Petroleum Engineering+pre-med

[D0CTORX]

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Just wondering what an adcom would think if someone majored in Petroleum Engineering or Geosystems Engineering and applied to med school.

Would they think the person is only in the major for the money? Or what?

 

[ShenanigansMD]

This one's tough b/c you can't really apply this type of engineering to medicine. But I have no idea.

 

[DAPI]

Just wondering what an adcom would think if someone majored in Petroleum Engineering or Geosystems Engineering and applied to med school.

Would they think the person is only in the major for the money? Or what?

They would probably think, wow, this kid has interests outside of medicine. I wonder what caused him to be interested in that and then change to medicine.

Others would probably be like, "I did not even know there was such a major!" (like me, though I'm not an adcom)

 

[TipToad]

You're trying to read too much into this. Major in what you want to major in and just go for it. o_o;

 

[theseeker4]

Just wondering what an adcom would think if someone majored in Petroleum Engineering or Geosystems Engineering and applied to med school.

Would they think the person is only in the major for the money? Or what?

Definitely not, that makes absolutely no sense. If someone were in engineering for the money, they would be an engineer, they wouldn't apply to med school. If they wanted to be a doctor for the money, their undergrad major is completely meaningless as far as that goes, so the concern has no foundation. If anything, undertaking an engineering degree would be more interesting than the countless bio/psych degrees that pre-meds usually have.

The problem is engineering is typically more difficult to get the GPA necessary to attain admission to med school. A 3.2 might be great for a particular engineering program, and if you are going to work as an engineer it won't hurt you at all, but that will be a HUGE obstacle to overcome if you are trying to get into med school. The smart move is to major in something, anything, that you know you can get a 3.7++ in, and take the med school pre reqs as well. If you are certain you want to be a doctor, only go into engineering if you are certain you can handle the work without your GPA taking a hit.

 

[deleted303591]

GPA is what counts the most and at my university the Thermodynamics and the Chemical Process classes are hardcore weed out classes with a 50% fail rate.

If you are going to be a pre-med and a petroleum engineering major, you need to learn how to work efficiently.

I learned quickly what to do in engineering, partly from working (realize I don't say study!) in groups and from the Guaranteed 4.0 Plan (an engineer created this plan). This website is also a good reference for tips.

- Get as many old tests/quizzes for your course(s) early on in the semester and collect them (make friends with your pupils and UPPERCLASSMEN!...Engineering students have folders and folders of PDFs of these materials!)

- Use the old tests as practice for the tests and always do the practice tests under normal testing conditions (i.e. time restrictions and after intense working and reading through material)

- When you write formulas down in your notes, define all variables and include units for each variable to prevent mistakes

-KNOW your conversion factors (e.g. 1 inch = 2.54 cm )

- Read assigned material 3-7 days before the material is covered in lecture and do Bullet Point Reading

- Create a schedule for living (i.e. reading, working problems, lecture time, eating, grooming, sleeping, etc.) AND STICK TO IT!

Good luck!

 

[JESSFALLING]

I doubt anyone will hold it against you unless they're oil-company-hating, tree-hugging liberals.

 

[cuculici1]

Great major! A more specific version of Chemical Engineering. Go for it! Despite the fact that you may not apply the skills you learned if you go to med school, you will learn "everything" there is to know about applied science. Chem E is a degree that teaches you everything about contemporary applied science. With your degree, you get the added bonus of more specific knowledge of geological systems.

 

[thesauce]

This one's tough b/c you can't really apply this type of engineering to medicine. But I have no idea.

Some of the classes translate pretty well. Med school physiology is basically a dumbed down version of Transport Phenomena. If you subspecialize in a field like radiation oncology, it's nice to have the applied math background.

 

[redpanda]

Personal opinion from a former engineer here:

1. I don't think anyone goes into petroleum engineering just for the money without concomitantly having enough brains to get through the curriculum and somewhat liking the material. If these people exist, they are rare.
2. If you're going to go through that much specialized training in a field which is known for giving its BS-level workers VERY good salaries, you might as well take 2-3 years off between undergrad and med school if there is a well-paying job available, work, live frugally, and have a significant quantity of money saved for your med school years. When you're getting paid 2x what the average bachelor's level new grad gets paid and living in a low-cost area, it gets a little easier to put up with a (possibly) less than desirable location (like being in North Dakota). Also, take a few nice vacations because you'll have paid time off and start a nice retirement fund.
3. While engineering is generally not directly applicable to medical school, it's not like you'll be behind your biochem major classmates or something. The course covers what they learned in undergrad in the first day (or two). What engineering is excellent for is problem-solving skills. If someone sticks a problem in front of you (in a class) and tells you to solve it, you shouldn't really have a problem combing the syllabus for available equations and then finding a way to derive your way down to an answer. Med students who have not been in a curriculum that requires this can have...difficulties when it comes to being assigned a problem set (even if it is an easy one: one equation + one small mental leap = answer, not three equations + three significant mental leaps + page long derivation = answer).

 

[notbobtrustme]

The biggest obstacle is the GPA hit. Few schools give leeway to engineering majors. Side-by-side, you can beat most people in terms of difficulty and course rigor, but medical school applications aren't done side-by-side. They are done in huge batches since every school gets hundreds of applications per seat. When you are combing through 3,000 applications post-screen for 150 spots, a low GPA is often enough to tank your application.