<p>Hi, I plan on going onto medical school after college (currently a senior). Is material sciences engineering a good major to prepare for medical school? The main factors I'm worried about are:
1. flexibility-can I take a lot of non-required courses in other majors such as economics or biology, as well as to complete the course requirements for medical school?
2. MCAT- will material sciences engineering prepare me for MCAT, or do I need to study it independently?
3. Difficulty- I've heard engineering majors like Chemical Engineering bring down one's gpa by 0.1 on average. Is this true for MSE too, or will I be able to keep a 3.7-ish?
4. Will I have a disadvantage in applying for medical schools over Biomedical or Chemical engineers?</p>
<p>I’m ignorant, but here are my thoughts:</p>
<p>Materials science/engineering is not a good major to prepare you for medical school. Medical school requires a year of physics, but also a year of chemistry, a year of organic chemistry, and some biology. If you’re interested in materials science, I say go for it. Remember, the vast majority of students who enter college planning on med school never make it there. Backup plans (or even changes of plans) aren’t a bad thing.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Materials science/engineering may have less flexibility than other majors and won’t overlap with many med school requirements</p></li>
<li><p>Everyone needs to study for the MCAT. MatSci definitely won’t prepare you.</p></li>
<li><p>Engineering is considered by some to be hard and GPA-lowering. Still, there are successful students in every major. I know plenty of engineers with high GPAs. But then again, I know plenty of non-engineers with high GPAs.</p></li>
<li><p>From what I’ve heard, your major doesn’t make a difference. Bioengineers or chemical engineers won’t have an advantage over you.</p></li>
</ol>