Rice BioE or ChemE to Med School?

cyborg939 · 11-07-2010, 12:13 PM

Does anyone know how successful Rice engineering students are in the med school admissions process?

Antarius · 11-07-2010, 01:17 PM

Rice has a very good placement rate. Basically, if you do well you will get in.

silentsailor · 11-09-2010, 01:07 PM

I would discourage choosing to pursue an engineering degree solely to improve your chances in med school. If that's all you're doing it for, and you don't find the material and process engaging, you'll be eaten alive.

demonsword55 · 11-09-2010, 03:16 PM

Yeah neither of those are for the faint of heart, especially BioE. I think that solely in terms of med school you could just as easily do Biochem, or chem, etc.

cyborg939 · 11-11-2010, 09:35 AM

I know an engineering degree is not optimal for med school admissions, but I'm not 100% sure that I actually want to be a doctor. I've always been interested in engineering and if I don't go to med school, I honestly can't see myself being anything but an engineer.

@silentsailor I'm definitely not pursuing engineering to improve my chances. I'm doing it so I can keep my options open.

Antarius · 11-11-2010, 10:07 AM

Then by all means be an engineer. Med schools also will consider the major's difficulty etc when applying. A few of my friends went to med school after being engineers.

Start as an engineer and see how you like it

silentsailor · 11-12-2010, 02:45 AM

Yeah then I definitely agree with Antarius. The intro classes are similar for premeds and engineers anyway, so it shouldn't be a problem. BIOE is definitely more relevant than CHBE for medical applications; our global health program in particular is really stellar, and it's definitely possible to work on medical applications, instrumentation design, drug development, tissue engineering, etc with or without being pre-med

(Just so you know where I'm coming from, I'm a junior bioe minoring in global health and I've never been premed)

Antarius · 11-12-2010, 10:03 AM

Im a CHBE who was not premed either. Just letting you know.

silentsailor has a good point about bioE being more relevant. It appears that more people take that route. BioChem is also very popular as a major to go with being premed.

wobudong · 11-15-2010, 10:46 PM

BioE is not for the faint-hearted, but the discipline and work ethic required to do well make BioE a very good boot camp to prepare for medical school. It will also give you an advantage for the research components of med school and residency.

CalciumRich · 11-18-2010, 02:43 PM

Heck, you can be a music major and stand a very good chance at getting into med school.