Undergrad Major Difficulty: Premed track vs EE.

[SuperTool]

EE is pretty hard, no question.

 

[Mani]

Originally posted by: msarusac
EE is harder conceptually, but they also don't need a 3.7 gpa like premeds do to get into med school.



the premed competition is insane, which is what makes it hard. Plus the fact you have to do a lot of extracurricular activities (research, tutoring, mentoring, teaching, volunteer) as a premed in order to be competitive for med schools, so that takes a lot of time outside of academics. Most of my EE major friends rarely did anything outside of classes, whereas premed friends would spend 20 hrs a week doing research and another 10 hrs volunteering.

Yep, this pretty much says it all. EE by itself as a major is much harder, but since premeds are ubiquitous, more is required to differentiate oneself from the rest by way of research, labwork, volunteering, GPA, MCAT, etc.

 

[Zebo]

Originally posted by: poncherelli2
I'm chemE now, used to be biochem/premed, and I just couldnt do it. Im failing orgo, not because I cant do it, but because I cant make myself memorize all that crap. It takes a certain kinda of person to sit down for hours on end and go over the material well enough to reproduce it all perfectly on exams. I have no trouble solving the problems when I have a book nearby to reference what all of the reagants and stuff do, but to memorize hundreds of types of reactions over the course of the semester and know how to use them in perfect sequence to produce a molecule is too much for me. I have no problem cranking through energy balance problems or the fluid dynamics stuff from class, but the orgo and biochem is just a ton of material you need to know perfectly. This is important for people who want to be in medicine, but I honestly cant do it.

You need Organic 1 and 2 for chemE. And whats thier to memorize besides nomeclature? All reactions are based on electronegivty. Once you concepulise that it's a breeze. I actually found PChem much harder because if the intense math. In fact chem 1 an 2 was harder for me cause I had no HS chemistry.

 

[Zebo]

Originally posted by: Mani

Originally posted by: msarusac
EE is harder conceptually, but they also don't need a 3.7 gpa like premeds do to get into med school.



the premed competition is insane, which is what makes it hard. Plus the fact you have to do a lot of extracurricular activities (research, tutoring, mentoring, teaching, volunteer) as a premed in order to be competitive for med schools, so that takes a lot of time outside of academics. Most of my EE major friends rarely did anything outside of classes, whereas premed friends would spend 20 hrs a week doing research and another 10 hrs volunteering.

Yep, this pretty much says it all. EE by itself as a major is much harder, but since premeds are ubiquitous, more is required to differentiate oneself from the rest by way of research, labwork, volunteering, GPA, MCAT, etc.

Well I though same GPA was a given. But since you word it like this. a EE with 2.5 is easier than pre-med 3.5. Duh. Sociology 3.8 is also harder.

 

[Siddhartha]

I did not think that my premed courses were difficult. Though I knew some people who had trouble with Chemistry. The toughest class I had was Physical Chemistry until I realized I had to do and know the assigned homework.

 

[poncherelli2]

I understand orgo is part of the chemE curriculum, however, not a very big part. That type of class is more along the lines of the natural science classes that premed/biochem/molecular bio students take. I do not have an apptitude for those type of classes, hence, I found the premed curriculum I was following in the biochem major very difficult.

 

[Mani]

Originally posted by: Zebo

Originally posted by: Mani

Originally posted by: msarusac
EE is harder conceptually, but they also don't need a 3.7 gpa like premeds do to get into med school.



the premed competition is insane, which is what makes it hard. Plus the fact you have to do a lot of extracurricular activities (research, tutoring, mentoring, teaching, volunteer) as a premed in order to be competitive for med schools, so that takes a lot of time outside of academics. Most of my EE major friends rarely did anything outside of classes, whereas premed friends would spend 20 hrs a week doing research and another 10 hrs volunteering.

Yep, this pretty much says it all. EE by itself as a major is much harder, but since premeds are ubiquitous, more is required to differentiate oneself from the rest by way of research, labwork, volunteering, GPA, MCAT, etc.

Well I though same GPA was a given. But since you word it like this. a EE with 2.5 is easier than pre-med 3.5. Duh. Sociology 3.8 is also harder.

Actually a sociology 3.8 would not be harder than a 2.5 EE. I did enough coursework in soc to have a minor in one if I had wanted to, and it was a joke (at one of the top soc programs in the country no less). Don't think it takes rocket science to know that EE has tougher coursework, but it helps to know what all is required in the context of getting to the next level.

 

[GoSharks]

Originally posted by: cerebusPu
The hardest courses were the ones where they combine knowledge of both engineering and medicine. For example, this course called "physiological foundations" was a year long course + lab where we do things like mathematically model cellular level processes and follow the electrical signals in the heart. It counted as 6 credit hours each semester. It was a tough course, but i had a blast because we had the best professors and TAs.

i am so not looking forward to physfound and lab come the 2005-6 school year.... when did you graduate?

 

[rgwalt]

Originally posted by: Zebo
EE is the hardest undergraduate major period followed by Chemical engineering and Physics. I put the life sciences/chemistry/bio-chem (aka pre-med) about equal to civil engineering.

I think that ChemE might edge out EE, depending on the school. The thing about ChemE is the range of courses and topics you have to cover and pull together in the end. Some schools aren't as hardcore about the capstone courses (like design), but other schools are a bear.

R

 

[xyion]

I agree that Chem E may edge out EE, however at most schools they are roughly equal. My capstone (senior design) project is almost impossible. I'm not going to bore you with details, however if you ever hear of the Penn State Power Lion, that was my group.

In any case, all in all, it depends on your own motivation. EE is hard. PreMed is pretty difficult. I know lax EE's and grade grubbing PreMeds. Just do what you like, and you'll be fine in life. Unless you like stuff that doesn't pay well

 

[z0mb13]

depends what u like more: memorizing stuff or solving problems

I personally HATE memorizing, so I will never go into premed, since BIO classes will kill me

 

[abracadabra1]

I don't know which is more difficult since my school doesn't offer a pre-med track, but as an EE major (and a fairly intelligent individual by most standards), I think EE is pretty darn tough. There's a lot of applied math/physics involved (even in lower level courses) and lots of work overall. As an aspiring EE, you are guaranteed to study some form of mathematics and its application to electrical/digital circuitry throughout your 4-year undergraduate program and so that makes it quite difficult, especially for those not inclined towards math/science.

If you work hard, either degree is attainable. In the end, the hours of lost sleep and tedious work won't mean much (in fact, it'll probably be forgotten), so choose according to your interests/desires.

 

[abracadabra1]

Originally posted by: chris7b
I am premed...my roommate is EE. I can definitely say EE is no fun.

I am EE and my roommates (3) are political science, history, and CS majors. I have better study habits than any of my roommates and am always up later than most of them (sometimes my poli sci roommate waits till the night before a 15pg paper to start writing it).

 

[bastula]

As said many times above, the premed courses tend to be straight memorization compared to the EE which involved a lot more thought and the use of problem solving. I graduated with a comp. eng. degree with a minor in premed - not fun, but it was worth it just for the experience. I'm doing my masters now in medical radiation physics, might be going to med school next year. We'll see how things go. I took biochem and physiology this year (from the med school) and I can tell you already that these classes are just memorization compared to my radiation physics classes.

Something about memorizing material and spewing it back onto a test just doesn't agree with me. Although if you can do it, you can get your A pretty easily and keep up a good GPA, something which was hard for me to do with my undergrad premed classes.

 

[Darien]

Originally posted by: Zebo
EE is the hardest undergraduate major period followed by Chemical engineering and Physics. I put the life sciences/chemistry/bio-chem (aka pre-med) about equal to civil engineering.

physics > ee.