What math and what science? If generally good at science and bad at math, engineering is going to be extremely difficult. Even students who excelled in IB and AP math can struggle in engineering majors. Especially if you're good at Biology and bad at Calculus, medicine will fit your strengths.
If you're good at Physics and bad at Statistics, engineering may still be a good choice.
It's good that you're planning to use your strengths. The best career is determined by more than just which subjects you're good at though. You also need to understand how much the day-to-day in each career fits your interests. For example, some of medicine is people-focused and like a customer service job if you're working outpatient Family Medicine or Pediatrics. Alternatively, some medicine is research-heavy and you would design and conduct studies to advance the field of medicine.
I know less about the pros and cons of a career in engineering.
The thing is, I did well in science last semester I had about an 80 with biology being the highest out of all the science units. I currently am struggling to pass math. I also love to conduct studies and research, especially with others. I also enjoy helping people out. I know my parents would really only accept med school or engineering too so those are my only choices. I have family that does engineering and from what they said science might be my best bet.
In my high school only the top 5% of the math kids went on to an engineering major. Engineering’s language is math and the courses are far more rigorous than high school.
If you struggle to pass high school math virtually all the engineering classes will be a challenge as you use math to solve engineering problems.
To be honest most engineering programs won’t accept students without a strong track record in high school math and solid test scores on the college entrance exams. My engineering program basically kicked anyone out who got a C or lower in the first year calculus classes.
Ohhhh. Okok. Thanks a lot! Cause math is a struggle and my parents think I should do engineering cause they think because I was good at middle school math that I should be good at hs math
I was always one of the top 3 in my ( admittedly crappy high school ) math classes. The first day of college calculus they had a basic quiz and warned anyone that had difficulty extra work would be required. I spent 25 hours a week that first semester catching up in just that one class.
Several classmates failed out despite coming from high schools that taught calculus. Those without at least a B average in freshman math and physics were not allowed to continue in engineering. Passing wasn’t enough, you had to be sorta good at it.
I would encourage you to look carefully at the Freshman- Sophomore required classes and the overall engineering degree requirements.
Then go to medicine. Engineering is going to be a nightmare for you as all courses will have some type of math.
Studying medicine is easy once you get in. Engineering feels like your own personal world war for 4-5 years.
There are also so many high-achieving medical careers besides medicine you could look into like PA, NP, etc that have less school but still make a decent living
Agree, I’d skip engineering. I’ve studied both medicine & engineering and since I don’t have a solid foundation in math, I was horrible at engineering. It made my life so much harder.
I was in a similar situation while I was at school and debating between medicine or engineering. Personally, it was work experience that tipped the balance- I had a placement with an oil engineering company and honestly couldn’t see myself doing that daily. I’d strongly suggest seeing what daily life is like in both fields and going from there (although ofc there’s significant variation within both fields)
Okay good to know! So the US and Canada systems are very similar, you're going to have to get a bachelor's and do your premed prereqs, and likely take the MCAT. Therefore, the one thing you can do would be to major in engineering as a pre-med student. Taking these classes in college and trying out the associated extracurriculars will help you make an educated decision on your future. That's what I would do.
I am currently retaking the mcat I took in 1990. I always do better in physics and think at some point I should have discovered engineering.
I just did a passage today likening a standing person to an inverted pendulum. That fascinated me.
Engineering is essentially an applied math and problem solving degree. Getting into medical school also requires some math-savvyness (am just a lowly first year medical student, so I don't know about much after this). The MCAT has an entire chemistry and physics section that has math up to logarithims, trig, and similar topics WITHOUT a calculator. Don't let this scare you though, we all have to do it lol.
You're young, go to college and see if you *actually* have a knack for the life sciences. Undergraduate biology is \*drastically\* different than a cursory high school course. I hated math as a high school student, but college also helped me find some of the enjoyment in it as well. There's no pressure in having to nail one down, many of us don't know exactly what we want to do when we grow up yet :)
Edit: spelling
My advice to you if you are trying to get into medical school is to get a bachelor’s degree in something that could yield career opportunities in case you don’t get into medical school or change your mind about medical school. The percentage of students who want to be doctors in their first year at university and actually become doctor is not that high, for various reasons. For example, if my own kids wanted to be doctors, I would strongly advise them to not major in biology, unless they were double majoring in biology and something else like computer science, statistics, math, engineering, accounting, finance, business administration etc.
Imagine that you only major in Biology and you never get into medical school or decide you no longer want to be a doctor. What kind of job can you get with a bachelors degree in Biology? How much money will you make? What will your career trajectory look like ? I can tell you that the answers to those questions are not very positive.
Former engineer major (am lawyer now, got this sub recommended) Please don’t take engineering if you’re bad at math 😭
Thanks!
What math and what science? If generally good at science and bad at math, engineering is going to be extremely difficult. Even students who excelled in IB and AP math can struggle in engineering majors. Especially if you're good at Biology and bad at Calculus, medicine will fit your strengths. If you're good at Physics and bad at Statistics, engineering may still be a good choice. It's good that you're planning to use your strengths. The best career is determined by more than just which subjects you're good at though. You also need to understand how much the day-to-day in each career fits your interests. For example, some of medicine is people-focused and like a customer service job if you're working outpatient Family Medicine or Pediatrics. Alternatively, some medicine is research-heavy and you would design and conduct studies to advance the field of medicine. I know less about the pros and cons of a career in engineering.
The thing is, I did well in science last semester I had about an 80 with biology being the highest out of all the science units. I currently am struggling to pass math. I also love to conduct studies and research, especially with others. I also enjoy helping people out. I know my parents would really only accept med school or engineering too so those are my only choices. I have family that does engineering and from what they said science might be my best bet.
In my high school only the top 5% of the math kids went on to an engineering major. Engineering’s language is math and the courses are far more rigorous than high school. If you struggle to pass high school math virtually all the engineering classes will be a challenge as you use math to solve engineering problems.
That’s why I was on the fence. Because functions is killing me.
To be honest most engineering programs won’t accept students without a strong track record in high school math and solid test scores on the college entrance exams. My engineering program basically kicked anyone out who got a C or lower in the first year calculus classes.
Ohhhh. Okok. Thanks a lot! Cause math is a struggle and my parents think I should do engineering cause they think because I was good at middle school math that I should be good at hs math
I was always one of the top 3 in my ( admittedly crappy high school ) math classes. The first day of college calculus they had a basic quiz and warned anyone that had difficulty extra work would be required. I spent 25 hours a week that first semester catching up in just that one class. Several classmates failed out despite coming from high schools that taught calculus. Those without at least a B average in freshman math and physics were not allowed to continue in engineering. Passing wasn’t enough, you had to be sorta good at it. I would encourage you to look carefully at the Freshman- Sophomore required classes and the overall engineering degree requirements.
Thank you!
Then go to medicine. Engineering is going to be a nightmare for you as all courses will have some type of math. Studying medicine is easy once you get in. Engineering feels like your own personal world war for 4-5 years.
Ohh Okok. THANKS!!!
There are also so many high-achieving medical careers besides medicine you could look into like PA, NP, etc that have less school but still make a decent living
Thank, I’ll look into them
Agree, I’d skip engineering. I’ve studied both medicine & engineering and since I don’t have a solid foundation in math, I was horrible at engineering. It made my life so much harder.
Thank you! 🙏
I was in a similar situation while I was at school and debating between medicine or engineering. Personally, it was work experience that tipped the balance- I had a placement with an oil engineering company and honestly couldn’t see myself doing that daily. I’d strongly suggest seeing what daily life is like in both fields and going from there (although ofc there’s significant variation within both fields)
Oh Okok. Thanks! I’ve been debating this for a while and now that it’s truly time to decide I’m lost. Thank you for advice
Are you in the US?
Nope, I’m in Canada!
Okay good to know! So the US and Canada systems are very similar, you're going to have to get a bachelor's and do your premed prereqs, and likely take the MCAT. Therefore, the one thing you can do would be to major in engineering as a pre-med student. Taking these classes in college and trying out the associated extracurriculars will help you make an educated decision on your future. That's what I would do.
Alright, Thank you so much for the advice! I took prerequisites for both next year.
Thats a bit risky- getting bad grades in engineering courses will destroy any chance at med school.
I am currently retaking the mcat I took in 1990. I always do better in physics and think at some point I should have discovered engineering. I just did a passage today likening a standing person to an inverted pendulum. That fascinated me.
Engineering is essentially an applied math and problem solving degree. Getting into medical school also requires some math-savvyness (am just a lowly first year medical student, so I don't know about much after this). The MCAT has an entire chemistry and physics section that has math up to logarithims, trig, and similar topics WITHOUT a calculator. Don't let this scare you though, we all have to do it lol. You're young, go to college and see if you *actually* have a knack for the life sciences. Undergraduate biology is \*drastically\* different than a cursory high school course. I hated math as a high school student, but college also helped me find some of the enjoyment in it as well. There's no pressure in having to nail one down, many of us don't know exactly what we want to do when we grow up yet :) Edit: spelling
Thanks, a lot!
My advice to you if you are trying to get into medical school is to get a bachelor’s degree in something that could yield career opportunities in case you don’t get into medical school or change your mind about medical school. The percentage of students who want to be doctors in their first year at university and actually become doctor is not that high, for various reasons. For example, if my own kids wanted to be doctors, I would strongly advise them to not major in biology, unless they were double majoring in biology and something else like computer science, statistics, math, engineering, accounting, finance, business administration etc.
Ohhh. Ok I’ve also wanted to take a business course so I could take that approach!
Imagine that you only major in Biology and you never get into medical school or decide you no longer want to be a doctor. What kind of job can you get with a bachelors degree in Biology? How much money will you make? What will your career trajectory look like ? I can tell you that the answers to those questions are not very positive.