I’ve submitted most of my college applications and put Pre-Med track and majors usually in the College of Arts and Sciences. However, now I am leaning a bit towards engineering, maybe biomedical engineering. It seems like a really cool field. I heard that it is hard to switch into the college of engineering at most schools though. Also, how is engineering? It seems really cool. After all, it’s the future. The only things that turn me off from it are the workload and difficulty. I am in IB Mathematics HL and having a very hard time at it whereas engineering math is even harder. AP Calc was easy for me but the IB Math HL is providing me difficulty. Also, I never took physics and it is used throughout engineering and I heard it is hard. I heard that engineering degrees can take 5 years easily. I want to enjoy my college life a bit. I want to do pre-med and maybe an engineering major because you can major in it. Should I major in Engineering? Will I be able to switch from College of Arts and Sciences at schools to College of Engineering? Thanks
Changing from the arts and science division to the engineering division varies by school. Check the web sites to see if it is difficult.
Not having physics in high school means that physics is likely to be more difficult in college for you. Both engineering majors and pre-meds need physics, but pre-meds are often offered a less difficult and less math intensive version.
Engineering and pre-med can theoretically be done together, but in practice often requires overloading, due to total number of courses or credits usually exceeding the usual total number over four years.
you need to answer this question: Do you love math? If so then engineering would fit you, if not then you might be setting yourself up for working in a field where you will not be happy
drop the idea of engineering. It doesn’t sound right for you
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you twice mention you are apprehensive about the workload and want to have fun in college. Engineering is one of the most difficult subjects and you’ll be having a lot less free time (eg. fun) than most of your non-engineering friends, and you’ll be working hard on difficult stuff
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it sounds like you’ve come to consider engineering only lately. It is unfortunate that one needs to decide prior to entering college this is the path you want (at most schools anyway), but that’s the way it is. You haven’t spent the time looking into whether its a fit for you or not, and there is little time left to do so
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If you are having trouble in IB Math then engineering may not be a practical option for you. Engineering as taught in college is heavily based on math. The stuff you’re studying now ought to be easy for you; just ask an engineering student about the math they do
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combining pre-med and engineering is not a great idea. People do it, sure. But it’s tough and will hurt your chances of getting into med school because of the probable hit on your gpa. And you’ve already said you don’t want college to be almost all about schoolwork; it will be if you want the grades to be a competitive med applicant
You don’t have to love math to be an engineer. You do have to be good at it, however. @mikemac gives good advice, engineering (and nursing) generally have the heaviest workload of any university majors. Most engineering majors require in excess of 60 credit hours (out of 120) plus prerequisites like Calc, Diff eq, physics, thermo, etc… That being said, chemical engineering is a very popular pre-med major because it gives an excellent career path should you decide not to attend (or not be admitted) to medical school. You won’t have to take any extra classes, except perhaps a year of biology, to meet med school prerequisites. Hopefully you took AP tests and passed out.
That doesn’t mean that you cannot have fun. You are just going to have a lot less free time. You can definitely complete your engineering degree in 4 years with meticulous planning. Many students take an extra year for a combined BSE/MSE program or a double major.
You should start in engineering if you want to be an engineer. It is much more difficult to transfer from Arts & Sciences to engineering than the other way.
As the father of 2 engineers, with one of them dating a med school student, I can tell you that Pre-Med and Engineering require a lot of hard work. You have to have ability and focus to work through problems in both disciplines - but obviously, people do it all the time, survive and even have fun. Nobody on an anonymous message board can tell you the magic answer - ask your teachers, GC, parents and friends if they think you can succeed in either field - but mostly ask yourself if you can commit to success in either area.
BTW - I agree 100% with TooOld4School about starting in engineering, and you don’t have to love math, but you do have to be good at it!
ps: Q: What do they call the student that graduated with the lowest scores in Med School?
A: Doctor
Good Luck!
Some of the engineering people tell me that IB Math HL is about a sophomore level Engineering Math class and that HL Math is stupid. So idk. @mikemac
DS took HL Math… To me it sounded more theoritica and “math-y” than my engineering math courses. He loved it, (and scored 7 of 7 on the exam), but he is definitely more math-y than most engineering students - loves complicated proofs etc.