Engineering + Pre-Med

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a pre-med, not engineering, just curious, is goal to have a good backup career option or real interest in both and torn?

I do believe that's what OP was thinking/asking before this thread got hijacked. The path to becoming a doctor is so difficult, OP is thinking working as an engineer if becoming a doctor is unattainable.

Yep.

Well, to answer from my kid’s experience. It’s not a common option at my kid’s Ivy, but school also isn’t known for engineering. That being said, probably one of the easier to make it work though for that reason.

Premed is such a challenging path with so much required outside of difficult classwork. Engineering seems similar in that project teams are such a big deal it seems? It would be very difficult I’d presume and probably guarantee gap years to get required hours completed would be my guess, but I understand the thought process. It’s just difficult to go all-in as needed and choose another difficult major without a lot of overlap in classes or requirements.

However it seems, it does not require gap years any more often than non-engineers provided they are BME or some other subfield with a lot of overlap. Gap years are not more common for premed engineers at my alma mater or my kid’s (different) elite school.

Great, just so common now. Mine also doesn’t want one. Was just speculating on possible issues for OP, don’t claim to know and I’m sure it all varies widely by school and down to the particular student and their drive/capacity.

[Anonymous]

Same person talking back-and-forth?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it possible to take all the required pre-med classes while completing an engineering degree, preferably in 4 years?

Which classes are typically more difficult, engineering or med school prerequisites?

Engineering courses overlap with premed. Premeds do not have to take thermodynamics, quantum, or fluid mechanics which are much harder than orgo and physics (generally thought to be the hardest four premed semesters). Engineers who are not premed often have to take orgo and phyiscs too(chemE, biomolecular, materials).

Of course it is possible to be an engineer and a premed. I went to a top school that has engineering and many of my undergrad friends graduated in 4 yrs, BME, and are all physicians now. To be fair they often had an easier time with the MCAT because they had many more difficult courses than we did as regular premeds.
My premed son is at a different ivy, he is aiming MDPhD and will easily finish in 4 yrs, as do essentially all in Engineering there, unless they choose to do a 4+1 masters (not a typical premed option though some do). The medical school admission rate is very high from BME at this school, about 90%. A 5th year for undergrad is almost unheard of for engineering or any major there, premed or not. Courses are guaranteed though, so there is no registration issue at play which may occur at large schools.
Bio/molecular or biomedical engineering overlaps the most with premed. Engineers generally take 5 classes a semester; students who are non-engineering bio or chem majors (or any arts&sci major) take 4 most semesters. One of DC's friends is Materials Eng and premed; that seems to overlap well too due to chem, orgo, and physics requirements.

Premed coursework. This flow assumes no AP or other place-out, though at top schools many can skip a couple of semesters--upper level engineering is plenty of extra science coursework so med schools do not care if they skip intro physics or bio. Non engineers who skip intros due to AP are often expected to take upper levels in the same discipline.
1st year: gen chem 2 semesters, math 2 semesters(calc2 &stats or upper math if ahead). physics 1&2 is needed for engineers, leaves 2 openings per semester for intro engineering requirements and writing/language/humanities electives. For most non-premed engineering students they take a similar load to this.
2nd yr: orgo 1&2, GenBio/upper level bio (or could do physics here and bios first year, depending on the school), leaves 3 openings per semester for engineering coursework, and rest of math needed, which may overlap with those already taken.
3rd year: biochem 1, upperlevel BME counts as upper level bios, psychology, leaving a lot of room each semester for engineering courses and humanities electives.
4th year: wide open for the rest of engineering, and all premed reqs done so that one could take the MCAT after 3rd year.

Sorry but what a crock of BS. Engineers do not typically take orgo or any quantum mechanics. Engineers tend to take an intro and intermediate mechanics course, intro E&M, thermo, intro chemistry and an electronics course

False.
Organic chem is required for chemE at both my kids T10s and is listed for materials E in some places. Its listed for molecular Engineering in other top places. Quantum mechanics is part of the curriculum for multiple different Engineering disciplines. E&M the same E&M the physics majors take is required for all.
Top Engineering school programs go beyond minimal ABET.
Even in Engineering where orgo is not required, doing it in addition to engineering is simply not that hard for bright science minded kids. Orgo is less difficult than many engineering courses.

Other than a special quantum engineering degree, I can't think of any engineering degree even at a top school that requires quantum mechanics. And at top schools, the engineers take a different, easier EM course than the physics majors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't take orgo or quantum.

- ME

+1, I’m not even sure why you’d need either.

+1. One or more of posters think what they are talking about but really don't.

Orgo and quantum are not needed in some engineering fields but they are needed in materials and chemE at DS school. Who cares? The point of many here is that engineering and premed can overlap courses. BME and molecular E are very relevant to modern medicine so no surprise many students do both. Some med schools have added some basic engineering to the med school curriculum. More will follow as surgery and radiology become more and more reliant on engineering technology.

Even for chemE and matsci, no engineering degree requires the same quantum mechanics course taken by the physics majors. At best, it's physical chemistry.

[Anonymous]

QM is for physics nerds. Not for engineers. Orgo is not for engineers either.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I didn't take orgo or quantum.

- ME[/quote]
+1, I’m not even sure why you’d need either. [/quote]

+1. One or more of posters think what they are talking about but really don't. [/quote]

I placed into Orgo, but didn't it take it because I wasn't interested. Some of my friends did. They liked the challenge and they were good at it. They terrified some of the premed in the class.

-ME

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know kids who did engineering and then went to med school. You probably will have to do a few summer classes to fit everything in

Me as well. Took two summers to finish. Ivy engineering to Ivy med school.

[Anonymous]

are they doing this because they want to do biomedical engineering?

[Anonymous]

People are severely sidetracked. I have no concern that an engineering student can get through premed course requirements ( and take quantum mechanics for whatever reason) and get As, but where are they going to find the time to do all the rest needed for med school apps?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People are severely sidetracked. I have no concern that an engineering student can get through premed course requirements ( and take quantum mechanics for whatever reason) and get As, but where are they going to find the time to do all the rest needed for med school apps?

That was my point earlier, with the amount of hours expected for clinical, research, and volunteer it’s tough. I’m
sure some do it, but it won’t be easy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People are severely sidetracked. I have no concern that an engineering student can get through premed course requirements ( and take quantum mechanics for whatever reason) and get As, but where are they going to find the time to do all the rest needed for med school apps?

It's just getting A's for all the other engineering classes which will be tough.

[Anonymous]

I think it all depends on how bad you want it and if shooting for a top medical school. There isn’t really a bump for engineering, a possible slight nod to understanding a lower gpa better. Gaining acceptance at a top medical school will come from top MCAT and the quality and depth of all the other stuff. So having a strong degree is great and makes sense, it could hinder outcome if purely focused on becoming a doctor.

[Anonymous]

^ not talking about a BME major at Hopkins, referring to an engineering student at pick a state university or mid-level private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a pre-med, not engineering, just curious, is goal to have a good backup career option or real interest in both and torn?

I do believe that's what OP was thinking/asking before this thread got hijacked. The path to becoming a doctor is so difficult, OP is thinking working as an engineer if becoming a doctor is unattainable.

Yep.

Well, to answer from my kid’s experience. It’s not a common option at my kid’s Ivy, but school also isn’t known for engineering. That being said, probably one of the easier to make it work though for that reason.

Premed is such a challenging path with so much required outside of difficult classwork. Engineering seems similar in that project teams are such a big deal it seems? It would be very difficult I’d presume and probably guarantee gap years to get required hours completed would be my guess, but I understand the thought process. It’s just difficult to go all-in as needed and choose another difficult major without a lot of overlap in classes or requirements.

BME and ChemE majors with good GPAs and MCATs do well in med school admissions. The AO at med schools know that getting a 3.8 as a BME/ChemE is much more difficult than as a Psychology major with a Spanish minor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:[youtube]

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Anonymous wrote:A thread of ChemE students and grads explaining that you don’t need Ochem at all: https://www.reddit.com/r/ChemicalEngineering/comments/ji309v/is_organic_chemistry_course_important_for/. Ochem has really nothing to do with what an engineer does, at all. Thermodynamics is extremely important, however.

But most Chem E programs require it (at least in the T75 schools)

My Chem E major would agree that it's not really used. They hated it, but loved thermo (which is a good thing for a chem E major).

They don’t.

Well the 8-10 programs my kid applied to required at least Orgo 1, many required Orgo 1&2

Same with mine, just checked all 14 programs they applied to.

yeah the previous Troll is clueless about the Chem E Programs.