<p>You don't hear about many engineering majors doing pre-med...is there a reason for this? It seems like they'd be caught up on most of the science, plus typical pre-med courses fit right into most engineering curriculums.</p>
<p>I ask this because I'm and envi eng. major, I've always dreamed about med school but after having a little extra free time this summer and researching the typical majors that get in, I'm getting a bit scared that I'm in the wrong major for it all. Don't get me wrong, I'm not picking my major to see what's more marketable to medical schools, I'm just concerned that the only thing I can see myself doing besides becoming a doctor...is being an engineer.</p>
<p>My dad did biochem eng major back in th day. He said it was complete hell cuz he would study almost all day. The reason of this is because it was a back-up plan in case he didnt get in med school. </p>
<p>Good thing he got in :p. Anyways, it takes ton of work from what I heard.</p>
<p>Most pre-meds choose not to do an engineering major mainly because it's harder (requires more rigorous courseload, harsher curves, etc.) but if you really think that you can manage a good GPA and maintain steady ECs, then you should be alright.</p>
<p>I'm actually in the same position as you. I love engineering, and honestly, if medicine really doesn't work out for me, engineering would be the next best thing (and thus, an engineering degree is a good one to fall back on). I'm not gonna lie; it takes a lot of work, but I have yet to even consider dropping it.</p>
<p>I thought about going that route but I realized that people in Engr barely make 3.0 and are happy with that. Indeed, a very rigorous major. For any pre-med out there, just major in biology. If you try in it, you can get a very high GPA.</p>
<p>Are there boosts in medical school admissions because engineering is harder? I am late-switch to pre-med, and I feel like all my hard work in maintaining a 3.75 in one of Cornell's toughest engineering majors (applied physics) should count for something. I am mostly afraid of going up against 3.9 biology or liberal arts majors who admittedly did not have to work as hard or get graded as harshly for their major, and having med schools always pick the 3.9. How would it be fair to have the exact same criterion, especially when I had to go through a long process just to get into my major (within the engineering school even), simply because it consumes so much time and energy relative to other majors?</p>
<p>Medical school admissions is not meant to be fair. Medical school admissions is about doing the best job they can to find the best doctors.</p>
<p>I'm not saying they won't make a slight adjustment to GPA. They might, they might not, I don't really know. But if they do, it's not for "fairness" that they do this. They don't care about fair, and they shouldn't care about fair.</p>
<p>Given a AEP major who had to labor day and night to keep a 3.9 at Cornell and a bio major who coasted through his "easy" classes, got some clinical experience at Cayuga Med, and tutored disadvantaged kids in Ithaca, med schools would rather take the bio major.</p>
<p>I would agree that med schools should focus on finding kids that are more well-rounded, and so I too would take the bio major who had time to do those other things. But I was asking just about grades, and I didn't say any other experiences I've had. </p>
<p>I have heard that some med schools put MCATs and GPA through a number cruncher that spits out a candidate's "numerical" score. I was just curious if this was a current practice, and if this is true, whether there are different weights given to schools or majors. </p>
<p>And norcalguy, I've seen you post a lot and I want to say congrats on your success. You never miss a chance to put your resume on the forums (such as your last post in this thread), but you use it to help others, so I don't mind it. At any rate, I was wondering how you got into clinical experience at Cayuga Med. What type of work did you do? Who did you contact for it? What types of time is required? I could be mistaken and you might not be referring to yourself, but I have a suspicion that YOU are the bio major who volunteered at Cayuga Med that med schools want so badly.</p>
<p>Edit: I rescind my statement about the "easy" bio classes. I really meant people who chose majors or classes based on chances of getting a higher GPA, just for med school. That person MAY chose bio, and would PROBABLY stray from AEP, but who knows. AEP guys have a bad habit of knowing that they work hard, but then assuming others don't. That's just simply not true, and I do not think that bio is easy at any rate. A 3.9 (or norcals 4+) is ALWAYS an achievement at difficult schools.</p>
<p>I know people with 4+ GPAs. Some of my semester GPAs have been over 4.0. I'm thinking that you might be right though that med schools don't see the 4.3 for A+ grades</p>
<p>The assumption is that an AEP major has to work harder (ie spend more time studying) and therefore he won't have enough time to devote to EC's. If you are able to maintain a 3.75 along with top-notch extracurriculars, then what's the problem? </p>
<p>At any rate, if you are truly smarter than a bio or English major, you will have plenty of places to demonstrate it (in the prereq classes that every premed has to take and on the MCAT). The problem is that many science majors lack the social/writing/reading skills that med schools value. That's a different kind of "smart." </p>
<p>So med schools want to not only see great performance in the "hard" science courses but they also want to see the engineer/bio/chem major demonstrate that they can explicate Faulkner or write an original historical research paper after combing through primary sources stored in Olin and Kroch.</p>
<p>EC's are definitely not a problem...and neither are my writing and social skills. I do have a decent amount of free time. My main worry is GPA. The average at my school is a 2.8...and I'm pulling around a 3.3 right now, its only my second year and I know I have time to get it up around a 3.4 or a 3.5. But from what I've heard and from other threads it seems like med schools don't really care that I go to an engineering school where everyone's gpa is generally lower than most other schools.</p>