As far as what type of engineering, he really doesn’t know. He said he thought probably mechanical engineering but when I asked him what he thought that was he had a very general description. I actually just sent him a YouTube video about the various kinds of engineering that pinpointed salary, various types of classes required, and lifestyle type things like whether it had opportunities to be a field job (civil) or a lab job (chemical).
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Excellent thing to know about the STEP program. Will look into that and see whether applications are closed. My current GT engineer did a program at Michigan and NC State the summer before his senior year in high school. It really helped solidify not only his interest in engineering, but his desire to be a civil engineer. That made college application process much simpler!
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Sure, but pre-health advisers at schools that don’t gatekeep with committee letters (whether they give committee letters to all, or don’t use committee letters) do give verbal feedback to all applicants about their potential candidacy and where they might find their best fit. Students will know if their potential med school candidacy is ‘futile’.
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That’s why many ENG schools give you a year(or more) before you have to declare a major.
How about Georgetown if he ends up choosing med? They have an Early Assurance Program to their med school that he can apply to after sophomore year.
Early Assurance Program (EAP) with Georgetown SOM | Pre-Health Studies | Georgetown University
However, be careful of schools where this becomes a weed-out process (e.g. Texas A&M where some engineering majors effectively require first year engineering students to earn a 3.75 college GPA to get into the major).
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Just a point of clarity that many chem es go into industry and do not have “lab jobs”. Mine is going into the polymer industry on a track to manage entire plants. She did work a summer doing R&D and it wasn’t her thing. She has a large group of chem e friends and only one is going to follow a PhD track to do “lab work”. ; )
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I’d disagree with this, but also would not recommend UGA for engineering for a different reason.
Engineering classes are to a significant extent similar at any ABET acredited program. Sure there’s a boost to have Caltech/MIT/Stanford on your resume, but employers view the majority of engineering programs as roughly equivalent. The skills are testable in an hour interview. So I don’t think UGA grads are at any disadvantage when looking for jobs.
But that’s the rub. First they have to become UGA engineering majors. And unfortunately it looks like UGA does not directly admit frosh into the major. Instead, similar to some nursing programs, you need to apply once you’ve been a student at UGA and they screen applicants. Details at Admissions Requirements | UGA College of Engineering This means a kid who at a different school may have stumbled the first semester or two but then catches on will end up having a great future as an engineer. At UGA they won’t be an engineer unless they xfer.
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My D is a freshman at W&L on a pre-med track (chem major). Feel free to PM if you have questions.
While I don’t know much about engineering, I know most recommend ABET accredited programs. W&L’s is not so make sure your son is prepared to really dive into that when on campus. Perhaps reach out in advance to request some one-on-one with a professor in that department.
Good luck with No. 3!
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Believe me…people major in engineering and decide to become doctors. It happens. I’m not sure it’s “unusual”. Probably not common. But that doesn’t make it unusual.
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We know of a couple physician friends who majored in engineering. One from Vandy.
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My D is a junior bioengineering major at Rice. Sounds like you had another son apply there so you are familiar with the school. In bioengineering at Rice about 1/3 of the students are pre-med. BUT, it’s not an easy path to take since it’s a difficult major. A positive at Rice is you don’t have to declare a major until end of sophomore year and you don’t have to apply to the school of engineering. My D has a good friend who was some sort of liberal arts major freshman year and then switched to engineering sophomore year.
Yes, Rice is in a large city but I don’t think it feels urban. My daughter likes that it is a pretty, self-contained campus but she has access to all a city offers if she wants it.
Your son seems to have good stats that would fit at Rice but it’s definitely a reach for everyone that applies.
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Yes I think he needs to definitely put Rice on his list. I had to twist my oldest’s arm to visit and he only agreed because we were visiting Texas anyway. Both my brother and his wife went to Rice and it is a cool little place. He liked it way more than he thought he would and ended up applying, and it actually ended up in the middle of his list which I think surprised him. He never wanted a small school but that one made the cut.
We definitely picked the right weekend to visit, because it was the weekend that they do Beer Bike:joy:. I remember that from my brothers days, although I think they have since switched to water 
Lots going on, fun atmosphere, obviously smart kids that like to have a good time. Everybody we met seemed to love it. Definitely worth seeing because it is different, no Greek life, assigned to your dorm or house randomly, live there every year except I understand a lot of people have to move off one year, etc. Great fit for the right kid! And I personally loved the museum district. Thought it was very charming and you don’t feel like you’re in the middle of skyscrapers.
You make some good points. My freshman UGA kid has a roommate who is an engineering major. They were friends from high school, the same high school my youngest goes to, and he is doing extremely well in his classes. Smart kid but I feel like engineering classes would be manageable at UGA, and likely easier than at Georgia Tech (also have a kid there). Getting a GPA high enough to be admitted to the engineering school is definitely doable. I guess the challenge to some extent is that he will have already placed out of some of the intro Calc classes, as well as chemistry and perhaps physics. He will then be starting with Calc 3 and engineering classes right off the bat. Something to think about!
Definitely agree about the employability coming out of UGA engineering. Where I see the difference is in internship availability. Like I mentioned, I have a kid at Georgia Tech who has two internships with very large companies under his belt. At the beginning of his junior year he started to look for an internship for the summer and the level of interest is really kind of insane. I feel like they are literally throwing job offers at him😂. I think that is the benefit of the Georgia Tech degree - getting your foot in the door. However, at both of these internships he was working g with interns from UGA (and Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, etc). The moral of the story is I see it is that you can end up in the same place but it may take a little more foot work to get there from UGA.
Beer Bike weekend…yikes!
It was the only school my D didn’t visit before applying so we quick rushed down after she was admitted. The kids there are happy and very “nice”. We were actually struck by how friendly everyone was. But, yes, it’s sort of unique and you have to be OK with that residential college, no-Greek experience.
Good luck to you and your son!
Agree. H and I are MDs and we know many Engineers from our undergrad institution who went into medicine, and my D is a freshman who knows many “premed” engineers. It may depend on the school, in addition to the students’ capabilities to shine in their college peer group.
My husband and sister are both MDs as well. Gone are the days where even excellent students apply to med school and are routinely admitted on the first try. With GPA being a huge focus, I do have concerns about applying to med school with an engineering degree plus adding med school prerequisites on top of that. Although you can still get a 3.8 plus in engineering it makes more sense to me to do med school pre requirements plus a lighter major since apparently med schools don’t care what you major in (at least according to those in the know that I have spoken with). My sister’s philosophy was to figure out what the football players majored in and major in that 
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