SO chemical engineering...

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

<p>I'm very interested in this major. You can see my posts in the engineering majors section.</p>

<p>Anyways, does anybody know how much physics is involved in this major? My state school only has 3 semesters of Physics, 2 of which are AP Physics C.</p>

<p>I am not uncomfortable with physics, however I am uncomfortable with doing high-level physics in addition to preparing for med school.</p>

<p>Also, based on your observances, how much more/less work is this major as a pre-med against biology pre-meds? How much is the GPA difference usually?</p>

<p>I understand that many engineering majors are grade deflated, so will Med schools take this into consideration or should I choose a major? Please spare me the link that says med schools don't care about your major.</p>

<p>Also, what section on the MCAT is harder fro YOU: biology or physical sciences?</p>

2

<p>Alright, let's see what I can tell you. I am not a chemical engineering major (I'm pure chemistry) but I have classes with a lot of them, and know a lot of them. </p>

<p>As far as the classes you take when you do chem E. (here at the University of Florida, anyway - btw our chem department is pretty top-rated, i have no idea aobut the chem E. here)</p>

<p>So classes - pretty much your basic Physics 1, Physics 2, Gen Chem 1, Chem 2, and Organics 1+2. Here they offer this one semester Organic that mostly Chem E's take, but it's somewhat the same thing. And also Calc 1- 3 is required, as well as Elementary Diff. Eqs.</p>

<p>Then it starts to get a little hard. You get into Materials and energy balances (which sounds like a lot of thermodynamics to me, but i have no idea), and you have to take a class called Transport phenomena (which again I think involves some sort of flow rates of particles at the macroscopic level).</p>

<p>And, the ever-dreaded Physical chem (which I am taking right now). This is a lot of higher lvl molecular level thermodynamics, kinetics and if they make you take Physical chem 2, it's a lot of quantum mechanics. </p>

<p>You also have to take this watered down application oriented form of Linear Algebra which isn't really as bad as the pure Linear that math majors take. There are probably a good number of other classes i've missed here, but those are the main ones I know about.</p>

<p>Based on my observations, this major is a lot more work than most majors that pre-meds get into, e.g. Microbiology, Biology, Molecular Bio, most stuff with bio in it, for that matter. I'm not saying all those majors are easy, but in terms of difficulty, Chem Engineering outstrips them (requires at least 10 more credit hours too, to finish the degree)</p>

<p>I'd say having a 3.5 in Chem E, and a reasonable MCAT score (34 - 37), you'd do so well as far as admissions go.</p>

<p>In the end, they look at your undergrad courses' difficulties, and from my experience, my undergrad classes as a chem major are definitely more time consuming and brain twisting than what a lot of pre-meds do. For example, a friend of mine from high school is doing Nutritional sciences, while doing his pre-med classes, and Organics 1 + 2 are probably the hardest classes he's taken. So I suppose for him, they're more picky about his GPA (which is an insane 3.96 or something).</p>

<p>I've got a month and a half left until my MCAT, and I am getting destroyed in biology. Hence my bitterness against biology and bio majors and biology. Just kidding...bio is great...<em>grumbles</em></p>

<p>And last thing - they don't preferentially take any major. But they DO look at how difficult your undergrad classes were. It's simply a matter of circumstance that Chem E is one of the harder paths to take, even among engineering options.</p>

3

<p>How can they know how hard are the courses you took? Are the courses taken an important factor for adcoms?
It seems to me that it's a secondary thing. MCAT and GPA are, according to many people on CC, much more important. I've heard that doing As in high level courses gives you a small and negligible advantage, but doing badly will almost always penalize you.</p>

<p>Are ECs/interview more weighed in the decision than the difficulty of the courses you took?</p>

4

<p>Here's the deal with engineering: it's harder. But it also provides better career opps in case you don't get into med school. So, yes, you can do a bio major or an English major and have an easier time. But if you don't get into med school, then what?</p>

<p>You can't have your cake and eat it too, which is what the soon-to-be engineers on this forum want. You can't get credit for taking more difficult courses AND have the benefit of a better backup plan. That's the risk you take as an engineer. I was a bio major. Now I work for $24,000 at the NIH as a research fellow (roughly 50-60 hours/wk). I love my job and am fine with it. But if you don't want to do research for $20,000 a year, then be an engineer. But I don't want to hear all this b*tching about how hard you'll have it in college.</p>

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<p>Do you work at NIH over the summer since you're at Cornell? 24000 isn't bad if it's only summertime.</p>

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<p>"24000 isn't bad if it's only summertime."</p>

<p>Yea, ya think? I'm no longer at Cornell since I graduated. $24,000 for one YEAR. Wonderful fellowship. Top-notch research. Resources are crazy (much better enzymes than I'm used to). Talks given by leading scientists all day long. Very very crappy pay.</p>

7

<p>Are you under the HHMI fellowship where they provide on-campus housing?</p>

<p>What institute/building do you work in? I'm in NEI/building 7. They're paying me 1600 for a year of work (from June until May) which sucks until you realize that I'm still in HS and you graduated from college.</p>

<p>Here's the link:
<a href="http://www.hhmi.org/research/cloister/guidelines.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.hhmi.org/research/cloister/guidelines.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

8

<p>major in chemeng if u like it a lot, but ur premed bio friends will have it easier gpa-wise.</p>

9

<p>That fellowship doesn't apply since I'm not a med/dental school student...yet.</p>

<p>They can't be paying you $1600 for a year of FULL-TIME work. I think that might be illegal...</p>

10

<p>It's not a salary. It's called a "stipend". Technically, I'm a volunteer. Oh and I get the $1600 even if I quit this upcoming August. The "stipend" is for my summer work.</p>

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<p>Then what are you complaining about? I would love to have the same opportunity you have when I was a HS student. I would've gladly volunteered at the NIH.</p>

<p>You and I are in different positions. You can still depend on mommy and daddy. I've just graduated college with a degree from an Ivy League university. I have rent, utilities, bills, food, etc. to pay for. Thus, salary becomes more a factor than it was when I was in high school or college. Like I said, the experience is great but I can make $24,000 a year w/o a college degree.</p>

12

<p>"They're paying me 1600 for a year of work (from June until May) which sucks until you realize that I'm still in HS and you graduated from college."</p>

<p>That's why I put that second clause in there ;).</p>