Transitioning from engineering to biology

[mmapcpro]

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[RaiderNation]

What all those other people are telling you is bs. If you are the least bit intelligent, you should have no problem in the basic biology courses. If you study at all you should pull off A's no problem. It is alot memorization though, so if you put in the time then you get the grade. It's as simple as that.

 

[jred378]

Yeah, I agree with RaiderNation. Science courses are nothing but memorizing. You put in the time, you'll get the grade you want. Obviously getting A's in engineering classes shows you got what it takes.

 

[croco]

Those math and physics equations are 10X harder than any pre-req courses you will take for pre-dent. I cannot imagine going past calc 3. GEEZ!

 

[critterbug]

OK,

I second what everyone is saying. Intelligence plus hard work will take you a long way in the academic world. If you lack one, and you cannot compensate with the other, you will have a hard time in medical or dental school

You should have no problem with the Biology courses as long as you weren't one of those people who got those A's naturally without studying. For Biology courses, you will have to study. There is not as much problem solving in Biology, but others are right, you do have to know more facts.

I have heard about many intelligent people who are having a hard time in medical or dental school becasue they were just not used to working that hard. They say its like a marathon and you have to train yourself to learn gobs of information in a short amount of time

 

[critterbug]

Well then. Not only will you do great in your Bio classes, I would venture to guess that you will probably make the highest grades in the class.

And not only that, it seems like you enjoy helping others.

With that kind of work ethic, it seems like you will have no problem with the pre-med/pre-dent requirements. I wish you the best.

 

[critterbug]

I'll try to give you an example that will put all this in perspective for you.

When I took calculus based physics at my university, I was one of only a handful of Biology majors in the room. Most were Computer Science and Electrical Engineering majors. Now, that class was hard. VERY hard. But I was making the same high grades as those EE majors and sometimes even higher. Now, I would venture to guess that I worked much harder than most of those guys/gals, but I did what it took. I would like to think that I am somewhat of an analytical thinker, moreso than just a rote memorizer. In fact, I would always learn more when I would grasp a concept. And I did fine in my Bio classes.

So my point is. Do what it takes to get the A. You might have to work a little harder than those who have taken a lot of Bio classes. But so what. Your A will look just as good as theirs !!

 

[Turnpike]

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[critterbug]

Biology classes such as Anatomy/Physiology, Histology, Microbiology, etc do require a lot of memorization.

Biology classes such as Molecular genetics, Biochemisty, Biophysical Chemistry, etc still require alot of memorization but with incorporation of problem solving and analytical/conceptional thinking

That was my experience anyway.

I assume engineering classes are more analytically intense than Biology courses. Again, this is an assumption, since I have never been an engineering major.

 

[grettlin2]

mmapcpro.
I was an Computer Science major before and I did work several years after I decided to study dentistry. I was exactly in the same shoe as you three years ago. I worried and did not know if I could do it. I also asked a lot of questions to the people who were bio major at that time. What I wanted to tell you is go for it!!! You can handle computer science courses well then you can do bio, chem, and physics well!
I am not saying CS is harder than natural science course, but both of them require hard working and diligent. If you get good grades in your major, then don't worry to switch your road. You will be fine.
I think the admission committee like diverse background in their class. I just finish pre-requried courses and receive 7 interviews so far. I think I do pretty well in DAT is another factor. Just study hard and demostrate your ability to the committee. If you decide to change your road, just do it right now and you will be glad you make this decision.

 

[Pre-Dent-David]

If the question is "will you be ok in bio if you were successful in those other challenging courses" the answer is probably yes. You would not have a problem going to professional school with an engineering degree though so you may still want to stay an eng.

 

[zimaad]

I can speak from a little experience in that I made the switch from engineering to Bio/pre-dent also. I obtained a bs and ms in mech eng and worked a few years. I went back to school last January and have been taking pre-req's and pre-dent classes. I've done really well thus far in all my classes. My point is, don't sweat it...you'll do great. You'll have to get used to making up flash cards and reading books that don't have every paragraph broken up by an equation or two. You'll probably find that in organic chem reactions and biology concepts that require understanding of step-wise processes, you'll see these things really well....not to mention the statistics involved in genetics. Anyways, best of luck to you.