<p>I'm considering majoring in aerospace engineering when I get to college, but I would also like to go to medical school. My current plan right now is to major in an area that will teach me to think and give me the skillset to think of innovative solutions/products. I will fulfill my pre-med requirements on the side, and apply to medical school and go the physician route to establish myself as an oncologist; while I'm in med school/residency/fellowship/etc., I'll work on establishing a company either in pharmaceuticals or space exploration or something of that nature. Basically, I'm planning to study to become an oncologist while establishing a company that delivers significant innovation in a certain field (haven't decided which field yet). I think majoring in some type of engineering or physics will give me the tools necessary to be successful in this venture, so I'm considering aerospace. However, I'm worried that aerospace will wreck my GPA and screw up my med school chances. Should I just major in pure physics or some other type of engineering? </p>
<p>I think you are biting off much more than you can chew. Aerospace engineering (an engineering or physics in general) are all going to be difficult and make it substantially more difficult to get into med school, and once you’re in med school, the idea that you’ll have the time to found a company is pretty out there. If your goal is to found a space company, why are you bothering with medical school?</p>
<p>Like i say to every engineer who wants to be a doctor. unless you are a genius who can keep a 3.3 or better GPA. you can only have one or the other generally speaking. </p>
<p>there is a reason engineering is called GPA killer.</p>
<p>You should major in Biology and take some harder electives. I know most of the AeroE classes here at Iowa State are only for Aerospace Engineering majors but you could buy some textbooks and do some reading on your own. </p>
<p>Fundamentals of Aerodynamics by John D Anderson Jr would be a good starter book for you.</p>
<p>Sorry my friend, but it is either AeroE or Medical School.</p>
<p>I’d be surprised if engineering is significantly more of a “GPA killer” than the more common pre-med majors, like biology and chemistry. I’ve seen several publications that show these typical pre-med majors have as low an average GPA as engineering; and being typical pre-med majors, they have a lot of talented persons in those majors (like engineering majors). For example, the study at <a href=“http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1141&context=workingpapers”>http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1141&context=workingpapers</a> found chemistry had the lowest mean GPA of all included majors, and biology was in the bottom 5. The school publication at <a href=“http://www.wssu.edu/administration/assessment-and-research/data/grad-stats/06-08/avg-gpa-by-major.pdf”>http://www.wssu.edu/administration/assessment-and-research/data/grad-stats/06-08/avg-gpa-by-major.pdf</a> shows the same pattern, with the typical pre-med majors having low average GPAs. A while back, someone posted graduating GPA by major in the UC system at <a href=“Average GPA of Graduating Students by Major - UC Transfers - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/uc-transfers/900945-average-gpa-of-graduating-students-by-major-p1.html</a> . Some engineering majors did have a lower GPA than the overall average, but no engineering majors had as low an average GPA as the typical pre-med majors of biology and chemistry.</p>
<p>At many selective colleges, the majority of biomedical engineering graduates go to medical school following graduation. Some colleges tailor their biomedical program to fit with pre-med requirements because so many are pre-med. Engineers who do apply to med school have a higher rate of med school admission than the overall population, which may partially relate to their MCAT score. One publication found that both biomedical and electrical engineering majors averaged ~4 points higher on their MCAT than biology majors. I’d expect that the aerospace engineering requirements would cover the math and physics portion of the pre-med requirements, so you would need to take bio and chem as electives. It’s certainly possible, but you probably wouldn’t have a lot of room for electives in other areas of interest besides the pre-med requirements.</p>
<p>When I was in college, I pursued both the engineering and pre-med tracks since I was unsure which field I wanted to pursue. I ended up majoring in EE while also doing the pre-med requirements. The pre-med requirements did not delay my graduation. Instead I completed a BS + MS in EE in slightly under 4 years (had ~1 year’s worth of transfer credits), with a high enough GPA to enter two grad programs at Stanford via their co-terminal masters program.</p>
<p>The main issue is that engineering, other than perhaps chemical or biomedical, may not have enough overlap with pre-med courses* and free electives to take the additional pre-med courses to allow doing both in 8 semesters of normal course loads, for a student who comes in with little or no useful credit (from college courses taken while in high school, or AP/IB/A-level credit for non-pre-med courses or those which the student will take more advanced courses for his/her major anyway).</p>
<p>*Calculus and physics are typically covered; a semester or year of general chemistry may also overlap, as may a semester of statistics if included in the major. But biology and organic chemistry typically need to be taken as free electives. English composition and any social studies (e.g. psychology, sociology) that may be required by medical schools would have to be chosen from the humanities and social studies breadth courses.</p>