Engineering student with a few questions

[yoheyoh]

Hello!

 

I am an electrical engineering student(going into 3rd year) at UWaterloo, and I am thinking about the prospects of going the med school route. I am doing fairly well in my program(92% avg, top of class), and I enjoy/do fairly well in the science/maths, so marks are really not an issue. In terms of med school preqs, I am having trouble fitting them in my schedule(classes from 8-6 everyday), so if I do decide to go through this path, I will probably need to come back after I graduate. Also, in terms of ECs, all of mine are engineering related and have no real relevance to medicine. So, my questions are:

 

1) In general, what/how many of which courses would I need to meet the requirements of the medical schools out there in Canada/US.

 

2) What could I possibly do as an engineering major, to get an ECs relevant to med school?

 

3)Is it even worth for me to go through this path? In hindsight, if I had to start university again, I'd probably go bio, but can't do anything about it now. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy engineering but I can't help think I made the wrong decision, going into engineering instead of bio.

 

Thanks for reading & help/insight

[rmorelan]

Hello!

 

I am an electrical engineering student(going into 3rd year) at UWaterloo, and I am thinking about the prospects of going the med school route. I am doing fairly well in my program(92% avg, top of class), and I enjoy/do fairly well in the science/maths, so marks are really not an issue. In terms of med school preqs, I am having trouble fitting them in my schedule(classes from 8-6 everyday), so if I do decide to go through this path, I will probably need to come back after I graduate. Also, in terms of ECs, all of mine are engineering related and have no real relevance to medicine. So, my questions are:

 

1) In general, what/how many of which courses would I need to meet the requirements of the medical schools out there in Canada/US.

 

2) What could I possibly do as an engineering major, to get an ECs relevant to med school?

 

3)Is it even worth for me to go through this path? In hindsight, if I had to start university again, I'd probably go bio, but can't do anything about it now. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy engineering but I can't help think I made the wrong decision, going into engineering instead of bio.

 

Thanks for reading & help/insight

 

hey! There are actually some schools with no prereqs and some with a few - generally I was surprised how few there are. If you go to OMSAS and get the program guide you can see the ones for ontario - 1.0 credits in humanities, 1.0-2.0 credits in biological science and then chemistry. For Canada it is easier in some ways than the US (which may require calculus and english for a full year). Others from Waterloo has used the DE program to pick up a lot of these in coop terms etc.

 

I am a software engineer and meet other types of engineers all the time. Applying engineering in a medical application, coop jobs, any form of research, as well as volunteering at any health care centre. Engineers sometimes have advantages as the background allows for more opportunities in an overall less grounded environment.

 

as whether it is worth it? I think so - ask me again in a few months when I get my residency match results

[future_doc]

in terms of ECs, all of mine are engineering related and have no real relevance to medicine.

 

2) What could I possibly do as an engineering major, to get an ECs relevant to med school?

 

ECs are about your your personal growth and development, demonstrating your active citizenship and traits required of physicians such as leadership, management, critical thinking and problem solving, ethical thinking, communication skills, compassion, etc. your activities need not be related to medicine per se, rather they should reflect those attributes.

 

One of my most important activity was befriending a middle aged, junior diabetic, wheelchair bound neighbor who was on dialysis, chatting with her and helping with daily activities such as fetching the mail, grocery shopping, putting in the laundry and taking her for wheeled walks to the park do she could see the children play and chat with them, until her untimely death.