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On October 21 2009 11:29 Pufftrees wrote:
For what its worth, Materials Engineers are the most PAID atm, even higher than Aerospace which is the field I am in.
Pretty generic advice good luck though.
Really? Source? That would make me happy since I'm pretty much in a Materials Engineering program.
On October 21 2009 14:27 Jonoman92 wrote:
(Rather than make my own blog I'll try posting here first, hijack?)
I'm in my first semester at the University of Denver, it's a medium sized private school (about 5000 undergrad) and engineering is one of their smallest programs. They only offer computer science, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering which isn't a big deal to me because I'm thinking ME anyway. Does anyone know how big a deal it is if I'm getting my engineering degree from a school which isn't known for their program? I mean, I assume I am still being taught at an adequate level but I don't have anything to compare it to obviously so I don't really know. Also, the way they do it here we don't decide on our specific field of engineering major until the start of our junior year, that isn't normal is it?
I could have gone to the University of Kansas (KU) which is a big public school with a big, and well ranked engineering program, but that's only 45 minutes from my house and half my high school goes there so I couldn't bring myself to do it.
I think in the context of undergraduate schools with similar prestige, there is no real difference.
On October 21 2009 12:57 fight_or_flight wrote:
Electrical engineering is absolutely a viable path. You mentioned neuron stuff, but, at least at my school, nano-technology has fallen squarely into the EE department.
In my school, Nanotechnology Engineering is under the umbrella of EE, CHE and Chemistry. Do your other programs not deal with this at all?
To the OP, if you want to go into something Bio related, it may be wiser to just go into the Sciences. That being said, you still have the option of going into Med school or into a Bio graduate program later on after an undergraduate degree in Engineering. However it's good to have a strong Bio/Chem foundation in these subjects and Engineering may not give or allow you to gain that foundation (unless your school has something like Biochemical Engineering or Biomedical Engineering).
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On October 21 2009 07:38 Slaughter wrote:Yea well as an Anthropologist I look down on all your equation, problem solving, letters and numbers mumbo jumbo. 
Well as an IT engineer, I promise I won't read any anthropology book ever if you stop using computers.
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On October 21 2009 15:09 gchan wrote:Show nested quote +On October 21 2009 13:20 AcrossFiveJulys wrote:On October 21 2009 13:04 gchan wrote:On October 21 2009 12:20 duckett wrote:On October 21 2009 10:52 AcrossFiveJulys wrote:On October 21 2009 08:47 Chill wrote:
if you are going into med school, dont be a hero - take something fucking easy that you are good at so you can get a high grade. now is not the time to take the high road and something "challenging that you enjoy". Yeah, great advice Chill, it would be wonderful for him to enter med school with absolutely no experience in challenging material and no work ethic -_- There is a reason that people with sociology or philosophy undergrad degrees generally aren't taking very seriously compared to people with engineering or science degrees. Hmm I'm thinking along these lines...I feel like I would be better prepared to deal with med school if I did something along the same line of study. Though mech e is a bit less related I guess... Also, at the school I go to (Princeton) the engineering classes are really small, like 30-40 people, and the dropout rate is real low. Regarding gpa, princeton is also pretty inflated (though not so much as harvard or yale)...I feel like going social sciences to boost my gpa is a bad call bc im much more a math/science person than a social sciences person...I'd probably do pretty shitty and not enjoy it, whereas its not really that impossible to come off chem e with a reasonable gpa. A less reasonable part of me also wants to fucking ee han timing med school with my l33t 2 groups of mutalisk micro preparation from chem e...I know that's kinda retarded but I do feel like I would be better prepared than going straight in off the orgo I took freshman year of undergrad. The other thing is I'm not really sure 100% if I want to do med school...It's something that seems cool but I could just as well just do a PhD. Re: social life, I don't think its that big a deal...We alternate 4- and 5- class semesters for engineering here and I'm doing a 5 right now and it is only really painfully work heavy in midterms week (now X.X). Ofc, I am just a freshman... I'll tell you right now. Of all the things in all your classes in college, you will probably use about 1% of it. All the biology/engineering you learn will probably get you into 1 week of your first semester at medical school. If you go into graduate school for bio/chem/physics, your college material might take you 2 semesters in. Despite this, I think most graduate schools still require you to take the intro courses, so you really end up having no advantage. If you go into private industry, you'll probably even end up using less than 1% of what you learn. So take Chill's advice. The whole point of college is to expand your mind and improve your learning capability. The actual material you learn is just a side affect. If you choose an easy major, the material you learn will probably be useless AND your thinking and problem solving skills will hardly be improved. Then, when you get to med school, you'll be surrounded by a bunch of people who worked their asses off in their undergrad and won't be able to keep up with how quick they pick up things and the way they study. You don't need a hard major to develop studying and learning skills. I graduated with both a hard science and a social science degree, and honestly, my social science degree challenged my ability to think a lot more than my hard science one. The way a lot of the more challenging science majors are set up now focus a lot more on memorization than on critical thinking skills; this is not entirely the major's fault as difficult majors tend to have a lot more material. And to add on top of that, most engineer/science majors tend to underdevelop communication skills which is vitally important in any career path you take. I'm not saying that there are no benefits to taking a science/engineering major, but I'm just skills/knowledge you develop is not worth it. There are a lot of other things you could be doing with your time in college to hone skills relevant to a PhD path or biomedical path. Note: I've never done anything engineering, so some of the science stuff I spout might not be fully relevant to engineers.
Ugh you are wrong on so many levels.
Engineering is engineering, NOT science. You have to be able to take theoretical results from science and apply them to real world problems, sometimes using the results in ways that they weren't intended for in the first place. To effectively do this, you have to understand both the theory AND the real world, sometimes with incomplete information and insufficient background (for which you have to make up for with more work and dynamic learning), which is harder.
A good engineering program does NOT involve lots of memorization. The students who try to get by through just memorizing how to do different kinds of problems either get weeded out in the beginning or barely scrape by at the end. Engineering is about figuring out the solutions to problems you've never seen before, using a combination of techniques and information you have learned in the past, often requiring innovation. I.e., a MAJOR focus on critical thinking skills.
You are partly correct regarding the issue of a lack of development of communication skills. However, it isn't as bad as you think. In my undergraduate, I had at least one group project every term, and often 5 or 6. Also, we were required to take technical writing courses and also had to take several other subjects that required essays, so those skills were somewhat developed. However, communicating your results and thoughts is really the easy part: the hard part is being able to do the work in the first place.
All of these benefits come at a cost, of course. Engineering programs are very difficult, but they whips your mind into shape much like being on a difficult sport team, like swimming or football, whips your body into shape.
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Calgary25989 Posts
Dude, just please listen to me. All these kids replying are pie-in-the-sky dreamers who think there's something to be gained by taking the most difficult route through. Yes, there is respect in that, but it's certainly not worth jeopardizing your end goal. Keep your eye on the prize. You want to go to medical school. Take the route that gives you the best chance of getting there. Obviously there is some cost/benefit analysis, like you can take the 2nd or 3rd easiest way of getting there if you find that area of study more interesting.
In this situation you sound like you aren't sure. You're just like "Oh, I enjoy science and math and think I would enjoy engineering." DO NOT TAKE ENGINEERING AS A PREREQUISITE FOR MEDICAL SCHOOL FOR A FLEETING FEELING LIKE THAT.
As someone said above in response to criticism to this idea; Just because the material is easy for you doesn't mean you aren't capable of having a strong work ethic. Classes aren't your life, and I'm not sure how medical school applications are, but I'd imagine if your time is free you are expected to have filled it studying for MCATs and being part of the community through clubs and volunteering. You can be busy in school if you want, and classes teach you the least about life in university.
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On October 22 2009 09:28 Chill wrote:
Dude, just please listen to me. All these kids replying are pie-in-the-sky dreamers who think there's something to be gained by taking the most difficult route through. Yes, there is respect in that, but it's certainly not worth jeopardizing your end goal. Keep your eye on the prize. You want to go to medical school. Take the route that gives you the best chance of getting there. Obviously there is some cost/benefit analysis, like you can take the 2nd or 3rd easiest way of getting there if you find that area of study more interesting.
In this situation you sound like you aren't sure. You're just like "Oh, I enjoy science and math and think I would enjoy engineering." DO NOT TAKE ENGINEERING AS A PREREQUISITE FOR MEDICAL SCHOOL FOR A FLEETING FEELING LIKE THAT.
As someone said above in response to criticism to this idea; Just because the material is easy for you doesn't mean you aren't capable of having a strong work ethic. Classes aren't your life, and I'm not sure how medical school applications are, but I'd imagine if your time is free you are expected to have filled it studying for MCATs and being part of the community through clubs and volunteering. You can be busy in school if you want, and classes teach you the least about life in university.
Alright Chill, I'm digging this advice. It's weird because I had thought of engineering as like a certainty for me and then only came up with "oh maybe I'll go to med school" later on, and slowly got more and more into that idea. So based on your advice and a lot of the other TL advice, I think I'll definitely choose between mol bio-premed and engineering-notpremed...and I think mol bio premed will win out. Thanks for the advice guys!
On a side note, my school requires you to take a foreign language if you don't do engineering...and I have no background with any foreign languages. Gogo korean 101! =D
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dude I can't believe you didn't ask us for advice before turning to TL... I just wrote up a decent length essay, but I figure I could just tell you this stuff in person
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Like Chill said, don't take engineering if your end goal is to get good enough grades to get into med school. I mean, hell, it can be done, but you aren't going to have any fun doing it. Spend more time putting lips to beerbong and less time putting nose to grindstone.
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EPT
