Hi. I am planning to take pre med along with a chemical engineering major. I was initially planning to take a molecular and cellular biology major but changed my mind because in case pre med doesn’t work out, I need something to fall back on.
I read online that pre med students are advised against majoring in chemical engineering due to the difficulty of coursework and inability to maintain a good GPA. I really want to get into med school. So are there any chemical engineering- pre med students or any engineering-pre med students who can advise me? Also what is chemical engineering like for someone who is extremely inclined towards biology?
Engineering in general and chemical engineering in particular are very hard. Depending on where you’ll attend, there may be only 10% of the class who receive med school worthy grades - and all students admitted to engineering are good students to start with.
Why chemical engineering? Why not industrial engineering or environmental engineering or biomedical engineering?
^^ Agreed. Chemical engineering is super hard. My brother has a degree in it and he had hopes of going to medical school. He ended up realizing that would be nearly impossible so he went to get his master’s. You need to protect your GPA at all costs. My family is pretty much made up of engineers and I can tell you, it gets ROUGH. If you like biology you would probably be better off looking into biomedical or environmental engineering. My major is biochemistry and molecular biology and I think there are plenty of fall back plans for me. Nursing, Dental, Vet, Teaching, Research, PA, etc. The cell and molecular biology major would probably be easier to obtain. Have you though about just a biology degree? You can still have fall back plans with that.
How are you in math & physics? Engineering disciplines are extremely math intensive. All of them. You need to be good and you need to fast (in math) to do well. You also need to be comfortable & confident with physics–because engineering is physics applied to real world situations/solutions.
If you aren’t a top math & physics student, engineering is going to be a tough road.
Can you be a Chem E and still be a successful pre-med? Sure I know of a couple, plus a few more who were in other engineering disciplines (MechE, BME, EECE). There are a couple of posters on this site whose children were engineers who went to med school. So it can be done. The question is, can you do it.? And that is something you need to answer for yourself after some honest introspection.
Engineering curricula are typically very lock-step and rigid so there is less space in your schedule to add the required pre-med courses not included in the engineering curriculum. An additional consideration is that engineering requires you to take 3-4 heavy workload science/engineering/math classes every semester. There really aren’t any slack or easy semesters.
FWIW, D1 was a math & physics double major (started out in physics, switched to engineering, switched back to physics because she preferred pure physics over applied physics). She went to med school and is now a physician. D2 was a math & biological neuroscience double major who did brain instrumentation based research in undergrad . She’s now a 3rd year (4th year after next week!) med student. Both girls had the option to get a MS in engineering as their Plan B had med school not worked out for them. (D1 would have actually gone into medical physics; D2 would have done BME or biostatistics/bioinfomatics.)
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I read online that pre med students are advised against majoring in chemical engineering due to the difficulty of coursework and inability to maintain a good GPA. I really want to get into med school.
So are there any chemical engineering- pre med students or any engineering-pre med students who can advise me?
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My son was a ChemE premed. The rumors are true that being a chemE premed can be difficult because of GPA issues. I’ve seen a number of Eng’g premeds end up with GPAs that aren’t med school worthy. You have to have an “eng’g mind” and be strong in those STEM subjects in order to maintain a high GPA.
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Also what is chemical engineering like for someone who is extremely inclined towards biology?
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Well, how are you at Chem and Math and Physics??
In my entire ChemE curriculum, I will only ever take two classes relating to biology. Mostly it’s lots of math, plus physics and chemistry.
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But today, a chemE premed would likely also be taking BioChem, Cell Bio, and maybe Genetics.
That said, I’m not sure a high school student really knows how inclined they are to bio if their experience has been limited to - say - honors bio and AP Bio.
I really like chemistry and biology. I’m not great at math. I’m above average maybe. I got a 750/800 in SAT math. I’m not particularly fond of physics though. I think if I really do work hard and pay attention during classes I will be able to cope. It’s just that I don’t like the subject much.
@WayOutWestMom I was considering biomedical engineering and bioinformatics as a backup but I read that the job prospects aren’t great. I would actually love to major in something biology related. Is there any such major I can take that will keep the option of an MS in chem engineering open? I definitely do not want to do mechanical or electrical engineering. I don’t mind software. I know I can just major in chemistry but I prefer a biology related field. Biochemistry maybe? Will that keep the option open? Also I read that chemical engineering curriculum covers most of the pre med courses except biology. Is it true?
Bioinfomatics requires a graduate degree (MS) for many/most jobs. (This is because bioinformatics as an undergrad degree is very recent and these new programs don’t have a track record with the companies.)
If you want to be able to go into grad engineering program, a bio major (probably including biochem) isn’t going to have enough math or the right physics. A chem major may or may not depending on the specific requirements at your college. You need at least 4 semesters of math (calc1, 2, 3, linear alg w/ differential eq) and you need calc-based engineering physics. (D2’s uni was unusual in that it required bio majors --and all pre-meds regardless of major–to take calc-based physics if they wanted a health committee letter.)
You’ll also need to remediate some coursework to switch into engineering in grad school --typically ~4-5 core undergrad engineering classes. (Will depend on the grad program’s requirements.) You can usually finish the most critical ones in 1 semester then take the rest concurrently with grad classes. But grad engineering programs will accept people conditionally if they have the math, physics & chem requirements covered.
ChemE will not include any bio classes. Nor will it include stats/biostats, English, soc and psych. It may or may not include biochem. (Program specific–I know that it’s not part of ChemE at either of my D’s colleges.)
So will it be better to take chemE and pre med or chemistry, pre med and some extra classes for chemE MS?
If you’re serious in pursuing engineering as your Plan B career, then you’re probably better off majoring in ChemE in and taking your pre-med requirements. It will get you into the job market faster if med school doesn’t work out.
However, as everyone here has said engineering can be a tough major to maintain a high GPA in. Med school adcomms will not cut you any slack w/r/t your GPA just because you’re in engineering.
Ultimately this is a decision that only you can make and if you’re not a very strong math & physics person, engineering may be a poor fit for you academically.
P.S. Remember that just about everyone who goes into engineering is “above average” in math.