Put my mind to ease- Premed with Engineering?

Most persons who apply to medical school do not matriculate. It’s good to have a back up plan in a career you’d enjoy, rather than just choose a major that you think is easiest to get high grades or has the most overlap with pre-med requirements. I also wouldn’t assume you’ll get higher grades in a particular major because the average major GPA differs by 0.1 or whatever. I did EE+pre-med and found it easier to get high grades in my objective engineering analytical problems than I did on subjective humanities papers, even though non-STEM types would generally say the reverse. Different persons have different specialties.

However, one legitimate concern is course scheduling. An ABET accredited engineering major usually requires a large number of units for the major, leaving relatively few electives for pre-med classes. It can be done, but it usually doesn’t leave room for many electives besides major + pre-med. You mentioned you like Penn. Penn solves this dilema by offering 2 related majors – ABET accredited Bioengineering and non-ABET Biomedical Science. Penn says Biomedical Science’s purpose is " to allow students to pursue dual degrees and other paths, such as premedical education, more easily", while Bioengineering is more focused on pursuing a related engineering career.

You might favor colleges that give you the flexibility to easily switch majors, so you don’t need to decide on a major that you’ve never taken a class in while you are in high school, or decide whether you want to be an engineer or doctor before haven taken any engineering or pre-med classes. At my college, the engineering and pre-med students took similar foundation classes during freshman year. Sophomore year would also likely be similar with the potential majors you listed. This gives a lot of time to make the important decisions that may change the direction of your career and life.