Hi all,
I’m really struggling to choose between going premed or engineering for college. I think I would enjoy working in the medical field more (I would go for anesthesiology) but I dislike biology as a class and not too enthused about the hundreds of thousands of debt + hellish working conditions until I’m 30+. I’m a lot better with engineering coursework such as higher level physics/chem or math, and I built my high school schedule around that end goal. I’d consider going for the best of both worlds and majoring in chemE to fulfill premed reqs but I’m worried that would tank my GPA for med school admissions if I did go that way. Any advice?
Why are you deciding now? You can major in anything (Classics, music), cover off the required Med school classes, and decide once you’ve got some actual course work, shadowing, etc. under your belt. Or start in engineering and then figure out if you enjoy what you are learning. If not, switch paths.
And anesthesiology? You are 8 years away from having enough knowledge to choose a specialty!!!
9 Likes
My daughter was a chem e major. There were a good number of pre-meds who were successful in gaining acceptances to med school within her peer group.
7 Likes
haha I know I’m kind of jumping the gun but I’ve always been interested in medicine (literally, not the field). I wanted to be a pharmacist for a really long time and would likely work in a similar field developing meds as a chemical engineer. I’ve always just found it super interesting
1 Like
You can be a pre med engineer. And then drop engineering if you don’t like it.
Starting as a non engineer and becoming an engineer later - not easy to do if even possible.
So if engineering is possible for you , go that route.
Pre med is not a major. All majors can be pre med.
10 Likes
I would pick a major that seems interesting to you and go from there. If engineering interests you, that’s a great choice. You can do a variety of professional programs with an engineering major (including med school or pharma type stuff).
If you don’t like biology, I don’t think you’ll enjoy being a physician. The best physicians I know all have a sharp curiosity for and delight in biological processes (even anesthesiologists), and that career is certainly not the right fit for most people.
ChemE is a great major in general, by the way. If you’re drawn to it, you can give it a shot. If you don’t like it, you can transfer into just about any other STEM major pretty easily.
The difference between chemistry and ChemE is a different topic. The short version is that a chemist would develop the drug. A chemE would figure out how to produce it and scale it up. I think you could accomplish your goals with the ChemE degree since you could get into pharma without a PhD. For those that take the chemistry path to a pharma career, a PhD is typical.
2 Likes
If you are a lot better with engineering coursework, why are you worried that majoring in engineering will “tank your GPA”?
Like you, I was interested in both pre-med and engineering, and like you I’m not a fan of biology as a class, or rote memorization type classes in general. As such, biology was more of challenge to get A grades, rather than chemistry or engineering classes. I completed requirements in both, but decided to pursue grad school for engineering rather than medicine. You don’t need to decide now.
2 Likes
biology is easy for me, i just find it extremely boring. I’m good at memorizing stuff and have a near photographic memory. I’m less concerned about not being able to maintain the engineering gpa and moreso about not having enough time for extracurriculars (such as clinicals and research) outside of studying. but I agree, I have like 2 more years to decide haha!
Faced with the same dilemma, my GS has chosen biomedical engineering. Might be something to think about.
2 Likes
Major in Chem E and study hard for the MCAT. The most likely path to becoming a medical doctor is to do well in school, and attend one of the public medical schools in your home state.
Looking back three decades, I wish I could have taken Calc II and III instead of Philosophy.
A high C or low B in Physics E&M, Organic Chem, or Calc II isn’t a death sentence for a med school application, just try to keep > 3.6. The MCAT score can balance out a couple of tenths on GPA.
1 Like
One thing to be aware of is that the path to becoming a physician is long (BA/BS+MD+residency = 11+ years before getting to work), expensive (beyond undergraduate costs, add $400+k for typical medical school unless you get into an in-state public) and involves passing one or more elite gateways (most obviously getting into any medical school, but also if your specialty is popular, matching into that specialty residency).
On the other hand, working as an engineer requires only a bachelor’s degree (4 years and bachelor’s degree costs), and a 3.0 college GPA is the typical cutoff by employers deciding which new graduate or intern applicants get interviewed first.
Chemical engineering does have significant overlap with the typical pre-med courses (math, physics, general chemistry, organic chemistry), although a chemical engineering major doing pre-med may have to supplement the major courses with additional biology and upper level biochemistry and genetics courses.
4 Likes
Hmm, interesting. I was a biology major and I don’t remember memorizing anything. Instead there was a lot of experiment design, problem sets, research analysis. Medical school, I agree, had some memorization (which I don’t tend to like either.)
4 Likes
As others also suggested, you don’t have to decide anything now. But based on what you said, it does seem to me like you would want to start in a first-year engineering program and see how that went. That doesn’t mean ruling out going to med school, but at the moment you don’t really seem all that enthusiastic about that path.
Speaking of which, I note there are many, many ways to be a health professional of some sort without going to medical school. Engineering is one such possibility, but there are also a variety of other licensed professionals, business types, government/policy types, scientists, and on and on.
Again, you don’t have to decide yet, but I think being aware there are so many other paths should help reduce any concerns you have about starting along the curriculum path that seems to make the most sense for you.
4 Likes
My experience in physics, math, and engineering classes was exams and problem sets were almost entirely based on solving calculation based problems, in many cases using calculus+ level math, There were a few basic formulas, but the focus was on applying those formulas to different situations in interesting ways, not on memorizing the formula. Engineering classes often allowed a “cheat sheet” in which one could write down anything and read during exam instead of needing to memorize.
Chemistry was a bit different, in that math level was lower, and some exams/problems placed a greater role on instinct/visualization, but again little memorization. I originally had planned on engineering rather than premed, but engineering shared first intro chem with premed. I really enjoyed intro chem and excelled at it (particularly the instinct part mentioned above), so I decided to continue on the rest of the premed track as well.
However, the pre-med biology courses were a different story all together. Unlike the other STEM classes above, there was little advanced calculation or calculation based problem solving in the intro premed biology classes I took. Instead there was lots of rote memorization. For example, one quarter of first year biology emphasized plants. We had exams in which we need to list names of parts of plants. I have no interest in arbitrary terminology of plants, so this was an area I found challenging in exams, more so than any of the other classes above. Rote memorization was by no means the entirety of intro biology, but it was the aspect that I found challenging.
As an example, the first college intro biology exam that came up in Google search is at https://herbarium.millersville.edu/100/Exam01_version01.pdf . It’s primarily what I consider memorization, rather than calculation or problem solving.
2 Likes
Interesting. Sounds like our experiences were quite different. But I do agree that advanced math was not part of the bio classes I took in undergrad. Just stats. (More math for those who went down a population genetics path etc., but that was not the mainstream.)
A typical assignment in Bio 101 was to come up with a question, plan an experiment, choose a stats method to analyze the data (basic stats, nothing fancy), and write a paper using standard format (abstract, introduction, methods and material etc.)
Tests in Bio 101 allowed a 1 page “cheat sheet” of notes. In more advanced classes the standard was open book tests.
But I agree that if my bio major experience had been memorization it would have been a real turn off. I would have hated memorizing the names of plant parts too!
I think for the OP who is trying to decide between premed and engineering, that they should try to find a college where there is little memorization if that is the style they prefer. This is a given in engineering, but it sounds like it’s not a given in Biology departments.
ETA: that multiple choice test you linked to above was nothing like any test I ever experienced. So this does speak to there being a wide variation in styles among Bio departments, at least in intro classes.
You should major in what you like.
In case of DD it was a bit impossible unfortunately.
She is in BS/DO program that limits majors. She wanted Psychology- was not allowed since it is not considered natural science. She tried Neuroscience, but it was extremely limited in her small college with very few teaching professors. As a result, she switched to Chemistry. She also does not like biology since she prefers logic to memorization.
The one thing I am not hearing is if the OP has any interest with patient care? Many physicians that I know always wanted to be a doctor. Period. But of course many different paths one can take now in medicine and the combo program I posted before is one such program and I find it really interesting.
I agree that if your good in math and have the interest then follow the engineering program but apply to medical school. At my sons school all first year classes like Chem, physics, math and so on are taken by both LSA, engineering, pre med, etc. You will find out soon enough. My son used to tell me students would walk out of the first /second quiz /test muttering “I am not going to be a doctor or engineer”.
But for those that stayed and made it through they have wonderful careers to look forward to.
1 Like
I think you should major in what you like and take the prerequisites.
You do not have to decide now whether you want to go to medical school. You will have a much clearer head once you shadow and gain exposure to patient care.
2 Likes
I agree with everyone’s opinions.
Here are additional things to consider.
- Engineering majors are often associated with a degree of grade deflation relative to humanities/social science majors and even some non-engineering science majors. That could be a a factor if one is borderline with grades and deciding to apply to medical school.
- Engineering courses tend to be very rigorous and time-consuming. Many courses have mandatory lab components (that are often scheduled at night). Satisfying your engineering major course requirements while simultaneously fulfilling the pre-med science requirements is do-able, but it will leave you very little time to participate in important pre-med extracurricular activities such as shadowing physicians, working or volunteering as a healthcare provider, doing research, and performing community service.
- If you plan to attend medical school without taking a gap year, you should take your MCATs by the spring of your junior year. Ideally, you should have completed all of the MCAT related STEM courses before then. Taking your MCATs during your senior year will push you back 1 year. Taking your MCATs after you graduate college will push you back 2 years. However, in 2023, 73.2% of entering medical students reported that they took 1 or more gap years before they started school.
- Doing well on the MCAT exam usually requires a lot of self-discipline and very good memorization skills.