Engineers in Med School?

[7zeeb3]

I'm a 4th year mechanical engineering student interested in Med School. I have approx a B average and was wondering what my chances for acceptance might be?
In my opinion (obviously bias) any engineering degree (espically Mech & Elec) hold much more weight than A's from some other degrees might. There are also many courses in the mechanical cirruculum that would appear in pre-med, ie zoology, chem 1, organic, some humanities all that crap (sorry fans)
I'm trying to deide if I shold write my MCATs or just apply here and go for 20 months and more back to Canada for my 2&3rd years.
any advice?
someone please tell me I'm a shoe in!
:shock: :roll:

[none4now]

I don't think many people would tell you "you’re a shoe in". But you are correct in thinking that very difficult science classes hold more weight. I have a minor in math and on most of my interviews I have been complemented on doing well in those classes. If you have a B average, a 3.0 on a 4.0 scale, then you have an excellent chance :yeah: of getting into any of the Carib schools. Most of these schools look at the entire application and not just at grades. I can't say for all of the schools but some require the MCAT. I don't believe SABA does, but they do recomend it. It is not weighted as heavy as US schools.

OK Maybe in a round about way I did say you’re a shoe in.

[hope]

I think you have a good chance of acceptance. Why don't you give it a shot? What do you have to lose? I don't think your view is bias. I surely understand where you're coming from...I was in the same boat! It's not fair to compare people with more difficult majors to a simpler one (e.g.elementary education). I got two undergrad degrees already, in which one is in Computer Science. I can tell you the amount of work and hours I put in as an undergrad just programming for those classes takes a lot of brain and patience. It's not easy! So, in essence, it's not fair to compare my GPA to someone who got their degree in phychology, elem. ed., or music! Sorry, I'm not dissing any of those majors....just stating how much more work science majors do. Good luck! :)

[ResearchingGuy]

Deja Vu all over again! I was a Mechanical Engineering student in a previous life so I know pretty much where you're coming from. It's often very difficult to get the really high grades one seems to need to be accepted to med school at home while taking courses like Thermo, Diff EQ's, etc.

If you have done reasonably well in a respected engineering program I would say you are a strong candidate for a Caribbean school. You should also consider that you could also be a competitive applicant for a Canadian school if you can do very well on the MCAT (say mid 30's or better) and have some very strong health-related extracurriculars.

My alma mater has a student body of around 12,000 but puts less than ten people into Med school each year. Most of those are pure science majors with only the occasional engineer being admitted. I don't think that's due to any inherent inferiority in the program. I think its due to personal focus. Most folks who slog through engineering school just want to be engineers. You and me, we're different.
(BTW: I don't have an engineering degree and my hat is off to you for gaining one :wink: )

Best of Luck!

[###]

...................

[Hanson]

I am an engineer as well. I have little doubt that you will be accepted by a carib school. The courses in med school are very different from engineering school. Basically, in engineering school you memorize NOTHING -- but learn how to solve problems. In med school, there is lots of memorization and very little problem solving. I have never seen a doctor spend more than 10 minutes thinking about anything. You will never encounter anything that is as intellectually challenging as say, quantum mechanics, or complex variables -- it is just the volume of facts. Med school people seem to have difficulty understanding the distinction between data and information.
Hi DrB,

This is very true. All of my tests at the University of Washington ChemE department were open books. Either you know the concepts or you don't.

Hanson