Engineering Undergrad major?

[Eschafer]

Hey guys, I'm new to the forum and just had a question about undergraduate majors.

Currently I'm a second semester soph majoring in Electrical Engineering. I have been very interested in applying to medical school in the future, but also dont want to leave EE bc of the relative problem solving strategies that eng teaches. I was told by some that your undergrad really doesnt matter as long as you take the med school requirements, so my plan was to take them along with my EE courses.

My questions:

1. Will med schools allow for a little gpa flexibility given the fact that engineering is notoriously more difficult than some other majors? (Currently I have a 3.4 but could feasibly obtain above a 3.6/3.7 by graduation)

2. Will med schools be suspicious/wary of the fact that my major has less to with medicine, leading them to question why I want to be a physician in the future?

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[RxnMan]

Med schools like people from all majors, and what that person told you is correct - ugrad degree doesn't matter, as long as you do your prerequisites.

That being said, as a former engineer and current med student, consider the following:

1) You know it's hard. I know it's hard. But the 'notoriety' of the difficulty of engineering majors really doesn't reach to the medical establishment. Only one interviewer (that I've met) was impressed with my degree. Others here may comment on their experiences.

2) We engineers do a lot of work as ugrads that doesn't translate well to medicine. Statics/Dynamics? Only in ortho/rehab. Diff Eq? Calculus? Not needed. Circuits? Nope. Geology, programming, heat transfer, thermodynamics, fluids, kinetics, etc - some touches on medicine, but not enough to make a difference.

3) Problem-solving skills, while valuable, doesn't compare to brute-force memorization skills, at least during the preclinical years (where I am). I have been told that it helps in the clinical years.

It wasn't hard to sell med schools on my desire to be a doc, but given these hind-insights, I would have rather majored in biochem or neuroscience. For me, engineering was a lot of work, and it hasn't contributed much to my medical education.

 

[Captain Fantastic]

You will have to have a competitive GPA regardless of major.

Schools that screen on GPA/MCAT will not give you credit for a more difficult major. Meaning, if they have a cut-off of 3.6 and you have a 3.5 Engineering degree you are SOL. Schools that review the applicant "as a whole" might give you props, but there is no formula for this. You are at the mercy of the adcom to recognize it.

A 3.6 or a 3.7 is a respectable GPA (the average GPA for MD matriculants is 3.6X). Below 3.5 and your chances, statistically, go way down.

They don't care what you major in; they do care if you do well in that major. There is no pre-requisite major, only pre-requisite courses.

BTW, don't stress over your major. I know a handful of MDs that were engineers first -- one was an EE.

 

[Eschafer]

Thanks for all the advice guys. I guess one of my biggest concerns with switching to a bio/chem major revolves around the possibility of not getting accepted to med school.

Maybe its a little naive but I'd rather have the ee degree to fall back on rather than a life science degree.

Probably comes down to me just making the decision and going at it 100%.

 

[Sol Rosenberg]

Thanks for all the advice guys. I guess one of my biggest concerns with switching to a bio/chem major revolves around the possibility of not getting accepted to med school.

Maybe its a little naive but I'd rather have the ee degree to fall back on rather than a life science degree.

Probably comes down to me just making the decision and going at it 100%.

It's really difficult to "fall back" on an EE degree.

I'm currently an EE, and will begin attending medical school this fall, but I have no illusions about the fact that I will pretty much not be able to go back.

The field of EE in which I work (analog and digital circuit design) changes rapidly such that experience beyond 5 years in any given field is essentially useless. EEs have to re-learn and re-invent themselves about this often or they risk becoming obsolete. I'm not trying to be dramatic. This is real fact, and I've seen many people laid off and unable to obtain employment as a result.

Therefore, if you take a significant amount of time off from working (to pursue a medical degree, for example) you will have been out of the business for so long that you will now essentially be obsolete. Therefore, I wouldn't bank on being able to fall back on an engineering degree, especially one in EE.

 

[Duckie24]

I have to agree that being an engineering major will not get an slack cut at the interview for your GPA. If you do well on your MCAT, though, it can really make a big difference. My engineering GPA wasn't that great, but I made up for it on the MCAT.

I'll tell you once place where your engineering major can make a big difference, and that's at residency interviews. By far that's the thing I've gotten most comments on. Everyone is aware of the problem solving skills an engineer acquires and values them. I wouldn't advise a switch, unless you simply just don't like engineering.

 

[soonereng]

Thanks for all the advice guys. I guess one of my biggest concerns with switching to a bio/chem major revolves around the possibility of not getting accepted to med school.

Maybe its a little naive but I'd rather have the ee degree to fall back on rather than a life science degree.

It's really difficult to "fall back" on an EE degree.

I disagree. The OP is just a sophomore.

You can fit the pre-reqs for med school in with your current curriculum and if you don't get into med school, could fall back on the EE degree. You could interview for jobs should you not be accepted their first or second application round. If you were to unsuccessfully pursue medicine for 3 or 4 years the degree would be out of date, and jota_jota's comment would be accurate about being hard to get an engineering job without further school. Personally I think that it's a good plan but will require lots of time to do both well.

 

[Eschafer]

It's really difficult to "fall back" on an EE degree.

I'm currently an EE, and will begin attending medical school this fall, but I have no illusions about the fact that I will pretty much not be able to go back.

The field of EE in which I work (analog and digital circuit design) changes rapidly such that experience beyond 5 years in any given field is essentially useless. EEs have to re-learn and re-invent themselves about this often or they risk becoming obsolete. I'm not trying to be dramatic. This is real fact, and I've seen many people laid off and unable to obtain employment as a result.

Therefore, if you take a significant amount of time off from working (to pursue a medical degree, for example) you will have been out of the business for so long that you will now essentially be obsolete. Therefore, I wouldn't bank on being able to fall back on an engineering degree, especially one in EE.

Did you find it difficult managing the med school requirements alongside the EE requirements?

My current plan for my future schedule has 2- 19credit and 1- 20credit semesters. Haha some of that is thanks the fact these catholic schools have these university requirements (theo, philo...), but still a lot.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[chicksdigdocs]

I am an EE senior and I am applying to med school this summer.
My GPA is 3.65 and science gpa is about the same. I always planned on doing medicine after graduation but about sophomore year I really started to enjoy EE and started to have second thoughts.
So I started to think like you, if i don't get into med school I can fall back on my EE degree. But I can tell you this: Once you enter the pre-med route, and you truley fall in love with medicine, there is no way in hell you can ever imagine yourself doing EE again.
I am having a very tough time concentrating on my last tech electives and my senior design project just because of how excited I am to get into med (if i'm lucky i guess).

 

[Sol Rosenberg]

Did you find it difficult managing the med school requirements alongside the EE requirements?

My current plan for my future schedule has 2- 19credit and 1- 20credit semesters. Haha some of that is thanks the fact these catholic schools have these university requirements (theo, philo...), but still a lot.

Thanks for the advice.

Sorry, I'm a nontrad. and I didn't take the prereqs until about 9 years after I graduated.

I misinterpreted your "fall back" comment to mean during medical school or after, not while applying to medical school.

However, if you want to go this route, I would try to take the med. school prereqs ASAP as EE (at least at my school) didn't really start to heat up until Junior year, when your courses become much more project-based and much less lecture-based. You will be spending countless allnighters in the lab trying to get stuff to work once you get to this point in your EE degree. Though you might be able to pull it off if you take mostly lecture-based upper-level EE courses (Digital Signal Processing, usually taught over 2 semesters, is a course that comes to mind as one of these types) though at my school, the degree requirements required a fair number of strictly project-based courses.

 

[Eschafer]

I am an EE senior and I am applying to med school this summer.
My GPA is 3.65 and science gpa is about the same. I always planned on doing medicine after graduation but about sophomore year I really started to enjoy EE and started to have second thoughts.
So I started to think like you, if i don't get into med school I can fall back on my EE degree. But I can tell you this: Once you enter the pre-med route, and you truley fall in love with medicine, there is no way in hell you can ever imagine yourself doing EE again.
I am having a very tough time concentrating on my last tech electives and my senior design project just because of how excited I am to get into med (if i'm lucky i guess).

Yea thats how Ive started to think recently. While I definately respect the people who spend their lives in engineering and related fields, to me it doesnt seem like that can compare to saving and enriching peoples lives directly. Haha maybe its a little selfish seeing that a physcian can only cure/heal a finite number of people in his/her lifetime while a good, or even mediocre, engineering invention can save countless lives in the future.

Obviously a subjective question, but knowing what you do now would you have dropped EE back in your underclassman years to pursue medicine more strongly, even while knowing the general uncertainty associated with med school acceptances?

 

[Sol Rosenberg]

Yea thats how Ive started to think recently. While I definately respect the people who spend their lives in engineering and related fields, to me it doesnt seem like that can compare to saving and enriching peoples lives directly. Haha maybe its a little selfish seeing that a physcian can only cure/heal a finite number of people in his/her lifetime while a good, or even mediocre, engineering invention can save countless lives in the future.

Obviously a subjective question, but knowing what you do now would you have dropped EE back in your underclassman years to pursue medicine more strongly, even while knowing the general uncertainty associated with med school acceptances?

It's a personal preference. Engineers help people an "inch deep" but a "mile wide" (i.e. innovation to produce newer/better/cheaper products, etc affects many, many people) whereas doctors help people a "mile deep" but an "inch wde" (doctors have a much more profound impact on many, many fewer people.) The integral (which is the amount of collective good that each does) is probably about the same (IMHO, of course.)

 

[aero]

If you are concerned about the interview questions on EE choice, try to find a research project that combines the two so you can help them make the connection - signal processing of medical sensors, sensor design for medical applications, etc.

I'm a mechanical starting med school in the fall. My current employment is with a medical device manufacturer and I think it worked into a nice story of trying to find a career that met all of my needs but ultimately deciding medicine was it.

 

[Eschafer]

If you are concerned about the interview questions on EE choice, try to find a research project that combines the two so you can help them make the connection - signal processing of medical sensors, sensor design for medical applications, etc.

I'm a mechanical starting med school in the fall. My current employment is with a medical device manufacturer and I think it worked into a nice story of trying to find a career that met all of my needs but ultimately deciding medicine was it.

Thanks for the advice, I know of a couple. I think one professor is doing a project on using bio molecules as small transistors for circuits.

I was working on a new 3d-SEM for the EE dep last semester. Haha I dont know how much knowing how to image at 30kx is going to help in the medical profession however.

 

[atomi]

It's really difficult to "fall back" on an EE degree.

I'm currently an EE, and will begin attending medical school this fall, but I have no illusions about the fact that I will pretty much not be able to go back.

The field of EE in which I work (analog and digital circuit design) changes rapidly such that experience beyond 5 years in any given field is essentially useless. EEs have to re-learn and re-invent themselves about this often or they risk becoming obsolete. I'm not trying to be dramatic. This is real fact, and I've seen many people laid off and unable to obtain employment as a result.

Therefore, if you take a significant amount of time off from working (to pursue a medical degree, for example) you will have been out of the business for so long that you will now essentially be obsolete. Therefore, I wouldn't bank on being able to fall back on an engineering degree, especially one in EE.

Complete and utter B.S.

EE is the most versatile and most robust degree there is. Period. You can do anything you want with one. "Re-learning and re-inventing yourself"????? Give me a break. Nobody hires non-doctoral EEs because they know everything about something. They hire them because they have proven themselves capable. Every new job has a training period. If for some unknown reason, you can't get a job, a master's degree will let you start fresh again in the market. Stop littering the internet with doomsday scenarios.

Advice to the original poster: stick out your EE degree. I was in your shoes 3 years ago. I put medicine on the back burner, stuck out my EE degree, graduated with a 4.0, worked as an EE for a while, then applied to post-bacc.

Maybe you might want to take an extra year. Don't try to cram pre-med on top of an EE curriculum. Finish your requirements for EE, then delay your graduation date until you have finished your pre-med. Cheaper than post-bacc for sure.

 

[atomi]

Did you find it difficult managing the med school requirements alongside the EE requirements?

My current plan for my future schedule has 2- 19credit and 1- 20credit semesters. Haha some of that is thanks the fact these catholic schools have these university requirements (theo, philo...), but still a lot.

Thanks for the advice.

Take an extra year and aim for 12-14 credits/semester.

 

[Eschafer]

Complete and utter B.S.

EE is the most versatile and most robust degree there is. Period. You can do anything you want with one. "Re-learning and re-inventing yourself"????? Give me a break. Nobody hires non-doctoral EEs because they know everything about something. They hire them because they have proven themselves capable. Every new job has a training period. If for some unknown reason, you can't get a job, a master's degree will let you start fresh again in the market. Stop littering the internet with doomsday scenarios.

Advice to the original poster: stick out your EE degree. I was in your shoes 3 years ago. I put medicine on the back burner, stuck out my EE degree, graduated with a 4.0, worked as an EE for a while, then applied to post-bacc.

Maybe you might want to take an extra year. Don't try to cram pre-med on top of an EE curriculum. Finish your requirements for EE, then delay your graduation date until you have finished your pre-med. Cheaper than post-bacc for sure.

Thanks for the advice. Ive decided to stay with EE.

I was offered a research position for over the summer here at school and was told I could take some classes at that time. So Im considering taking some premed courses at that time.

Also, whyd you leave EE after just a year or so out of undergrad? Just curious.

 

[Sol Rosenberg]

Complete and utter B.S.

EE is the most versatile and most robust degree there is. Period. You can do anything you want with one. "Re-learning and re-inventing yourself"????? Give me a break. Nobody hires non-doctoral EEs because they know everything about something. They hire them because they have proven themselves capable. Every new job has a training period. If for some unknown reason, you can't get a job, a master's degree will let you start fresh again in the market. Stop littering the internet with doomsday scenarios.

Advice to the original poster: stick out your EE degree. I was in your shoes 3 years ago. I put medicine on the back burner, stuck out my EE degree, graduated with a 4.0, worked as an EE for a while, then applied to post-bacc.

Maybe you might want to take an extra year. Don't try to cram pre-med on top of an EE curriculum. Finish your requirements for EE, then delay your graduation date until you have finished your pre-med. Cheaper than post-bacc for sure.

Obviously you have different experiences, but I'm curious about what field of EE you worked in because in my field (Analog/Digital Circuit Design) people aren't looking to hire someone that needs training -- they want someone who can hit the ground running and contribute immediately (sometimes staffing up a project that needs to be finished in a matter of a few months.)

I've worked as an EE and an Engineering Manager for almost 11 years, so what I am saying is not BS and is based upon my experiences (but you are obviously free to ignore my advice and substitute your own.)

 

[chicksdigdocs]

Complete and utter B.S.

EE is the most versatile and most robust degree there is. Period. You can do anything you want with one. "Re-learning and re-inventing yourself"????? Give me a break. Nobody hires non-doctoral EEs because they know everything about something. They hire them because they have proven themselves capable. Every new job has a training period. If for some unknown reason, you can't get a job, a master's degree will let you start fresh again in the market. Stop littering the internet with doomsday scenarios.

Advice to the original poster: stick out your EE degree. I was in your shoes 3 years ago. I put medicine on the back burner, stuck out my EE degree, graduated with a 4.0, worked as an EE for a while, then applied to post-bacc.

Maybe you might want to take an extra year. Don't try to cram pre-med on top of an EE curriculum. Finish your requirements for EE, then delay your graduation date until you have finished your pre-med. Cheaper than post-bacc for sure.

may be cheaper, but sure as hell is longer.
There is no right or wrong way to do medicine after EE. you are already knee deep in EE so you have to play with the cards you've been dealt. I personally think it's best to take a few chem/bio classes during undergrad and shadow a physician just to convince yourself you want to switch. If you do see medicine in your future then make your next decision from there.