Engineers in medical school?

[jake4608]

Hey everybody. I'm a third year biochemical engineering student, hoping to apply to med school next year. I was wondering if there are any current med students whose undergrad was in engineering. How are you guys finding medical school? Did you guys have any sort of advantage during the interview process because of your different background? I'd love to hear any insights you guys may have!

[future_doc]

For sure, there are engineering graduates in med school.

[CapillaryWave]

Pshh, engineers in medicine.

[silverwhale9]

Do a search maybe, like for "engineer" or something, I definitely remember seeing quite a few posts over the last few years on this topic. If you have specific questions feel free to PM me and I'll answer as best as I can (I went from eng -> med).

[aaronjw]

Nlegr did an Engineering UG and is now a resident.

 

It's def possible though not as common as other programs likely due to engineering being a good GPA killer for most people

[rmorelan]

I am a software engineer, there at least 2 other engineers in my class that I know of. All matched to competitive programs this year in CARMS.

[toodledo]

I am thinking of switching to Comp Sci. Would you say it is harder to get a good GPA in comp sci as compared to something like biology? If I switch I will not be able to take any other courses relevant to the MCAT. So rmorelan, how much did your choice of undergrad affect your GPA and MCAT preparation?

[NLengr]

Nlegr did an Engineering UG and is now a resident.

 

It's def possible though not as common as other programs likely due to engineering being a good GPA killer for most people

 

That's correct. I was an engineer in a former (and younger) life.

 

Advantages:

-Engineering actually lets you get a real job that makes good money and has pretty good security.

-Fun program. Good camaraderie. People are encouraged to help each other.

-Great extra-curricular activities. If you like engineering, it's a blast.

-Work terms are paid, and usually paid well. I made enough money during undergrad to pay for my degree.

-Chance to travel and live somewhere new on a company's dime. I worked in another province, as well as in the North. I have worked in the Oil and Gas, mining, Pulp and Paper and Hydro-electric industries. It was fun, and I have a great understanding of lots of different things now.

-Unique education blends well into medicine. Engineering is about taking science and applying it to fix real world problems. You adapt your solutions to fit the real world situation. Just like medicine. Engineers tend to be much better at this early on in medical school than the science/arts undergrad med students (they eventually catch up).

-Awesome cool iron ring at the end.

 

Disadvantages:

-Engineering is VERY hard. It's a professional program (like medicine, law, dentistry, pharm etc.). Expect to work extremely hard to try to keep a good GPA.

-You may not get a good GPA, despite hard work. Engineering students are very very smart in general. It makes the curve hard to get on top of. I busted my ass during engineering, but I was also very lucky to do as well as I did.

-Fail-out rate for most schools is very high. At my school, if you failed a course, you repeated the entire year. For example, I started engineering with a class of ~250 (made from 500 applicants or something crazy). Of those who started with me, ~135 graduated with me. The rest failed out. They then quit, or repeated 1-2 years and graduated late. The programs are designed to let many people in and whittle it down over the first few years by failing out the weakest students.

-Year round classes and work terms are not uncommon. From the time I started engineering I was either in class or on work term. No time off.

-Programs tend to be 5 years long. Extra year before medicine starts. You may be able to do it in 4 if you don't do a work term, but I would advise against this. If you need to go out and get a job when you are done, a work term is very valuable.

-Program is not set up to make doctors. Stuff like Bio and biochem will likely not be covered (unless you do biomedical eng.), so you will need to learn that stuff on your own for the MCAT. It may be hard to fit the MCAT in to your schedule.

-Since it's a long, difficult process to become an engineer, there is a real risk you will not want to continue on with another 6-9 years of education after you are done engineering.

 

All that being said, I am happy with the course I took. But honestly, I would hesitate to recommend it to anyone unless they absolutely could not see themselves doing anything else.