Engineering - Does it affect anything?

[dramaqueenforlife]

Hi everyone, I come again to ask the age old question of if engineering has a positive affect on my application.

I recently made a WAMC post, and all my stats are listed there: link to post.

First off, I want to make it clear that I am absolutely confident that I want to continue medicine and not be a career engineer. That being said, I am not sure what bearing my engineering experiences have on my application - do they count as an 'X' factor? At the current moment the only strong thing on my application is my MCAT, which is a little concerning to me.

I have a ton of stories and experiences including but not limited to: internships, personal projects, high level courses (that I loved), and even a hackathon that I won. From what I have read previously on this site is that having a engineering major does not excuse poor GPAs and grades. My cGPA was 3.76 which isn't hot, but I'm not too concerned about that aspect.

Will listing my engineering experiences have a positive/negative affect on my application? My application is centered around Engineering X Medicine and how I hope to contribute to medicine with both disciplines. While this may be fine for schools like Carle Illinois, Stanford, and UMich what about schools that are a lot more service oriented such as UPitt? Will it hurt that many of my experiences are engineering related? To me, being an engineer is a central part of how I tackle and approach things and what I like to spend my free time on.

Happy to provide any more information as requested.

I would appreciate advice from anyone and everyone! This is not purely centered around a "Will I get into X school" question, but more of a "How do I construct my narrative" question.

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[Mr.Smile12]

Read

How to Engineer a Health Professional Career - SDN

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www.studentdoctor.net

 

[dimplesage]

In terms of "narrative", I didn't really discuss engineering (context, I majored in biomedical engineering and computer science) in my primary application, but I talked about it a fair bit in my secondaries. My perspective is that it gives me an extra tool in my toolbox, where I can use my engineering coursework to understand biology in a different context. Many of the interviews I have been on, the faculty seemed receptive and in agreement on that view and didn't appear to view engineering negatively.

It was common though to have people ask "why medicine and not engineering" but if you have sufficient clinical experience and a reason on why you choose medicine, I don't think it's a hard question to answer. I also don't think having too many engineering activities is necessarily bad, but a good balance with clinical related experiences that can support your argument that you want to be a doctor is good.

(Take with a grain of salt, I'm currently in the middle of my cycle)

 

[AJS59]

It's okay to have the engineering stuff - I don't know if it's an "X-factor" per se but it does give you a more unique background. Obviously be prepared to answer why medicine, and don't be afraid in that answer to mention things you might not like so much about engineering

 

[ecobio]

you should look into carle illinois' program! 🙂

 

[dramaqueenforlife]

you should look into carle illinois' program! 🙂

Yes, they are on my list! Looks like a lovely program, but only factor making it not a top choice is that it is a very very new school. I would ideally like to go to a school with a larger alumni network.

 

[Goro]

Honestly, it's never been a plus for me. What I want to see is evidence that you want to be a doctor and not an engineer.

 

[dramaqueenforlife]

Honestly, it's never been a plus for me. What I want to see is evidence that you want to be a doctor and not an engineer.

I see.

Do you think that it might help that I was committed to medicine from the start? I kept up relevant medical experiences throughout college.

I hoped to express in my narrative that I hope to utilize the set of skills I obtained through engineering experiences in medicine.

If one were to ask me why I chose to major in engineering as opposed to anything else in college, I would say that it was I sought to be challenged much more from a critical thinking aspect and problem analysis that is seen in the field of engineering.

Would that alter the view at all?

 

[Goro]

I see.

Do you think that it might help that I was committed to medicine from the start? I kept up relevant medical experiences throughout college.

If you have evidence for that, of course. But for some people, a path to medicine is revolutionary and not evolutionary. Meaning if you decided to change your mind and decided you didn't want to be an engineer but want to be a doctor, that's okay too



I hoped to express in my narrative that I hope to utilize the set of skills I obtained through engineering experiences in medicine.

And you'll do that how?


If one were to ask me why I chose to major in engineering as opposed to anything else in college, I would say that it was I sought to be challenged much more from a critical thinking aspect and problem analysis that is seen in the field of engineering.

Would that alter the view at all?

I don't down on your major. I just won't give you extra point for it.

 

[HuskyMD Emeritus]

In the evaluation of an application or interview, we have been trained to remove our biases, which would include schools attended, majors, etc. Thus, you just have to be able to clearly explain why medicine like all the other applicants. Even though not very fair, engineering and business majors have to explain not just why medicine but why engineering or business, and why not engineering or business. So you just have good reasons and able articulate them well.
I do look at the grades and if the GPA is slightly lower, is it due to the engineering classes or the medical school prerequisites? My undergrad major was EE and the EE requirements were definitely much more difficult that the premed classes, including OChem. So if your B or C was in electrophysics, I will not count it against you as opposed to the applicant with Cs in biology or physiology.

 

[dramaqueenforlife]

In the evaluation of an application or interview, we have been trained to remove our biases, which would include schools attended, majors, etc. Thus, you just have to be able to clearly explain why medicine like all the other applicants. Even though not very fair, engineering and business majors have to explain not just why medicine but why engineering or business, and why not engineering or business. So you just have good reasons and able articulate them well.
I do look at the grades and if the GPA is slightly lower, is it due to the engineering classes or the medical school prerequisites? My undergrad major was EE and the EE requirements were definitely much more difficult that the premed classes, including OChem. So if your B or C was in electrophysics, I will not count it against you as opposed to the applicant with Cs in biology or physiology.

My GPA was lower mainly due to EE classes. My sGPA is a 3.88, the dip only from a C in OChem 1 (got As in OChem 2 and Biochem).

I knew that my GPA wasn’t going to look the best for med school, but as stated before I knew that I wanted to be trained as an engineer going into med school.

I wasn’t trying to view this from a point of ‘engineering is more difficult’ to justify lower grades but more of ‘engineering is a core part of my ECs and hobbies’ and wasn’t sure if that would necessarily be viewed as positive. Two of my ECs involved making products/devices supporting those with disabilities and my hope was that this narrative would be a positive one on my application and in my essays.

I am mainly trying to figure this out as I’m trying to make sure that I am not shooting too high with my school list. My MCAT is noteworthy (524), but if my engineering ECs are a little ignored I would reconsider my T20 heavy school list.

 

[HuskyMD Emeritus]

My GPA was lower mainly due to EE classes. My sGPA is a 3.88, the dip only from a C in OChem 1 (got As in OChem 2 and Biochem).

I knew that my GPA wasn’t going to look the best for med school, but as stated before I knew that I wanted to be trained as an engineer going into med school.

I wasn’t trying to view this from a point of ‘engineering is more difficult’ to justify lower grades but more of ‘engineering is a core part of my ECs and hobbies’ and wasn’t sure if that would necessarily be viewed as positive. Two of my ECs involved making products/devices supporting those with disabilities and my hope was that this narrative would be a positive one on my application and in my essays.

I am mainly trying to figure this out as I’m trying to make sure that I am not shooting too high with my school list. My MCAT is noteworthy (524), but if my engineering ECs are a little ignored I would reconsider my T20 heavy school list.

I think your application is good, based on what you have said.

 

[LindaAccepted]

Hi everyone, I come again to ask the age old question of if engineering has a positive affect on my application.

I recently made a WAMC post, and all my stats are listed there: link to post.

First off, I want to make it clear that I am absolutely confident that I want to continue medicine and not be a career engineer. That being said, I am not sure what bearing my engineering experiences have on my application - do they count as an 'X' factor? At the current moment the only strong thing on my application is my MCAT, which is a little concerning to me.

I have a ton of stories and experiences including but not limited to: internships, personal projects, high level courses (that I loved), and even a hackathon that I won. From what I have read previously on this site is that having a engineering major does not excuse poor GPAs and grades. My cGPA was 3.76 which isn't hot, but I'm not too concerned about that aspect.

Will listing my engineering experiences have a positive/negative affect on my application? My application is centered around Engineering X Medicine and how I hope to contribute to medicine with both disciplines. While this may be fine for schools like Carle Illinois, Stanford, and UMich what about schools that are a lot more service oriented such as UPitt? Will it hurt that many of my experiences are engineering related? To me, being an engineer is a central part of how I tackle and approach things and what I like to spend my free time on.

Happy to provide any more information as requested.

I would appreciate advice from anyone and everyone! This is not purely centered around a "Will I get into X school" question, but more of a "How do I construct my narrative" question.

Your MCAT is stellar. I also wouldn't worry about your grades; they're good enough. I think that your engineering background would be a plus if you had more clinical exposure. IOW it's a plus if you convince application readers that you have the experience to know what you're getting into and still have the passion, commitment, and compassion to pursue the field.

I know you intend to become an EMT and should have several months experience as an EMT when you apply and that should give you the experience that will really strengthen your app. You're aiming a little high, but give it a try.

 

[AsclepiusAdvisingLLC]

Hi everyone, I come again to ask the age old question of if engineering has a positive affect on my application.

I recently made a WAMC post, and all my stats are listed there: link to post.

First off, I want to make it clear that I am absolutely confident that I want to continue medicine and not be a career engineer. That being said, I am not sure what bearing my engineering experiences have on my application - do they count as an 'X' factor? At the current moment the only strong thing on my application is my MCAT, which is a little concerning to me.

I have a ton of stories and experiences including but not limited to: internships, personal projects, high level courses (that I loved), and even a hackathon that I won. From what I have read previously on this site is that having a engineering major does not excuse poor GPAs and grades. My cGPA was 3.76 which isn't hot, but I'm not too concerned about that aspect.

Will listing my engineering experiences have a positive/negative affect on my application? My application is centered around Engineering X Medicine and how I hope to contribute to medicine with both disciplines. While this may be fine for schools like Carle Illinois, Stanford, and UMich what about schools that are a lot more service oriented such as UPitt? Will it hurt that many of my experiences are engineering related? To me, being an engineer is a central part of how I tackle and approach things and what I like to spend my free time on.

Happy to provide any more information as requested.

I would appreciate advice from anyone and everyone! This is not purely centered around a "Will I get into X school" question, but more of a "How do I construct my narrative" question.

"do they count as an X factor?" No, they do not.

"Will listing my engineering experiences have a positive/negative affect on my application?"

If they are clearly related to medicine, then they could have a positive effect in your secondaries. Unless, you choose to write about your move from engineering to medicine in your primary.

Either way, your narrative on engineering will need to be clearly relevant to your journey into medicine. They'll be asking "why do you want to be a doctor, if you're trained as an engineer?"