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.