Planning to major in engineering

College Majors Engineering Majors
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I’m going into senior year of high school now and I’m interested in majoring in biomedical engineering and then going to med school. However, med school is really selective based on the MCAT and GPA. I heard that engineering majors have really low GPAs. I want know how come? Why?

I have a weighted average GPA of 4.7 and I work extremely hard on work ethics and study most of the day. Will this still result in a low GPA in engineer in college? Planning to attend a UC.

2

How are you at Math? Have you taken physics or anything engineering related and if so, how did you do?

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There are a few reasons you might find engineering more challenging to keep a high GPA than other courses of study. First is the curriculum. It’s very sequential and normally more challenging (for most) as it’s very math and science related. Few medical schools will require 3 semesters of calculus, linear algebra and differential equations. It will also require a higher level of physics than most other degrees. From there most of the courses will build off of these core courses. Whether it be thermodynamics or physical chemistry your understanding of things learned in the core courses can be crucial to your success as an engineering major. Most of these courses are completely unnecessary for admission to medical school.

Next is who you are competing with. At most universities engineering majors will have the strongest academic backround (especially in the math and sciences) coming into college. The curve may not go in your favor.

Finally, courses that you will need as electives for your application to medical school will be the more challenging required courses such as anatomy and physiology. Unlike many engineering courses which require good conceptual skills these courses require good memorization skills. Since your engineering courses are so sequential fitting these courses into your schedule can be more of a challenge than finding a random elective. Often electives can soften the semester and make it easier to concentrate on your more challenging courses. With fewer easier courses one bad semester can negatively affect your GPA.

The thing is you can be successful. You will just have less margin for error. The question is do want to be an engineer or do you want to be a doctor or are you simply not sure? If you know that your goal is medical school then you might reconsider your major. If you know you want to be an engineer who might want to attend med school then you might reconsider your engineering major as biomed tends to require an advanced degree to be as useable as other engineering majors. Good luck.

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  1. Difficulty -- you will be taking several types of calculus, differential equations, physics (including electricity and magnetism, the black magic of the sciences), organic chemistry, and advanced combos of math and science like statics, thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and/or reaction kinetics. Most people don't find these classes easy. They should be doable with a good work ethic, but the average engineering student isn't flying through them with minimal studying.
  2. All of those classes I just listed? You'll be taking several at the same time. This past semester in ChemE (some similarities but not exactly the same as BME), I took a seminar, a fuels elective, biomolecular engineering (required heavy bio knowledge from previous semester), heat transfer (lots of differential equations), physical chemistry (more calc 3 than chemistry), pchem lab, and three credits of research. You need to be good at time management. It's also just a ton of work. Learn to recognize when you have to buckle down and work until the work is done.
  3. Speaking of labs, labs take a lot of time. You might spend three or four hours there at once, on one or two days a week. Then you have to write extensive lab reports. In pchem lab we finished up the semester with a few weeks of original research. Anything with that much of a drain on your time and effort might impact your grades in other classes.
  4. I believe you'll need medical extracurriculars as a premed student. I'm not very familiar with that so I won't speak to it, but finding the time to volunteer, work, do research, and/or join clubs can be difficult if you're aiming for a high GPA.

So tl;dr:
The classes are rigorous, there are several hard ones at one time, you will have to deal with a lot of assigned work, and you have to fit in timesucks like labs and ECs. All of these reasons can cause low GPAs.

It’s doable to get a high GPA in engineering, but it’s not easy for me and, I’d imagine, most other people too. I work very hard at my classes. I don’t go out much. I skip my clubs if I have too much to do. I don’t procrastinate or take days off when there’s work I could be doing.

5

I’m pretty good at math, much better at it than english or history. I’ve gotten all A’s on all of my courses. I took AP Physics 1 this past year, understood the concept and passed the AP exam with a 3.

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Thank you for everyone’s input. It helped a lot.

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BME as premed is a common and TERRIBLE choice. There are 4 keys to getting into medical school, great grades, high MCAT, strong letters and completing all the prerequisites. BME will hinder two of the four. You’ll not only take more math and physics than required by medical school, but the tracks you take will be harder. Most schools have a separate math and physics path for the softer sciences (biology, chemistry, etc. As opposed to physics, engineering). That however is just the beginning. You’ll have to take circuits, dynamics, thermodynamics, and fluid mechanics, to name but a few, all very hard, none satisfying prerequisites. Engineering curricula a very rigid without much room for electives, meaning you might have to go more than 4 years. Now, let’s discuss the rationale for picking BMED, to get a better job if med school doesn’t work out. The job market is soft for BS only. All in all its a poor choice if medical school is your ultimate goal.

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This isn’t meant to discourage just give perspective. You have taken AP Physics 1 which is algebra based Physics Mechanics. It’s one of two Physics courses required for many medical based post undergrad programs. You received a 3 on the test. For engineering you will be taking Calculus based Physics both Mechanics and Electricity and Magnetism. Considered to be much more challenging courses. They are also the basis for many of the other engineering courses you would be taking.

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Almost 60% of test takers failed (got a 1 or 2) the AP Physics 1 exam this year. I really wouldn’t take it as representative. https://www.totalregistration.net/AP-Exam-Registration-Service/2017-AP-Exam-Score-Distributions.php

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I wouldn’t put too much consideration into the AP Physics 1 score. My daughter got a 3 on that one too, but took both Physics C tests the following year and scored a 4 on both. It’s not enough to place out of physics at her engineering program, but at least she will feel prepared going in. I would recommend to the OP to take Physics C and BC calc if possible senior year if she is going to apply for engineering. My daughter considered biomedical engineering as well, but changed her mind after seeing the curriculum. (She is not pre-med). If you are dead set on medical school, you should consider a different (non-engineering) major - most people i know who started out as biomedical engineering majors switched to something else. If you start out in an engineering school, it may be difficult to switch out of engineering entirely rather than just changing your major within engineering, and the other majors may not have enough room in their schedule to complete the pre-med requirements.

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