Switch to Engineering from Psychology

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

I recently graduated with a BA in Psychology from UCLA. I’ve always been pre-med from the start.

I’ve applied to some post-bacs and have my route to med school planned out; recently though, I’ve been really curious about engineering and possibly considering a switch.

With a BA already, would it make sense to pursue a graduate program in engineering? I don’t have an engineering background at all; so I presume I’d have a lot of prerequisite work to complete (only, I have no idea what these courses would be). Could I complete a groundwork of engineering courses and pursue a grad program? OR, should I restart with getting a bachelor’s in engineering?

I’m aware of the different specializations like materials science, industrial, civil, etc… I guess I am more confused about where to start exactly and figure out what it is I have to do to pursue a degree in engineering.

Any and all help is much appreciated… wasn’t anticipating a sudden career interest switch.

2

What makes you interested in Engineering? What schools have thought about? All Engineering schools have the same requirements the first year and have slight differences in the second year. I’m a CC student and I plan on transfering to a four year institution and the school I want to transfer to requires these courses for Civil or Environmental Engineering (others will have other requirements).

Calculus 1 and 2
Multivariate Calculus (Calculus 3)
Linear algebra and/or Diffrential equations
General Chemistry 1 and 2
Mechanics (first Calculus based physics class)
Heat, Electricty, and optics (not required for all engineering majors but a lot of them do)
1-3 Engineering or Engineering design classes
Vector Mechanics-Statics or Statics
Dynamics
Thermodynamics
Statistics
General Biology 1 and 2 (not all Engineering disciples require it but Environmental and others do)

What disciple are you most interested in? If your interested in combining your interest in medicine with engineering then Maybe Biological, Biomedical, or Chemical Enginering is for you. Have you thought about those disciplines?

Biological, Chemical, or Biomedical Engineering will probably have some requirements I didn’t mentioned above like organic chemistry and/or biomechanics In the second year. Aerospace engineering would require aeromechanics and/or aerodynamics after the first year of study.

I happen to be interested in Civil and Environmental Engineering because I wanna work on projects and solve problems dealing with our infrastructure or environmental problems.

You can’t really do anything with a psychology degree unless you go to graduate school and become a counselor or psychologist or go to medical school and become a psychiatrist so this a great idea to switch a more useful field.

there is someone on this YouTube channel called Engineered truth who got his first degree in psychology, then thought he didn’t learn anything from his degree, and then deicided to go back and get an engineering degree from California Long Beach. Which sounds like he was in your shoes at one time.

How strong are you at math? What is the highest math you took? I’m not and have to do extra work to understand math and am still going for Engineering or Meteorology. I do not believe you need to be a Mathematical genius, be perfect at math, or naturally good at math but you must be willing to work hard enough to atleast pass your math, chemistry, physics, and engineering classes. You must also have some interest in applying math and physics to practical problems to enjoy your time in school.

3

Good luck on your decision! I hope my response helped.

4

Do some more homework on this (your campus career center should be able to help). You’d likely have to practically start all over again. Engineering has a lot of required course sequences and few non-STEM electives.

5

I’d recommend you try shadowing and interning and work with your campus career center before you commit to more education and the time + costs that would entail. As was posted above engineering is really it’s own 4-year curriculum and requires different strengths than psychology and most other fields.

6

If you tell us what aspects of engineering appeal to you, perhaps we can suggest alternatives to consider that would require less extra schooling.

7

Have you applied to med school already?

8

Hey everyone,

Thank you so much for your replies!

As to why I am interested: I want something that will cater toward my need for creativity and innovation. Combined with my interest in science, I can see engineering fulfilling that for me. Just wish I had thought of this sooner, sigh…

So here is some more information:

I’ve finished most of my prerequisites for med school like chemistry, biology, math, english… really all I have left is physics (which I’ve sort of been putting off because it’s not my strongest suit).

Haven’t applied to med school yet because I still have to finish physics :open_mouth:

As far as math ability, thankfully I’ve never had a problem with math… I’m actually pretty good at it. I’ve taken higher level calculus classes. Really, the only thing I’m a little worried about with medicine as well is getting through physics.

I am interested in biomedical engineering / translational medicine for sure; other areas like chemical engineering are of interest to me as well. I haven’t really explored industrial engineering much… but I would want some sort of medicinal aspect to the area I’d choose to pursue.

I realize this may mean starting all over, and it isn’t what I’m entirely inclined to do… so I’m trying to explore other options.

Alongside being a psych major, I’ve volunteered in hospitals in various departments like surgery, and nuclear medicine; I’ve done research with a psych lab and presented at research conferences too, and like I mentioned before finished a majority of my premed prerequisites. So I wasn’t entirely just psychology… I’ve tried my best to be more well-rounded and add extracurriculars on the side.

I thought about trying to find an internship, but again, I wonder how to do that as a non-engineering major.

I hope I didn’t leave anything out!

9

@caramelights if your not strong at the moment in physics then don’t stress too much because you can always get better If you use tutors and khan academy. I like physics because it is applied math. Starting over is not a bad thing if Engineering is something you really want to do because just like I said in my first reply the guy who does the YouTube channel engineered truth did a psychology degree then went back to school a year later to get an engineering degree. I hope others will give good alternatives to consider as well. It’s your choice what you wanna do and not up to anyone else.

10

Physics is the most important science for engineering. Also, engineering majors need to take physics that extensively uses calculus and (for E&M) multivariable calculus; pre-meds and biology majors are commonly allowed to take physics that uses less math.

11

@SuperGeo5999 i have another 6 years at minimum before i would graduate from medical school and you’d have to add on x amount of years for residency (this is because I’m taking a gap year). so, from what i see med school requires a longer time commitment. i’m confident i can do well with leftover prerequisites because i have done so, so far with good grades. i’m still on the med school route, but temporarily set it aside to explore this whole engineering route.

so basically, i wouldn’t be able to pursue a grad engineering program considering my bachelor’s is in psych, which is altogether a diff subject. i couldn’t find any pre-engineering programs for people with a bachelor’s already… I figured if there was some way for me to dedicate two-ish years to taking some basic engineering classes i could branch into an engineering graduate program.

the grad programs i’ve looked at are all within california–basically all the UC schools and i even ventured to explore Stanford. some (not all) programs’ eligibility requirements don’t stipulate for applicants to have a bachelor’s in an engineering discipline. they include health sciences or “related fields”… so i guess i fall into “related fields”. I figured if i take some classes that prove i have the academic capability, i could branch into an engineering grad program… i’ve tried contacting schools to hopefully speak to someone over the phone, but it’s been hard to do that, so i’ve mostly sent out emails & am just waiting to hear back.

i guess i’m trying to see if it’s possible without having to go back to university to get a second bachelor’s.

12

" physics (which I’ve sort of been putting off because it’s not my strongest suit)." - Hmm… that is setting of some warning bells for me. Like I said above, continue to do lots of research before plunging into engineering.

13

While you’ve taken med school prereqs (math and science) you will want to see if they qualify as engineering prerequisites. At my son’s U they are often different courses…engineering only calc, chem, and physics classes. This might vary by school but something to check if/when you get into the grit of a change.

14

UCLA student here. If you didn’t take the math 31 series then you’ll have to for engineering grad school. The 3 series is not rigorous at all.