context as to what prompted my question.

Interesting. At my school, engineering majors seem to flounder....they manage to make it through, though, One became a surgeon.

 

[NicMouse64]

FWIW I did engineering and did pretty well in undergrad. Man was preclinical in medical school a struggle though. Engineering is problem solving and medicine is mostly memorization. It's the unfortunate and hard to understand truth. Got a 93rd percentile mcat but can barely beat the average in med school. It is what it is. So far I feel that engineering was somewhat useful for what will be my likely field (anesthesia or pulm/cc or cardiology). It helps to have a mathematical and logical mindset for physiology. But overall unless you are going to do tech or device development an engineering degree will not make you a better doctor.

 

[NonTrad16]

FWIW I did engineering and did pretty well in undergrad. Man was preclinical in medical school a struggle though. Engineering is problem solving and medicine is mostly memorization. It's the unfortunate and hard to understand truth. Got a 93rd percentile mcat but can barely beat the average in med school. It is what it is. So far I feel that engineering was somewhat useful for what will be my likely field (anesthesia or pulm/cc or cardiology). It helps to have a mathematical and logical mindset for physiology. But overall unless you are going to do tech or device development an engineering degree will not make you a better doctor.

Agree with all of this. I wasn’t good at, and disliked, the memorization required for bio/anatomy. I struggled with all tests in medical school. I’m hoping the foundation of “systems thinking” will help — and maybe it does — but not as a student. Except for having something else to talk about.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Interesting. At my school, engineering majors seem to flounder....they manage to make it through, though, One became a surgeon.

The engineering majors in my class have done well. I don’t think it helps or hurts. My math degree helped with biostats and with renal and with cardiac physiology. But that was it. Certainly hasn’t hurt me though.

I don’t really think any particular major is going to put anyone at a significant advantage.

 

[RangerBob]

In hindsight I wish I’d majored in Spanish. Would have been millions more times useful than a science/engineering degree. Religious studies would be quite helpful to.

I was an art major. The truth is that is probably still a more useful degree than bio or engineering-unless you go into research, you’re taught everything you need to know in med school and I don’t see any reason to limit your fund of knowledge.

Ultimately, the best pre-med degree is the one that you enjoy and would do as a back-up career. Hence art for me, bio or psych for others.

 

[Phloston]

Hello everyone, I'm already a medical students who majored in Biology, however I would appreciate the input of engineering majors who are now in the medical field. I'm trying to think of the most suited undergraduate major for medicine without factoring in GPA. Now that I'm in medical school, every now and then, it crosses my mind that Engineering would've probably been a better degree for medicine than any other major. I think of this especially when I'm studying anything that has to do with fluids, pressures, or the electrical activity of the heart, brain, and the myriad ions that the kidney handles. Do you think that your engineering degree (possibly electrical) gave you a deeper understanding of these subjects? Would you say that some concepts that may appear difficult to the medical student coming from a non-engineering background was rather "easy" for you? Did you ever have a moment where you thought that the subject is not being explained in its pure correct form because it lacked integration of concepts of physics or math into biology?

As an undergrad, our school had intro physics for engineers and for health-related majors. I elected the intro physics for engineers because the professor was known for being great and I was in it for the challenge. Fast forward a few years, I found myself understanding the pressures that involve heart physiology much better when I kept integrating concepts of Bernoulli into the physiology. I am not saying that biology majors don't learn about Bernoulli, however I'm pretty sure we don't understand fluid dynamics as well as Engineers. I say this to serve as an example and provide more context as to what prompted my question.

My old university had an engineering-med dual BS/MD program. Your undergrad major doesn't matter. You'll eventually not use / forget almost all of what you study in undergrad regardless of your major.

 

[LoverOfPie]

Learned to model electron clouds surrounding molecules using a supercomputer halfway across the world as an engineer. Guess how many times I had to utilize that in medical school lol. zero.

One thing that DID help me was learning bio-statistics. That made me a golden goose for attendings performing research/meta-analyses, which is nice

 

[Redpancreas]

I was an engineering major in college (currently finishing up medical school). I do feel like I understand fluid dynamics and electrical circuits a little better than some of my peers, but I don't think that has helped me in the wards at all. Similarly, I had a few friends who took advanced cell biology classes in college. Their understanding of G-proteins and cell signaling is significantly better than mine...however that hasn't helped them too much in the wards either.

Physicians are not physiologists. For example, there is no need for us to understand the intricacies of fluid dynamics to treat vascular diseases. We just need to know enough to have a solid understanding of what causes the disease states and how we should manage+treat patients.

Overall, as long as you come in to medical school with a baseline understanding of biology, chemistry, physics, and organic chemistry...the preclinical material and clinical rotations will train you to be a competent intern. Residency (and fellowship if you chose) will add on layers and layers of management intricacies as well.

/endthread

 

[sliceofbread136]

I’ve found my engineering background useful. When you simplify the pulmonary system it is an rc circuit. Knowing about time constants and such is actually pretty useful clinically