<p>I’m a high school Junior and I can’t decide what to major in.</p>
<p>I excel at Math, Computer Programming, and Physics.</p>
<p>However in a class like Biology I got a C, mainly because I moved cities 3 times that year. One time they didn’t even have textbooks…</p>
<p>Also, I would like to have a job in Medicine, not being a doctor or anything, because to my understanding that takes 8+ years after graduation - would you be in debt in those years?</p>
<p>Where as Engineering makes decent money right off the bat, especially if you get hired by a good company. </p>
<p>My concern is: I’m aware that many foreign countries are taking jobs of American engineers - because they simply do it for less money. Would this lower the wages of engineers? Also, any schmoe can learn programming online, so is really elite and advanced engineering the only way to succeed greatly?</p>
<p>(I am sure that I shouldn’t pick a job by salary - but I love these two subjects and would have no problem working in either field, consider salary over time a tie-breaker.)</p>
<p>sooo</p>
<li><p>What kind of jobs are there to be involved with Medicine, perhaps even research, that doesn’t involve being a doctor? How long do you have to go to school for it/salary?</p></li>
<li><p>Mainly what kind of work do Mechanical Engineers do? (I enjoy office work (Especially if its at an awesome company) along with “field” work, occasionally going around and interacting with people, but no intense manual labor or anything.</p></li>
<li><p>What about for a job involved with medicine?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Note: I am aware of BioEngineering. Is this anything else besides heart valves and artificial body parts? I prefer dealing with medicine/cures rather than, yeah.</p>
<p>I think BME is more than that. Tissue engineering and some other fields fall under that too. I’m in the same boat as you though - want to do something with medicine and cures but not become a doctor.</p>
<p>I know some people that went into BME or other allied fields of health care. Although they were supposedly on some type of research tenure, they were continually called up to fix machines due to a shortage of technicians. All were disillusioned. One got embroiled in a big stink because she could not go to the doctors lounge since she was not an MD - only a Ph.D. in biomechanics engineering.</p>
<p>It’s a trade off. MD’s go deep into debt early, but make it up later in life. Engineers earn top salaries early, but level off quickly. </p>
<p>As for a PhD engineer - do you realize that’s 5-8 years of school after graduation, as well? In that case, you’re starting work at the same time. The MD might have $100,000 more in debt, but also makes $100,000 per year more. So if they live the exact same lifestyle, the MD has her additional debt paid off in a year to 18 months, meanwhile she has 40 more years of higher salary.</p>
<p>So, besides being a decision that will forever change your life, it’s not such a simple salary calculation.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>There are all kinds of things in the medical field. From managing the performance of a hospital as an IE, to pharmaceutical development as a chemist, to pharmaceutical manufacturing as a ChE, to constructing / designing hospitals as a CE/Arch, to reproductive research as a Bio, to medical research as an MD/PhD (or sometimes like a PhD). </p>
<p>I’ve have friends with several careers, and Medicine and Engineering actually have a lot in common. The knowledge base for each is rather different, but when you go into the field, both require that you be very good at following a set process. At a very high level, they can be quite similar.</p>