Engineering/Pre-med??

[klinzou]

I'm currently IN the Electrical Engineering program at my school, and have always had the itch to go pre-med since HS. Now I'm really thinking about doing it, but I just can't decide between the two. By pre-med, I mean going into something that will allow me to cover the pre-reqs for the MCAT (ie. Biology, Chemistry somethign like this). EE is the hardest major at my school, and I fear that it is going to hurt my GPA by staying in it! Any advice ??

GPA: 3.1
Sophomore(so I have plenty of time to switch majors)

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[wolferman]

I'd hate to tell you not to go into a field that you might enjoy, but the fact is, if engineering is going to cost you a decent GPA, it may not be worth it. I was planning on majoring in EE and CS when I first got into undergrad (MIT), but after the first few classes I began to realize that not only were the classes hard and preventative of a good GPA, but I probably wouldn't use them all that much as a doctor. So, I switched to my second choice, business. I probably did a lot better than I would have and I'll always be a little business savvy as I go through life, open a practice, etc.

On the flip side...Take all the advice you receive here with half a grain of salt. Above all, listen to yourself and think about your strengths and weaknesses. Sure, it may be a risk to go into engineering, but if you wouldn't be happy in any other major, you might be doing yourself a greater disservice. Maybe your experience will be something to add to your personal statement: "Though I knew majoring in Engineering would be difficult as a pre-med student, I decided to pursue undeterred; I appreciated the rigors the program offered."

 

[DAL]

wolferman-

did you know you were headed for med school while you were at MIT? i got the impression from the below 3.4 GPA thread that you were a non-trad and decided upon med school after MIT. oh well, no biggie either way.

klinzou, i was a chem. eng. major and my GPA definitely suffered because of it (3.3 overall; 3.6 BCPM; 3.6 non-sci.) if you really want to do engineering then go for it. it will give you a well paying career if you don't get into med school. but that may not give you happiness, a career in engineering definitely does not offer me happiness.

i think the key for anyone is finding a major they enjoy, regardless of whether or not you want to go to med school. you'll find the classes much more enjoyable, you actually may enjoy studying the material, and your GPA will rise as a result.

you're only a sophomore so you have time to improve your GPA. but if you're sure about med school i definitely wouldn't let it drop below its current level. for me, it was the core engineering classes that hurt my GPA so be wary of that. but again, if you like EE then i say go for it. you'll just have to work extremely hard to keep that GPA at 3.1 or hopefully pull it up a bit. talk to a pre-med advisor or possibly someone at a local medical school if possible for the best advice. us SDN'ers can tell you what we think, but ultimately the decision will only affect you, not us, so be sure it's in your best interest.

 

[klinzou]

It sucks to be in this situation too, b/c I would like to do engineering or medicine definitely, and I don't want to base my decision on money, but it's hard to decide and I need to do it before spring semester! AHHHHH

 

[Bob Dole]

I don't think you should worry...this guy I know was EE, didn't have perfect grades, and he's a Harvard now. Schools know that engineering is hard stuff and they'll take that into account when you apply. Just make sure you do well on the pre-med requirements...

 

[Gradient Echo]

Believe it or not, there are fields that can combine some of engineering with medicine.

My lab does interventional radiology work, and we design and build new RF coils and develop new MR pulse sequence. All of this involves a lot of physics and electrical/computer engineering skills.

 

[Flack Pinku]

I've been an EE... I think Biology is a lot harder than EE. However, I did well in classes like Physics and Differential Equations.

I've changed to Biology however, because I have a full course-load each semester with EE (17-18 cr), and taking my pre-med requirements with EE is just not worth it, I thought. I could probably have done it, but I got other things to do.

I think I made the best decision for myself--you should do the same. It absolutely doesn't matter what the hell you do for a major, as long as you do it well.

 

[klinzou]

I've been an EE... I think Biology is a lot harder than EE. However, I did well in classes like Physics and Differential Equations.

Biology is harder than EE?? Are you joking or something?? I'd like to know what school that is, b/c at mine (it is known for it's engineering program) it doesn't even compare in complexity!

 

[Gradient Echo]

Originally posted by klinzou
I've been an EE... I think Biology is a lot harder than EE. However, I did well in classes like Physics and Differential Equations.

Biology is harder than EE?? Are you joking or something?? I'd like to know what school that is, b/c at mine (it is known for it's engineering program) it doesn't even compare in complexity!

I'm almost inclined to agree with his assessment.

Engineering is all about problem solving. You memorize a few key equations, figure out how to derive (via calculus or other advanced mathematics) the equations you need to solve the problems.

Compare that to biology, where its essentially a memorization game. To do engineering well, you arent required to memorize volumes of information, you just need the analytical skills to get from point A to B with math/logic.

So the real question is, which is easier for YOU? Do you think its easier to memorize stuff, or work analytically thru math to find a solution? In my opinion, the latter is easier.

 

[wolferman]

Originally posted by DAL
wolferman-

did you know you were headed for med school while you were at MIT? i got the impression from the below 3.4 GPA thread that you were a non-trad and decided upon med school after MIT. oh well, no biggie either way.

DAL,

Yeah, I knew going into MIT that I was pre-med. I had made that decision sophomore year in high school. And because of that, one part of me regrets not going into a 6 year BS/MD program instead (I'd be a 3rd year med student). The other part of me is glad that I didn't go that route. I'm pretty sure I wasn't mature enough for medical school until this year, and being forced to raise my GPA gave me the time I needed.

 

[blueSkies]

Hey klinzou,
not a whole lot of sage advice from me, but as a Biomedical Engineering major who had to mod the curriculum to include some of the pre-med classes, I whole-heartedly concur with Gradient Echo above. Engineering = logical deduction/problem solving. Bio-sciences = memorization. (I know I'm generalizing here. . .no spears please!).

Moreover, all though the preponderance of medical students are biology/biochem/bio-etc. majors, there's always room for a few good engineers with good grades (get your GPA up, man!), research, experiences. A good book that shows how different folks frame their academic backgrounds as relevant to medical school/practice is <u>Essays That Will Get You into Medical School</u> (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...102-1365821-7932906?v=glance&s=books&n=507846). Cheesey title, I know, but I thought it was interesting hearing how folks coralled and focused their experiences.

Bottom line: engineer or bio, bring up your GPA!

Best,

-Blue Skies

 

[Bevo]

ive got 2 friends who were both EE majors coming out of Rice U and UPenn. Both are in at UTSW. I think their gpas were higher though, a 3.3 to 3.4 and both scored over a 30 on the mcat.

Its possible, and EE is a tough major. My brother did EE at Cornell and from what he told me is that if you got a 3.1 there in the EE program you were put on the Dean's List.

I thnk it would help if you brought the gpa up to a 3.3 at least and make sure you get a strong score on the mcat.

good luck.

 

[CU_buffalo]

I have a 3.9 in EE, am ranked #1 in my class, and have over a 30 on my MCAT, but I still haven't been accepted anywhere yet. I really really hope I get in somewhere. If not, it's either a job or a M.S. in biomedical engineering. I really don't want to retake the MCAT and go through this whole process again, but if it means getting into med school, then so be it.

 

[Gleevec]

Engineering is more problem solving early in your career and less later in your career (use more tools, etc)

Biology is more memorization early and more problem solving later (ie research).

Of course there are exceptions to both, but several of my engineering friends have said life only gets easier for them as they are allowed to use more automated tools to solve problems (even though the problems are harder)/

Conversely, bio is memorizing a lot early, and then applying that knowledge later. Research tends to be a bit harder because bio is more in its infancy than EE.

Of course, take this with a grain of salt. This is from talking to bio, EE, and BME majors, and might not be representative of programs everywhere.

 

[Gradient Echo]

Originally posted by Gleevec
Engineering is more problem solving early in your career and less later in your career (use more tools, etc)

Biology is more memorization early and more problem solving later (ie research).

Of course there are exceptions to both, but several of my engineering friends have said life only gets easier for them as they are allowed to use more automated tools to solve problems (even though the problems are harder)/

Conversely, bio is memorizing a lot early, and then applying that knowledge later. Research tends to be a bit harder because bio is more in its infancy than EE.

Of course, take this with a grain of salt. This is from talking to bio, EE, and BME majors, and might not be representative of programs everywhere.

I think there is some truth to what you say. I was referring mainly to classes, not research. In research vs classwork, its obvious that research (in either field) will always be more about problem solving than classwork.

The only thing that I would say is that the emphasis on engineering research vs classwork is an increasing trend in problem solving, not decreasing as you imply. It is true that you tend to increase usage of automated computer tools, but just getting a computer result isnt enough, you need to analyze it, filter it, and use it to make design judgments in an analytical context.

It is true that you are less likley to be writing out complicated integrals on notebook paper in engineering research compared to classwork. More likely you use a computer package to do all the nuts and bolts stuff.

 

[latinfridley]

comp sci is harder than premed

 

[aeromed]

Hi there,

I was an aeronautical engineering major at MIT until spring term of my junior year, when I switched to biology because I decided I wanted to go to medical school. I suppose I could have stayed an engineering major and added the pre-med classes, but I probably would have stayed a total of 6 years in school for that, so I decided to make the complete switch to biology and stay one extra year (I had to stay the extra year because I switched so late and I hadn't taken any biology since 9th grade!).
Anyways, I don't regret it (although there are times I miss the engineering and the MATH! There just isn't enough math in biology! ).

I would say, if you absolutely love engineering, then stay in EECS and take the pre-med classes as electives.....although I do understand that is brutal on the GPA. If you think you can get better grades by switching to just biology, then do it!! (I'm assuming you can't minor in EECS...? I know I couldn't minor in aero-astro b/c the minor wasn't offered....).

It is a hard choice, because I know for the most part if you don't major in engineering then you can't work as an engineer - you need the degree (unlike a lot of other fields where you can work in that field w/o having studied it in college). But if you want medical school badly enough, then do what it takes to get into med school.

Good luck!!!

 

[lil pook]

Okay you guys. Tell me if this is a weird thing. I am a biomed engineer major and have had to back off from engineering courses for a while cuz a wierd thing was happening to my brain. The more engineering stuff I did--the more my reading comprehension went down hill. I'm backing off until the MCAT is outta the way (August). Has anyone else had this experience?

 

[jeffsleepy]

hey klinzou, i'm kinda like you. I'm majoring in EECS at Berkeley but decided after freshman year that I really want to go to medical school. So now I'm doing both... it's a lot of summer school but oh well. My advice is to put off the really hard classes until senior year. My EECS degree is pretty much on hold right now until I finish up the easier pre-med courses.

Try to take the easiest engineering classes possible. I'm going out of my way to go for the easiest courses/professors. Since you won't be needed that stuff in the future, it's all about the GPA =).

 

[klinzou]

haa. I know exactly what you mean, but for some thigns we all know they just don't hire easy teachers for! The best way i'm finding to get easy teachers is to take classes in an off semester roation, and usually the teacher seems to be easier//

 

[klinzou]

bump dat

 

[neofight]

I pretty much agree with most of what's said on this board. Regardless of which major you choose, it's all about the GPA. If you have better problem solving skills, go for engineering or one of the physical sciences. If your forte is memorization, go for biology.

 

[aydinhatemi]

I am senior EE and CS. GPA of 3.54 put me in top 15% in both of them. I could not believe that since such a GPA in biology will put you in death row. I took april MCAT and do not my score yet.
If I did as good as my kaplan practice tests I hope to pass 32.
I know they will ask about my major in interview so be prepared.
Other than that it is based on luck. Many Adcoms do not know how to deal with engineering students. It can be both good or bad. But EE is rough. I can compare both since I took so many classes in BIO,PHY (upper level) EE and CS and to be honest EE is found to be the hardest. But I loved it. I can sit and work with numbers and work 24/7 and I love it. BUt when it comes to anatomy and stuff my brain burns out. I just hate memorizing but it is the name of the game in medical school so I will be the man and suck it up.