Who's smarter: doctors or engineers?

[QueHuong]

however drs and engineers are both smarter than the retard who asked this question

Hi (what was that cyberian called you? Oh right..) asshat, thanks for posting your retarded reponse in my, the retard, thread.

Hmm...I'm a biomedical engineer doing premed at the same time; although I'm a first year student, I'm still doing quite well with all the adjustments I have to do for college and as an engineer doing premed, I can almost certainly say I'm a whole lot more ambitious than you. To shove it in your sh!t face, I'm on a full tuition scholarship + $1050 stipend and another $1500 scholarship. Yes, I'm quite the retard. What's that? Oh, so you're going to MIT on a full ride, double majoring in EE and biochemistry, and only 16 years old? Oh course you are. Really, shut the fvck up, maggot larvae or whatever your name is.

 

[SendTrash]

or if red is more colorfull then blue.

that's dumb because blue is clearly more colorful!

 

[dethman]

Originally posted by: CJZ
There are a lot of misconceptions about doctors and medical students in this thread.

As a medical student (albeit a lazy one) I can personally attest to the fact that not all people in medicine are technologically challenged. And for the people wondering whether doctors and medical students have time to waste on ATOT, there are several docs and medical students who post here.

People seem to think that medicine is all about memorizing facts and then using those facts to come to some sort of conclusion. If it were only that simple. There is a great deal of analytical and yes creative thinking involved in trying to determine the cause of a patient's illness or problem and treating that cause. There is no simple algorithm that can be used to identify diseases (if there were we'd have far fewer people going undiagnosed for long periods of time) because each individual's response to the cause of the disease and the manifestations of the disease is different.

I do have to agree with the statements about premeds being annoying and somewhat stupid. There is a reason why only 1 in 3 people get into medical school.

what he said, i'm too lazy to type.

anyway it's pretty silly to ask this on a computer forum, i think you'd know what the result would be.

 

[dethman]

Originally posted by: her209
A gynocologist is smart.

oh my god no. you have no idea.

Originally posted by: jaydee
Doctors don't have time to post on ATOT, this isn't going to be biased at all....

plenty of time here. just a medstudent though.

Orignally posted by: kt
How about Bio-tech engineers? They need to know about medical concepts as much as most medical school graduates

Those are typically engineers who picked up bio.

Orignally posted by: merlocka
For every talented and intelligent engineer there are 10 that couldn't pull their heads from their own @ss

Yup. my ex-gf is an electrical engineer, and though her coworkers/friends are extremely intelligent and awesome at designing circuits, but when it comes to real life social interaction, may god help them.

Originally posted by: SuperCyrix
It is a well known fact that BestBuy employees are the smartest people on earth.

Well there you go.


edit: felt i should qualify by saying that i think there are plenty of people in my medschool class who are complete idiots.

 

[LS20]

Originally posted by: Ameesh

Originally posted by: gopunk
i think that is like asking whether an apple or an orange is fruitier.

or if red is more colorfull then blue.

red is indeed the more colorful color

 

[LS20]

Originally posted by: Bignate603
I'm thinking of the guys on my floor and the engineers are by far the brighter bunch then the premeds. The only premed I'd want to consider as being my doctor is doing biomed engineering. The premeds party like crazy, and they always end up knocking on the engineer's doors to answer some question, half the time we aren't in the class and can explain it to them.

that's why they're PREmed. wonder how many of them will get weeded out or denied?

larvae = asshat

mwilding = haha

ergeorge = generally agree with

i cant answer the question but ill say that i have more fondess for the engineering profession

 

[hans007]

engineersn need to think a lot.



doctors need to remember lots of things. doctors are "bright enough" and very hard working, thats how the memorize 500 amino acid groups and all the bone names. engineers need to create and solve problems. engineers in the IQ sense are usually A LOT smarter. memorization is not really intelligence, because if you said that then a PDA would be smarter than a lot of people.

 

[Bluga]

It doesn't matter.

Whoever makes most money is the smartest.

 

[MonkOnXanax]

Originally posted by: Bluga
It doesn't matter.

Whoever makes most money is the smartest.

athletes are the smartest people in the world huh?

 

[CJZ]

Originally posted by: hans007
engineersn need to think a lot.



doctors need to remember lots of things. doctors are "bright enough" and very hard working, thats how the memorize 500 amino acid groups and all the bone names. engineers need to create and solve problems. engineers in the IQ sense are usually A LOT smarter. memorization is not really intelligence, because if you said that then a PDA would be smarter than a lot of people.

Let me repeat, we do not simply spew out what we memorize (and we don't really need to memorize biochem because we don't really use it). We have to think and analyze each and every case. There is no simple, this guy has cancer we should do A & B & C then D if E is not true. There is no "flowchart" we can call up and use to treat people.

 

[C'DaleRider]

Originally posted by: hans007
engineersn need to think a lot.



doctors need to remember lots of things. doctors are "bright enough" and very hard working, thats how the memorize 500 amino acid groups and all the bone names. engineers need to create and solve problems. engineers in the IQ sense are usually A LOT smarter. memorization is not really intelligence, because if you said that then a PDA would be smarter than a lot of people.

Too bad you do not realize is that MDs work with, admittedly, the human body that seemingly has not changed in "100 years", to quote a previous post. Unfortuantely, most people do not realize that every human body reacts differently to the same set of circumstances. This is much different than working with, say, steel, that reacts in a very predictable manner given this or that input.

Take a very sick person. His/her life history, family history, genetics all go into determining how this person reacts to an illness. Then the "bug" that causes the illness reacts differently in different people. Take smallpox......fatal in 30% of people. An example of how a bug reacts differently. If it were all the same, just rote memorization and regurgitating facts would either kill all the infected people or save them, which it doesn't. Same with heart attacks, cancer, strokes, and on and on. The human body is a VERY COMPLEX dynamic organism that changes every second in response to external and internal inputs, an anticipating more than just reacting ot othat is hard indeed.

There are too many instances where an MD has to react on his feet, esp. in the area of ER, ICU, trauma care, etc. If there were an area engineers and MDs seem about the same, it's surgeons. Just like engineers, both play with their "tinker toys", assembling and trying this and that fit until the parts come together to form a decent whole.

I do know a few engineers, too, seeing as how my father was a mechanical engineer for decades. Saw how it was done..he was quite smart, but no more or less intelligent than an MD.

But intelligent? There are dumb MDs, smart engineers, dumb engineers, smart MDs.

 

[HokieESM]

 

[HokieESM]

The EIT and PE are ridiculously easy, though. I finished both in about four hours (despite them giving eight to take the test) with relatively high marks.

I think this is vastly unfair comparison... just in the level of education. An engineer with a master's degree and a PE would be good comparison to a doctor. Six years of school plus four to get a PE for the engineer... versus seven years of school plus residency for the doctor. Plus, most HIGHLY technical jobs demand a masters these days.

The fields are dramatically different... but very similar as well. To those who think engineers don't have to diagnose, you definitely haven't dealt with a "failed system" or an NDE expert. Frequently these people have to design a temporary fix in a matter of hours to keep something in service. There are doctors who take quite a while to solve problems as well (anyone ever try a research hospital......).

Basically, both professions are very honorable. There are dumb-as-bricks engineers who push paperwork, and there are doctors who simply see 50 people a day with the flu. But there are rocket scientists and brain surgeons too. Just be glad we have them both.

 

[HokieESM]

Originally posted by: Isla
I'm just going to give my two cents, for what it's worth. (Not much, lol!!!)

My husband got his degree in Electrical Engineering. There is no doubt in my mind that the man is highly intelligent.

However, he has the intuition/sensitivity of a rock.

The best doctors I have known, on the other hand, have a combination of intelligence AND intuition. Medicine is a science and an art. A truly good doctor must use both sides of his brain (right and left).

Engineering, on the otherhand, seems to need less left brain than right brain. Or maybe it is vice versa. I can't remember which is which at the moment. Don't ask me, I took Psychology because it was easy.

Anyway, bottom line is, they are probably equally smart, just different strengths.

Very very close-minded post. There are all kinds in BOTH professions. Engineering can be a VERY spontaneous position (ever think how they fix race cars and get them back on the track... and people can die from that)..... and a VERY creative one (ever see a REALLY neat invention?). But it can be very very analytical and very uncreative. Same with a "doctor". Many of you are just thinking of the guy you go see when you're sick--but keep in mind that a significant percentage of MDs work in a lab or don't practice medicine at all (they might work for a medical supply company doing consulting). And their jobs can be as monotonous and tedious (and as uncreative) as the boring engineer.

It all depends on the individial.

 

[Ynog]

This question depends on who exactly you are talking about.

I would say your run of the mill doctor is not as smart as your run of the mill engineer.
Doctors at that level require lots of memory and if you can remember alot of information
you can be a doctor. Patient A has these symptoms, they either have this or that.
What medicines cannot be given together. Now if you correlate a large memory
with being smart then doctors are smart. If you correlate solving problems with
multiple solutions with intelligence then engineers are smarter. Engineers are
more likely to be able to develop problem solving skills that will help them outside
of work.

However as you move up the cusp of medical doctors and you get into the higher
end doctors, brain surgeons, etc. I do believe those individuals are smarter than
an engineer. You don't want the guy that might have to operate on your brain, being
anything short of a genius.

Now another question is engineer vs scientist. Where I work those are two separate
career paths. As you get to that cross over, scientist tend to work on things that no one
else has worked on. New, fresh ideas. This also happens in the medical field as well.
Those individual tend to make up the cream of the crop and I would basically say that
intelligence wise, you are at a equal. Alot of smarts is needed when thinking of ways to
get things to work, research, etc.

Now if you average out everything. I would say your average engineer would be
more intelligent than your average doctor.

 

[hagbard]

Originally posted by: Mwilding
Engineers have four eyes, don't shower and couldn't get laid in a Thai whorehouse.

Doctors have trophy wives, join country clubs and drive BMW's

Who is smarter?

My wife's a doctor, she has me, we aren't country club members and we drive a Plymouth Voyager. The answer is Engineers.

 

[rgwalt]

Comparing undergrad engineering to med school is a poor comparison. Undergrad engineering curriculums are tough, but they don't put the undergrads through the hell that med school does. I do firmly believe that the material in some engineering disciplines is much tougher than what you get in med school. I've had friends that graduated ChemE with me who went on to med school say that med school is a breeze in comparison to some of the work we did.

Also, think about this... If a doctor screws up, they kill one or two people before being caught and re-evaluated. If an engineer screws up, their mistake can kill many, many people when a bridge or a building collapses.

Ryan

 

[QueHuong]

So if I changed this thread to an engineer with a doctorate vs. a medical doctor, almost all would say the former is smarter?

For those who say who doctors use just as much analytical and other thinking skills as engineers, please elaborate. No, I'm not being sarcastic...I really would like to know. From the answers I've read so far, they are very general and doesn't give a concrete image of how doctors diagnose a disease.

And don't get me wrong, I respect doctors tremendously, and if anyone missed it, I'm a premed myself. I just happen to be going through the engineering route because I truly believe the skills I will learn from engineering will give me a significant advantage over biology, psychology, or english (BWAHAHAHHAHA) majors in med school and in my career as a doctor (hopefully I'll make it).

 

[edro]

Most engineers are wasted talent. Look at most companies' engineering departments. They sit around and basically do nothing all day and complete like one project a month if that. (the companies I have worked for)

Doctor's on the other hand use their knowledge everyday (if they are practicing). People depend on their knowledge as well. Engineers don't have as much pressure on them, so they tend to slack off.

(BTW, I am 5 classes away from being a Computer Engineer)

 

[brtspears2]

Originally posted by: edro13
Most engineers are wasted talent. Look at most companies' engineering departments. They sit around and basically do nothing all day and complete like one project a month if that. (the companies I have worked for)

Hahah, darn, someones figured out the secret.

 

[Darien]

Which group is smarter...


....really depends. There are some morons, and then there are some genius people.


I've seen many a talented pre-med and engineers around here, and I can affirm the previous comments about the existance of a spectrum of intelligence within the groups.



Then I start to wonder...if these guys are regarded to generally be the smartest and are supposed to be able to command the natural sciences...why do they keep asking me for physics & math help?

<---- Physics major

The physics majors I've met are DEFINATELY not morons.



It's pretty pointless to argue "who is smarter" with generalizations. Maybe if the original question was modified to be a bit more specific...

 

[element]

All I know is I still can't figure out whether we should call in the doctors or the engineers to fix the screw loose some of you ATOTs have.

 

[Salvador]

I think in general, engineers have more common sense than doctors do. Engineers seem to know a little bit about everything, where a doctor tends to just know about medicine. I have friend that's a doctor and he can hardly drive a car. He's been "book smart" all his life, but such a dork when it comes to just about everything else.

Sal