Engineering undergrad transition to med school

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monroeaug

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Hello,

I've placed this in the Nontrad forum because I am not a traditional premed student, but if that's incorrect, I do apologize.

I am a senior in chemical engineering due to graduate in May 2013. Recently, I was offered a fellowship to begin work on a PhD in biomedical engineering starting in the Fall 2013. The degree plan is 2 years of coursework and then simply research and dissertation work for 2-3 years. My school actually works in conjunction with one of the med schools in the region to assist students in a MD/PhD Biomedical Engineering. I am highly interested in this program. Basically, I have two years after May to being working on fulfilling premed requirements and preparing for the MCAT while taking graduate courses in biomedical engineering (some overlap occurs - mainly with physiology). My plan is to take 1-2 (3 may be pushing it) premed courses per quarter (my school operates on the quarter system: 3 "regular" quarters and a summer quarter per year) along with the graduate courses for biomed eng. I have listed courses that I have a already taken in my undergrad career with their respective grades. I am absolutely okay retaking some of these courses (most of the biology courses were taken my freshman year before I learned how to study!). If some of you would please take a look at what I have taken and let me know what you think would be a worthwhile retake as well as some suggested courses to best prepare me for the MCAT (remember, while I have two years to take courses, the absolute latest MCAT I can take is the one in June, so I really only have 1 year to prepare, course-wise, anyway).

Courses I have taken:

Biology for Engineering/Science Majors I - 3hr - B
Biology for Engineering/Science Majors I Lab - 1hr - A
Microbiology - 3hr - C
Microbiology Lab - 1hr - B
Genetics - 3hr - C

General Chemistry for Engineering/Science Majors I - 3hr - C
General Chemistry for Engineering/Science Majors I Lab - 3hr - B
General Chemistry of Engineering/Science Majors II - 3hr - C
General Chemistry of Engineering/Science Majors II Lab - 3hr - B
Organic Chemistry - 2hr - B
Organic Chemistry - 2hr - C
Organic Chemistry - 2hr - C
Organic Chemistry Lab - 1hr - A
Physical Chemistry - 3hr - B
Physical Chemistry Lab - 1hr - B

Physics for Engineering/Science Majors I - 3hr - B
Physics for Engineering/Science Majors II - 3hr - Currently enrolled; expecting A

And that basically wraps up any science courses without getting bogged down in engineering courses that don't really apply to this. So I know that I am actually lacking some courses for admission to my program (2nd organic lab, physics labs), but my main question is what is suggested for retake or for the best prep for MCAT (for instance, would taking 2 semesters of Biochem be more beneficial than retaking the organic sequence? Would taking Medical Micro be better than retaking General Micro just to get a better grade?) That sort of thing.

And for the record, all of these courses were taken my first 2 years of undergrad and there is actually a sharp increase in my GPA after those 2 years ;-).

In summary, I have approximately 3 quarters (excluding summer, which is not out of the question) to take courses to prepare me for the MCAT and 6 total quarters to complete premed requirements. It should be noted that the most applicable graduate courses that I take are "Physiological Systems" (basically human phys), "Cardiovascular Fluid Mechanics," and "Neuroscience Engineering." All other graduate courses would not be applicable to a med school app (biosensors, mass transport, etc.).

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

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Hello,

I've placed this in the Nontrad forum because I am not a traditional premed student, but if that's incorrect, I do apologize.

I am a senior in chemical engineering due to graduate in May 2013. Recently, I was offered a fellowship to begin work on a PhD in biomedical engineering starting in the Fall 2013. The degree plan is 2 years of coursework and then simply research and dissertation work for 2-3 years. My school actually works in conjunction with one of the med schools in the region to assist students in a MD/PhD Biomedical Engineering. I am highly interested in this program. Basically, I have two years after May to being working on fulfilling premed requirements and preparing for the MCAT while taking graduate courses in biomedical engineering (some overlap occurs - mainly with physiology). My plan is to take 1-2 (3 may be pushing it) premed courses per quarter (my school operates on the quarter system: 3 "regular" quarters and a summer quarter per year) along with the graduate courses for biomed eng. I have listed courses that I have a already taken in my undergrad career with their respective grades. I am absolutely okay retaking some of these courses (most of the biology courses were taken my freshman year before I learned how to study!). If some of you would please take a look at what I have taken and let me know what you think would be a worthwhile retake as well as some suggested courses to best prepare me for the MCAT (remember, while I have two years to take courses, the absolute latest MCAT I can take is the one in June, so I really only have 1 year to prepare, course-wise, anyway).

Courses I have taken:

Biology for Engineering/Science Majors I - 3hr - B
Biology for Engineering/Science Majors I Lab - 1hr - A
Microbiology - 3hr - C
Microbiology Lab - 1hr - B
Genetics - 3hr - C

General Chemistry for Engineering/Science Majors I - 3hr - C
General Chemistry for Engineering/Science Majors I Lab - 3hr - B
General Chemistry of Engineering/Science Majors II - 3hr - C
General Chemistry of Engineering/Science Majors II Lab - 3hr - B
Organic Chemistry - 2hr - B
Organic Chemistry - 2hr - C
Organic Chemistry - 2hr - C
Organic Chemistry Lab - 1hr - A
Physical Chemistry - 3hr - B
Physical Chemistry Lab - 1hr - B

Physics for Engineering/Science Majors I - 3hr - B
Physics for Engineering/Science Majors II - 3hr - Currently enrolled; expecting A

And that basically wraps up any science courses without getting bogged down in engineering courses that don't really apply to this. So I know that I am actually lacking some courses for admission to my program (2nd organic lab, physics labs), but my main question is what is suggested for retake or for the best prep for MCAT (for instance, would taking 2 semesters of Biochem be more beneficial than retaking the organic sequence? Would taking Medical Micro be better than retaking General Micro just to get a better grade?) That sort of thing.

And for the record, all of these courses were taken my first 2 years of undergrad and there is actually a sharp increase in my GPA after those 2 years ;-).

In summary, I have approximately 3 quarters (excluding summer, which is not out of the question) to take courses to prepare me for the MCAT and 6 total quarters to complete premed requirements. It should be noted that the most applicable graduate courses that I take are "Physiological Systems" (basically human phys), "Cardiovascular Fluid Mechanics," and "Neuroscience Engineering." All other graduate courses would not be applicable to a med school app (biosensors, mass transport, etc.).

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

To get an idea, you are going to have to figure out what your "science," or BCPM GPA is (any biology, chemistry, physics, math classes calculated together) and what your overall GPA is. Looks like your science GPA will be a bit low; engineering classes will only count as "science" if you are applying via the TMDSAS in Texas. Retaking classes will depend on if you are applying to DO programs, which do grade replacement. MD programs will still count the old grades. Unless you find something particularly compelling about DO schools, your choice here will probably be dictated by your GPA and how much effort it will take to rehabilitate it if need be. Also, for the MCAT, make sure you study using prep materials and don't rely on your class notes/textbooks.
 
Okay, excellent. Being in engineering I probably have more Math hours than any chemistry/biology at this point. I will also definitely be applying to an MD program as it will *have* to be the school tied to the biomed program in which I will be entering (in Louisiana). So absolutely GPA recovery.

Thanks for the insight. I just got the offer for the biomed fellowship so I am trying to figure things out as far what to do after graduation (ChemE PhD or Biomed PhD and MD) and just seeing the plausibility of all of my options.

So it might be better to not worry about retaking the organic sequence and just focus on learning the necessary organic for the MCAT? I would prefer that option because the organic sequence at my school is just awful (and I don't say that simply because it's difficult - it really is awful for several reasons). Plus, the biochem sequence would be incredibly beneficial to the research I would be doing in the biomed program, so that may be the route to go if repeat-delete is out of the question. And basically a good bit of other bio courses to get the GPA up.

Also, my science/math GPA with is sitting right at a 3. I will play with numbers to see how many courses would be needed to get that up to where it should be

Thanks again!
 
I would absolutely not retake any classes if your only goal is to refresh for the MCAT. Plenty of good bio/phys/chem review books out there that do great job of presenting what you will need to know for the MCAT in a clear and concise manner. With a low GPA (less than ~3.6--no quarter given for us engineers), a strong showing on the MCAT will be imperative, but also don't neglect the other aspects of your application (volunteering, extracurriculars).
 
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