<p>Both careers are regarded as highly rewarding and challenging. I don't really know someone who has been in both engineering and medicine, but in your opinion, which of the two is tougher and why? I have to go with medicine since the work schedule is rigorous and a longer education is needed than in engineering.</p>
<p>Medicine. You don't have to go to grad school to get a job as an engineer.</p>
<p>i say engineering...sure beats memorizing a bunch of useless crap haha</p>
<p>Academically, I think undergraduate engineering and graduate engineering are tougher than medical school because of the very difficult math problems and conceptually challenging material. That said, I think the career path after graduation for physicians is more difficult than for engineers. I think there is more memorization in med school. The hours spent on academics are probably comparable. However, it is harder to be accepted into medical school than engineering school because there are fewer slots. Medical residents work notoriously long hours but that is on-the-job training, not the same as academics. Engineering is excellent preparation for med school and I know of a couple of physicians who were Cornell engineering undergrads. On the other hand, I don't know anybody who went from biology undergrad to engineering grad school (although I am sure there are some). Academically, engineering is tougher. Professionally, medicine is tougher.</p>