Seriously considering medicine...feedback?

[tharealest]

---

Members do not see this ad.

My current situation is that I will be entering into my second semester of my junior year in electrical engineering and will be graduating in 3 more. I have told a company that I have an engineering internship with that I will be returning this summer for a 2nd summer internship.

At this point in my life, I am sure that engineering is not for me. I have found the subject material that I learn in school absolutely boring and have no interest in it whatsoever. But more importantly, I could not *stand* to be doing what engineers do at my internship company. So many engineers sit in cucibles all day to only program and deal with machines all day long, to only have a couple of hours of interaction with people at meetings per week. This is not what I want to be doing for the rest of my life.

I will graduate with a degree in engineering, but I am *serious* about making a change. Before entering college, I considered medical school. But basically by a flip of a coin, I chose engineering instead. Last year, I realized that engineering was not for me and was going to switch to premed, but I decided to wait it out a year to get some engineering internship experience under my belt to see how I felt about engineering.

Now I see that it is *obvious* that engineering is not for me. I believe that there must be a calling in medicine for me because I have been thinking about it for the past 3 years in college. I think medicine would be a good fit because I am interested in both science and interacting/helping people out. Engineering doesn't offer me this.

So now I have some questions that I hope you all can help me answer. First of all, should I return to my internship for a 2nd summer to be *absolutely* sure that engineering is not for me? Also, to be sure that medicine is for me, I will have to get some clinical experience...how would I go about doing this...does anyone have any recommendations on where I should volunteer/call up/shadow? How much clinical experience are medical schools looking for?

I also might be a little concerned about my GPA. My engineering GPA might be a little low, but with all the humanities and electives I have taken, my overall GPA is around a 3.6. How will med schools look at my engineering GPA? Will they primary look at my science/math GPA instead? I'm guessing that a lot of my academic performance will also come through my MCATs.

Basically I will graduate with a degree in engineering but will make a change, and am seriously considering medicine. Would you go into medicine if you were me? I guess I am the only one who can answer that, but if anyone has any feedback or opinions in this tough process for me, please let me know. Thanks in advance.

 

[odrade1]

My current situation is that I will be entering into my second semester of my junior year in electrical engineering and will be graduating in 3 more. I have told a company that I have an engineering internship with that I will be returning this summer for a 2nd summer internship.

At this point in my life, I am sure that engineering is not for me. I have found the subject material that I learn in school absolutely boring and have no interest in it whatsoever. But more importantly, I could not *stand* to be doing what engineers do at my internship company. So many engineers sit in cucibles all day to only program and deal with machines all day long, to only have a couple of hours of interaction with people at meetings per week. This is not what I want to be doing for the rest of my life.

I will graduate with a degree in engineering, but I am *serious* about making a change. Before entering college, I considered medical school. But basically by a flip of a coin, I chose engineering instead. Last year, I realized that engineering was not for me and was going to switch to premed, but I decided to wait it out a year to get some engineering internship experience under my belt to see how I felt about engineering.

Now I see that it is *obvious* that engineering is not for me. I believe that there must be a calling in medicine for me because I have been thinking about it for the past 3 years in college. I think medicine would be a good fit because I am interested in both science and interacting/helping people out. Engineering doesn't offer me this.

So now I have some questions that I hope you all can help me answer. First of all, should I return to my internship for a 2nd summer to be *absolutely* sure that engineering is not for me? Also, to be sure that medicine is for me, I will have to get some clinical experience...how would I go about doing this...does anyone have any recommendations on where I should volunteer/call up/shadow? How much clinical experience are medical schools looking for?

I also might be a little concerned about my GPA. My engineering GPA might be a little low, but with all the humanities and electives I have taken, my overall GPA is around a 3.6. How will med schools look at my engineering GPA? Will they primary look at my science/math GPA instead? I'm guessing that a lot of my academic performance will also come through my MCATs.

Basically I will graduate with a degree in engineering but will make a change, and am seriously considering medicine. Would you go into medicine if you were me? I guess I am the only one who can answer that, but if anyone has any feedback or opinions in this tough process for me, please let me know. Thanks in advance.

How important is the summer internship? If you change your mind and want to be an engineer, will you be screwed if you don't do it?
First,
You need to find out more about medicine. Contact your school's pre-health advisor to learn what you may need to do by way of classes, etc. This person may also be able to put you in touch with shadowing opportunities, depending on the school.

I had success getting medical experiences by calling physicians that I or my parents knew, and calling my friends in medical school. I shadowed a local doc and also got to follow students and an attending on rounds at the hospital. You won't get anything if you don't ask for it. It will feel awkward, but you have to ask. Some will say yes, others will say no. Either way, don't let your feelings get hurt.
See more than 1 kind of doc. See a family practice doc or IM doc. See a couple of docs in specialties you may want to think about. If you have delusions of EM, see an EM doc. (EM patients are somewhat ickier than others, due to the nature of the population being served at most ERs).

I also grabbed a patient escort job at the hospital. You don't treat patients, but you do interact with the patients and the nurses, and you sometimes get to help make their day better. This is also good to check and see if you can stand to be around sick people (not everyone can. most of the volunteers in our department don't last 2 or 3 visits).

After making sure that you are academically on track (with the pre-reqs, etc) and tasting a little medicine, you can make a better decision.

For the record, a 3.6 overall gpa is fine, though not "supercompetitive." At many schools that is in-line with the average matriculant gpa. Also, I understand that engineers do pretty well in the admissions game, so I wouldn't worry too much as long as you get all your ducks in a row.

As far as the row of ducks goes, check out the guidelines for admissions and stuff posted on the AAMC & MCAT websites, as well as the sites for your favorite school(s). There are a LOT of ducks to line up, and many hoops to jump through to get in to med school.

Good luck

 

[DoctorPardi]

^^ he pretty much said it all, but one more thing to be aware of is all the schooling you will need to do.

Engineering from my understanding is usually or often just requires a BS. So 4-5 years and you're working. Medicine of course, is much different.

4 years of undergrad, maybe 5 if you need to catch up on some more pre-med electives.

4 years of medical school

4 years of residency, working 80 hours a week, and reading and studying thigns on your own time to keep up.

Then depending on your chosen specialty you'll either be done, or need to do a fellowship for 1-3 years. So that isn't to discourage you, but just so you know exactly what you're getting into.

 

[kimmcauliffe]

Sounds like you've got the first step down- realizing that you want to be a doc. Now, you have to do the hard part and take a look at all your courses (with the help of an advisor) and look at what classes you may need to take.

Clinical and shadowing experiences are really important, not only to show how interested you are in the field but also for your own benefit.

I would also suggest immersing yourself in all things medically related- societies, lobbying, publications, and make a couple of pre-med friends. Also gear yourself for ultra-competitive environments. And most importantly-

KEEP YOUR SENSE OF HUMOR!! 👍

 

[skypilot]

Don't forget you can do all your pre med courses as a one year postbacc program if necessary. So it is not necessary to complete them before you graduate. Just do ok on the MCAT and you are a shoe in for med school.

 

[mtDNA]

I think before you completely jump ship you should do some shadowing and whatever else you can to learn more about medicine. If you like working with/helping people, and you like medical sciences, those are all good signs, but since you have come so far with engineering, you need to be sure before you throw away your current oppurtunities. Be sure that you understand how the whole process works too: you will have 4 years of med school, and then you must do a residency of at least 3 years before you can become a full fledged physician.

As far as your GPA is concerned, it really doesnt matter all that much. An overall of 3.6 is just fine. What is your science GPA? If it is a low 3.0, you should make sure you do realy good when you take your premed science, so that you can raise that. The MCAT is the most important factor by far. Study your ass of for that. Also, it depends if you are a minority. If you are a white boy, you need high MCAT and great credentials to get in. If you are a minority, your MCAT and other credentials can be significantly weaker due to AA. If any minorities are offended by that statement, I apologize in advance because I do not mean for it to be offensive, it is simply the fact of the matter. Good luck.

 

[isobel]

Also, it depends if you are a minority. If you are a white boy, you need high MCAT and great credentials to get in. If you are a minority, your MCAT and other credentials can be significantly weaker due to AA. If any minorities are offended by that statement, I apologize in advance because I do not mean for it to be offensive, it is simply the fact of the matter.

wowzer... just gonna leave that bomb alone except to say that someone with an outlook like that will doubtlessly assume that that every minority he meets in school is a liiiiitle below him. maybe even without realizing he feels that way.



aaaaanyway, to the OP. i did biomed engin undergrad. i decided late to be premed (like as i was applying to engin jobs senior year). i took post bac premed courses for a couple of years while working full time in research and then applied. i had a 3.3 GPA undergrad (from an ivy. don't know if that matters). i got A's and A-'s post bac. i kicked MCAT ass. apparently, engineers have a tendency to to really well on the MCAT, at least according to the 2 advisors i've talked to. i also think that schools tend to cut you a lot of slack on your GPA if you studied engineering. in the end, the application season has gone well for me and i'm sure that if you take the time to do well on the MCAT and on premed courses, you'll be fine. oh, and get some experience in a hospital or something too.

good luck with whatever you choose.

 

[newguy357]

Interesting, because I had a very similar situation. Internship after 3rd year made me further realize that I hated that engineering type of work. Returned fall of fourth year, added pre-med. Graduated after 5th year and applied. Presently in a year off. Accepted for med. school this fall. I can tell you not to worry too much about the GPA, assuming you still have most of your pre-med classes left. An overall 3.6 isn't too bad, and pre-med courses are easy. So take your gen chem, ochem, biology, and maybe a biochem class and get an A in every class. After taking EE curriculum, you'll probably find that pre-med stuff is a joke. It's great because many of the more traditional pre-med people you'll be competing against are in their first or second year and are in a much easier degree program. So while they're stressing out you get an easy A.

 

[Dominion]

o now I have some questions that I hope you all can help me answer. First of all, should I return to my internship for a 2nd summer to be *absolutely* sure that engineering is not for me? Also, to be sure that medicine is for me, I will have to get some clinical experience...how would I go about doing this...does anyone have any recommendations on where I should volunteer/call up/shadow? How much clinical experience are medical schools looking for?

The easiest way, and the way that I did it was go to your cities local hospital websites. Usually they have an entire section devoted to volunteer work with some kind of contact info. Give them a call and let em know your availablity and they can set you up with something. I'm hoping I can maybe get some shadowing experience out of this as well.

 

[jc582]

I was in a similar situation as you like 2 years ago. I decided that I wanted to become a doctor after 3 years of EE and took bio/orgo during my last year of undergrad. Since you probably already took chemistry and physics (required for engineer for you?) you probably just need bio/orgo. The toughest part for me was to get my required 5-6 letters of recommendation and get enough clinical experience in a year ( I only had like 30 or so hours of it) while still taking EE classes. Actually that, and studying for the MCATs. I had around the same gpa as you and got into my state's public med school this round. Just make sure you do as well as possible in your pre-med classes so you have a high science GPA.

I would say that if you are sure Engineering is not for you and you need the time in the summer for volunteering/clinical experience, don't return for the internship. If you don't need the time, but can use the money, go for the internship. When do you plan on applying for medical school?