I'm a second-year student at CU Boulder studying aerospace engineering for my undergrad degree. I've been dead-set on aerospace, specifically astronautical engineering, for a long time (since freshman year of high school), so I know that I want to make a career out of it. On the other hand (or the same hand, depending on the results of this thread), the majority of the people in my family have either gone to med school and become doctors or done pre-nursing or some other medicine-related field. So I'm kind of the odd one out, and while this hasn't put any pressure on me to change career tracks or anything, I've been thinking a lot about making sure I take med school pre-reqs, studying for the MCAT, and trying to do some preparatory work to ensure that at the very least med school is a viable option at some point in the future.
I should mention that I'm not thinking of any type of super intense medical career i.e. neurosurgery, cardiology, etc. but I AM interested in combining my knowledge of aerospace with medicine to help with things like making inter-planetary travel more realistic. The problem is, med school is a pretty big commitment and I don't know if it would immediately help me right after graduation. So I'm just looking for any advice some of you may have in terms of how seriously I ought to think about it (I know it's not unheard of, Peter Diamandis as an example). Additionally, what are tips for applying to med school as a non-biology/orthodox pre-med major?
P.S. I should mention that I’m a year ahead credit-wise (thanks IB/AP, you were good for something) so I have available credit-slots for med school pre-reqs I may need
D1 was physics & math double major who was heading to grad school in physics (and had an acceptance in hand) until she decided her senior year of college she wanted to pursue med school instead. So I understand your concerns.
If you have have your pre-reqs done, then you have to make sure you hit the expected pre-med EC: community service, physician shadowing, clinical volunteering. Engineering research is OK for fulfilling the research check-box.
You might also want to look at Carle-Illinois College of Medicine. It’s a new med school at UIUC that has an engineering focus. https://medicine.illinois.edu
OP
IMHO your desired to be in aerospace medicine is very honorable but that field is too narrow for some one who is applying for med school. The acceptance rate for each individual med school is no more than 10% in general. With such a narrow field you are interested, the chances of failure to be admitted is very high. I think you have to open your mind and apply broadly to many med schools, once you are there, maybe you can direct yourself to that specialty, not before.
Unless you truly have a passion for medicine, then I wouldn’t recommend that path as so many flame out well before med school. It sounds like you really want to be an aerospace engineer, but don’t want to be the only one in your family not in healthcare. I say follow your own path.
