this is absolutely incorrect and a common misconception. most of the things you learn in bio, chem, orgo, etc. are memorization. but tests (and especially the mcat) has very little to do w/ regurgitation and everything to do w/ problem solving. it's about taking the facts you know, and applying them to a particular problem.
with that said though, i still feel EE is more difficult.
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ok, well that's cool. all this aside, i still feel EE is considerably more difficult. everyone and their mother is a freaking premed student, but only a handful of people qualify (and are smart enough) to take on an EE course of study.
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Well, I'll take your word for it since I've never taken any premed type courses, but I just remember that when people I knew would study for bio, microbio, etc tests they would just sit there reading their notes over and over trying to memorize every little detail.
I think that on average, more people would find an EE track more difficult than a pre-med track. Some more technical majors might find philosophy very difficult, but I'd guarantee that on average, more people would find an engineering major more difficult than a philosophy major.
I'm sure that a lot of people could qualify for the pre-med track, but it's not like it's extremely difficult to be on that path. However, you have to excel on that path to make it worth it, IMO.
well that's just really stupid. a lot of biological systems are "modeled" after each other, and there are many paradigms that are cross-concept. in many scenarios it's possible to predict the behavior of a certain system. biology is just as much about discovering trends and similarities and being able to make predctions based on these similarities, as it is about memorizing pointless facts that you're going to forget in a week.
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well..i was sh!t out of luck. i did a biomedical engineering degree at hopkins. Thats engineering degree+ premed track, and you choose what engineering you want (EE, CS, ChemE, etc...) Premed courses were just rote memorization, so it was all about taking good notes, going to all your classes, and memorzing everything before the test. Things like Orgo and Biochem was as hard as it got, and they were quite tough for me.
Alot of poeple here do engineering, so i dont need to explain what kind of classes they were. I had tons of crappy professors and TAs, so i taught myself a good portion of it.
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.
Alot of poeple here do engineering, so i dont need to explain what kind of classes they were. I had tons of crappy professors and TAs, so i taught myself a good portion of it.
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.
Well like I said, I have no experience in collegiate level biology, so I can only go on what I've seen from others. I believe you about biology being more problem solving oriented than most people believe, but after completing an undergraduate engineering program and now working on my MS, and having been through some of the most hellish assignments and exams I could possibly imagine, I still think that engineering requires more problem solving skills than bio, at least at the undergraduate level. Of course my opinion is biased.
You're asking this board? This place is a haven for self-righteous engineers and wanna-be engineers.
shooters, you are right. tthe premed sequence is less about problem solving. I had only a few premed classes where i had to sit down and work a problem out.
1. orgo
2. genetics
3...ehh..cant remember anymore
it does require due diligence, and that itself is tough.
1. orgo
2. genetics
3...ehh..cant remember anymore
it does require due diligence, and that itself is tough.
to be honest...i chose a engineering+medicine route because there were more girls.
i wanted to do what i liked (playing with high tech toys, and solving technical problems) and still be able to have a career (medicine) that attracted instead of shunned girls.
i wanted to do what i liked (playing with high tech toys, and solving technical problems) and still be able to have a career (medicine) that attracted instead of shunned girls.
Just to clarify for anyone reading, I'm not saying premed is easier than engineering. I'm just giving my opinion about the differences between the two based on what I've observed. They're both hard and anyone who completes either successfully is obviously a bright individual.
No doubt about that. I've had friends who worked their asses off, graduated with near perfect GPA's and still didn't get into med school on their first try.
Other the other hand, I know people who were complete slackers but still managed to get their BS is engineering (albeit with very low GPA's), but they won't get jobs anyway.
No doubt about that. I've had friends who worked their asses off, graduated with near perfect GPA's and still didn't get into med school on their first try.
Other the other hand, I know people who were complete slackers but still managed to get their BS is engineering (albeit with very low GPA's), but they won't get jobs anyway.
Haha...funny how in the engineering community, civil is always considered the one for people who can't hack it in the other ones. Their salaries reflect it too. Probably the one engineering discipline where the guy to girl ratio is actually close to 1:1 though.
Maybe it's just me, but I think people sometimes overrate the difficulty of the EE major...sometimes it seems as if people here act as if getting an EE major is the equivalent of getting a PhD.
I think EE may be more difficult than the average since it's such a broad major. You might suck in one area, but excel in another. For example, you might be great in the materials area, but horrible in the signals area.
Agreed, it's not as difficult as some people make it out to be. I think the reason people belive it is though is because it's a lot more competitive i.e. harder to beat the average because all the Orientals and Indians keep kicking everyone else's ass.
Nah, there are other engineering disciplines that are broader than EE.
Well that's a weird reason...
And before any other EE's come in here whining and crying and saying 'Spoken like someone that hasn't walked the path! raaaaawwwwwr! EE power!', I'm getting my MSEE right now.
Does it usually require more work? Sure. But I think some people really exaggerate it here.
What else is as broad? IMO it might even be the broadest since it spawns other degrees like CompE, OpticalE, etc. Materials, EMag, signal & image processing, photonics, systems/control, etc. are pretty varied fields.
I also agree with people exaggerating.
Originally posted by: RabidMongoose
Well that's a weird reason...
And before any other EE's come in here whining and crying and saying 'Spoken like someone that hasn't walked the path! raaaaawwwwwr! EE power!', I'm getting my MSEE right now.
Does it usually require more work? Sure. But I think some people really exaggerate it here.
Yeah, I was only kidding about that competitive reason...well sorta.
I also think that the reason people think EE is the most difficult, and ChemE after that, is because those two are probably the least intuitive. Alot of times you're dealing with ideas that you can't see or touch, atoms, electrons, computer bits, current, voltage, magnetism, etc. Well, I guess you could touch current but that might be the smartest thing to do.
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.
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.
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.
Well, I guess I should have said just as broad instead of saying more broad.
At a lot of colleges some of the courses you listed wouldn't be taught at the undergraduate level...at least not required, maybe as technical electives.
Anyway, I think the undergraduate aerospace program at my school is just as broad as the EE program. My roommate is an EE and he tends to agree with me. You need to take courses in all these fields
computation and programming
solid mechanics and structures
thermodynamics / heat transfer / propulsion
structural dynamics
fluid mechanics
signals and systems / guidance and control systems
circuit theory and electronics
orbital mechanics
materials
aircraft dynamics
I think it's a pretty broad curriculum, but that's just my opinion.
Regardless, engineering in general is hard no matter what the discipline...except maybe civil.
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